A Rich Past

The area west of Minneapolis was known as the Big Woods because of the many oaks, maples, and ash that grew there. Beyond these woods was the prairie.

Wright County was first opened to white settlement in 1853 after this area was ceded to the United States in a treaty signed by Mendota and Traverse De Sioux in 1851. The first immigrants were trappers, traders, farmers, and eventually shopkeepers.

James P. Lyle, a Nova Scotian, was the first settler to claim land lying partly within what is now Delano. He and James Patten arrived June 15, 1855.

They were joined in July by two other men from Nova Scotia, J.C. Ellis and S. Patten. The Ellis claim consisted of most of the area that is now Delano.

David White arrived in December 1855, and eventually added on to James Lyle’s claim shanty; each man’s half of the cabin was on his own land.

One of the earliest schools in Wright County was in this claim shanty. The school drew children from along the Crow River. Ellis became the teacher. The first child born in the settlement was Ida May Patten. She was born August 7, 1856. Mary Lyle, the wife of James Lyle, Delano’s first settler, was the first to die, in December 1858.

Initially, people traveled to Watertown and Rockford in canoes. Roads built between the three towns in 1858 made it easier to move lumber to Delano to build homes.

The division of Wright County into townships in 1858 created Newport Township 118, Range 25. There was already a town of that name in Washington County, so the township changed its name to Franklin.

The first commissioners included supervisors, a town clerk, an assessor, a treasurer and collector, a justice of the peace, a constable, and an overseer of the poor.

To help survive a grasshopper plague in 1856 and 1857, a financial crash in 1857, rain, hailstorms, heat, drought, and Indian outbreaks in 1862 and 1863 when settlers evacuated their homes, local farmers grew and harvested ginseng root. The business of selling ginseng flourished well into the 20th century.

Smallpox broke out in the area in 1872. Households were quarantined and roads were closed. There was only one death.

The installation of the railroad from Minneapolis west to Franklin Township and the river settlements in 1868 brought many new settlers. Although most of Wright County was settled by Colonial Americans and Scandinavians, Delano and Franklin Township were settled predominantly by people of German and Polish origin who came on the railroad looking for adventure and fortune or for fertile soil to farm.

The cluster of claims along the river became a village called Crow River. Residents, however, changed the name in 1870 to “Delano” after the superintendent of the railroad, Francis Roach Delano, who was from Massachusetts, and the village was incorporated February 11, 1876.

In 1868, the Great Northern Hotel was moved to the corner of Railroad Ave. and 2nd St. It was actually built in Greenwood. It became one of the finest hotels on the railroad line, and was known for its “excellent food and ample accommodations.” By 1879, it had 40 rooms, and it was a favorite respite for salesmen and other travelers. It was eventually demolished in 1975. Railroad Ave. served as the main commercial area of the town until around 1900.

In 1869, the first grist mill was built on the river. Often, families would make the trip to the mill and hold picnics and socialize with other farmers while their grain was being ground. A saw mill existed right next to the grist mill, which supplied boards for flooring and walls.

In 1872, a newspaper was first published in Delano. The “Big Woods Citizen” was renamed “The Delano Eagle” in 1881. In 1883, it moved into the brick building it currently occupies. Most of the bricks used to build the buildings on Railroad Ave. were made near Delano.

In 1884, a 4,000-square-foot, round roller skating pavilion was built at the east end of Railroad Ave. It was used for skating, theater, dancing, and parties. Most of the 10 or more saloons in Delano outlived the skating rink by many years. Municipal liquor sales took their place in the 1950s.

There was also a pickle plant in Delano, run by Herbert Brunkow, until 1938. While the plant was in operation, cucumbers were a popular crop to be planted by local farmers. There were three varieties of pickles, and they were distributed as far away as Kansas City.