Winfield Township Time Line, Renville Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormatted by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Barbara Pierce Submitted: June 1999 ========================================================================= 1869 (April 17) - Christian Michael filed the first claim in the township, Section 18. 1870 - The first real estate assessments were by Christian Michael, William J. Foster, and Thomas Druder. 1874 - The first religious meetings were held by the Norwegian Lutherans. 1874-1877 - The locusts and grasshoppers were so bad the grain, trees and crops were blackened and a total loss. The grasshoppers were so thick they blocked out the sun. 1876 - The first school of Winfield was at the sod home of D. John Johnson. The first teacher was Mr. Simkins of Olivia. The next year it was held at the Ulrickson home. 1878 (April 17) - A meeting was called to organize the township. 1878 (May 4) - The first township meeting was held at the home of Ulrick Julson. The name of the Township was called Liberty. 1878 (December 27) - Winfield Township was organized. The election was held at the home of D. John Johnson. The officers elected: Supervisor, Wm. A. Morgan, chairman, A. Nelson, clerk, A. D. Simkins, Treasurer, John Miller, Assessor, John Erickson, Justice of Peace, William Hagdon, Constable, P. Olson and Ulrick Julson. 1879 (March 26) - The township was renamed Winfield, as there was another township of the same name. 1886 (June 14) - Saint Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Winfield Township was organized. 1886 (June 19) - St. Luke's Lutheran Church was built, Section 29. 1886-1964 - St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Winfield Township. 1888 - A meeting was held at the Peter Nyquist home to form the church board of the future Long Lake Mission Church. 1889 - Winfield Post Office was started, Section 11, E ½ of SE ¼. Nels Swanson was postmaster. 1896 (August 29) - The Long Lake Mission Church was incorporated. 1897 - The Long Lake Mission Church parsonage was built, Section 9. 1904 (July 31) - A new St. Luke's Lutheran Church was completed. It was built on a site that was on the George Heinemann place. The old church was then used as School District 74, Section 29. After School District 74 was consolidated into Danube, the building was taken over by the township as the Town Hall. 1905 - Winfield Post Office was closed. 1932 - The 4-H Club was organized. 1951 - When the Renville County Hospital was built, the Winfield unit organized a Hospital Auxiliary. 1952 (May 28) - The "Idle-Twenty" Birthday Club was organized to celebrate the birthdays of members each month. 1964 (July 26) - St. Luke's Lutheran Church was discontinued and dismantled in 1966. 1966 - St. Luke's Lutheran Church was dismantled.