The following appeared in The Rose History in 1911.
Rock County Village ( from 01-14-20 edition of the Star Herald)
In the fall of 1880 a side track was constructed, and a correspondent predicted that Ashcreek was about to shape itself into a metropolis. The extent of the subsequent building operations, however, was the erection of a second grain warehouse, 16x30 feet in size, put by E. A. Brown, who at the time commenced his successful career as a Rock county grain merchant. A box car was placed at the new station to answer the purpose of a depot building.
An event of the year 1882 promised great things for the embryo town. This was the sale of the Kniss and Brown farm, upon which the station was located, to Col. Alfred Grey, an English capitalist and a large owner of real estate in this section of the state and Iowa. Col. Grey proposed to build a flourishing town at Ashcreek, to be the headquarters for his various interests, much after the English baronial system. A year elapsed before the promoter commenced the execution of his plan. A survey of a townsite was completed in August, 1883, by James P. Gilman, and the dedication of the site was made September 6, 1883, by James B. Close, Col. Grey’s agent. The plat included eight blocks. The owner was fully honored in the names bestowed upon the streets running east and west, which were Colonel, Grey and Alfred. The intersecting streets were designated as First, Second and Third.9
Coincident with the platting, three dwellings, each a two-story structure covering a ground space of 24x36 feet, and three barns were built by Col. Grey for the accommodation of the employees on his nearby farms. There was persistent talk of a store on the site, but it remained for other than the Grey interests to supply the want. J. T. Woodrow, whose store was completed in October, 1884, was the first merchant and for a number of years the only one in Ashcreek. The Ashcreek postoffice was moved to the new store and Mr. Woodrow commissioned postmaster.
There was some progress during the half dozen years following the opening of the pioneer store. In 1885 the railroad company established stockyards at Ashcreek, and one year later erected a serviceable depot. Early in 1886 the believers in Ashcreek’s future greatness became convinced that the dawn of a new era was at hand because of the proposed building of the Burlington railroad to Sioux Falls from Ellsworth. At an enthusiastic meeting held February 20, plans to induce the new railroad to change its route so as to pass through Ashcreek were considered. It was proposed to offer $15,000 as a bonus to secure this change of route, but the attempt to make of Ashcreek a railroad center came to naught.
The Congregational church society, organized in the spring of 1889, erected a neat church edifice in the village the same year. The church, built at a cost of $1100, was dedicated Sunday, February 9, 1890. Rev. William Fitch was the pastor at the time.
L. S. Welker succeeded to the business of J. T. Woodrow in the summer of 1888. A grist mill was established by C. A. Delamater in January, 1890, but it continued in operation only a few months. The Ashcreek farm of 894 acres was sold by Col. Grey in 1891 to Ezra Rice and James H. Gray, and this transfer was the commencement of better days for the humble village. The new owners were men intensely interested in the advancement of Rock county. Progress commenced at once. In September, 1891, J. T. Fort, a blacksmith, located in the town, and E. A. Brown erected a second elevator. The year following, E. C. Palmer came from Sioux City and established a new store and lumber yard.
Ashcreek in more recent years has been added to gradually, and at no particular period has experienced a boom or unnatural condition to force the extension of its limits. A creditable school building was erected in 1903. A public hall is maintained, and in the village are to be found residences that would do credit to a more pretentious community.
9One addition to Ashcreek has been platted: Kitterman’s by Benjamin T. Kitterman and William Lemka, December 12, 1896; surveyed by J. P. Gillman.
The story of the village of Bruce will begin in the Jan. 28 edition of the Star Herald.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.