A Brief History of Rice County
Rice County comprises a land area of
496 square miles in the southeast portion of Minnesota,
approximately 50 miles south of the cities of Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Rice County, which is basically rural, has only two cities
with a population of more than 12,000 - Faribault and Northfield.
The northeastern area of the county is characterized by rolling
hills and small woods, with sparsely located farms. The main crops
include corn, soybeans, and wheat. With its large number of lakes,
the western portion of the county attracts outdoor enthusiasts and
summer campers. The northeastern region includes Nerstrand Woods
State Park. In addition to Faribault, the county seat, and
Northfield, there are four small cities and fourteen townships. The
1980 census reports the county’s population at 46,087.
The county was settled by various
ethnic groups, including Scandinavians, Germans, French Canadians,
Irish and Eastern Europeans. Alexander Faribault, an agent of the
North American Fur Company and by all accounts an honest trader,
traveled from Fort Snelling to what is now Rice County in 1826. He
came to trade for furs with the Wapakhute Indians at their village
at Cannon Lake, and by 1835 had convinced the Wapakhutes to move to
a better trapping location at the meeting point of the Cannon and
Straight rivers. This unsettled territory would become the town of
Faribault.
When Faribault was officially laid
out in 1854, there were more Indian teepees than there were
settler’s houses. A frame house built by Alexander Faribault in 1853
was probably the first of its kind in southern Minnesota.
The first saw mill came to town in
1854, ending the predominance of fur trading, and establishing an
industrial presence in Faribault. By 1865, the city had a population
of over 2,000, including several churches as well as banks, schools,
hardware and dry goods stores. Heavy industry in the still newly
civilized metropolis included flour and saw mills, furniture
factories, and a woolen mill. There were also four breweries in
town.
The county itself was named for Henry
Mower Rice (1817-1894), who came west to Minnesota from Vermont in
1839, and who tended a store at Fort Snelling for a number of years.
While living in Faribault, Rice was a Representative for the
Territory of Minnesota and a personal friend of the town’s namesake.
At different periods in his life, he was a senator for three
different states: Minnesota, Illinois, and Missouri.
Other small towns were simultaneously
maturing in Rice County. Dundas grew famous for its flourmills long
before Minneapolis did. Morristown became the milling and trade
center for southwestern Rice County. Lonsdale grew when the railroad
came through, and the village of Veseli gained a reputation for its
abundance of musical talent and fine brass bands.
Cannon City began to grow quickly, in
the hope of becoming the county seat. Mysteriously, when Faribault
was chosen instead, Cannon City quit growing, and today is only a
cluster of houses.
Rice County’s second largest city is
Northfield, also on the Cannon River. Founder John North arrived
there about 1855, immediately constructing a sawmill, a flourmill,
and a frame house. He almost became a one-man town.
Northfield is famous for the Jesse James gang bank robbery of 1876,
when James and seven others tried to rob the First National Bank.
However, a stubborn cashier refused to open the safe. Northfield
citizens proceeded to open fire on the would-be robbers as they
fled, and the gang was driven out of town bereft of money and two of
its members. The cashier and an innocent bystander were also killed.
Jesse James
Northfield has traditionally been
known for its two distinguished colleges. Carleton College opened
its doors in 1867, and St. Olaf followed seven years later. Carleton
at one time published the only magazine in the U.S. devoted
exclusively to astronomy, and Ole Rolvaag, author of Giants in
the Earth, taught at St. Olaf for many years.
Faribault has historically also had a
good reputation in the educational field, with many public and
parochial schools. Bethlehem Academy was established in 1865 when
Alexander Faribault bought the school, a house and a piano. He also
donated a cow to the facility.
The most notable of the private |