Church Hill.
The Lanesboro High School and Old Stone School buildings are seen in this photo flanked by the Lutheran Church at left and the Catholic Church at right. The brick High School Building was completed mid-way through the 1891-92 school year and consisted of four classrooms. It was improved and doubled in size in 1903 and again expanded in 1912. Both of these fine schools were destroyed by fire on the night of Feb. 23, 1917.
Civil War Veterans July 4th, 1889.
The Lanesboro Leader reported, "After the close of the rebellion many survivors of the ‘late unpleasantness’ went west to make their fortunes in the uprising cities and on the rich prairies beyond the mighty Mississippi. Some of them came to Lanesboro during the first years of its settlement and instituted a Grand Army Post under the name of Hardy Post, No. 118 on August 21, 1884."
The Fleet 645.
Three young women seem to be on an excursion with the crew of this steam locomotive, seen at the cut near the Lanesboro dam. The man with hat on the coal car is Angus Mac Cormack of Fountain, a railroad employee. All others are unidentified. During the height of the railroad’s importance in Lanesboro as many as a dozen trains passed through town daily.
Water Hazard.
Mill Pond, used for swimming in summer and skating in winter, was the site of a near tragedy in 1916 when fifteen-year-old Donald Drake and younger brother Charles joined a large gathering of ice skaters on the pond. The boys separated and Charles and a few others skated toward the millrace. Suddenly the ice gave way and Charles was plunged into the frigid water! Responding to the panicked cries of the other skaters Donald Drake rushed to the spot and threw himself into the water without even removing his skates! Charles had already gone down three times and Donald was forced to dive for him repeatedly in the ice-laden water before grabbing hold of the drowning boy and dragging him to shore. Both boys recovered and Charles Drake’s progeny continue to actively contribute to Lanesboro today.
Historic Destination.
Lanesboro’s Railroad Depot was a local hub of activity throughout much of the early twentieth century. People, correspondence and goods poured through this modest depot, the gateway of the rail system so vital to the community’s prosperity. The depot building was built about 1886 and remained in use until the 1970’s when the rail line was abandoned and the building destroyed.
|
Phoenix Hotel 1870.
Hailed throughout the region as the most capacious and splendidly furnished hostelry in Southern Minnesota, the Phoenix Hotel was constructed and furnished by the Lanesboro Townsite Company at a cost of about $50,000 at a time when a haircut was 25 cents. At street level were housed the hotel’s offices as well as the Bank of Lanesboro and the businesses of Hanson & Davis and Knudson & Hobart.
July 4th Parade, 1911.
Whether born in Norway, Ireland, America or elsewhere, a common bond of patriotism united the varied peoples who made Lanesboro their home. Old Glory is evident in this photo from July 4th, 1911 as the Lanesboro band parades past the Valley House Hotel on Main Street (now Parkway Avenue). Other early hotels in Lanesboro included the Winona (Merchants), American, Devey, Grant, Park, Phoenix and Lanesboro hotels.
Westward Bound.
These Norwegian immigrants are setting out by boxcar for the Dakotas to homestead claims. Taken in about 1905 the scene was often repeated as large numbers of such settlers came through Lanesboro during these years, often leaving families in town while they established the homestead then retrieving them in winter. Some returned to find their wives quite taken with Lanesboro and never did manage to leave.
Phoenix Hotel 1875.
Engineers and firemen of the Southern Minnesota Railroad pose by their locomotive as it rests opposite Lanesboro’s grand Phoenix Hotel in 1875. Five years earlier, in July of 1870 the hotel was opened with a celebratory dinner hosted by the hotel’s popular landlords, Messrs. Chase and White at a cost of $2,000.00. A truly lavish event marking the summation of two years of rapid growth with Lanesboro well on its way to being a city of some scope and importance.
|
)
Church Hill.)
Phoenix Hotel 1870.)
)
)
)
)
)
)