Morris: History

I (Sal) started this site today (Monday, January 14th of 2008) to organize my notes from reading a book called, "The History of Stevens County" by Edna Mae Busch" (190pp @1976) at the Stevens County Historical Society. This is for a county-wide community project I'm doing (see Stevens County: Demographics, History, etc...).

Unique Facts:

"First city to adopt a city manager (pp. 115)
"Tinta Wasota" (hill where high school is located) was used by the Sioux Indians to send smoke signals to the tribes

Education

American Indian School:
*see Stevens County: History)

"In 1910 the U of M established the West Central School of Agriculture on the campus, which successfully educated the area's high school students in a boarding school environment until 1963. It is this time period that garnered the campus its placement on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District. Handsome Prairie School structures, such as Behmler Hall and the Education building, built during the WCSA years and designed by well-known state architect Clarence H. Johnston, Sr., continue to serve the campus well."

Related Sites:
Native Indian, from Goodnewseverybody.com
Wilbert H. "Bert" Ahern Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of History University of Minnesota, Morris

West Central (Agriculture) School and Experiment Station:

-Opened on Monday, October 3rd of 1910
-School newspaper called "The Moccasin"
-enrollment was going down

University of Minnesota-Morris

-opened in 1960 -"arrival of instructors and students from foreign lands... the community has benefited from this." (pp.121)

Religion: Churches

Busch tells the history of almost all the churches that had services at the time back in 1976.

Law Enforcement

Stevens County had the oldest and poorest quality jail system in the state when it was first built.

Businesses

Hotels were huge businesses at the time when hunters from all over would come. Busch stated that one hotel sold 105 breakfasts at one morning!

"Old" Armory

The old Armory was located at the current (2008) site of our Morris Public Library before the "fire". It was the central community gathering area, which it had a capacity of 1,200 people. One famous band that played here was "Lawrence Welk". The "new" (currently being renovated as of January 2008 and will be finished this Spring-Summer) Armory is located along Hwy 28 across the street from Heartland Chevyrolet.

Medical


(pp 140)

In 1883, they had a doctor name Dr. Stephen Duly, who was from Russia. In the 1890's, Dr. John O. Dyrnes traveled to Madagascar as a missionary doctor. One outstanding doctor to be noted by Busch was Dr. Caine. He started a hospital right from his home. He became such an all-around community resident, that he became mayor, a city council member, served in the board of education, etc...His funeral at the Armory became the largest recorded crowd ever.

Manufacturing

-Morris Bottling Works "Johnny Pop" was started by John Walsh, an Irish. He sold it in 1904 to Ole Severson.
1885:
-Cheese Factory
-Candy
-Garter Factory

Media

-Newspapers
There has been many different recorded names for the local paper. One that sticked out the most for me was "Stevens County Reporter", which became the "Stevens County Tribune" later.

Law

Some distinguished lawyers that came out of Morris that made it "big" were:
-Tom Mangan, who became a State Senator
-Royal A. Stone, who became Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court

Community Events

-Corn & Alfalfa Show in December 1913

This event attracted "big names" like-State Govenor, President of the University of Minnesota, James J. Hill, etc...

Related Sites:
Wikipedia-Alfalfa
"(Medicago sativa) is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop. In the UK it is known as lucerne and Lucerne grass in India.
Alfalfa is a cool season perennial legume living from three to twelve years, depending on variety and climate. It resembles clover with clusters of small purple flowers. The plant grows to a height of up to 1 metre, and has a deep root system sometimes stretching to 4.5 metres. This makes it very resilient, especially to droughts. It has a tetraploid genome. The plant exhibits autotoxicity, which means that it is difficult for alfalfa seed to grow in existing stands of alfalfa. Therefore, it is recommended that alfalfa fields be rotated with other species (e.g. corn, wheat) before reseeding."

Early Business Men


(pp. 146)

-John Eul, whose hardware store currently exists still since the 1930's
-Unger's and Henry's Candy Company both started in 1929

Housing

"Every time you turn your head, you expect to see a new house started. One cause of this building boom in Morris is a splendid school; another, our various church accommodations; third is a desirable society and good police regulations. We were going to say fourthly the good conditions of our streets but we guess we won't," so reported the Stevens County Tribune in 1881." (pp. 42 "125th Anniversary of Morris")

Interesting Facts

-Lake Crystal and Pomme de Terre used to be connected through Green River (along the current Green River Road), which the community was planning a canal to be built to connect the two; however, this project was projected to be too costly! Lake Crystal used to be a community hot spot during the winter for ice skating, hockey, and bonfires along the coast. (pp.146)
-Greyhound used to have services here (pp. 151)

Reccomended Resources

Books/Pamphlets

  • Celebrating 125 Years of Morris-Special Historical Review (May 19, 1996)

  • pp. 2 Origins
    "..the 1920s were halted by the nation's stock market crash and the dust storms of the 1930s. People lost their jobs, businesses and banks closed, and the area land value fell by nearly 55 perecent...Misdemeanors, robberies, assaults, and suicides were on the rise....Following the war (WWII) the local economy boomed...the move from being a retail center to being more service oriented.."
    pp. 9 Business
    Major Manufacturers:
    "Brother's Industries, the Morris manufacturer of solid waste transfer trailers and recylcing trailers, was started in 1988 by Ken and Jerry Lesmeister...
    Kleepsie Tank & Petroleum Equipment had its beginnings in 1972 when Bob and Larry Kleespie started Kleespie Brothers Welding...the business has grown to employ more than 200 people in Morris, Mandan, North Dakota; Portage, Wisconsin; and Newport, Minnesota; and at 12 sales divisions....
    Superior Equipment/Superior Components..have their origins in Superior Machinery, a manufacturing company established in 1972 by Neil and Linda Schmidglall...The two companies employ about 85 people.
    pp. 14 Disasters
    pp.17 Education
    pp. 20 Landmarks
    p. 26 People
    pp.31 Progress
    pp. 38 Recreation
    pp.42 Society
    pp. 46 Transportation

    Education

  • About UMM

  • " Government

  • HISTORY OF MORRIS, from City of Morris

  • "...After the establishment of cottonwood trees in this area, Morris residents hoped to have a park here but the railroad company did not approve. In 1900 this section was divided into lots and sold and in a few short years Atlantic Avenue became a two-sid ed street. Buildings built during this period of growth include Krueger (now Benson) Drug, Linne Bakery (former Thedin's Building) and Colyer's Mortuary (now Sarlettes Music)...
    The business part of Atlantic Avenue extended north from Fourth Street to past Tenth Street. Up until about the 1940's, Atlantic Avenue from Fourth Street going south was a tree lined residential area. Today, while there are many apartments along the street, only one reidential home remains on Atlantic Avenue. Landmarks that once dotted the skyline of Morris' main street include the Merchants Hotel, Green's Mill, the Glass Block, Varnum's Hardware, and the Northern Pacific Depot.
    The oldest buildings today on Morris' Main Street are Eul's Hardware, built as a bank in 1883, the Masonic Hall, built in 1890 after its wooden structures were entirely destroyed by fires twice, and the Halverson Building, originally called the Brick Block or Spooner Brick Block, built in 1895. The newest structures are McGinnis Appliance and Dr. Hauger's Dental Office, both built in 1995.

    Thank you for visiting GoodnewsMorris! Please feel free to e-mail me (Sal) at [email protected] on any comments, suggestions (e.g. any new websites),complaints, or anytype of feedback to improve this website.


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