Brown County MN Archives History - Books .....New Ulm 1916
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Book Title: History Of Brown County, See Below

THE CITY OF NEW ULM.

    New Ulm, the seat of justice of Brown county, on the right bank of the
Minnesota river, was named by its founders after an important city and an old
fort standing on the shore of the Danube in Wurtemberg—Ulm—which word is a
combination of the initials of the old Roman legend, "Ultra limites militares,"
which, translated into our language signifies "Beyond the nrfitary border," as
the Romans usually called the territory adjoining their possessions in distant
countries. It will be understood by the reader from what has already been noted,
this place in Brown county was first settled and has always been almost
exclusively a German town, hence it was but natural that the founders named it
from Ulm, in Wurtemberg, and. added the prefix "New," making it New Ulm.

    The object in laying out New Ulm was stated in a resolution passed by the
company or colony that headed the enterprise in the following words: "The object
of the German Land Company is to procure a home for every German laborer, popish
priests and lawyers excepted, in some healthy and productive district, located
on some navigable river." With the passing years, both priest and lawyer have
here found a welcome and have been numerous, as well as truly law-abiding
citizens of a sprightly city whose history reads not unlike a romance from the
early fifties on down for more than a third of a century, which covered the
awful baptism of blood during the 1862 massacre, as well as that
never-to-be-forgotten summer in 1881, when the city was destroyed by a cyclone
of fearful velocity.

     "The German Land Association of Minnesota" was formed by act of the
Legislature, March 4, 1857, by William Pfaender, president; Adolph Fischer, Fred
Werner, C.  Victor Bechmann, Julius Fischer, Adolph Forbeiger, Charles Stroebel,
Albert Tafel, Henry Essmann, Charles Floto, Max Wocher and their associates.
These parties made a second survey of the townsite and the land was entered by
Judge A. G. Chatfield, at the land office at Winona.

     At present the city is built up with many brick business houses and the
residence districts are scarcely excelled in cities much larger than New Ulm.
Excellent deposits of clay, stone and sand are found in and near the city. The
railroad facilities are excellent in all directions and the wealth accumulated
largely by the painstaking German and other foreign elements, has for years
supported the numerous strong banking concerns, and the number of unfortunate
poor in few in number.

THE BEGINNINGS,

     New Ulm was platted in 1856 and in 1858 it had a newspaper known as the New
Ulm Pioneer, the files of which show the following to have been the make-up of
the village at that date: Fifty-nine hundred building lots and four hundred and
ninety-three outlots; ninety buildings with six stores, a woolen mill, two
blacksmiths shops, a saw- and grist-mill. Its population was then one thousand
and thirty-four, with four hundred and forty voters, while the entire county
only had six hundred and fifty-five voters.

     The first mill in the place was the Eagle mill—a saw-and grist-mill
combined, erected in 1856.

     The old Dakota House was opened to the public on April 16, 1859, by Seiter
& Erd.

     The first store was started by Adolph Seiter, just to the west of the
village in 1856. The first real store or business house in New Ulm was that of
E. Roebecke, who purchased the store above mentioned.

BUSINESS OF 1916.

     The latest directory of the city gives these as the principal places of
business: Four banks, one mortgage and loan company, five hotels, six grain
elevators, a commercial club, an opera house, an armory, two extensive flouring
mills, a feed-mill, a pipe-organ factory, three breweries, an overall factory,
bottling works, a saw-mill, a woolen-mill, brick-kilns, two hospitals, a
creamery, two stone-quarry companies, four weekly newspapers (two English and
two German), a produce company, a steam laundry, two express companies (Adams
and American), a greenhouse, an ice company and the usual number of retail
stores and shops found in cities of this class.

THE BREWING INDUSTRY,

     Brewing has always been one of the leading industries in New Ulm, the first
attempt being made in January, 1858, by Anton Friton, when he built the pioneer
brewing establishment. In January, 1861, in the valley of the Cottonwood river,
near the village of New Ulm, August Schell commenced his brewing plant and this
was highly successful. In 1865, Betz & Hauenstein completed their brewery.

     A distillery was started by H. A. Subilia and was ready for business on
April 6, 1861. It stood just under the bluff, a little to the north of the
street leading from the city to the present college grounds, near the Hermann
monument. The old brick smoke-stack is all that remains as a monument of that
early still, where unadulterated spirits were produced and sold in the markets
of the country.

     The New Ulm Brewing and Malting Company was established in 1910, as the
company is now formed. The incorporation officers are now: President, John
Schneider; vice-president, Herman Nogel; secretary, Joseph P. Groebner;
treasurer, Otto Meyer. The authorized capital is fifty thousand dollars. Twelve
men are employed, and large amounts of grain are annually used in the
establishment. Minnesota and Iowa take a greater part of the output from this
brewing concern. The capacity is ten thousand barrels per year, but on account
of the recent temperance agitation and war upon the part of the "Drys" the limit
is not quite reached of late.

     This brewing plant is the direct successor to the first brewery in New
Ulm—Anton Friton's—established in 1858, near the Minneapolis & St. Louis depot,
and the Park of today. Mr. Friton was succeeded by Joseph Schumaker and he was
succeeded by the present owners.

     The Schell Brewing Company was established at New Ulm in 1861, under its
present name. August Schell was the proprietor. It is now operated under a stock
company capital, including the heirs of the late Anton Schell. The officers of
the company are George Marti, president; August A. Schneider, vice-president; E.
A. Hagberg, secretary and treasurer. The plant's capacity is now eighteen
thousand barrels annually; the grain consumed is about twenty thousand bushels.
The product is sold in Minnesota and Iowa, and the company enjoys an excellent
mail order business. The capital is three hundred thousand dollars; number of
men employed, thirty-two. The grounds surrounding the plant are indeed
beautiful—a real park in which twelve deer are kept.

     The Hauenstein Brewing Company, at New Ulm, was established in 1864 by John
Hauenstein. The present officers of the corporation are: Charles Hauenstein,
president; Mrs. Henrietta Hauenstein, treasurer; John Hauenstein, Jr.; Martin
Hose, secretary. The capacity of the plant is twenty thousand barrels, and they
consume about thirty five thousand bushels of grain per annum. The product of
this brewing company finds sale mostly in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and
originally in Iowa. An extensive mail-order business is also transacted. Forty
men are constantly employed. The capital under which this concern is operated is
one hundred thousand dollars.

FLOURING INDUSTRY.

     Brown county has long since been noted for its flour-making industry. The
census in 1905 says this county made more flour than any county in Minnesota,
outside of Hennepin (Minneapolis). In 1908 the daily grind in the various mills
amounted to thirteen thousand barrels at New Ulm, Sleepy Eye and Springfield.
The capital then invested was one million, eight hundred and thirty- nine dollars.

    The Eagle mills, at New Ulm, are successors to the old pioneer mill. This
was rebuilt by Beinhorn & Rethfeld after the Indian massacre in 1862, when it
was burned. In 1865 it was doing a flourishing business; its capacity was fifty
barrels per day. It was a combined saw- and gristmill until 1874. In 1880 it was
converted into a "full roller process" mill making two hundred barrels per day;
in 1887 it was increased to a seven-hundred-barrel mill--then later to a
thousand barrels daily. In 1898 it was enlarged into a
two-thousand-five-hundred-barrel mill. In 1899 the company built two elevators
and now employ three hundred people in the mills and elevators the company owns
throughout the Dakotas and Minnesota. About one-half are employed in the mills,
proper. In 1908 this mill was running under the capacity of five thousand
barrels daily; had three immense grain elevators in New Ulm, with a capacity of
four hundred thousand bushels of wheat. They also had fifty-one grain elevators
scattered throughout Dakota and Minnesota. Their plant is connected with both
the Minneapolis & St. Louis and Northwestern railway sys terns. "Gold Coin" is
one of the brands of flour that has made these mills famous from coast to coast.
They have offices in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, also have
representatives in London; also sell in Holland and other European countries.
These mills grind approximately five million bushels of grain annually. Their
expense is about a half million dollars a year. By all odds it is the greatest
flour producing plant in southern Minnesota.

     Charles Silverson, former president of the company owning these mills, had
been a leading figure in the management and expansion of this great flour
industry. He died in September, 1912, after several years illness.

     The Cottonwood roller mills, near the eity of New Ulm, are the property of
John Bentzin. These mills were established in 1878 and have a daily capacity of
one hundred barrels. It is the last custom mill left in the county, fiom the
numerous ones it once had. Here excellent flour, both wheat and rye, as well as
corn meal and graham flour are produced for customers living in the surrounding
country.

THE OVERALL FACTORY.

     Johnson Company, of St. Peter, have a branch factory in New Ulm in which
they make men's overalls extensively. They employ fifty-five persons, of whom
fifty-three are women. The weekly output is two hundred and eighty dozen. This
branch factory was established in New Ulm in 1910 and does an extensive
business. The present manager is Charles Lindeman, Jr.

THE STONE INDUSTRY

     One of the paying industries of New Ulm of recent years has been that of
getting out crushed stone, for paving, concrete work and general highway
building. There are two incorporated concerns that operate extensive quarries
near the city limits to the southeast. The quarries are both situated just
across the Minnesota river, in Nicollet county, but the owners of both plants
are local people for the most part, and have offices in New Ulm.

     As early as 1888 the New Ulm Stone Company was incorporated and for many
years quarried the granite for building purposes, but in 1905 they put in
operation stone crushing mills, of which they now operate three, and have a
capacity of about four carloads a day. Most of the output of this quarry goes to
points in Iowa—Mason City, Sioux City, Storm Lake, etc., where it is used in
street work largely. Thirty men are employed in the working season, and these
are local men and the pay roll is appreciated by the retail dealers of the city.
Years ago much of the product of these quarries was used in the Twin Cities. The
capital stock is same as when incorporated—twenty-five thousand dollars. The
first set of promoters—the incorporators, were; Jacob Pfenningier, W. Boersch,
August Schell and George G. Benz. They own a quarter section of land which
contains an inexhaustable supply of fine granite. The company also ships immense
amounts of sand and gravel to distant points.

     The other company engaged in a similar business is the Jasper Granite
Company, who operates on forty acres of leased land, near the company's holdings
just named above. This was originally worked by the Minnesota Flint Company and
about 1908 put in crushers also. Local and Minneapolis capital is invested in
this enterprise. Mr. Wycoff is the manager of this company and. has offices in
the Olsen block. The New Ulm Stone Company has for its president and manager, H.
Held, who successfully cares for the large shipments of stone, sand and gravel.

THE ICE BUSINESS.

     The only company engaged in handling ice at New Ulm is the New Ulm Ice
Company, composed of Herman Held and E. H. Haeberle, who put up large amounts of
ice from the Minnesota river. They have extensive ice warehouses and ship much
ice to distant points, besides handling the local trade and that of the
Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Company. They usually ship a hundred and fifty
cars of ice in the season. They handle refrigerators and contract for building
sand, gravel and crushed stone. Many of the men vs ho work in the stone quarries
also assist this company in the ice harvest.

MUNICIPAL HISTORY.

     New Ulm was incorporated in March, 1857, and William Pfaender was elected
its first president. Later it was incorporated as a borough, with Charles Roos
as mayor. A city charter was granted New Ulm on February 24, 1876, with Charles
Roos as mayor and Jacob Nix as clerk. Since the place was incorporated into a
city the records are all intact, but on account of the Indian depredations
during the massacre in August, 1862, the early village records were all
destroyed or lost. From 1862 on a record showing the chairman and mayors of the
place is as follow: F. Gommell, chairman, 1862-63; R. Fischer, chairman,
1863-64; John Hauenstein, chairman, 1864-65; R. Forster, chairman, 1865-66; L.
Naegele, chairman, 1866-68; Dr. A. Mueller, chairman, 1868-69 and 1870. The
place then became an incorporated borough with Charles Roos as mayor; the
councilmen were then, F. Forster, Dr. C. Weschcke, H. Loheyde; clerk, E. A.
Hausman; treasurer, William Guetling; assessor, E. A. Hausman; justice of the
peace, L. Bogen; marshal, F. Gommell; attorney, E. St. Julien Cox.

     Since then the mayors have been: Charles Roos, 1872-73; William Pfaender,
1874-76; Charles Roos, 1876-78; C. Weschcke, 1878-82; John C. Rudolph, 1882-83;
H. B. Contans, 1883-86; C. Weschcke, 1886-88; John C. Rudolph, 1888-89; Charles
Wagner, 1889-93; E. G. Koch, 1893-96; C. Weschcke, 1896-98: Jacob Klossner
(acting mayor) 1899; C. Weschcke, 1899-1904; Charles Silverson, 1904-09; Joseph
Bobleter, 1910; John P. Graff, 1910-12; Dr. L. A. Fritsche, 1912-16, and still
serving as mayor of the city.

     The officers for 1916 are as follow: Mayor, Dr. L. A. Fritsche; city clerk,
William Backer; treasurer, Gottlieb Oswald; city attorney, Alb Pfaender; city
engineer, F. D. Minium; superintendent of water and lights, A. J. Mueller; city
council, Fred Behnke, president; Fred Hamann, Wm. Eibner, Emil Mueller, L. B.
Krook and Christ Filzen, Jr.

     The city's finances in 1916 are as follow: Electric light bonds out,
$30,000; sewer bonds out, $10,000; new state loan, $40,000; state loan, $25,000.
Total, $105,000.

     The water plant consists of three wells, the depth of which is—one is 186
feet; one 183 feet, and one 364 feet deep. Water is pumped from the lighting
plant to the reservoir on Hermann's Heights, west of the city, and this basin
holds, together with the lesser one at the foot of the hill by the pumping
plant, a total of one million and ninety thousand gallons.

     The electric light plant was formerly a private concern, but in April,
1901, was taken over by the city, and bonds were then voted to the amount of
twenty thousand dollars. In all the plant has cost the city thirty thousand
dollars.

     The city has only five blocks of real paving which consists of an excellent
quality of creosote block paving on Minnesota street, placed there in 1914.

     The present police force is three men. A volunteer fire company of
forty-five competent men keep safe the city from fire ravages. They are aided by
the direct pressure from the water-works and an engine. The only building owned
by the city is the one-story brick, situated at 109 North Broadway, in which the
clerk holds his office, and there the city council meets, as does the fire company.

     There are now one hundred and twenty-two fire plugs and twelve miles of
water main.

COMMERCIAL CLUB.

     The business interests of New Ulm have been greatly advanced of recent
years by the re-organization of the old Commercial Club. This club maintains
fine rooms on Minnesota avenue; have more than two hundred "live wire" members,
who see that nothing is lost sight of in promoting the city's best interests.
They work for Brown county, as well as for the city. They have already aided in
bringing much new business to the place. The membership is composed of the best
men in New Ulm.

POSTOFFICE HISTORY.

     The following have served as postmasters at New Ulm, as shown by records
furnished by the postal department at Washington:

     Anton Kaus, July 20, 1856, to July 28, 1857; C. G. Koehne, to April
10,1857; Frederick Rehfeld, to March 29, 1861; Fred Forster, to May 20, 1873;
Joseph Bobleter, to January 13,1886; Francis Baasen, to March 20,1890; Gottlieb
Schmidt, to March 15, 1894; William Brust, to March 4, 1898; John H. Weddendorf,
to April 15, 1902; Lewis B. Krook, to February 27, 1907; Samuel d. Peterson, to
February 10, 1911; Philip Lieseh, to March 24,1911; Frederick Pfaender, from
March 24, 1915, and still serving.

     The new government postoffice building was erected on the corner of Center
and Broadway streets in 1909-10, at a cost of forty-two thousand and sixty
dollars. The office was made a city delivery station June 1, 1903, and had three
carriers, same as today except there is now an auxiliary carrier.

     The present office force is as follows: Postmaster, Frederick Pfaender;
assistant postmaster, John H. Weddendorf; clerks, Matthew Prons, Edward L.
Alwin, Fred W. Oswald, Joseph Karl, Herbert Baltrusch; substitute, Emil Hempel;
city carriers, Andrew J. Tauer, John Hofmeister, Otto Schneider; auxiliary
carrier, Henry A. Neuwirth; substitute, Joseph Schuster; rural carriers, Jacob
Vetter, A. L. Haberberg, George J. Haag, William F. Richter, Robert A. Fimeyer,
George Merkle, Lcfuis P. Fimeyer. The custodian of the treasury department is
Frederick Pfaender; Henry A. Herrian, engineer; fireman, Joseph Gassner.

     Nine mails are received and ten dispatched every twenty-four hours.

     The amount on deposit in the savings department in May, 1915, was twelve
hundred and fourteen dollars.

     Amount of business transacted during the last fiscal year was twenty-two
thousand, five hundred and fifty-six dollars,

CHURCHES AND LODGES.

     There are churches here of these denominations: Catholic, Lutheran,
Evangelical Association, Evangelical, Episcopal, Congregational and German
Methodist.

     The lodges of the city include the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of
Columbus, Foresters, German Catholic Aid Society, St. Joseph's Society, the
Arbeiter Verein, and the Turners Verein, established here in 1856, now a strong
institution. Their building is one of the best structures in the city.

HOSPITALS.

     The city of New Ulm is fortunate in having two modern hospitals- -the
Loretta, under the supervision of the Catholic Sisters and Union Hospital,
controlled by the Protestants.

     Loretta Hospital, the older institution, was originally known as St.
Alexander's Hospital, and was founded in 1881 by Father Alexander Berghold,
organizer of the Catholic church of this city. It is located in a beautiful spot
in the northwestern part of New Ulm, with charming landscape scenery in all
directions—an ideal place for an institution of this character. It commenced
work in a modest way, but steadily grew with the advancement of the country
round about. It is now a modern institution with every facility found in the
best hospitals in any part of the country today. It is a three-story brick
structure, with many wards, and attended by a dozen or more competent and
well-trained nurses. It is under the supervision of the Sisters. It has
operating rooms, a good chapel, and connected with it there is a Home for the
Aged. The operations here performed are executed in a thorough manner by local
surgeons, who are highly successful in their work, hence the home institutions
care for many patients who otherwise would have to go to some other city for
operations and treatments.

     Surrounding this hospital is a farm run in connection and owned by the same
organization. Here all fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs, used in the hospital
are produced, thus giving fresh and healthful supplies along this line. With all
of these advantages this institution has all it can well care for and many times
there is a lack of rooms for all who apply for treatment.

     The later hospital of the city is the Union Hospital, which was opened to
the public in 1915. This is a well-constructed brick building in the extreme
southern portion of the city. It was established through the agency of the
Protestant people of the community, and is a stock company corporation, with
directors and officers, as provided by law. It has three stories and a basement;
is fire-proof and built on up-to-date plans and is attended by local surgeons
and physicians.

THE HERMANN MONUMENT.

    One of the magnificent and attractive structures in the city of New Ulm is
the monument erected to the memory of that great German liberator, Hermann. It
was unveiled on September 25, 1897, and cost about forty thousand dollars,
including the ground and the bronze statue, which is of heroic size and may he
seen for many miles from the city in either direction. This memorial is a large
stone, brick and steel building standing on a high elevation overlooking the
city from the west, and just opposite the college campus. It is a national
monument, and many cities in the East wanted it but at the meeting of the
national grand lodge of the Sons of Hermann in Philadelphia in 1885, the
question was up and there it was determined that it was proper to erect such a
monument in the city where the designer and architect resided and that person
was Julius Berndt, of New Ulm, who had already bought a site in New Ulm for such
a monument. Its first contract price was twenty-four thousand dollars. Within
its walls is a museum hall where numerous pioneer relics are being stored and
yearly added to. A spiral stairway runs to the top, beneath the bronze figure of
Hermann, with his mighty sword in hand pointing heavenward. The grounds
surrounding the memorial building or monument, so called, are indeed beautiful.
Native trees are here; swings, walks, pavilions and flowers are seen on every
hand in their season. It is annually visited by hundreds of Germans and other
lovers of liberty. The national grand lodge of the Order of the Sons of Hermann
was held at New Ulm, September 21, 1897.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME I
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana


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