Northfield

Northfield Drinking Water Report Info
There are few Minnesota cities with the rich history of Northfield, and there are fewer nevertheless that have achieved this sort of extraordinary job of keeping their ancient treasures. You’ll see many examples of 1800s architecture throughout the community, and records buffs will in particular enjoy the distinctive reveals and information at our Historical Society Musuem, schools and ancient downtown district.Our Origins In January 1855, John Wesley North set out from St. Anthony Falls, MN, to settle land lately ceded by the Dakota tribe. North chose the Cannon River valley due to the great capability for hydrologic strength and ample natural resources. He arrived on the web site that might become Northfield with some humans, along with his brother-in-regulation George Loomis. Loomis and North built a sawmill, then a gristmill and a bridge. When plotting Northfield, they left out the river’s natural curvature and platted the metropolis in ninety five ridged blocks.Milling Roots John and his spouse, Ann Loomis North, attracted many likeminded humans to Northfield. These have been individuals who believed in girls’s rights, temperance, the abolitionist movement, education and helping your fellow neighbor. The financial panic of 1857 added the North’s to near economic destroy, and in 1859 the North’s properly pal Charles Wheaton agreed to buy the North’s Northfield belongings.Wheaton produced flour at North’s gristmill for some years, after which bought it to Jesse Ames and Sons. Ames enlarged the mill, and at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, he received the directly flour class for best flour inside the United States.In 1927, Jesse Ames’ son Adelbert Ames offered the mill to L.G. Campbell, and Northfield became the headquarters for the Campbell Cereal Co., which produced Malt-O-Meal cereal. The employer moved its headquarters to Minneapolis, but saved its production facility in Northfield. Today, Malt-O-Meal nevertheless operates the Ames Mill, and Northfield is the best place within the international where its warm cereal is produced.Educational Emphasis In 1856, the primary school in Northfield changed into founded with 25 students reporting. In 1874, the Northfield unbiased faculty district was formed, and in 1877, the first graduating elegance consisted of seven women and no boys.Northfield College became founded in 1866 through the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches. Preparatory training began in 1867, and in 1871 the university modified its call to honor a benefactor, William Carleton. At the time of his present of $50,000 it become the largest gift to a school inside the western United States. Today, Carleton’s enrollment is round 1,900 college students.The St. Olaf School become shaped in 1874 by way of Rev. B.J. Muus, a Lutheran pastor; Harold Thorsen, a Northfield businessman; and 3 others. The unique reason of the faculty became to train Norwegian immigrants, each men and women, to prepare them for lifestyles in the new united states. The faculty become first of all located in the public college homes, and for a few years all of Northfield’s academic establishments have been within three blocks of each other. College lessons started in 1886, despite the fact that the university became not formally shaped till 1889. Today, St. Olaf’s enrollment is around 3,000 students.Attempted Bank Raid At kind of 2:00 p.M., September 7, 1876, 8 men rode into metropolis, motive on robbing the First National Bank of Northfield. It might later be known as a textbook James-Younger financial institution robbery, and it started out with three members of the gang getting into the financial institution and saying that it became a holdup. The 3 desperados ordered three bank employees to open the safe, however had been told the vault become locked and couldn’t be opened.On the street, local residents started out to arm themselves whilst a merchant found the theft in progress. Upon their discovery, two gang contributors sprang to their horses and started out capturing and yelling at the townspeople to leave the street. This compelled the other three robbers into the fray. The first to fall was a Swedish immigrant named Nicholas Gustafson, who remained on the street because he did no longer understand English.The warfare lasted best seven minutes, but while it turned into overrobbers lay lifeless in the street and two more have been badly wounded. Six outlaws fled south, and the largest manhunt at that point in U.S. History ensued. The Younger brothers were captured and Charlie Pitts changed into killed close to Madelia, MN. Jesse and Frank James escaped the posse and made it to Missouri.The heroes that day protected J.S. Allen, A.R. Manning, Henry Wheeler and others. But the largest hero turned into Joseph Lee Heywood, who died due to the fact he could no longer open the bank vault and betray the believe of the bank owners and his fellow Northfield residents. It is the fantastic braveness of these townspeople that we honor on the weekend after Labor Day each 12 months for the duration of Defeat of Jesse James Days..