the year was one thousand eight hundred and forty nine and the great surge westward across north america had already begun the region of land called minnesota received territorial status and with that status came pioneers this was the place to go then because this was new territory where land could be procured cheaply and the promoters painted a wonderful picture but the promoters never had to work too hard when it came to this area lush farm country with rolling hills and a horizon that seemed to go on forever this was the land these first settlers came upon those who dared venture beyond the safe haven of stillwater had names like albion masterman and william rutherford they along with men such as james rutherford samuel webster jesse soul and a few others were the first nonindigenous people to populate greenfield a township organized on october 20th one thousand eight hundred and fifty eight in the home of thomas ramsden the following officers were chosen three town supervisors one of which shall be designated as chairman one town clerk one assessor one collector one overseer of the poor two constables two justices of the peace as many overseers of roads as there are road districts in the town and as many pound masters as the electors may determine it seemed as if every person in the township would need a title to fill all of the offices it was greenfield township to begin with and why that was picked i suppose it sounded rather romantic the agrarian movement has started in greenfield sound nice and lush but it turned out there was another in western i believe in western hennepin county that also named themselves greenfield so in one thousand eight hundred and sixty four a new name was proposed by the town clerk jesse soul the new moniker would honor the great civil war hero general ulysses s grant previous to the name change the townsfolk had been busy bringing their families from the east dock to join them working the land and establishing ordinances the first of which was enacted in one thousand eight hundred and fifty nine to prohibit free running swine by one thousand eight hundred and sixty three other animals got into the act and the ordinance was broadened to include all farm animals and dogs each dog was described by name color and owner in the town records any stray found could be impounded and if after public notice no one claimed them in ten days the animals were forfeited to the person caring for them with the 1860s came great change to washington county the civil war was upon the country and the need for food to nourish the soldiers great wheat became the cash crop of the fertile meadows of grant township local historian jerry brochures details some of the trades used in the area wheat farming and dairying really dairy farmers it was a central part of their operation some sheep raising which was carrying on with the old rutherford tradition of raising sheep back in the north of england which is where william and james his father had come in addition to england the rutherford neighborhood became populated by people from canada ireland and the east coast states of maine new york new hampshire and massachusetts i want to be careful when we speak of that rutherford neighborhood we don't want to just talk about the rutherford's because there were others of course who were just as early the masterminds the ramsdens are the main ones that come to mind but the rutherford's along with those other families were the first farmers in the area probably the first farmers closest to the city of stillwater while farming took out much of the pioneers time they managed to include other more enjoyable activities as well we're hardworking people and try to establish a community here and once they had established a community then they they did get together for many different things they would i imagine they probably were involved in helping each other build buildings and the typical thing you'd expect at the time or they tried once they got here they tried to establish this rutherford center was sort of a an area of these people who had arrived here had something in common and and try to better themselves intellectually too i think they actually started reading groups and and and tried to bring some of the culture of the east to the wilds of the west and with fancy music boxes and pianos that survive the long haul across country people were able to enjoy their leisure time just as well as they had in the east later on many would have the opportunity to charter a streetcar straight to the wildwood amusement park where merrygorounds rollercoasters dancing pavilions laughing and shooting galleries picnic facilities bowling allies and swimming beaches on the shores of the great white bear lake beckoned to them but life was not all fun and games people also had to consider how their hard earned money was spent in one thousand eight hundred and seventy one would get you four and a half pounds of coffee and twenty cents would give you two pounds of crackers and when you were outfitting the family you would always take into consideration the quarters spent for five dozen buttons and the parasol worth forty cents but it is perhaps the stories of the individual families that makes grant township's history come alive we begin with thomas and jane ramston in whose home the first ever town meeting was held he'd seen so much of the world he'd done so much i mean the start sailing at the age of eight and in the british navy and go around the world and quit give up the ocean at twenty one i mean he already had a career before most of us were growing up and he started out as a cabin boy and and served the officers and then worked learned the art of carpentry and join and joiner so he was a finished carpenter and lived in england for two years after he got out of the navy and then came to america it was rumored in the area that the former seaman had a pot of gold buried in one corner of his garden although never proven he always had enough to supply all of his wants in fact at the one thousand eight hundred and seventy four minnesota state fair thomas took first prize for his oats and first premium for his apples the ramsdens were accomplished farmers just about anything you can imagine in this country when my great grandfather settled it he was a carpenter so he didn't really get into the farming other than subsistence type of farming you know a few cattle some hogs and chickens the old style farm farm where you got a few of everything my grandfather got more into the dairy part of it was expanding that bruce ramsden is a fourth generation farmer in grant township he describes the home his great great grandfather built after staking his claim in one thousand eight hundred and fifty one the first house that tom built on the farm and grant was a bilevel to fit the top of graphy of the land the kitchen and work rooms were on the first floor and the living room was around the second floor a summer kitchen was also built a few feet away from the main house i might add that the farm had at one time sixteen buildings not including the outhouse tom earned a spotless reputation among his friends and neighbors he helped to organize the township of greenfield now grant and served as the town treasurer for twenty six years from one thousand eight hundred and sixty five to one thousand eight hundred and ninety one the first meeting to organize the town of greenfield was held in tom ramsdens house on october 20th one thousand eight hundred and fifty eight and now onto the namesakes of the neighborhood william and james rutherford the rutherford's are known across the country for bringing the first two genuine english sheepdogs to america william the younger of the two brothers was the first to head west oh i'm sure it was the availability of good cheap farmland basically william stated in an account of his journey's that he didn't know where he was headed but he was headed west and made his way to chicago and up the mississippi river and i guess came upon this area and found it pretty desirable after spending three years in stillwater william settled down on a one hundred and sixty acre homestead in grant township a letter to his fiance christiana holcom dated january 7th one thousand eight hundred and forty nine describes the backbreaking work of an early settler well all about the 1st of november i built me a shanty out in the timber about one mile from my farm and one mile from mr botwell's and since that time i have lived in it i am cutting and hauling rails to fence our farm but eventually life did become easier for the william rutherford's as is evidenced by the construction of their beautiful home which still stands today some rooms in the home were used as an end for weary travelers between stillwater and saint paul the third floor had another use entirely third floor of the old westford house was used as a dance hall and they'd have their neighborhood gatherings and do the oh i suppose square dancing and whatever types of dances that they did at that time and the music was a fiddling stories written at the time given account of a large wellstocked farm the daughters all skilled in the art of housekeeping attended the affairs of the household ever ready with a kind word and a helping hand to minister to the wants of the many who find shelter beneath their hospitable roof it was said that william rutherford was a very kindhearted man who had one failing he would take oats when the stove pipe came down on a cold morning in spite of that fault william managed to do all he could for the neighborhood including the donation of the home cemetery now called the rutherford cemetery when the first death occurred they naturally had to find a burial ground and william had built a shanty as he a log shanty as he referred to it it must have been sometime in one thousand eight hundred and forty eight or forty nine and when he went to michigan to marry and bring back his bride he found that the a log house had been burned i'm not sure if we know how i think there's some legend that the indians may have burned it but we you know we don't know and then he decided to donate that for a burial ground legend has it that the sign over the gate is william's very own signature he and most of his neighbors are now laid to rest there besides rutherford masterman ramsman ferocious newman taft paolo it seems that a giving nature was a family trait for brother james rutherford leased a school site for district seven without charge to the community the first school district was organized in one thousand eight hundred and fifty five and the first school house built one year later an interesting note to education in those early years a man was hired to teach in the winter while a woman was hired for the summer months the man was needed to control the older farm boys who only attended during the four winter months james and elizabeth rutherford and their children ran a large dairy with quite a large stock of poultry on a farm just down the road from his brothers over the years the original thirty six square miles of grant township was broken down and split into many different cities and towns in one thousand nine hundred and eighteen part of grant was formed into lincoln town as is evidenced by this picture of the lincoln town grade school early in one thousand nine hundred and thirty one the need for yet another split in this section of washington county began to develop momentum this time residents were urging the incorporation of a town to be known as that name had been selected because it was the last streetcar stop on the line was officially voted into existence august 7th one thousand nine hundred and thirty one in one thousand nine hundred and seventy two eventually took over what was remaining of lincoln town wheelerknee birchwood and dalewood we're all part of the original grand township the names and faces have changed since the early days of grant township but the purity and vision of their community yet remains