Glencoe, MN

Humble Beginnings of Glencoe, MN

  

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The history of any town starts with it's humble beginnings. Glencoe, MN. was founded in the mid 1850's. Pioneers were searching for a richer, agricultural area of land. They broke a trail through "The Big Woods" and came upon a clearing, a prairie, which seemed like an ideal place to settle.

Of course the same is true of all the areas, the Indians were using most of the land already to hunt and fish. The area abounded with wild game.

It was always important to settle along a water source for transportation and water power. So, the pioneer settlers staked their claim right there along the Buffalo Creek, on the fertile prairie, and decide this is where we will settle down.

Not an easy task by any means. Conditions were so tough at first, many settlers went back east to live in other established towns until Glencoe became less primitive.

Education was important to establish a civilized community. In 1856, the settlers immediately went to work and put up a log schoolhouse, one year after the town was founded, the schoolhouse was ready to be filled with children, eager to learn. The school building was also used to hold church services and other public gatherings.

Glencoe had their first newspaper by 1857, called The Glencoe Register.

Travel was tough. The trails followed, had usually been already made by the Indians, with numerous stumps, deep ruts and chuckholes, swamps and fallen trees. There were no bridges of any kind. The 30 miles of timber was a curse, it took a considerable amount of boldness of a venturous spirit to travel through it twice.
They knew they would never develope rapidly as a town until they had good roads. The first road in the county was from Glencoe to Hutchinson built in Aug. of 1857.

Many facts about the development of a town are very interesting and insightful. This blog will try and follow the successsion of the growth and stuggles that went into every part of what makes Glencoe "Our Town".