Visiting Minnesota Territorial Sites / John Crippen and Katherine Piva

Home , Folsom House, Fort Ridgely, Joseph Renville, Lac qui Parle Mission

MN History special 56/4 8/22/07 1:48 PM Page 259

Territorial Sites JOHN CRIPPEN AND KATHERINE PIVA

Territorial industries, architecture, Up the Mississippi River is the St. An- schools. Under the patronage of religion, leaders, and early life are thony Falls Historic District, the site Joseph Renville, missionaries devel- vividly portrayed at several of the of lumber milling during the territori- oped the first Dakota alphabet and Minnesota Historical Society’s his- al years. (In those times, vistas of the translated the Bible into Dakota. A toric sites. In the Twin Cities area at roaring falls would not have included visit today gives insights into the mix- the Sibley Historic Site, visitors can James J. Hill’s Stone Arch Bridge, ing of cultures there. learn about Mendota’s transition built in 1883.) Farther up the Missis- Along the Minnesota River in from an isolated trading post to part sippi River near Elk River, the Oliver southern Minnesota, Fort Ridgely of an organized territory. Henry H. Kelley family first settled in 1849, and near Fairfax and the Lower Sioux Sibley, an American Fur Company the Society has recreated their mid- Agency near Redwood Falls were official, territorial delegate to the U.S. century farming practices. built after the treaties of 1851 to Congress, and leader in the quest for For a look at residential architec- administer U.S. Indian policy as new statehood, lived in his limestone ture of the times, visit the W. H. C. settlers flooded over the Dakota peo- house there until he began serving as Folsom House in Taylors Falls on the ple’s former lands and to manage governor of the new state in 1858. St. Croix River. Along with other government business with the small The site’s Faribault house, which homes in the Angel Hill district, it is Dakota reservation along the river. served as a hotel, and the Dupuis an example of the Greek and Gothic For information about the impact of house also bear witness to the fur Revival styles popular with New Eng- the territorial period on the Ojibwe company’s post at the confluence of landers who settled in the area. The people, visit the Mille Lacs Indian the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Folsom House was the home of the Museum in north-central Minnesota. Across the Minnesota River at Fort lumber baron who also served as a To find out about visiting these or Snelling, the U.S. government estab- state representative and senator. others of the 23 historic sites admin- lished its presence in the decades be- Near Montevideo in western Min- istered by the Minnesota Historical fore Minnesota became a territory. nesota is the Lac qui Parle Mission, Society, phone toll-free 1-888-PAST- Costumed living-history interpreters where missionaries founded one of FUN, or visit the Society’s website at now depict the residents of the 1820s. the region’s earliest churches and www.mnhs.org.

Plowing with oxen at the Oliver H. Kelley Farm

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