"History and Description of Lyon County, Minnesota", 1884
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Town of Grandview.
Grandview, town 112, range 42 is located six miles from the north and west lines of the county. It is one of the best prairie towns in the county, and is being rapidly settled up. The Belgian branch of the Catholic colony has taken a considerable portion of the town within the last two years. and bids fair to take more.
The first settler in
Grandview was
O. McQuestion, who located on section 34 in
Aug. 1871. He did some breaking that summer and erected the first house, a slab "dug out" covered with sods. This was the year before the railroad reached
Marshall and building material was scarce and dear.
In
August 1873 the first town meeting was held at the house of
J. Thomas, and there were then elected the first officers.
T. J. Barber, chairman;
S. B. Green and
J. M. Collins, supervisors;
A. L. Baldwin, clerk;
Geo. Chamberlain, assessor;
J. M. English, treasurer;
O. McQuestion and
H. B. Loomis, justices;
G. A. Wirt and
C. Cotterell, constables.
The first birth in the town was that of
Lilly, a daughter of
O. McQuestion,
Dec. 16, 1871.
The first death was that of a child of
Joseph Chamberlain.
The first school was taught in
1876 by
Sarah Constant. The town now has four school houses.
The first preaching was by Rev.
W. S. Williams, Methodist, who it is said also preached the first sermon in
Fairview in
Seth Johnson's blacksmith shop. This was in
1872, during which year there was quite an emigration to the town.
The W. & St. P. railroad runs across this town somewhat diagonally toward the northwest, giving a station on section 15 which was formerly named
Grandview but was changed to
Ghent by the Belgian colonists some two years ago. It is seven or eight miles from
Marshall, and, under the impulse given it by the colonists is growing into a thrifty village.
The history and present status of the railroad stations and villages will be treated separately from the townships in another place.
Three
Mile Creek runs through the town toward the north, and the bottom lands along the creek are among the finest meadows in the county. The farming lands of
Grandview are good enough for the most critical and a large number of the farms are thrifty and handsome homes.
The assessor's report for
1883 gave 1,022 acres improved, 629 wheat, 261 oats, 80 corn, 15 barley, 20 potatoes, 8 flax. The crops have been uniformly as good as those of any section of the county. A canvas made by Mr.
Vaugh this winter gives over 3,800 acres of improved land, about 500 cattle and 225 horses.
The town has no natural timber, but is reported as having 44 acres of cultivated forest trees, some of the groves being very thrifty and promising ones.
The last assessed valuation of
Grandview was $65,725, which will show a large increase in this spring's assessment, real estate not having been assessed for two years.