History of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota by Judge Isaac Atwater and Colonel John H. Stevens is a detailed chronicle capturing the remarkable transformation of Minneapolis from a nascent settlement to a bustling city of over 200,000 inhabitants by the year 1895. Drawing on firsthand accounts from living witnesses and augmented by notes from deceased pioneers, this volume strives to authenticate each recounted event and fact with meticulous care, aiming to minimize inaccuracies. While the work consciously omits the pre-settlement history and Native American heritage of the region—subjects thoroughly explored in other publications—it enriches its narrative with a unique contribution on the local geology by Professor Winchell, the State Geologist. This history, therefore, focuses predominantly on the exponential growth and urban development of Minneapolis, offering readers a focused exploration of its rise and evolution within a surprisingly short span of time.
The aim of this history was to present in a permanent form the key incidents in the history of Minneapolis, from its earliest settlement to its publication in 1895.
The primary facts and events recounted were mostly obtained from living witnesses and participants. It was rare for a city with more than two hundred thousand inhabitants to have so many of its first settlers still alive. The city’s growth had been so extraordinary and unprecedented that many of its earliest settlers remained. Some information was also gleaned from the notes left by now-deceased writers who witnessed the events described. Great care was taken to verify the accuracy of all facts and incidents mentioned. While it might have been too much to hope that the work was entirely free from errors, it was confidently believed that any such errors were few and insignificant.
The early history of the area, before Minneapolis existed and when it was inhabited by Native Americans, was not extensively covered, as it had been thoroughly treated in other works on the subject. Additionally, the scope and purpose of this history precluded the inclusion of such material, however important it might have been. An interesting article on the geology of the area surrounding the falls, contributed by Professor Winchell (the State Geologist at the time), was included. This article, which had not yet appeared in print, was well worth reading. Therefore, this volume did not include much of the material usually found in histories of this kind. Instead, it focused on the growth and development of the city, resulting in a larger volume than originally planned.
Notes About the Book
No Index.
Town Histories
- St. Anthony
- Minneapolis
- St. Louis Park
- Edina
- Bloomington
- Golden Valley
- Eden Prairie
- Excelsior
- Plymouth
- Medina
- Minnetrista
- Independence
- Greenwood
- Corcoran
- Hassan
- Dayton
- Champlin
- Maple Grove
- Crystal Lake
- Crystal Village
- Osseo
- Orono
- Wayzata
- Richfield
- Minnetonka
- Brooklyn
- Fort Snelling
Biographies
Adams, Abraham Seaver, 1065
Alger, Isaac Daniel, 890
Anderson, August T., 1468
Armstrong, John A., 988
Atwater, Isaac (Portrait), Frontispiece, Vol. 1
Austin, Edward Sanford, 721
Bachman, Henry F., 1442
Bailey, Charles Monroe, 942
Bailey, Francis Brown, 478
Baldwin, Rufus Judd, 994
Barber, Daniel R., 582
Barge, Jacob, 1091
Barnard, Albion, 1020
Barnard, Thomas Grimball, 634
Barnes, E. S., 1402
Barnes, William Augustus, 696
Barrows, William Morton, 685
Bartholomew, General Riley Lucas, 1033
Bassett, Daniel, 524
Bassett, Joel B., 539
Bausman, Abner Laycock, 938
Beard, Henry Beach, 419
Bell, James S., 690
Benton, Reuben Clark, 469
Berry, William Morse, 420
Bicknell, A. H., (Portrait) 1204
Bicknell, George S., (Portrait) 1205
Bishop, James Henry, 755
Bloomer, Raymond M., 215
Bohanon, John Campbell, 1063
Bohanon, Sophia H., 1064
Bowman, Joseph Anthony, 940
Brackett, George Augustus, 240
Brackett, Winslow M., 803
Bradish, James H., 1027
Briggs, Hiram Willard, 1036
Brimhall, George Lyman, 1062
Bryant, Orlando Festus, 1411
Buckendorf, Frederick William, 1092
Buffington, Leroy Sunderland, 1022
Bugbee, George C., 1034
Bull, Benjamin Seth, 708
Burton, Hazen James, 770
Busch, Henry Frederick William, 1090
Buxton, Thomas Jefferson, 502
Camp, George Albert, 833
Canty, Thomas, 446
Case, Sweet William, 1032
Chaffee, James Franklin, 176a
Chandler, Gilbert, 1446
Chase, Jonathan, 1006
Chowen, George W., 989
Chowen, William Streeter, 1465
Christian, George Henry, 587
Christlieb, Benjamin F., 1403
Church, Calvin, 1078
Chute, Richard, 529
Clough, David Marston, 680
Cornell, F. R. E., 450
Couillard, Cornelius, 1434
Craik, Andrew, 1054
Crocker, George Washington, 584
Crosby, John, 609
Cross, Judson Newell, 401
Cummings, George W., 1439
Cummings, Levi, 1439
Cummings, Robert Winthrop, 726
Curtiss, Charles Carroll, 168
Day, Horatio Nelson, 1440
Dayton, Lyman, 1068
Dean, Joseph, 498
Dole, Alexander M., 3047
Donaldson, William, 765
Dudley, John, 1014
Dunn, C. C., 724
Dunn, James H., 896
Dunsmoor, F. A., 893
Dunwoody, William H., 010
Earle, Oliver Reese, 1045
Eastman, John Whittemore, 984
Eastman, William Wallace, 578
Edwards, David William, 728
Eichhorn, Edmund, 713
Elliot, Adolphus Fitz, 911
Elliot, Jacob Smith, 400
Elliott, Wyman, 980
Erhardt, George Ulrich, 1094
Ertl, Rudolph, 1089
Esterly, George W., 1054
Eustis, William Henry, 464
Falvey, Daniel J., 1260
Falvey, Jeremiah, 1259
Fall, John Steven, 1010
Farnham, Rufus, 1071
Farnham, Sumner Wellington, 551
Farnsworth, Ezra, Jr., 711
Ferguson, Alice Margaret, 1291
Ferguson-Holtz, Lydia Dale, 1289
Ferguson, Sam T., 650
Ferguson, William Henry, 1287
Ferguson, William Henry, Jr., 1291
Findley, Samuel J., 1267
Flandrau, Charles E., 844
Fletcher, Henry E., 625
Fletcher, Loren, 753
Frisselle, Mason Marcellus, 943
Gale, Samuel Chester, 234
Gibson, Charles, 1452
Gideon, Peter M., 1292
Gilfillan, John Bachop, 447
Godfrey, Ard, 527
Goodfellow, Reuben Simeon, 767
Goodrich, Calvin Gibson, 888
Goodspeed, John Byron, 1436
Goodwin, David Marcus, 927
Gray, Thomas Kennedy, 751
Greenleaf, Franklin Lewis, 315
Griffin, Eli Wesley, 1095
Gross, Matthew, (Portrait) 1106
Haeg, Charles, 1447
Hale, Andrew Talcott, 760
Hale, George Washington, 758
Hale, Jefferson Marshall, 759
Hale, William Dinsmore, 280
Hall, Andrew N., 1441
Hall, Stephen Crosby, 683
Hamilton, Joseph, 1258
Hamlin, Hobart O., 730
Hank, John Daniel, 1071
Harris, Samuel Arthur, 500
Harrington, John Stevens, 1409
Harrison, Hugh Gilbraith, 496
Harrison, Thomas Asbury, 491
Harrison, William M., 644
Hasty, Robert Henry, 1059
Hays, Lambert, 1067
Heffelfinger, C. B., 822
Herzog, Phillip, 1008
Herrick, Edwin Winslow, 705
Hicks, Henry G., 440
Hill, Henry, 506
Hill, John H., 1441
Hodsdon, Ebenezer A., 1072
Holtz, William Frederick, 1315
Hopkins, Harley H., 1467
House, Joshua M., 1043
Humphrey, Louis Leonidas, 1438
Hunter, Charles Henry, 898
Huntington, T. Romeyn, 925
Hush, George Buxton, 1079
Hutchins, Eugene Adelbert, 914
Hutchinson, Adele Sturat, 929
Johnson, Asa Emery, 880
Johnson, Edward Morrill, 466
Johnson, Luther Gage, 749
Jones, Edwin Smith, 511
Jones, Jesse G., 572
Kelly, Anthony, 745
Kimball, Hannibal Hamlin, 885
King, William Smith, 379
Koon, M. B., 438
Ladd, Henry Elmer, 701
Langdon, Robert Bruce, 344
Lauderdale, William H., 702
Lawrence, James Wetherby, 460
Laycock, William, 1260
Lindley, Alfred Hadley, 884
Linton, Alonzo Herbert, 346
Lochren, William, 1260
Loring, Charles Morgridge, 407
Lowry, Thomas, 341
Lovell, Charles P., 802
Ludlum, John, 1089
Lyons, Stephen (Portrait), 1406
McCabe, Merriman, 1440
McDonald, John S., 689
McLeod, Martin, 1268
McLeod, Walter Scott, 1269
McMullen, James, 557
McMurdy, Robert Strong, 891
McNair, William Woodbridge, 453
Manton, Joseph R., 1433
Martin, Charles Jairus, 690a
Martin, John, 628
Martin, Richard, 245
Massolt, Frederick William, 1093
Massolt, Mrs. Mary, 1093
Matchan, George L., 1030
Meaker, Mary Hale, 1286
Meaker, Orrin Clark, 1286
Menard, Alfred Joseph, 1078
Menard, Joseph, 1076
Mendenhall, Abby Grant, 977
Mendenhall, Richard Junius, 973
Menzell, Gregor, 648
Merriman, Orlando Crosby, 825
Merrill, Eugene Adelbert, 520
Merrill, George C., 1031
Messer, Benjamin E., 1025
Miller, John P., 1462
Miller, Mrs. John P., 1463
Moore, David Dolloff, 1245
Moore, James E., 900
Morgan, George N., 1039
Morrison, Clinton, 515
Morrison, Dorilus, 614
Morrison, Francis, 1057
Morrison, Sylvanus D., 1045
Moses, Cyrus Bradford, 1097
Mulford, Aaron Denman, 788
Murphy, Edward, 396
Murphy, John Henry, Muckey, Floyd S., 877
Nell, Maria Dayton, 1069
Nelson, Benjamin Franklin, 567
Noble, John H., 1079
Norris, William Henry, 471
Northup, William Guile 654
Northway, Winslow Paige, 661
Odell, George, 1432
Olson, Seaver E., 763
Orth, John William, 1087
Orth, John, 1084
Orth, Mary C., 1086
Oswell, John Conrad, 747
Paine, James M., 828
Pearce, Michael, 1464
Pence, John Wesley, 719
Phelps, Edmund Joseph, 521
Pierce, Joseph Oscar, 484*
Pillsbury, Charles Alfred, 602
Pillsbury, Fred Carlton, 606
Pillsbury, George Alfred, 599
Pillsbury, John Sargent, 591
Pillsbury, Mahala Fisk, 596
Plummer, Colonel LeVinne P., 1042
Pond, Edward Robert, 1267
Pond, Gideon Hollister, 1130
Pound, Joseph Holland, 1435
Pratt, Martin, 1261
Pray, Otis Arkwright, 663
Rea, John P., 434
Reno, John Christmas, 676
Richardson, Alvorado, 790
Richardson, Henry Winthrop, 1438
Ring, Martin, 1094
Ripley, Martha George, 260
Robinson, S. C., 1018
Roma, William, 1443
Russell, Robert Donough, 474
Russell, Roswell P., 738
Sanborn, Charles B., 1011
Sands, Edward E., 1467
Schlener, John Albert, 773
Schober, Gottlieb, 1083
Shaw, John M., 436
Shutter, Marion D., 227
Sidle, Henry Godfrey, 489
Sidle, Jacob K., 487
Smith, John Day, 484c
Smith, Jothan Graves, 637
Smith, Seagrove, 442
Stamwitz, Carl G., 1082
Standish, Florentin Gilbert, 1266
Steele, Franklin, 387
Stevens, John Harrington, 979
Stevens, John Harrington, Frontispiece, Vol. 2
Stillman, Riley F., 1101
Sturtevant, C. C., 1012
Sutherland, Byron, 1017
Swift, Lucian, Jr., 370
Taylor, Electa B., 1376
Taylor, John Dickinson, 1376
Thompson, Henry A. C., 1461
Townsend, Denison, 1444
Townsend, Robert, 1444
Trussell, Sumner Lincoln, 1064
Tuttle, James H., 224
Van Nest, Hiram, 1098
Vanderburgh, Charles E., 431
von Ende, August, 1080
von Ende, Mrs. August, 1081
Wacks, Henry, 1087
Walker, Harriet Granger, 250
Walker, Thomas Barlow, 562
Walsh, Burke Edward, 1402
Warner, George Freeman, 784
Warner, Ransom D., 658
Washburn, Cadwallader Colden, 264
Washburn, John, 690b
Washburn, William Drew, 545
Welles, Henry Titus, 391
West, Orlando Lawrence, 1410
Wilcox, Hiram Kendrick, 1437
Williams, Nelson, 1049
Wilson, Eugene M., 456
Winchell, Newton Horace, 144
Winslow, James Harvey, 1403
Winston, Fendall Gregory, 990
Winston, Philip B., 800
Witt, Charles, 1102
Wolford, Peter, 1005
Woods, Charles Henry, 484a
Woodward, William Washburn, 1041
Wright, William Howard, 1267
Wyman, James T., 681
Yale, Washington, 718
Zier, Edward B., 905
Source
Atwater, Judge Isaac and Col. John H. Stevens. History of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota. Munsell Pub. Co., 1895.