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form a corporation to construct a plank
road from Shakopee to Chaska. Construc-
tion on the road never started, perhaps
because of the financial disaster which
followed in 1857.
As early as 1853, there was a stage
line betweenShakopee and St. Paul. So
it is known that a road connected the
two communities. . For people living in
or ne~p Chaska, however, it was necessary
to feach Shakopee - and in doing so cross
a r1ver - before getting to the road.
When Ft. Ridgely was established in
1853, a supply road was built connecting
it.and Ft. Snelling. The Ridgely road
wh1ch ran through Chanhassen Township
could be reached by most area settlers.
The Chaska - Excelsior,road, which was
opened ,in 1856, intersected with it. One
of the earliest mentioned stage routes
was between ChaSka and a .community known
as Redfield. .Another early stage route
was between Chaska and Glencoe. When
the roads over which those stages ran
were built is uncertain, but the time was
probably during the 1850' s. The Waconia
or Clea~ter, as it was called) Road
connected that community with Chaska. It
was built sometime prior to 1858. It
later became known as the Creek Road.
Jamb Beihoffer
Jacob Beihoffer~ also known as By-
hoffer, made a few detours on his way
between Germany and Chaska. There was
a few-year period in Buffalo New York
f 1 ,"01 owed by a brief stay in Racine, Wis-
consin.
After spending nine years as a car-
penter in St. Paul, he finally settled a
claim outside Chaska. It was Byhoffer,
the carpenter, who built the original
Chaska House in 1855 for Paul Faber. In-
volved in various ventures, he moved in-
to Chaska during the 1860's and in 1877
started the Old Settlers Hotel.
At the October, 1858 township board
meeting it was decided to raise $1,500
for the repair of roads and bridges. Thai
was quite a sizeable amount when one
considers the going price for equipment
and labor in those days.
The township bought two road scrapers
for eleven dollars each. That was about
the extent of its road maintenance equip-
ment.
The logs to build a bridge on the
Clearwater Road cost under fifteen dol-
lars. Julius Wolff, the supplier had
wanted five dollars more but he s~ttled
for the lesser amount.
Herman Miller and his oxen were
hired for some road work. While it is
unknown how many hours were spent, the
total payment to Miller was $4.25. Three
men who worked on the township roads
were George Schindler, Franklin Wicken-
hauser and Gottlieb Urbach. Between
them, they collected less than $6.00
during one pay period. Wickenhauser
collected only seventy-five cents.
The early roads connected the farms
with the m~rchants who were developing
a new village.
A project which,never materialized,
the Chaska, Minnetonka, and Liverpool
Canal woUld have connected two town sites
in which the Fullers had investments.
While David and late~ George Fuller were
the principal investors in Chaska,
brother Albert had an interest in the
Village of St. Valentine on Smithtown
Bay, Lake Minnetonka. Another owner of
the Minnetonkasite was Edward Rice.
One source says the Shaska Company
purchased St. Valentine for $13,000 in
1856. The purchase, however, was a stock
exchange.
During the winter of 1856-57, a
survey was conducted by Booke and Seller.
According to the survey the sea level
elevation of Lake MinnetoDka was 126
feet higher than the Minn~sota River.
The company planned to construct a six
and three quarter mile canal between St.
Valentine and Chaska. The canal would
not be used for transportation, but as
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an alternate outlet for Lake Hinnetonka.
It was also thoughtthe drop in elevation
between Lake Hinnetonlca and Chaska was
sufficient to support milling activity
along the canal.
Before further activity could b,egin
the Shaska Company was in financial
trouble and the proposal-abandoned.
While the facts remain uncertain,
it is possible the village which later
became Chaska was not first settled on
the townsite chosen by Holmes and later
Fuller, but on the Yorkville (Yoerkville)
Prairie.
Yorkville, the town that almost
was, today is lost within Chaska's
boundaries. Only a few Chaskans remem-
ber the area around Stoughton Avenue
and east was once known as Yorkville.
The facts about Yorkville's existence
are not all that clear, but this is the
story.
One of the earliest settlers in
Henry Young
When Henry Young was about thirteen,
he ran away from home because he didn't
the idea of learning the shoemaking
Instead he became a cook and at
1 left Saxony for America.
Jpon his arrival in New York, he
1 a job as a cook. After s.everal
s in the east he came to Minnesota.
Before settling in Chaska in 1860
Ie worked on the Minnesota River. At
least part of that time was spent aboard
the Antelope. What he did on the river
is conjecture, but with his past experi-
ence it seems safe to assume he was in
charge of the galley.
Young then operated a retail store
in Chaska until his death in 1874. He
also operated a lumber yard for a short
time .
the Chaska area was John Maertz (Mann).
Mann pre-empted an 80-acre claim in the
east half of the southeast quarter of
Section Four on the Yorkville Prairie.
Some reports say the year was 1853, oth
say 1852. If the latter, he also was a
sooner".
Apparently the surrounding pra1r1e
appeared to be a good location for a
colony, because in 1853 he was said to
have laid out lots and platted a townsi
No plat of Yorkville was ever recorded,
however. Before pre-empting the land
at Chaska, Mann had been a partner in a
brewery. It was after the partner, Ant
Yoerk, who bought Mann out, that Mann
named his town.
Mann established a store and hired
young German immigrant to assist him.
The aid, a Mr. Mons, died soon after
coming to the area. Perhaps, the Mons
of this story and the Muntzer of other
reports refer to the same man who was
said to have died in December, 1853.
John G. Eitel
A California grub staker who
apparently struck it rich was John G.
Eitel. Eitel, however, headed for the
gold fields well after the rush began.
After three years spent panning fOl
gold, Eitel apparently satisfied with hi
cache, gave up the effort and returned
east. It was at that time he claimed
a farm in what would become southwest
Chanhassen Township. In 1855 he pre-emp
ed land where he planned to settle down
ana farm. When the Idaho gold rush
began several years later, during the
early 1860's, gold fever struck again.
Along with otQers from Chaska and nearby
he struck out for the gold fields. Two
years later he returned to Chaska. Al-
though he continued to farm, he also
participated in other Chaska business
ventures.
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Yorkville was at that time the dock-
ing area for river traffic. Mann re-
portedly loaded supplies from off the
river boats in row boats and moved the
goods up Chaska Creek - which was said
to flow there once.
Glatzel
From the earliest days of settle-
ment, a division had developed between
Chaska's English speaking American com-
cumity and her foreign-born residents.
The division was evident within the
Moravian church and in the social life
of the town. At the end of her life when
Emmeline Noble Lee named the prominent
residents of early Chaska, her list in-
cluded only those American born who had
come to Chaska from the East. (Mrs. Lee
was a member of that group). The resent-
ments on both sides as a result of the
division frequently erupted into bar
room brawls.
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This is the story of one of those
incidents. One day William Glatzel, in
town on business, met his friend and
neighbor, Michael Engler. Together they
headed for one of the local saloons to
have a few drinks.
As they enjoyed their break, the two
men conversed in German (Glatzel knew
very little English). At the other end
of the bar, a group of Yankees began to
mock the men and t heir conversation.
Soon the mockery became vitriolic. Glat-
zel didn't understand what was being
said, but he understood the tone in which
the comments were being made. Turning to
Engler, Glatzel asked what was going on. (
Engler, a German from Pennsylvania and a
home in both languages, understood the \
remarks. Realizing the two men were
greatly outnumbered, he suggested they
ignore their taunters and go about their
business.
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Glatzel, however, wasn't willing to
allow the commentary to continue. He
outlined a plan to Engler. If Engler
would protect Glatzel from the rear, Glat-
Years later Mrs. Henry Aspden of
Chanhassen Township would recall land
at Yorkville when her family arrived
1855. The report or that landing lat
appeared in the Herald. "When the riv
craft reached the high-sounding point
of Yorkville, the baggage of the New
zel and his trusty cane would do the re
Together they headed for a corner of th
saloon, where Glatzel issued his chal-
lenge.
A demand that the Yankees apologi
for their remarks was met with derisiv
laughter. The Yankees converged on th
two Germans. There was a quick crack
around the ears, a lightning swift jab
the ribs, and a blow to the shins. On
by one, the Yankees were felled or mad
hasty retreat from the saloon--all eig
teen of them. Rather belatedly they b
came aware of Glatzel's stern military
training and his expertise at fencing.
Glatzel experienced no similar
saloon incidents after that encounter.
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Englanders was unloaded. They could
not understand. There was no village.
Within a short time, a stranger approach-
ed the party. His name was Mann and he
lived in a cabin on the Yorkville prairie.
He told the members of the band that
their relatives had told him to provide
Schindler
The Joseph SGhindler family arrived
at Chaska on May 12, 1856. Joseph, his
wife, and six children had made the trip
from Ohio. They traveled by steamer down
the Ohio River to its confluence
with the Mississippi River, then up-
stream to St. Paul. The steamers in
those days carried cargo as well as pass-
engers, and contrary to romantic image
the cargo was not limited to cotton bales.
Besides personal belongings, the Schind-
lers had brought household aids, farm
supplies and a team of horses. The
family settled first in St. Paul where
Joseph Schindler acquired several city
blocks. Later the land was sold for
a yoke of oxen which they brought to
Chaska with them.
for them until they could come to take
them to their new homes."
The land just east of Mann's claim
was pre-empted by the elder Mathias .
lItis, who arrived in 1855. lItis'
descendants remember being told the
How the Schindlers reached Chaska
from St. Paul is unknown, but the:r>e are
two possibilities. They either came up
river on one of the steamers, or they
trekked overland with their oxen. The
overland journey would have been more
arduous, but it was a trip made by many
settlers who could not afford the steamer.
When they reached Chaska, Joseph
Schindler bought a tract of land which
was still in the family more than a
hundred years later.
A dwelling already existed on the
farm when they purchased it. It was
a small log shanty which had been covered
with bark on the outside. The floor of
the cabin was hardened earth.
It was necessary to begin cultivation
as soon as they arrived. So Joseph and
his eight-year-old son set to work clea:r>-
ing the land. That first year they clear-
ed a patch just. big enough to produce
a good_~/crop of potatoes.
The first year was hard, and Mrs.
Schindlel' cried often and longed for
Ohio. Joseph promised his wife they
could return to Ohio as soon as it was
possible. However, when the time came
to leave Chaska, it was HI'S. SChindler
who was willing to remain.
The family prospered and remained
al: Chaska. Two years after their arri-
val, Joseph Schindler became one of the
cha:r>ter membeI's of The Church of the
Guardian Angels.
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early town residences were at Yorkville,
but some time after an 1856 survey of
Fuller's Chaska sites the settlement
began at Chaska. (Some construction,
however is known to have begun on
Fuller'~ site in 1855.) Other old Chaska
residents remember being told there were
a tinsmith and a blacksmith in operation
on the p:r;>airie during the early years.
lItis could have been the tinsmith
since his sons Matt, Jr.s followed that
trade. The blacksmith could have been
Phillip Henk, who was reported to have
opened a shop next to Mann s store J..Il
1856. Henk later owned a good-sized
parcel of land on the Fuller site.
The Fuller interests did not send
Samuel Allen to Chaska until 1854s two
years after the site bad been purchased
from Holmes. Did they wait for a certain
amount of rural settlement before pro-
moting the town? Or is the .story about
Mann's Yorkville trues and dld they send
Allen to the Chaska townsite when their
investment was in jeopardy of being lost
because of the development of a community
too close to their land?
Whatever the reason for the beginning
development in Chaska, that development
began in 1854. Allen arrived in 1854,
but was replaced by T. D. Smith by 1855.
No information exists about any business
venture related to the log cabin Allen
built. Smith, however, operated out of
a store built ~ the Fullers. The Fuller
store was located "on the river".
At the end of the century, old timers
looking back at the community as it
existed during the 1850's, remembered
a few widely scattered houses. In those
first years Chaska was primarily a land-
ing place for the many emigrants who
made their way inland to establish home-
steads.
Originally the flat bottomland had
also been platted. Although that land
was later vacated.when it became evident
that flooding was a common occurence.
there. The names given to some of the
lowland streets are those of some of the
early residents: Smith (T.D.); Lee (John
and/or Gamaliel); and Ellsworth (Ezekial).
Chaska
Moravian Church
Among the early settlers in Chaska
were members of the Hopedales Pennsylvan
congregation of the Moravian Church. .
After a year or two in the new communlty
they sent a request to the Horne Mission
Board of the Moravian Church seeking a
resident pastor. The request was deniec
because of a shortage of ministers.
Then in 1857 Martin A. Erdmann was
sent by the Board to Minnesota. Erdmanr.
his wife, and four year old daughter
began the trip west, arriving in
Prairie du Chien s Wisconsin, in late
November. Mrs. Erdmann and their daugh1
remained in Prairie du Chien while Erdmc
continued the journey. Since it was toe
late in the season to travel by steamer:
Erdmann made the trip by stage coach,
arriving in Chaska on December 17s. ~857,
He conducted his first church serVlce
the following Sunday.
After organizing the congregation,
Erdmann returned to Prairie du Chien
and bis family. He did not return to
Chaska'until after Easters sometime in
April. This time he was accompanied.
by his wife and child. The only aval1-
able house in town was rented for the
couple. At about the same time, The
Shaska Company donated a lot for the
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