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About Watertown
Home :: About Watertown
City of Watertown Vision Statement
We envision a vibrant full-service community that meets the needs of every citizen.
Mission Statement
To support this vision, the mission of the Watertown community is to meet the basic requirements of our citizens in a
fiscally responsible way. We will manage the evolution of our community's unique natural amenities to ensure that a balance exists between the
needs of all residents. The City will maintain its wonderful historic past while moving forward into an exciting future.
History of Watertown
The information contained on this page is taken from the Souvenir Album published for the Watertown Centennial in
1956 and mainly contains information about the early days on Watertown. If you are looking for a more complete history of the City of Watertown,
please visit the Watertown Area Historical Society page on this web site.
Watertown designated 'Community for a Lifetime'
The City of Watertown was honored in August for being designated as "2006 Community for a Lifetime" by the Carver County
Health Partnership.
The city was presented with a plaque by Maureen Melgaard-Schneider, Carver County Health Partnership Senior Commission
consultant. The plaque honors the city and its senior commission for its work during the past year to achieve its designation.
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
www.waconiapatriot.com/articles/2006/01/25/
carver_county_news/city/city01.txt
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An early view of Watertown, looking west across the Crow River. |
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Watertown Pioneer Days
One hundred years ago in the summer of 1856, a company of St. Anthony men, among who were Isaac Ives Lewis, Caleb Lewis, C.H. Pettit,
R.J. Mendenhall, Isaac B. Edwards-Bickford and a number of others, platted and surveyed several townsites, among which was Watertown
village. The name - "Rapid Waters" - was the translation of the Indian name of this place and they had an Indian village situated here.
In 1858 the name was changed to "Watertown" because there was a "Little Rapids" settlement in the southern part of the country, and it
was throught that the two similar names would be confusing to the mails. The name "Watertown" was selected because the village was
surrounded by low lands covered with water and because of the south fork of the Crow River which was then a mighty stream, and also in
honor of Caleb Lewis' home town in Watertown, N.Y., which has long been thought to have been his hometown.
Recent research by Earline
King of the Watertown Area Historial Society (WAHS) proves that Caleb Lewis was in fact from Wallingsford Hill, Connecticut (known
now as just Wallingsford). He left this town in 1830. This village was platted on land owned by Caleb Lewis, whose claim shanty stood on Block 28.
Big Woods Attracts New Settlers
The same year the town was platted, Daniel Iustus, John Buehler, Dr. Benedict Leman, Seraphin Kemf, Anton Sunie,
Benjamin Franklin Light, August and Justus Krause, Joe Gast and John P. Miller with their families entered the township and struck claims for
permanent settlement. The opening of the road in the following year heralded an increasing immigration of families to this township, which
had been opened to settlers by the Indian Treaty of 1851. George Mapes, Christian Singley, Edward F. Hanlin, Eli F. Lewis, L.M. Green, Isaac
Rogers, John Crawford, A.J. Brown, J.P. Hendricks, Johan Miller, Ira Kingsley, John Frank, Peter Monson, J.P. Akins, Carl Swenson, Henry
Kuntz, Celestine Kohler, Swan Halgren, P.O. Johnson, Henry Tesch, Frederick Hamann, Michael Ketcher, George Goetzman, Julius Tesch, Milton
Jadwin, J.A.C. Flood, Gust Miller and C.G. Halgren were among those coming to Watertown township.
The fame of the unexcelled soil of the Big Woods had already spread through the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and a heavy immigration had set in from these states when the financial crash of 1857 came up the country and checked
further influx for a time. The settlers that had reached the Big Woods experienced hard times for the next few years. The country was new, no
crops could be raised until the heavy timber was cut down and burned. No provisions could be shipped in except by boats up the Mississippi
River during the summer, and consequently prices on all necessaries were extremely high, with little or no money in the hands of the new
settlers (and what they did have was of the wild cat kind and of uncertain value) to buy with. Had it not been for the generous supply of
fish and wild game that our lakes and forests afforded much suffering might have resulted. To add to the perplexities of these new settlers,
President James Buchanan put all this land on the market and enforced payment of $1.25 per acre for the same. The result was that most of the
settlers were compelled to give half of their claims to land sharks to raise means to pre-empt and get title to the balance of the land.
All the country about here was a wilderness of woods and swamps. Wild game, fish and berries were the main diet of the
settlers, and in the spring they made maple sugar in large quantities. Indians roamed through the woods, and though they were peaceful, it was
never certain when trouble might break out.
Mail Service Established in 1857
Mail service was established in the spring of 1857. A stage coach came from Fort Snelling, St. Paul and St. Anthony to Watertown, and the post
office was made the distributing point for the surrounding country. From here one route served Waconia, Carver and Chaska; another went to Glencoe,
and another to Hutchinson and Greenleaf (Greenleaf was then the location of the state land office) two more routes branched northward, one to Waverly
and one to Rockford. Small branch post offices were established along these routes.
First Term of School Taught in Fall of 1859
The first term of school was taught in the second story of Eli Lewis' store and in the fall of 1858 a frame schoolhouse was built in block 68 on
the property now owned by Lloyd Campbell. W.P. Buck taught the first school in the village and the township.
103 Volunteers Leave Watertown to Fight in Civil War
During the Civil War this little hamlet remained at a standstill, most of its men joining the army of the North, but some sought refuge across
the border into Canada to escape the merciless provo marshall. In 1862 the sum of $3000 was raised by subscription to pay bounties to soldiers;
the amount was $259 per man. The following year bonds to the amount of $900 were issued to fill the quota of the town, allowing $300 to each
man who enlisted. By the year of 1865 the village and vincinity furnished 103 volunteers, and after the last enlistment there was not a man
or youth left in it between the ages of 18 and 45.
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