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Prairie Town History Contact the Lyon County Historical Society at 507-537-6580 or email lyoncountymuseum@iw.net.
Click here for additional
resources for genealogy research and area history. Marshall
has functioned as a regional trade center, university town, county
seat, shipping point for commodities, a base for traveling salesmen,
and a food processing center. Marshall
continues to progress as a healthy family oriented community. Created
as a T-town with all lots on one side of tracks, Marshall was platted
out in twenty-six blocks northeast of the line.
There were 126 lots for homes and 144 lots for businesses, as
well as 28 miscellaneous lots. The
Winona and St. Peter rail line came through parallel to present Main
Street. Major
John Winslow Blake, along with Charles H. Whitney, became a prime
mover behind Marshall's growth with the purchasing of the railroad
land. Mrs. C.H.
Whitney is credited with suggesting the name of Marshall.
Of the twenty men who first stated businesses in Marshall in
1872, all but one were of British ancestry, and that one individual
had a Dutch name. Taken
together, Americans of British ancestry made up 91% of the population
in 1865. Although
Marshall was dominated by Yankees, it was also home to other ethnic
groups. All the
Scandinavian groups, except for Finns, were represented in small
numbers from the early years of Marshall's existence.
By 1895, Germans were the largest ethnic minority in Marshall
having 17% of the total Marshall population in 1905.
Although Marshall has the image of being a town with a large
Belgian population however most lived in Lyon County. Just
one year after Marshall was platted, it became the seat of Lyon County
in 1873. The county seat
was moved from nearby Lynd to Marshall.
The county seat meant jobs, power and money.
The first Courthouse was completed in 1892 after a devastating
fire during its construction. This
courthouse served the citizens of Lyon County until a new facility was
built in 1994. Weather
and especially wind permeates Marshall's culture and history.
Chicago may have the reputation as the Windy City, but Marshall
Minnesota, has wind---a certifiable year-round average of 16.5 miles
per hour on the Buffalo Ridge outside of town verses Chicago's 10.4
mph. Marshall
main geographic feature is its location at the beginning of the
Redwood River's flood plain. This
geographic location has led to severe flooding in 1875, 1881, 1907,
1909, 1919, 1927, 1947, 1957, and 1993. With
the opening of the Marshall Milling Company in 1889, Marshall joined
the industrial revolution and created an industrial climate, which
still exists today. Throughout
Marshall's history, business and industry has thrived in this small
town setting. Newspaper
articles began as early as the 1890's boosting Marshall as a
progressive town. For the
people of Marshall progressivism meant a spirit of civic optimism, a
belief that the community could be improved through hard work and the
application of logical solutions to all problems.
Marshall's leaders believed that the town could be bettered
economically, spiritually and socially.
This boosting of Marshall which started in 1890's continues to
present day. In
1901, Marshall had incorporated as a city and the city council
consisted of a mayor, two alderman, a treasurer and a recorder.
In the post-1900 period, city government took an increasing
role in directing the city's growth and development.
Infrastructure ----streets, water supply, electrical and
telecommunications was and still is a very important aspect of this
community. By
1920, Marshall was poised to become more than just another small
county-seat town. Beginning
in the 1920's, Marshall's food processing industries began to grow so
that by the end of World War II, the city dominated food processing in
southwestern Minnesota. The
city's first and most dramatic success in the field of food processing
was achieved by Marshall Foods owners Louis Weiner and his sons.
Weiner founded Marshall Foods in 1915 with a chicken
slaughtering house. After
that a poultry feeding and dressing plant was constructed as well as
an egg-drying plant. In
1972, Marshall Foods became a public corporation. In
1941, the Schwan family purchased part ownership in a local ice cream
company. Paul
Schwan built his own dairy plant on West College Drive together with
his wife and son Marvin in 1948.
Four years later the Schwan's Ice Cream Company was formed.
In 1952, Marvin Schwan created a vertically integrated
operation in which Schwan's made a product from scratch, and
distributed and sold it through its own dealers.
By the time of his death in 1993, his company was ranked as the
fourth-largest privately held company in Minnesota with business
interest in forty-nine states, Canada and Europe.
As Marshall largest employer, Schwan's and its corporate
culture have had an important impact on the city of Marshall. In
1963, Marshall was the winner of a new four-year college called
Southwest Minnesota State College, changed to Southwest State
University. By 1967, the
school was ready for its first class.
In the last three years, U.S. News & World Report has
ranked Southwest Minnesota State University as the number one Liberal Arts
College in the Upper Midwest.
For
a more detailed history of Marshall read A. P. Rose's Illustrated
History of Lyon County, Minnesota or John Radzilowski's Prairie Town:
A History of Marshall, Minnesota, 1872-1997 or contact the Lyon County
Historical Museum located at 114 North 3rd Street in Marshall, or call
(507) 537-6580. |