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Article from Chaska History Book 2 ~.::;; .~;:~~J.~;;=: ~ xY2c-,;...~ >,~~..... The village also decided it was leto bring a halt to the practice of ilg city streets as raceways. So they >pted an ordinance which prohibited t.ving or riding horses or mules at ~ec:is more than four miles 'an hour ~ough town. The same ordinance requir- all animals to be securely tethered. ~r the year~ seyeral animals, poorly ~d, had become frightened runaways. several occasions townspeople had ~n nearly run down by the fleeing i:mals . Walking about town could be diffi- cult on the day of the monthly cattle fair. Farmers bringing animals to Chaska for the market tethered them along the streets. In addition th~re were the extra teams and wagons of people who had come to the fairs. While the fairs frequently failed to produce many cattle sales the merchants and saloon keepers usually had "booming" days. ", _." .. During the 1870 's the annual~ county fairs continued to J,e held a~ Jesse James The Minneapolis Hotel was located up town on the northwest Corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. Whetlu!r because of the congeniality of its host, Herman Brinkhaus, or the comrade- ship of its patrons, the Minneapolis Hotel had become a favorite spot for the locals. Most evenings would find, a friendly poker game in progress at one of its tables. One evening toward the end of summer in 1876, so the story goes, the county's young sheriff, F. E. DuToit, was at his more or less regular post playi~gpoker with friends. That evening three strangers stopped at the hotel. After checking in and cleaning up, they made their way.to the saloon where F. E.'s poker game was in session. Invited to sit i~ on the game, the strangers proved to be amiable company. After apleasattt evening spent at cards, the, party broke up. The next morning the strangers saddled their horses and were on their way. That day, or perhaps the next, Shakopee blacksmith John Dean re-' ceived three new 'customers. The men, all well dressed in linen dusters, eame to Dean with a request that their horses be shod backwards. Dean mis- taking them for some of the "eastern dudes" who frequented Lake Minnetonka, complied with the request. After the horses were shod, the leader generously tipped the smithy and the trio rode off. Several days later the trio, along with others, staged the ill- fated Northfield bank robbery. F.E. DuToit had been playing cards with members of the Jesse James gang, and the blacksmith, at least, claimed the leader of the trio had been Jesse himself. While the story may be nothing more than folklore, it is known the James gang did split into groups of two or three prior to their attempted hold up of the Northfield bank. In the smaller groups they had ridden the Minnesota Valley familiarizing them- selves with the terrain and possible escape routes. News of the Northfield robbery also had a marked effect on residents of the near and distant communities. Until the gang members Here captured, rumors flew about their being sighted in this community or that. Just out of view, over every man's shoulder, there was a member of the gang riding or walking past. 163 'If,', d I( I, ! ; ;~ .~. U II ~I'. :11' : I ill 'I iI 1 i ! , I . t Carver. Each year the list of exhibit winners was long but the nallies of the winners did not change much from year to year. In 1873 Mrs. George Powers won a first prize ribbo~ for her catsup eritry. .f>o5T Another ribbon went to Mrs. Theodore Bo: for a knit bedspread. Each year Mrs. Fred Salter would display samples of hel milinery goods and workmanship. Paul Wolff and William Sarver could always Methodist Church The church which stood on Cedar between Third and Fourth Streets, has been variously indentified as the Meth- odist and the German Evangelical church. Both denominations can be traced back in Chaska.Jshistory. Although Methodism was the first of the two denominations to establish a congregation, or a mission, in Chaska, it apparently never had a church structure until some later year when it took over the building con- structeq by the German Evangelical Church. Since the relationship of the two denominations appears so intertwined, both will be reviewed together. Missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as it was then known, were probably active in Carver County during the 1850's. Some records say a Rev. Black, who had pre-empted land at Glencoe, occasionally came to Chaska to preach. He was said to have visited the community as early as 1855, con- ducting services in homes. He was also one of the first ministers in the area to preach in English. Another Methodist, Rev. Stephenson, a circuit rider, also included Carver County in his territory. The St. Anthony Falls Church Mission bought two lots on Walnut Street, south of Fourth Street (diagon- ally across from the future Moravian Church site) in August, 1857. The land was lost for failure to pay taxes, and no deed was ever delivered. Asa re- sult, articles of incorporation were never filed. Therefore it is unknown who started the mission. At that time, there were four churches established at St. Anthony which could have started the mission. They were Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, and First Con- gregational. It certainly was not the Catholic Church which operated the mission. Nor was it likely to have beE the Episcopal, since its congregation was said to be very small. A fair assumption would seem to point to the well-established Methodist Church as the sponsor of the mission. Furthermore, during the. years l86~ and 1864 Methodists were mentioned occasionally in the weekly newspaper. The pastors mentioned over a year and a half period were the Reverend~ Robert; Berline, Crist, and Chaffee. The men mentioned, however, might actually have been elders rather than ministers. At that time, the Methodists .did not have a church building; their services were being held in the school house. A letter written home to Vermont, at about that time, by Lucius Howe also confirms that Chaska had four re-. ligious denominations operating within the community. Howe's.letter named the Catholica, Moraviaps, Methodists, and Baptists. In early December, 1863, the Methodist church held a quarterly meeting. It convened on Saturday with sermon. That evening there was a praye service and a conference. Sunday's ac- tivities began with "the usual love feast" and concluded in the late after- noon, after a collection had been taken to aid the salary of Rev. Chaffee. The meeting had arawn attendance from Chask Excelsior, Carver, Eden Praire, and the "immediate vicinity." Several years later in 1873, the Rev. W. R. Powell of St. Peter's Meth- odist Episcopal church in Shakopee was .~I~ii 'I. Ii ~l 164 be counted on'to win a 'ribbon. Sarver's specialty was vegetables while Wolff was called "the pioneer apple man"in the county. In 1875 Wolff displayed thirteen varieties. a very busy man. The Herald reported he was the superintendent of a church academy in Shakopee in addition to serving as a minister to several con- gregations. Every other Sunday he held mot'Iling and evening services in Shakopee. During the afternoons of those days, he preached both at Carver and at Chaska. Then on the alternate Sundays he held three services, one each at LeSueur, Henderson, and Belle Plaine. In addition, he and the members of the Chaska congre- gation were trying to establish a Sunday school. One can only assume he was making similar efforts elsewhere. The next mention made is of the German Evang~lical church being or- ganized. " The German Evangelical church, was organized September 15, 1878, although services had been held as early as 1871 by a Rev. William Ludlow. Officiating at the organizational meeting in Sargent's Hall in 1878 were the Revs. George Hielscher and H. E. Liuse. The brick church was built in 1878, and Rev. Heilscher, its first pastor, served the congregation for two years. Construction began on the church almost at once after the formal organ- ization. Even before being formally organized, the Rev. Heilscher was canvassing the county for funds to build a church. The location had been selected. In fact, the lots had been purchased six years earlier. Even the brick was being hauled to the church site before the official or- ganizationhad taken place. After the German Evangelical Church was organized, the distinction (if there ever was one) between it and the Methodist church ceased to exist. The Methodist Church is the small church on the right. In 1881, the Rev. George Holler took charge of the congregation. The 1882 membership was reported to be twenty-three persons. Then in 1887, the Church built a brick parsonage and a frame barn on the second lot owned by it. Newspaper reports of the construction progress referred to it both as the German Evangelical and the Methodist church. The Rev. Arndt left Chaska in 1888 and was replaced by Rev. E. J. Iwan, who remained two years. After three years as pastor of the Church, the Rev. Schild was transferred to Ottertail County. His replacement, the Rev. J. J. Boelter, was a young bachelor who boarded with the David Ulmer family. Rev. Boelter remained longer than any of the earlier pastors. In 1897, he married one of his parishioners, C. C... Kraus, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Henry Kraus. By 1898 the Rev. Engelbart had arrived. He was still serving the church at the end of the century. 165 ~