The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-11-10

M. Fletcher visited for the last time
at The Point, and said to the writer,
pointing to a grand old oak tree
which yet stands on the high bank
of the lake, THAT oak is witness
tree. 1t marks the line between
LeRay and Jamestown. / surveyed
this point for the government near
ly fifty years ago, and that little
tract lies in LeRay."
Point Pleasant and Its Founding.
Joseph Wright, commonly spoken
of as Joe Wright, secured this lit
tie lot from the government, occu-
pied it for a number of years and
sold it in 1877 to Major George A.
Clarke, who did much to make Mad
ison Lake known and popular. He
in turn sold to Parson and Roll in
the fall of 1879, who occupied it in
1880. The present owners bought
1t. in the fall of the same year and
occupied it in 1881, taking up ress
idence there on May first of that
year, two years before Lewis
Pitcher built his house and over
three years before the railroad was
built.
That part of the present village
of Madison Lake which was orig
inally plated as Point Pleasant
Townsite" is it's oldest and first
settled part. Mrs. Lucetta S. Bar
clay, yet living, Is the first and or
iginal owner of Madison Lake prop
erty and the first settler. The plat
of Point Pleasant townsite was filed
for record on the 9th Of May, 1888,
nearly two years before the filing
of the plat of Madison Lake town
site, which was made as above stat
ed, on the 18th of January, 1885.
Point Pleasant became part OF the
village of Madison Lake, when the
village was incorporated in 1892.
Sale Of First Lot.
The first lot sold in Point Pleas
ant and consequently the first lot
sold in this town, was to John G..
Wise, May 1, 1883, but there was
no building done upon the Point
Pleasant townsite until the spring
Of 1885, when the Wise cottage, the
VanLiew and Patterson cottage
and the C. D. Taylor cottage, were
built by Frank Halstead, and the
lumber or part of it came from the
saw mill run by P. Baynes. These
three cottages cost at that time
about $125 each. Native lumber at
that time selling at about one-quar-
ter of it's present price. Two of
these cottages very much improved
and enlarged, are still standing.
The third was torn down and re-
built into "Beuna VISTA" belonging
to L. P. Hunt, now of Seattle.
MI oft &c nra
erected by John H. Ray, F. L. Wal
tiers, John F. Meagher, George E.
Brett, D. L. Rose, L. Patterson, R..
E. Brown and others in later years.
The first school was a Subscrip-
ton school held in building erect
ed by Allyn and fuller in 1886 and
subsequently converted into a resi-
dence.
Finally the school district was set
apart from the Farrell district to
which it had belonged and the Madi-
son Lake district organized. The
present school house was built in
1892.
The first store building in Madi-
son Lake was built by G. w. Allyn
in the early spring of 1885. The
railroad was already here, the trains
were running about once a week or
like Ebert Hubbard's philistine
Every Little While" There were
great hopes but not much business.
The Madison Lake store started in
with rush. Mr.. Allyn had for a
partner Geo. E. fuller, whom Mr..
Allyn yet regards as one of the
best business men he ever met and
the young firm Of young men pros
pered.
Building Hotel.
A. B. Cole came to town about the
time the Allyn & fuller store got
fairly started and proposed to build
a hotel on the corner of Fifth
street and the right of way. Fifth
street had been designed as bust
ness street and the promoters
thought it would be and there start
ed some buildings of business
character including Mr.. P. Mullen's
residence which was once intended
as a hotel, and BARRIERS grocery.
Mr.. Allyn showed Cole the straight
line from the depot across the
slough (once thought impassable)
and said "Mr. Cole, where Allyn &
fuller are is where business will be;
that slough will be filled up and the
farmers coming in from the south
will come straight across. They
won't drive around to Fifth street!
The slough was filled and is now
part of the famous Madison Lake
Mankato gravel road which is being
cited all over the country as one
of the very best automobile roads
in America. Capt Cole who had
already bought on Fifth street ex-
changed lots with the company and
built the Lake House" now the
city hotel right opposite Allyn's
store. Allyn's original store burnt
In the great fire from which we have
just recovered, but the hotel still
stands.
Men Who Were in Business.
A. l.. Barber came same year as
Allyn & fuller, but little later
His location proved to be unfavor-
able and he was measurably unsuc-
cessful ]. X. Knapp came in 1885
also and opened drug store which
was burnt July 5, 1899. Pitcher &
HhkHTnl0AkI q