Early St Lawrence
The first hub of St Lawrence township was the Village of St Lawrence. This community did not spring up organically. The town was founded in 1858 by four prominent businessmen: Samuel Burton Strait, W.H. Stodder, C.L.Pierson, and Warren DeCamp. Within a few years, they paid to have a sawmill, blacksmith shop, general store, six homes, and a massive hotel built along the river. The site was carefully planned, and the four investors hoped that the central location of their community would make it the premier stop for river traffic in the area.
The hotel in particular was built to impress. The building was four stories tall, and featured limestone walls three feet thick. Special double doors were built to allow immigrants to unload their large trunks. Inside, the building had polished walnut flooring, a large dining room, and an elaborate maple banister. A 1925 article in the Belle Plaine Herald about the township described this banister in humorously flowery terms “...touching it, one seems to sense a magic contact with the pulsing life of that earlier day. He sees dainty ladies in crinolines mounting the stairs, assisted by young gentlemen in high stocks and stovepipe hats. It was an age of courtesy and reserve; but who knows but what that haughty maiden tingled a stolen kiss, coming down those stairs after a ball. Who knows what marriage pacts were sealed on those stairs. Ah what tales that banister could tell.”
The first school in the township was established in 1858. It was taught in a log cabin by Mary Evermann. The post office was also founded in 1858, and W. H. Stodder served as postmaster. He was succeeded by John Hewitt who held the post office until it was closed in 1880. Neither Pierson or Stodder remained long in Sand Creek. After a few years, both sold their land and moved east. Similarly, DeCamp sold his property and left Sand Creek. Of the original founders, only Strait remained in the area.
Others seemed to agree that the founders’ vision of a river hub was a good one. By 1860, the town of St Lawrence had a population of 216.
Residents of the Village of St Lawrence
One of St Lawrence’s early residents was Fredrick Erikson. Erikson had immigrated to the United States from Sweden in the 1840s. He came to the United States with more wealth than the average immigrant at the time, and invested in the burgeoning railroad industry. By 1860 he had set his sights on “retiring” as a farmer, and bought 1100 acres in St Lawrence Township.
He built a four story house on a hill, a two story “manouse” capable of housing 30 farmworkers, and a barn that could hold 150 horses.
St Lawrence resident Clara Frank who was a little girl at the time recalled visiting the upper floor of the house and being awed at seeing the landscape around her from the vantage point of a four story view. She also said that every night she would hear the farm workers be called in to dinner with the clang of a giant bell that she compared to a church bell.
Erikson farmed in St Lawrence for about 20 years before deciding that the railroad business was more lucrative. He sold his land and moved west to California to rejoin the rail industry. The large Erkison farm, called Oak Farm at the time, was broken up and sold to neighboring property owners.
Strait House, 1998. Photo from the SCHS collections.
Samuel Strait, one of the founders of St Lawrence, also built a home for himself in the community. Like the St Lawrence hotel, the house featured thick limestone walls. It was large, with big windows and a shaded front porch.
For those people steeped in county history, the name of Strait will seem familiar. Samuel Strait held property in Sand Creek, but eventually moved to Shakopee. He originally claimed 130 acres of land in Sand Creek. He then paid others to claim land in his name and gained 900 more. The first election in Sand Creek was held on May 11, 1858. Strait was chosen to moderate the election, and was also elected Chairman of the community.
Strait Flour Mill, 1885. From the SCHS collections.
One of Samuel’s sons, George Strait became a prominent local miller. He opened mills in Jordan and Chaska, eventually settling in Shakopee where he started the Strait Flour Mill. By 1885, this mill ground more than 300,000 bushels of grain annually.
Major Horace Strait, around 1865. Photo from the SCHS collections.
Horace Strait, another son raised in St Lawrence, enlisted as a private in company 1 of the 9th Minnesota after the Civil War broke out in 1862. Horace rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Inspector General on the staff of General Andrew Macarthur. Andrew Macarthur was, in turn, the father of famed General Douglas Macarthur
After leaving the service, Horace Strait pursued a career in politics. He was elected as a Republican to the 43rd, 44th, and 45th congresses, but failed in his reelection bid in 1878 to the 46th congress. However, two years later he was elected to the 47th and reelected to 48th
and 49th congresses. His political downfall finally came when he supported a tariff on lumber coming into Minnesota from Canada in the 1880s, a time when much of the Southern portion of the state was in need of inexpensive lumber to support a boom in building.