Porter "Lone
Tree" News; 75th Anniversary of Platting of Village, June 22-23,
1956
History of
Porter Community
This story
is starts on the first and ends on the last page of the newspaper
Please Note: Due to the deteriorating condition of
this newspaper, some words had to be deciphered with a "best
effort."
This history was compiled by Mrs. Dan
Dybsetter, Mrs. Lena Jacobson, and Mrs. R. O. Miller.
Porter is an incorporated village on
the Northwestern railroad in the western part of Yellow Medicine
county. The platted portion of the village is on Section 33,
Wergeland township. The census of 1910 gave Porter a population of
253. It is one of the progressive little municipalities of the
county and has ambitions to become greater. In a business way it
takes rank with many towns of greater population, having a bank,
several up-to-date stores, elevators, lumber yard, several shops,
restaurants, two churches, a school, fire department and other
institutions.
Porter was founded in 1881, but
before that date occurred a number of interesting events connected
with the site and vicinity which we should consider when dealing
with the history of the town.
It will be remembered that the
Northwestern railroad (the Winona and St. Peter) was built through
western Yellow Medicine county in 1873, but that, owing to the
sparsely settled condition of the country, train service was not
begun until several years later. During the early seventies, there
was no thought of a town where Porter was later built. Canby was
founded in 1876, train service was established on the railroad and
the settlers in Wergeland township were very well satisfied with the
new conditions.
For the convenience of the
homesteaders in the community, a post office was established in 1875
just south of the future village, over the line in Lincoln county.
It was named Harstad and was kept at the home of G. A. Harstad, who
was postmaster. This office was maintained until after the founding
of Porter and was then moved to the village and re-christened. The
first structure erected on the site now occupied by the village was
put up in 1876. It was a little sod hut built by boys herding cattle
in the vicinity. It was used as an alehouse by them and afforded
shelter while attending to their duties.
There was a rapid settlement in
western Yellow Medicine county in the late seventies and early
eighties, and the requirements of the settlers brought about the
founding of Porter. In 1881 the railroad company established the
station--that is, it constructed a sidetrack there and permitted the
shipment of grain from that point. The same season the L. C. Porter
Milling Company also put in a warehouse. Ole Dahl, the first
resident of Porter, was engaged by both firms to buy grain at the
new station. For a short time he was the sole inhabitant. The only
other improvement during 1881 was made by W. E. Drummond, who
erected a 12x12 "box" and opened a blacksmith shop, which he
conducted three years.
The Winona and St. Peter Railway
Company platted the Porter town site October 15, 1881. The original
plat embraced four blocks and 20 warehouse lots, surveyed from land
owned by the company on the south half of section 33, Wergeland.
Thomas F. Nicholl was the surveyor. The town site was named Porter,
in honor of L. C. Porter, whose company was the first to engage in
business in the town.
In the spring of 1882 Harstad post
office was moved to the village, re christened Dalston, and Ole Dahl
became postmaster. A short time later in the same year the name was
changed to Porter, to correspond with the town site designation.
Early in the spring Mr. Dahl, the grain buyer, erected a little
shack, 12x16 feet, 8 feet high, near the site of the present cement
store building, and put in a small stock of groceries, valued at
about $500. In this pioneer store he also conducted the post office.
During the summer of 1882 a more
pretentious building was put up on Main Street and plans made for a
better store. Aanond Gunderson, a farmer, was the builder of the
structure, which was 20x30 feet in dimension and two stories high.
In the fall this building was rented by J. F. Fries and Paul
Gunderson, who purchased the Dahl stock and engaged in business
under the firm name of Fries and Gunderson. They enlarged the stock,
established a general merchandise store, and were in business until
1891. In the fall of 1883 they erected a 22x64 foot building, 12
feet high, on the site of the present hardware store, and the
following January moved to their new home.
During the next few years the
progress was not great. The railroad company erected a depot and
platform in 1884. Peter Westrom opened a blacksmith shop in 1885 and
continued in business until his death in recent years. About the
time of his arrival Fries and Gunderson erected a house, in which he
lived. The same year Ole Knutson opened a second general store in
the building formerly occupied by Fries and Gunderson. Ole Dahl
built a house on the south side of the track in 1886, built an
addition to it, and opened a store on the south side.
A correspondent to the Canby News of
February 12, 1892, stated that there were then in Porter two stores,
three warehouses, a blacksmith shop and a station agent. Nelson
Brothers were at the time erecting lumber sheds, and the erection of
the Lutheran church was started. There was then no school, church or
saloon in the village.
There was not much advancement in
Porter during the hard times period of the early nineties, but the
closing years of the decade marked rapid progress. In 1897 and 1898
many new buildings were put up and several firms established new
business enterprises. A directory of the village compiled in
November, 1897, listed the following:
C. A. Berg & Co., general store.
J. L. Stanesby, general store.
Charles Gilbertson, furniture store.
Nelson Brothers, lumber yard.
Evenson and Gunderson, meat market
and livery barn.
E. E. Ellingson, harness shop.
Hull and Halvorsen, blacksmith shop.
Gust Miller, farm implements and
elevator manager.
Frank L. Minnie, agent, Farmers’
Produce Company.
Porter became incorporated early in
1898. Thirty-eight residents petitioned the county board to take the
necessary action, and the petition was favorably acted upon January
4. The residents asked for the incorporation of 1,440 acres,
described as section 33, the south half of Section 28, the southeast
quarter of Section 29, and the east half of Section 32, all in
Wergeland township. The election to decide the question was held at
C. A. Berg’s Hall February 10, when 44 votes were cast, all except
one being favorable. A. I. Anderson, Gust Miller, and Paul Gunderson
were inspectors of that election. The village was declared
incorporated by the county board February 16, and the village’s
first officers were elected March 8. Forty-eight votes were polled.
The first elective village officers were: President, A. I. Anderson;
trustees, Paul Gunderson, B. M. Dahl, J. L. Stansby; recorder, O. G.
Olson; treasurer, J. A. Jacobson; justices, T. E. Ellingson, Mark
Hill; constables, Oscar Miller, James Morrison.
The year of incorporation, 1898,
witnessed greater progress than any previous twelve month period in
the town’s history. The benefits o incorporation were evidenced in
better streets, sidewalks, etc. The 15 years that have elapsed since
Porter began local government have indeed been prosperous ones.
There has been no boom to build up the village, but its progress has
been steady and healthy. The village had a population of 196 in
1900. Five years later it was 233, and the census of 1910 showed 253
residents in the corporate limits.
Porter has had one disastrous fire in
its history. During the closing days of 1907 four business houses
were destroyed by the lurid leveler, others were damaged to some
extent, and there were one or two narrow escapes from death in the
flames. Nearly every man, woman and child in the village assisted in
fighting the fire. The town pump was frozen and by the time water
could be secured the fire had made great headway. After three
buildings had been burned, the flames were checked by tearing down a
fourth one. Only by the narrowest margin were any of the buildings
in the business part of town saved.
After the fire, in January 1908, the
Porter fire Department was organized with T. E. Ellingson as chief.
The department now has 16 members. Its water supply is secured from
six wells. Its equipment consists of a hand pump, chemical engine,
hook and ladder truck, hose cart and 600 feet of hose.
For a number of years during the
early history of Porter no school was conducted in the village. In
1883 a school district was organized in southern Wergeland township,
but the schoolhouse was erected a couple of miles northwest of the
village. It was in that school the pupils of Porter attended until
the Porter district was organized in 1898.
School Dist. No. 83 was organized February 15, 1898, with the
following directors: A. I. Anderson, Paul Gunderson and F. L.
Minnie. The building was put up the following June at a cost of
$2,500.
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