The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 12, 1892.
Everything Booming
This is The Condition of Things Generally In Luverne And The County at Large
The present year will go into history, if present indications may be trusted, as the most prosperous ever known in the county.
The fame of this county as the richest agricultural country in the west, has steadily been reaching abroad, and the influx of new settlers of late has been rapidly increasing. The price of land has been steadily advancing and is destined to advance still more rapidly in the near future. Nearly all the large tracts of lands once owned by James Thompson, the Close Brothers, and the St. Paul & Sioux City Railway company, are now in the hands of actual settlers, and most of the “raw prairie” is under cultivations.
During the present year improvements on an extensive scale have been made in all parts of the county. New residences, new barns, and new granaries may be seen on every hand. New farms have been opened and a long step has been taken toward that time to which we have long been looking when a prosperous home will be found on every quarter section in the county.
No one familiar with this section for a number of years, can drive at the present time through any part of the county without feelings of surprise and wonder at the marvelous improvements which have been made of late, and every stranger who visits this section and sees for the first time our magnificent country and our beautiful farms, concludes that nothing in the world can be finer and that the Herald for years has said of Rock county is less than the facts would warrant.
Luverne is likewise making wonderful progress in the way of improvement, but it is simply keeping abreast with the march of progress in the surrounding country. In the neighborhood of fifty new residences and three magnificent business blocks are now in course of erection in the village. One of these blocks, that of Nelson Bros. & Co., will be by all odds the finest store building in southwestern Minnesota, and either of the other two would do credit to any inland town in the state.
A splendid system of waterworks has recently been completed and within two or three months a first class electric light plant will be in operation in the village.
Luverne easily leads all its neighboring rivals, and is conceded to be the largest, most prosperous, and most enterprising town, as well as the best business point in Southwestern Minnesota.
Business and residence property, like land in the surrounding country, is steadily advancing in price, and offers excellent opportunities for profitable investment.
On the whole Luverne and Rock county, as well as the smaller towns in the county, are getting to the front with rapid strides.
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.