BROOKINGS COUNTY

	This county lies in the Big Sioux valley, immediately north of the second 
standard parallel, and in the first tier of counties west of the Minnesota State 
line. It contains twenty full congressional and four fractional townships, equal 
in area to 810 square miles, or 518,400 acres. The Big Sioux River traverses the 
county from north to south, nearly through the central portion, and numerous 
creeks and small streams drain the country from either side. The county is 
beautified by a large number of fine sheets of water, such as lakes Campbell, 
Tetonkaha, Oak, Poinsett, Hendricks, and Sinai. The soil is a black vegetable 
mold, from one to four feet deep, with a good clay subsoil. It is fairly well 
supplied with native timer, scattered along the big Sioux River and around lakes 
Tetonkaha and Hendricks.

	ORGANIZATION.- The act which authorized this county was approved on the 
5th day of April, 1862. The county at that time was bounded as follows:

	"Beginning at the northeast corner of Minnehaha County, thence due west to 
the southwest corner of Town 107, Range 53; thence north to northwest corner of 
Town 112, Range 53; thence east to Minnesota State Line; thence south to place 
of beginning."

	In 1873 the boundaries were fixed as now constituted. On the 13th day of 
January, 1871, Martin N. Trygstad, L. M. Hewlett and Elias Thompson were 
appointed commissioners to organize the county. Gov. Jno. A. Burbank at the same 
time appointed Wm. H. Packard, Register of deeds, and located the county-seat at 
Medary. The first meeting of these gentlemen was held at the house of Mr. 
Trygstad on Section 9, Town 109, Range 50 on the 3d day of July, 1871, and the 
following officers were appointed: Sheriff, Assessor and Collector, C. N. 
Trygstad; Treasurer and Judge of Probate, O. N. Trygstad; Coroner, David 
Faribault; Surveyor, L. M. Hewlett; Justices, Wm. H. Packard, T. H. Thompson; 
constables, E. N. Trygstad, D. Faribault.

	At this meeting the county was divided into three commissioner's districts 
and two voting precincts. On the 1st day of July, 1872, judges of election were 
appointed and the polling places designated for the election to be held in 
November of the same year, as follows: Precinct number# judges, J. D. Faribault, 
Lewis C. Gibbs and L. M. Hewlett: polling place, the dwelling of L. M. Hewlett 
at Flandrau. Precinct number two, A. B. Pettijohn, T. H. Thompson and E. Bacon; 
house of W.H. Packard. The present officers are: Commissioners, J.C. Allison, 
T.R. Qualey, S. Walters; Register of Deeds, P.O. Peterson; Clerk of Court, H.S. 
Murphy; Judge of Probate, L.L. Jones; Sheriff, O. Gould; Coroner, M. B. Mattice; 
Treasurer, William M. Nicholls; Superintendent, O. H. Parker; Surveyor, J.H. 
Hegeman.

	A deal of trouble has been occasioned by the disagreement over the 
location of the county seat. A few facts in the case are given:

	Notice was given on the 20th day of June, 1871, that the first meeting of 
the board of commissioners would be held at the house of M. N. Trygstad at 
Medary, the county seat, on Monday, the 3d day of July, 1871. The original 
Medary was located on Section 9, Town 109, Range 50, and the post office known 
as Medary was on this section. Meetings of the board were held here on the 
following dates: 3d of July, 1871; 2d of October, 1871; January 1st, 1872; 17th 
January 1872, and 1st April, 1872. Meetings of the board were held at the house 
of W. H. Packard, on Section 21, Town 109, Range 50, on the 1st of July, 1872, 
and the plat was filed for record on the 11th day of the following September.

	Sessions of the county board were held at the office of H. N. Urmy, in 
this village, from the 9th of May, 1873, until the 18th day of November, 1879. 
At a meeting of the board held on the 1st day of October, 1879, a petition was 
presented asking that the electors vote upon the location of the county seat at 
the election to be held on the 4th day of November, 1879. The question never had 
been submitted to the vote of the people at any time previous. On the 18th day 
of November, 1879, the board met at the village of Medary, and an abstract of 
the election returns was presented by the County clerk, from which it appeared 
that the town of Brookings had received more than two-thirds of the votes cast, 
and consequently that point was declared the county seat.

	EARLY HISTORY.- The earliest settlement in Brookings County was made in 
May or June, 1857, by the Dakota Land company, chartered by the Legislature of 
Minnesota Territory in the winter of 1856-7. The representatives of the company 
left St. Paul by steamer in May of that year, and proceeded to New Ulm on the 
Minnesota or St. Peter River, from which point they journeyed by teams to the 
site of Medary on the Big Sioux River, where they located a town and named it in 
honor of Governor Medary, of Minnesota, intending to make it the capital of a 
new territory to be carved out of western Minnesota. After locating the new town 
the party proceeded down the Sioux River, locating the town of Flandrau on their 
way, and finally brought up at Sioux Falls, where they also intended to 
establish a town, but found the Dubuque Land company had anticipated them and 
taken the choice location. It appears that there was a colony at Medary from 
that time until about the last of June, 1858, when the threatened hostility of 
the Sioux nation compelled the abandonment of all the settlements in Eastern 
Dakota, at least all those situated on the Big Sioux. There does not appear to 
be any record of what was done by this pioneer party at Medary, and we therefore 
proceed to take up the later and permanent settlement of the county, which was 
made more than ten years afterward when danger from Indian interference had 
entirely passed away.

	Probably the first permanent settlement in this county was made at Medary 
on the east bank of the Sioux River, about one mile from the south line of the 
county. Here, in the early spring of 1869, Nils O. Trygstad, with his sons, O. 
C., Martin, Cornelius, Erick and Michael; Ole Gjermstad and Christopher Balstrud 
located, coming from Salem, Minnesota. Two years afterward they were joined by 
Olans Petersen, Halvor H. Egeberg, Magnus Nasthus, James Hagan and Jocum Olsen. 
In the fall of 1871, John Hand, Elias H. Thompson, H.N. Urmy, John Bippus and --
--Pettijohn settled in this vicinity, and in 1872, the settlement was increased 
by the arrival of C. H. Stearns, Charles Nicholson, D. Atkins, William Ames and 
James Hauxhurst. In 1873, additions were made by the arrival of W. H. Skinner, 
J. S. Skinner, M. Culbertson, W. F. Culbertson and H. H. Avery; and in 1874, by 
James Laird and J. H. Hughson. Until 1871, the nearest post office was Sioux 
Falls, and for the first year the nearest trading point was New Ulm, Minn. In 
1871, a post office was established at Flandrau, twenty miles distant, and 
during the same fall an office was established at Medary on Section 9, Town 109, 
Range 50 and Martin Trygstad was commissioned Postmaster.

	In June, 1872, C. H. Stearns opened at Medary the first store in the 
county, and in the autumn of 1873, James Natesta opened the second. The 
following is taken from the history of southeastern Dakota in reference to 
Natesta's venture:

	"He commenced the mercantile business in a log house near Erick Trygstadt. 
His entire stock invoice $50. His business occupied on corner of the room, the 
remainder was used as a bedroom, kitchen and parlor. The cracks between the logs 
were not plastered and it was nice and cool, but when the proprietor of this 
extensive establishment awoke on cold winter morning and found two inches of 
snow on his bed, he concluded that about as judicious, a thing as could be done 
was 'to cork up the cracks.' The house was some distance from neighbors, and as 
our merchant was not then blessed with a 'better half', a local chronicler has 
it, that he used to go out doors of evenings and for amusement shout with all 
high might and main, to break the painful stillness of his surroundings. In the 
fall of 1874 Mr. Natesta moved to Medary."

	About the same time that the first settlement at Medary was made, on 
Goddard and a man by the name of Carl Poderson located in the vicinity of 
Oakwood Lake. These men did not make any filings, and in a short time left the 
county. The next arrivals in this vicinity were James Stoughton and Samuel 
Mortimer, who in 1870 drove across the country from Yankton and located as 
follows: James Stoughton on Lot 6, Section 6, Lot 7, Section 7, and Lots 7,8 and 
12. Section 8, in Town 111, Range 51; Samuel Mortimer on Lots 2,3,4,5 and 7, in 
Section 6, Town 111, Range 51, and Lost 5, in Section 31, Town 112, Range 51. 
These men lived on their claims until 1874 or 1875, when they too left, but in 
July, 1877, Samuel Mortimer returned to his claim and became a permanent 
settler.

	The following interesting information concerning the early settlements in 
the county, and particularly in the neighborhood of Oakwood Lake, was furnished 
by Mr. A. S. Mitchell, one of the pioneers and prominent business man at Volga. 
Mr. Mitchell arrived at Oakwood settlement May 31, 1877, and filed a claim on 
the south half of Section 10, Town 111, Range 51. at that time the only 
settlements aside from this were at Medary, Lake Hendricks, and the one made by 
Magnus and Hanson on the southwest shore of Lake Poinsett, where they had 
settled probably as early as 1875 or 1876.

	Mr. Mitchell found at Oakwood seven families, namely: Byron E. and W. W. 
Pay, who had located in 1873; J. S. Cummings, about 1875; William P. and William 
C. Miller; J. C. Beardsley and R. P. Devan, in 1876. A young man by the name of 
C. K. Carpenter came in with Mr. Mitchell and filed on an adjoining claim. 
During the summer and fall of 1877, two more were added to this little band in 
the persons of J. C. Cummings and E. W. Smith, who located on the south half of 
Section 2, and the west half of Section 15, in Town 111, Range 51, respectively. 
These men comprised the settlement at this point until 1878, when it was 
increased by the arrival of the Rev. W. Ross, Frank Pond, Frank Brown, Jared P. 
Downing, and many others.

	In 1878 the Downings purchased eighty acres of A. Cummings and laid out 
the town of Oakwood. The first store was built on this town plat, by the Downing 
Bros., in May, 1878, in which a general stock of merchandise was opened. The 
next building was a drug store, erected by C. Porter, and in June, 1878, A. S. 
Mitchell put up an office. During this summer a hotel and one or two business 
houses were put up, and in 1879 a flouring mill was erected by C. Z. Sutton. In 
1879 the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was completed through the county, which 
resulted in transferring business to a considerable extent to other points and 
materially checking the growth of Oakwood.

	The first settlements were made at Lake Hendricks in 1871, by George L. 
Day, J. K. Miller and William Trulock.

	BROOKINGS.- During the fall of 1879, the settlers in this vicinity 
purchased the relinquishment of claim to a portion of Section 26, Town 110, 
range 50, and donated it to the Northwestern Railway for town site purposes. The 
principal movers in this matter were R. H. Williams, G. W. Pierce, C. A. Kelsey, 
C. W. Higgins, W. H. Skinner, G. W. Hopp and others. A portion of the town was 
laid out early in October, 1879. Soon after a blacksmith shop was hauled from 
Medary by William Shortley and placed on the lot where Lockwood, Brooks & Co.'s 
warehouse now stands, and about the same time, G. W. Hopp moved the Press office 
building from Fountain and paced it on Lot 3, Block 3, and G. W. Pierce moved 
his store building from Fountain and located it on Lot 2, block 3. In November a 
block of three stores was erected by G. W. Pierce. G. W. Hopp and R. H. 
Williams, and during the same month, W. H. Roddle moved a building from Medary 
and set in on the corner of Main and Newton streets, and put in a stock of 
hardware.

	Building was carried on during the whole of the following winter. Some of 
the principal buildings constructed were the Brookings House, C.W. Higgins & 
Co.'s drug store, C. A. Kelsey & Co.'s machinery depot, W. H. Skinner's office, 
the commercial House, and the store buildings of James Natesta, K. Thompson, 
Olds & Fishback, C. J. Leyse and Jno. Olsen.

	The progress of this beautiful city has been exceptionally rapid. The 
business houses are creditable in appearance and the private residences and 
hotels are unusually good.

	The place was incorporated as a village in the spring of 1881, by a vote 
of the residents, on the 2d day of May. During the session of the Legislature of 
1883, a city charter was obtained, embracing the following described lands: 
Sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35 and 36, in Town 110, Range 50. The 
charter was granted under a special act approved on the 9th day of May, 1883. 
The first city officers were: Mayor, G. A. Matthews; Councilmen, R. H. Williams, 
W. G. Lockhart, William M. Brooke, William Anderson; Treasurer, George 
Morehouse; clerk, J. P. Williams; Police Justice, L. L. Jones; City Justice, S. 
M. Gaston; Marshal, V. W. Norton; Assessor, C. W. Williams.

	Under the charter provision was mad for a school district and the manner 
in which it should be organized.

	SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.- A large, two-story frame school-house was erected 
during the winter of 1879-80, which will probably, during the year 1884, be 
replaced by a fine brick structure costing $10,000.

	A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the fall of 1879 and a very 
fine edifice put up in 1880. In 1881 the Baptists built a church, and in 1883 
the Norwegian Baptists also erected a house of worship.

	Bank of Brookings. - This institution was established in the spring of 
1880, by Messrs. Morehouse & Bros., of Iowa, with a capital of $25,000. This 
bank has lately been incorporated under the laws of the Territory with a capital 
of $100,000. The officers are W. H. Morehouse, President; R. H. Williams, Vice 
President; George Morehouse, Cashier. Directors, W. H. Morehouse, S. W. 
Lockwood, John E. Diamond, James Natesta, R. H. Williams, W. H. Skinner and 
George Morehouse.

	The Merchant's Bank was established in the spring of 1883 by Messrs. 
Oldham and Lyon with a capital of $20,000.

	The First National Bank is a result of a business begun by Messrs. Olds 
and Fishback at an early day. It is a reliable institution. The officers are T. 
L. Fishback, President; G. A. Matthews, Vice President' H. Fishback, Cashier. 
Directors, H. Lawshe, A. B. Olds, J. O. B. Scobie, T. L. Fishback, H. Fishback, 
G. A. Matthews.

	NEWSPAPERS.- The Brookings County Press was established at Fountain by 
George W. Hopp on the 20th day of February, 1879, and on the 18th day of 
October, 1879, removed to Brookings, where it is still published under the same 
management. It is an ably edited journal.

	The Brookings County Sentinel was first issued on the 30th day of March, 
1882, by Messrs. Breed & Wright. On the 25th day of December, 1882, it became 
the property of D. J. Darrow, who has brought it to a very high standing.

	The Commonwealth was first issued on the 21st day of January, 1884. The 
editorial staff is composed of L. H. White, editor; N. K. VanHusen, associate 
editor; C. A. Kelsey, local editor; C. W. Higgins, business manager. This paper 
is a strong advocate of temperance, and was founded principally with the object 
of furthering that cause.

	TERRITORIAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.- The bill authorizing the organization 
of this institution was introduced by the Hon. J. O. B. Scobie during the 
legislative session of 1883, and an appropriation of $20,000 secured for the 
building, and $5,000 for the first year's operating expenses. George W. Hopp, W. 
G. Lockhart and George H. Hand were appointed a building committee. The citizens 
of Brookings donated eighty acres of land and $1,200 in cash. The college 
building is erected on a fine site about three quarters of a mile from the 
depot. It is 63 by 80 feet in dimensions, with a height of fifty-six feet from 
the grade line to the top of the roof, and of eighty feet to the top of tower. 
It consists of four stories, including a well-lighted and ventilated basement, 
and has a mansard roof. The first story is built of Mankato stone, and the upper 
walls of Mankato cream brick. The walls consist of an outside layer of brick, 
eight inches in thickness, to which is bound by strips of galvanized iron, an 
inner four inch wall, leaving four inches space for dead air. The ornamentation 
includes beltings of cut stone, a galvanized iron cornice and crestings, and St. 
Louis cherry red-pressed brick window and door trimmings. The main entrance 
faces west, covered with an arched portico, and surrounding this is ornamental 
work, bearing conspicuously the "dakota". The present building constitutes only 
the south wing of the future college, but it contains over 20,000 feet of floor 
surface, and accommodations for a large number of students.

	The town has a population of 1,000. It is situated very nearly in the 
center of one of the finest counties in the Territory. It is seat of justice. 

	VOLGA.- This town was laid out in September, 1879. The land on which the 
town was located was owned by Nicolai Evenson, Hans Terkelsen, and A. and L. 
Johnson, who each donated forty acres for town site purposes, as an inducement 
to the railway company to locate a station at this point.

	The first building on the town site was erected by Nils Kjos, and the 
second by H. Kirby. In September, 1879, J. Harris commenced the construction of 
the Pioneer House. For a time the accommodations of this hotel were a little 
crude, the partitions consisting of army blankets. Miller Wilson built the 
second hotel soon after, and long before its completion it was filled with 
boarders. During the winter of 1879-80, I.P. Farrington built the present 
Farrington house; but it was not fully opened for business until the spring of 
1880. During the same year the rich House was erected by L. V. Rich.

	The principal pioneer business men were H. Kirby, Nils Kjos, Hatheron & 
Son, T.H. Maguire & Co., Harkins & Rowley, James W. Ask and others.

	The railroad reached Volga about the 15th of November, 1879, and for some 
time it was the terminus of the road. Under this stimulus its growth was rapid.

	NEWSPAPERS.- The Volga Tribune was first issued on the 5th day of April, 
1883, by John Lynch. It is a seven-column folio, and a well-conducted, newsy 
sheet.

	BANKS.- The Bank of Volga was established in the spring of 1883, by 
William Fisher & Co. The Merchant's Bank was established in January, 1884, by 
Messrs. Porter & Henry.

	A grist mill with a capacity of fifty barrels per day was opened for 
business early in march of the present year.

	The town was incorporated as a village in the fall of 1881, and the first 
officers were: R. Grant, P. Balgood, C. M. Rowley and Nils Kjos, Trustees; C.F. 
Agar, Clerk; P. P. Cady, Treasurer.

	CHURCHES. The Presbyterian Society was organized in the fall of 1879, by 
Rev. William Carroll, and has since built a very neat place of worship. The 
Congregational society was organized in the summer 1881, and during 1882 a 
church was built at a cost of $2,000.

	SCHOOLS.- A fine school building is in course of construction. It is 40 by 
48 in ground dimensions, and will have a seating capacity of 200. Its cost will 
be about $2,500. Volga is the terminal point, southward, of the Watertown branch 
of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. It has a population of about 500, and is 
one of the most thriving towns in this section of country.

	AURORA.- W. R. Stowe, from Red Rock, Minnesota, filed a homestead claim on 
Section 34, Town 110, Range 49 in April, 1878. His nearest neighbor at that time 
was B. J. Kelsey, at Fountain. During the months of May and June following he 
was joined by E. Sage and M. M. Smith, who located claims in Town 110, Range 48. 
Mr. Smith made considerable improvements upon his claim, but left in the fall 
for the region whence he came, returning the following spring when he settled 
permanently. Messrs. Stowe and Sage remained on their claims through the winter.

	In the early spring of 1879 the surveyors of the Chicago, & Northwestern 
Railway reached this region, and in the fall of that year the road was graded 
and ironed as far as Volga.

	In June, 1879, Henry Crowell located a half mile north of the town site, 
and during the summer C. E. Hamlin, A. M. Hall, D. Lillie, George Sanderson, 
William Frotheringer, A. Evans, William Horne and E. Rexford, G. W. Goof, 
William Painter, H. Halvorsen, P. Dempsey, T. Junland, C. S. Chapman and others, 
settled in this vicinity. In the month of October, 1879, the town was laid out, 
and about November 15th Mr. Stowe commenced the first building on the town site. 
This was a barn in connection with the Aurora House, which was also commenced by 
Mr. Stowe about the same time. Shortly after the Aurora House was commenced B. 
J. and H. Kelsey commenced their general store building, and during the month of 
February, J. I. Sexton and C. S. Ricker commenced erecting business structures.

	In May, O.F. and H. Rexford put up a drug store, and about the same time 
W.L. Sexton & Son commenced their store building. In the fall of 1880 elevators 
were built by G. W. VanDusen and Backus Brothers & Strong, and during the same 
fall the school house was built.

	The Methodist and Congregational societies were organized in 1881, and 
during the same year a church edifice was erected by the former. The Catholic 
society was organized in 1882 and a church building commenced.

	The Bank of Aurora was established in May, 1883, by the Murphy Brothers.

	The Aurora Advocate was first issued in the spring of 1882 by John Lynch, 
and was published about one year.

	The Aurora Times first appeared on the 21st day of February, 1884, 
published by A.E. Rising.

	This town is located in one of the best grain growing districts of the 
Territory, and is one of the principal shipping points for agricultural 
products.

	ELKTON.- The northwest quarter of Section 21, Town 109, Range 47, was 
purchased from Jacob Schneller by the settlers in this vicinity and presented to 
the town site company, which during the fall of 1879, laid out the town. M. 
Morse arrived at this point in May, 1880, and immediately began the erection of 
a store building, on the completion of which a general stock of goods was put in 
and A. W. Blanchard placed in charge. In June, Mr. Blanchard received a 
commission as Postmaster, and the office was located in this building. Some time 
in August W. H. Cornell built an addition to the store and put in a stock of 
hardware. During the fall A. F. Henry put up a building for a general store, and 
the Exchange Hotel was also erected. In the spring of 1881 stores were built by 
O. T. Gratton, John Black, H. C. Chamberlain and others.

	The Methodists, Congregationalists and Catholics have organizations, and 
the last named built a church in 1882.

	The town has a population of about 200. It is the market for many miles 
around, and as a shipping point is not excelled by any town of equal population 
in Dakota.