Historically Speaking: More stories of note from late 1800s

As I mentioned last week, over this next period of my writing, from 1865-80, I will continue telling some anecdotal family stories, and information on the beginnings of many local businesses here in Monticello.

Our tales continue with Harvey Wooster Brookins (1821-85), whose son and daughter both died within their first year of life, with wife Asenath dying rather prematurely at 41 not long after.

Brookins, rot with tragedy, married Cynthia Windsor Sherwin (1832-1919), the widow of a Civil War veteran who died at Fort Ridgely in the Sioux uprising of 1862, leaving her behind with three children.

The middle child, a girl by the name of Mae Etta (1860-1925) married Samuel Johnson Mealey and one of their daughters, Marguerite (1888-1956), would serve as Monticello’s postmaster for some years.

The youngest, Edward Henry (1862-1935), was born three months after his father’s death, and it happened that he in particular took an interest in Brookins’ trade of harness making, first as an apprentice and then as a master, taking over the business from Brookins sometime in the 1880s.

Later, in 1894, Sherwin tore down Brookins’ wood frame shop, which had been constructed in 1869, and built a brick building in its place.

Johann “Henry” Heinrich Hitter (1836-1913) established a meat market in a building of his own construction now addressed as 230 W. Broadway St., later moving to 154 W. Broadway (residing there circa 1888-96), then to 144 W. Broadway (residing here until the 1920s), then what is now considered strictly 135 E. Broadway (from the 1920s until the 1960s), and lastly 108 Cedar St. (from the 1960s until they discontinued their meat market).

His elder brother, who had also immigrated here, Christian “Fred” Friedrich Hitter (1829-1913) started out in lumbering, later building a general merchandise store with an Opera House upstairs.

Completed sometime in the mid-to-late 1870s, this building would basically be the first community center in Monticello, standing as the main resource of entertainment locally for nearly 80 years. In the late 1910s, I might add, they tested running film for the first time in this town over a lit candle.

It was only finally replaced when the building itself had deteriorated in such a fashion that it had to be torn down. The bricks weren’t made right and it caused them to crumble after years of weathering, which led to these deteriorated bricks falling into the streets, nearly hitting people.

The replacement included Albert Bernard Muller’s (1882-1956) Theatre, built on the left side of Holker’s building (141 E. Broadway St.) — whereas Hitter’s Grand Opry stood on the right of this building — and Holker’s Drive-In Movie Theatre where Hitter’s was. Holker’s ticket booth still stands currently, addressed as 155 E. Broadway St.

On March 12, 1869, the Monticello Grange, P. of H., No. 11, was organized by Oliver Hudson Kelley (1826-1913), secretary of the National Grange. Col. Samuel Emery Adams was elected master, and John B. Parvin (1822-1901) was made secretary.

Monticello’s branch was the only one ever established in this county and, in its day, it was of great help to the local farmers.

Emil Wetzel (1844-1934) was born at Zell im Wiesental in the district Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He emigrated to America in 1869, spending his first year in Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Cloud.

In 1870, he arrived at Monticello, building a jewelry store to the left of the Freemason’s building, and on Halloween that year he married Zoraide Jared Hanaford (1851-1916), the granddaughter of David Hanaford (1802-60), one of the really early settlers of the Monticello valley.

They would have four children together: Agnes Pansy (1873-1946), Alfred Ulrich (1875-1953), Emil Julius (1877-1960) and Albert Joseph (1879-1961).

Emil Julius Wetzel continued the family Jewelry business and, in 1920, he tore down his father’s store, replacing it then with a larger building now addressed as 148 W. Broadway, which is currently Brand-New Nails & Alterations.

The Wetzels sold this building to the Loch family in the 1970s, and the Lochs took the title of the family jewelers in town.

The Wetzel home, built in 1886 and constructed of brick, still stands today and is addressed as 501 W. Broadway.

A grain elevator was built in 1872, with its proprietors first being Charles Wesley Clarey (1833-1917) and Henry Seth Bliss (1831-1915), the elevator did well in its first couple of years.

Clarey sold out to the Mitchell brothers in 1874 and they changed the elevator into a grist mill on a smaller scale.

Charles Hoag (1835-1910) and Aaron Hoag (1806-83), then of Hassan, Hennepin County, purchased an interest in the mill in 1876.

Ferdinand “Frank” Franz Nowack (1849-1925) bought the mill and soon found himself in several lawsuits before the mill burned down in 1878.

In 1874, William (1830-1905) and Mary Elizabeth (1846-79) Tubbs built a grist mill in Monticello at Otter Creek. King George Staples (1851-1910) bought an interest in the mill in 1876, and in 1878, John W. Tennison (1838-1900) became the proprietor. Soon after, the mill burned down.

In 1880, Charles Janney (1838-1926) and his sons Frank Dean (1860-1946) and William Robert (1863-1950) purchased the mill site and built a flouring mill 35 by 45 feet, 32 stories high, having water power sufficient enough to run three sets of burrs, one feed run, and two sets of rollers eight months of the year. They also had a 35 horsepower engine, and used steam power when there was a lack of water. The Monticello flour mill was a model mill and it did good business.

In 1873, Isaac Bailey (1824-96) built another hotel, which he named the Central House. George William Riggs (1827-1904), the elder brother of Ashley Crowl Riggs (1828-1907), another very early settler of the Monticello valley, held proprietorship there for several years. Bailey would take the landlord title around 1880.

The 1870 U.S. Federal Census concluded that Monticello, town and township, had a population of 903, and the 1880 Census concluded 1,010.

The Monticello Academy burned to the ground Nov. 20, 1882, caused by the chimney being faulty, starting a fire in the attic. The entire town could smell the smoke before the building was noticeably engulfed.

These are the stories I’ve been able to find within this period of Monticello, from 1865-80. My next article will cover 1880-1910.

Ayden Irwin is a senior at Monticello High School. An avid local history buff and genealogist, he serves as the city’s unofficial historian.