Community › History › Alexandria’s Second Start
Alexandria’s Second Start
Everything that had been Alexandria was gone by the end of the 1860’s. The town site was deserted, but because of the Homestead Act by President Lincoln, Alexandria made a new beginning.
People began arriving again, looking for adventure and for new opportunities. Drawn by the prospect of free land, they arrived on foot, by horseback, by oxcart. Long distances were covered primarily by stagecoach, which at first, went as far as St. Cloud. The name, “stagecoach”, comes from the fact that it traveled in stages, stopping every 15 to 20 miles to change horses, the way we stop for gas today. The changing or relay station had stables and, at times, a home where passengers could spend the night. Early roads were very rough often had no bridges, so stagecoaches, prairie schooners and riders on horseback had to wade through the streams and rivers along the way. Sixteen-hour rides were common. The stagecoach drivers were rugged men and well respected on the frontier. The driver not only was responsible for his team, passengers, but also for the all-important mail that he transported.
Mr. William E. Hicks, who came to Alexandria in 1866, started the first real store in Alexandria. A general store housed in a log cabin, it was called Old Log Store. He also started many other businesses, a sawmill, a flour and gristmill, to name a few. By the time he died in 1874, he probably did more than any other settler of that period to give Alexandria a new beginning. To find out more about William Hicks and his wife Theresa, read the selection titled, “We Might Have Been Hicksville”. The article highlights William and Theresa Hick’s many other contributions.
After William Hick’s death, his wife, Theresa Hicks, donated land for a new, larger courthouse, the site of the present Douglas County Courthouse. The new courthouse was completed in 1876 and served for 20 years. At this time a second schoolhouse was needed, and it was built next to the previous one. They were known as the “Twin Schools.”
By 1870, the US Government census showed that Alexandria had 800 residents. The businesses of the village were primarily between 5th and 9th Avenues and within two blocks east and west of Main Street. Alexandria had become a real town, not just an insignificant army outpost, and throughout the decade of the ‘1870’s Alexandria’s remarkable growth continued.
In 1871, Knute Nelson, Alexandria’s most famous citizen, made his homestead at the south end of the village. At the time this was farmland, and today, although his house was moved from the property now occupied by the Knute Nelson Nursing Home, the house still stands on land that was part of his farm and is now part of the city of Alexandria, 1219 Nokomis Street.
Knute Nelson came from Norway with his mother as a young boy. He and his mother first lived in Chicago, then, after her marriage, moved to Dane County, Wisconsin. In 1868, the Government Land Office was moved from Sauk Centre to Alexandria and lure of free land and as well as the opportunity to use his skills as a lawyer in the land office brought him to Alexandria.
Mr. Nelson had been involved in Wisconsin politics, and soon after he arrived, he became involved in Minnesota politics. He served as Douglas County Attorney from 1872-1874 when he was elected to the State Legislature where he served for two terms. In 1884, he was elected to United States Congress where he was elected to three terms before he declined to run again. In 1893, he became Minnesota’s first foreign-born governor, and he served in the office until 1895 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He won five elections to the U.S. Senate where he served until his death on April 28th, 1923.
Knute Nelson spent a lot of time away from Alexandria, but he always enjoyed coming home to his farm where his favorite pass time was to pitch hay with his hired man or go fishing in Lake Victoria. If you would like to find out more about Knute Nelson, just contact the Douglas County Historical Society at 1219 Nokomis St Alexandria, MN 56308 (it is located in his old farmhouse).
1872 saw the beginning of two long-standing businesses, Cowing Robards Hardware, and Anderson Furniture and Funeral Parlor. (Both are still in business, although the furniture store has been sold and is known by a different name.)
During the summer of 1872, the Wissahickon Hotel was built. It was one of the three hotels that played host to Alexandria’s growing list of annual visitors. The other two were the Minnesota House and the Douglas House. The Douglas House was the stage stop.
The “Great Grasshopper Invasion” began in 1873 and lasted five years. Crop failures caused a considerable drop in land prices. Times were hard all over. The railroad grade reached Alexandria that year, but failure of the company meant that the rail service would not actually happen for several years. The trains only went as far as Melrose, 35 miles to the east.
By 1874, there was no more land to be homesteaded and most of the tillable land in Douglas County had been sold. The Douglas County Fair Ground Association was organized for the purpose of holding annual fairs in the village.
That same year, a stage line was established between Benson and Alexandria. The stage ran from Benson to Alexandria and eventually from Melrose to Alexandria by way of Sauk Centre. Things were on the move again in Alexandria.
The years following 1875 would see many signs of progress. A brick factory meant that many wooden buildings would be replaced in the next decade with Alexandria Red Brick. Many of those red brick buildings still stand along the main street, and a trip down Broadway (as it is now called) reveals the names and years of many of these buildings if you scan the tops and the sides very closely. Also look for engraved cornerstones.
Many of the photos of early Alexandria and its businesses are the work of NJ Trenham who opened a photo shop on Main or G Street on the east side of the 600 block in 1875. Without Mr. Trenham’s contributions, the early days of Alexandria would have long since been a faded memory. Many of his photographs are in the Douglas County Historical Society archives.
One of the most notable signs of progress at this time was the coming of the rail service. The first train, which was part of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, arrived on November 5, 1878. It was a major event because transportation of supplies, people and important mail service could be accomplished much more efficiently by rail transportation rather than by stagecoach.
In 1880, that railroad became part of Great Northern Railroad’s main line, and the Great Northern Depot was built. It was located near the site of Alexander and William Kinkead’s first log cabin just north of the old stockade. It still stands there today as the Depot Express Restaurant and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The rail service opened a new era in Alexandria; a time when wealthy Southerners migrated north each summer to enjoy the area’s cool blue lakes; a time that saw the days of the Grand Resort Hotels, but that’s yet another chapter in the rich history of the community known as, Alexandria!