25156 St Croix Trail North, Shafer MN 55074
Mailing Address: PO Box 175, Shafer MN 55074

 
:: click here for Ansell Smith biography

:: click here for History Book of Franconia Township

::  click here for Panola Zephyrs story

:: click here for Adam Gemuenden story

 


TOWNSHIP HISTORY, "WHO WE ARE"

 

John Jackson's
Tales from Franconia Trail
REQUEST FOR HELP

Thirty-six years ago a family man and farmer, Eugene Greene approached Town Clerk, John Jackson with his filing fee to contend in the March 12, 1974 election for a three-year term as Town Supervisor in Franconia Township. The sensitive issue of the day was whether a vacated one-room school house should be saved and converted for use as the first official town hall or if land should be acquired and a new building erected.  Until this

decision was made regularly scheduled meetings were rotated between the homes of the members of the Board.  Mr. Greene was quite familiar with the old school house, intimately you could say with his daily attendance at class through the sixth grade.  (click here to read entire story)

Franconia is today a quiet settlement nestled on the west shore of the St Croix River just below the lower Dalles area, about two miles south of Taylor Falls.  With its rolling topography, the area is mindful of New England and the sheer basalt walls in the lower Dalles area just north of the town landing have been compared to parts of the Hudson river.  At one time the settlement boomed, first with logging and later with enterprises.  While Taylor Falls remained a dot on the map, Franconia became the major town site north of Marine on the river.

On February 24, 1858, Ansell Smith appeared before Thomas Lacy at the Taylor's Falls Land Office to record his plat, Franconia..  (This maiden development is still the largest on record in the township yet today.)  Eight months following the recording, a formal organization of the township and first election was held on October 25, 1858. 

Once the federal government had sanctioned this land the steamboat industry flourished bringing more New Englanders, Germans, Irish, and ah yes, the Swedes. Steamboat whistles signaled the imminent arrival of the boats, drawing people from their homes down to the river.   Franconia soon developed into a thriving community.  Farmers worked the soil of the highlands, while industry boomed along the river.  The population rapidly grew from eighty homesteads in 1860 to one hundred sixty-five in 1880. 

Franconia's golden era lasted barely 30 years, from 1852-1881, but during those years it grew from an area covered with hardwood forests to a booming river town.  Once part of a region claimed by both Ojibwa and Dakota, Franconia's modern history began in the mid-19th- century with the arrival of Yankees from New England.  That story begins in 1850 with the arrival of Ansell Smith in St Croix Falls as a teacher.  Smith helped build the Chisago House, a hotel that served as a home for immigrants for almost 100 years, in Taylors Falls in 1851.  The following year Smith claimed land about two miles south of Taylors Falls.  There he cleared timber, began farming, and named the site Franconia.  Smith operated the first store in the village and became its first postmaster in 1854.

The first sawmill was built in the village in 1854, a collaboration of Smith and the Clark brothers, and logging became the main business of the town.  At one time the settlement earned the name of "Plugtown" because it manufactured plugs used in making rafts of logs.  Wooden piers stretched out into the river from the later riverside sawmill.

In 1858 a school was organized and Margaret Smith became the first teacher.  Ten students met with their new teacher in the hotel barroom.  A new school was built in 1870.

Paul Munch settled in Franconia and during the 1860's erected a three story flouring mill on Lawrence Creek.  About the same time that Munch built his gristmill, White, Thornton and Irish embarked upon steamboat building in the village.  In addition to rebuilding the G.B. Knapp, they built the Jenny Thornton, Ben Campbell, Viola, and Jenny Hayes.

click here for History Book

 

Volunteer grant writer is needed to identify grant opportunities and assist volunteers in submitting requests for funding the publication of a Town of Franconia History Book.  

Volunteer writers are needed to meet with residents and others with knowledge of the recent past of Franconia Township.

Individuals or groups are needed who are interested in sharing stories of remembrance of Franconia Township.  This may include one or more meetings.  Topics being researched at this time are businesses located within the township and may include saw mills, saloons, hotels, farms, etc. 

If your Franconia Township family has a book you would like to donate or borrow for this cause, we appreciate your generosity.

Please contact Tony Minnichshoffer at tonyminn@gmail.com or info@franconiamn.us.

 


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