Photograph of the Grant farm which was built in 1876. A wooden windmill, silo and several other buildings are visible. Four unidentified men stand in front of the buildings.
Left to Right: Bob Younger; Cole Younger; and Jim Younger; portraits of the three notorious Younger . The Younger Brothers were captured by a local posse on September 21, 1876, on the bank of the Watonwan River.
Exterior view of the Shumaker and Rietman Store. Al Shumaker is on the right. Shumaker and Rietman was a dry goods and grocery store. The reverse of the image is marked, "Shumaker and Woodley 1st permanent store in 1876 - burned - 1st new store - F. Shumaker 1879."
Group portrait of the posse that captured the Younger Brothers (Cole Younger, Jim Younger, and Bob Younger) at Madelia, Minnesota in September of 1876. The Younger Brothers were members of the James-Younger Gang.
Early years in St. Cloud (1857-1863). The upper floor of St. Mary's Church and School was renovated in 1858 to serve as the second convent for the Benedictine sisters. St. Mary's was the first Catholic parish in St. Cloud. It was organized in 1855 by Father Francis Xavier Pierz, the missionary who had lured Catholic Germans to America (specifically to Minnesota) in the early 1850s with promises of farming and wood lands, rivers, opportunity, and freedom. The year before the Benedictine sisters arrived at St. Mary's Parish, the pastor had opened a private school in a room in Joseph Edlebrock's house. His intention was to complete the section of the complex meant for the school and to have the sisters take charge. However, the parishioners, fearful of losing government support and desirous of managing their church and school, did not accept that arrangement. The sisters then started their own convent school and continued the lessons they had given while at Tenvoorde's house for children of any interested settlers. Twenty children enrolled the first days after the sisters opened St. Mary's School. Among the girls were: Mary Edelbrock, Lizzie Rosenberger, Catherine Felders, and Mary Brown. Among the boys were: Anton, Barney, and Joseph Edelbrock, Henry Rosenberrger, John Niebler, Joseph Reichert, and Louis Emmel. Among those who took private music lessons were: Jennie and Mary Mitchell, Mary and Jennie Cramsie, Sophia and Cecilia Corbett, and Nettie Swisshelm. (McDonald page37) Jane Swisshelm, the editor of the local newspaper wrote: "There is a school kept by a company of Benedictine nuns where is taught, in addition to the common branches, German, drawing, music, and needlework. The subjects are taught by ladies of polished manners and unusual proficiency. The school is in much favor with our citizens and is in a flourishing condition." (ST CLOUD VISITER, May 20,, June 24, 1858). The reputation of the sisters spread. In 1862, two sisters were invited to the nearby parish of Clinton (St. Joseph) where they taught in the district school. The following year, St. Joseph became the site of the motherhouse of the Benedictine sisters in Minnesota. When St. Mary's Parish built a new school in 1876, the sisters (having returned to St. Cloud in 1869) purchased the former convent/school complex and converted it to St. Agnes Academy. The sisters were hoping to alleviate the overcrowded conditions of the boarding school and sisters' quarters in nearby St. Joseph, where the enrollment of day students alone had reached over 200. The sisters teaching at St. Agnes Academy were pioneers in making a distinction between primary and secondary education in the area. Because this academy never flourished as a boarding school in St. Cloud, the sisters closed it in 1880 and opened St. Joseph's Academy in St. Joseph (McDonald, pages 7-16, 22-23, 36-39, 70-71, 120-123; Patricia Kelly Witte, pages 14-17).
Although the label written on this photograph says that the image is of the first graduating class, early students, and faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, this photo shows teachers and students on the steps of the Old Main building at Gustavus, 1877. The first class graduated in 1890 had eight men.