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Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Happy Birthday Eagan - 3/4/1985 4XI cts cc 0 -9 O O A 0) e0 0) coo y+ Q+• O w ~•',y~ Vt to p, O O a~ p,'~a so,~ ms`s a~i.~'~ c o.~•^~$: w -C w C) E- o 00 cc > o ° Z5 cis 3 ~b ~o c~ .c~ A oo C w I 3 a cc m a tom a i o C >C,-.- um, ~ ' a yr os a ~ ~ ~ to ~r T O O Cm aiOQ°Wco c O ft/~~ ~i cc$ y ~ r ~ C M c 1~ 1 0 V • •9 b0 FCIS i o ~ 93 5 a) ~i Ax A v co N o o o 111114111 V swum d v R3 ¦OM V4 occ ' b i+ O Er r+ CL ~w ga's cc co.j: t 1% ,u. !~~"co Tubti o .5 sc 8.0'x'$ w O tog s ...55 -a UO 0.0 o) Sj v O C~ Uo O 'Q to A 'D ' ;am obi~.'c• `o w im52 a s~ ~A4 z it; y 0 0 Conn w ~V a'" .ti aw w $W 0~ t0 pr Opca4 O •p 10 VS. cc cl) Ic WD mono "'C4 co C a p, WAWv~U ONO 10 Chi ,,4 'p liD cC b+'. ~G~ C N?+ O Q yi y y V Mom cc 0 LM 0 N o o a y ° a~ cc a~ S a~ 'r3. a~ v mo IOU 4) cc 4) co > 3a°i co icNCai4°~ a-. bt 14Id!iIIII111iJI1I a ° c c CC F V 'O O O r3 O N ca po 3 4 o ;e ? O cd 4) 'a" VI;" ao'° N O W a, v 3- o ° a~ O Zj ai C. Ur°+ ti ~ 3 G UWq s~ C c 5 cc= '3 CD 7a cd 3 4) ti O - . w Fi p 4 Vd to -0 d) co ca ca 0 3 co=u I O H4 w O O V a 0:9 ° v.3 U~o bo 4) 46 . - I! 'D CO go c IF =a COO cc (,D- 3 a a~ o ° a~ bo au c, ° 0 3 ~ ~ q L1. ~,,,c "Q:' a~ ti as a cc bo'b v . s 3 GV 9. c°, a;a s'. = ( y I 1 ` V'S4 C~uU 0 ca cc ri - .4 POR -0 1 boo r. co 0 0, cc 0 1:4 w cc 0.0, 0, cc pe r- cc 0 cc 0 aea Wa,noera°a~w :..b.~3 .bof~~; Tales tell citys past TALES: from p-1 A sort of rake on it to cut the grain down. Then they bundled it up morning and seeing the water and took it to the barn to frozen in the kettle. separate it." "Anyway, when this neighbor . Rahn shook his head and . , lady lit up the stove, the baby whistled, as he spoke. " Oh, boy, started crying, and the mother that was a heck of a job, to pick woke up, ran in, and snatched it apart all that grain." out of the stove. They made up a In 1870 there was no formal Photo courtesy of James Diffley song about the baby: `I Was religious structure in Eagan, Born in the Kitchen When My Rahn said. Farmers took their The Diffley's, from left are Thomas Sr., Thomas Jr., James Mother Was Away' went the families to the Old Emmanuel ( and William. words." Lutheran Church in Inver ? The Diffley family still owns Grove Heights. The first church part of the farm William started in Eagan was Trinity Lone Oak about 130 years ago. Martin Dif- Lutheran Church, built in 1881. fley, James' nephew, runs the "Everybody'd go all wrapped farm and has renamed it "The up in heavy furs in the winter- Gardens of Eagan," which pro- time even though they had two duces various sorts of big furnaces in the basement," vegetables, James said. Rahn said. "They had a long sh- Willard Rahn, 73, recalls ed for the horses, and the men what his grandfather, John would unharness the horses Rahn, told him about early from the sleighs and bundle } Eagan. In 1870, his grandfather them in blankets inside that Sh- and two of his brothers left Ger- ed." many for America. One of the first concerns of "They were mighty the settlers was the need for enthused," Rahn said, schoolhouses in Eagan, Rahn "because land here was cheap, said. The township was divided and they could work for into districts of four or five themselves, instead of having square miles each, and a to give it all up to the German schoolhouse was built in every lord. They were serfs who lived district, where teachers taught on land owned by the from 10 to 30 children in first aristocracy." through eighth grade. Rahn said there were few "Those schoolhouses were families in Eagan in 1870. Most one-room, slant-roofed; and of them were of Irish or French made out of wood," Rahri said. descent who had come earlier. "Ir remember thbse..little "All of them were.farmers wooden desks with the ink Wells, who wanted to live near enough and the metal box to hold the to the city for easier trade," he books. All the schoolhouses 1 said. "The land was heavily were white, except for the wooded, even the women had to Wescott School, which was help clear it. Grandpa said they brick, and had a bell that is now raised mostly potatoes and in the Municipal Building. onions. Wheat and a little bit of "Those.teachers had a hard ""torn was also ratsed'to feed the life; tob. •tthagitte ,hrifig to cattle, but families then didn't teach all those grades at the own too many cows just same time, and having to board enough to feed the family: They at a farmer's house all the time. made their own butter, of Those teachers never stayed course, and took the cream over very long, you know., It was to St. Paul creameries. really a lonesome job." "Nobody had threshing machines back then, either. Terry Tyler is an intern at this They had to use scythes. with a newspaper: 4:f Photo courtesy of Mirella LeTendre Simones Treffle Auge's house was built about 1860. Book chronicles" Eagan's history HISTORY' from p. 1A grocery store and saloon - in ' 1865, near where highways 55 Farman built southeast of the and 149 now meet. The Halfway present-day intersection of House was the first relay sta- Yankee Doodle Road and Lex- tion out of St. Paul for ington Avenue. About two years. stagecoaches headed for Dubu- later a new school was built, not que, Iowa. The establishment's Minnesota Historical Society photo too far from what is now Nor- name was changed to the Dixie Robert O'Neill, a member of 'thview Elementary School. Inn when George and May Eagan's first Town Board. The stagecoach was' a Hinge took it over in 1930. popular mode of travel when A little jaunt south was the The introduction to the for- Eagan became a township and Wescott Inn that James thcoming Eagan history book about that year the Minnesota Wescott opened on his property notes that the Lone Oak Tree Company, emerged.. as .the in the 1850s, a little north of was the center of communica- i state lading stage'line~' wh&b%ye'stPublishing Co.isto- tion from Eagan's earliest covering more than 1,300 miles day. In' 1866 the inn became a days. of stage routes with about 300 flag station for the Chicago, "It was also a symbol for the more miles, of pony-carried Milwaukee and St. Paul community - making its mail routes. In good weather Railroad line and a depot later citizens feel that they were a and on good roads,-the 'stages was built there. part of something unique and traveled about. 10 miles..* 6r No history of Eagan would be special," the book states. hour: complete, without mention of "A city history tries to ac- MAUL l ec-,goals: M a.1..+Qrie ti ~tg "ostring a sense of cic pride b and showing citizens that h ~!x' 1yav Pale nt a unique and r r a { the dial comma iit "Of course, Uktoix" does not via tit! 0" 010 history ofEagan. It and aho1 impossible to record hoov Bert My opeaeda on ' ev t ring that makes the city bI0ltlt shop iwq i i^ ,wha ~t~. ~aurdriators w ek wk Roail~ abw ve ' of ha r ed up a sweattorung . ver Bell Hood. a 'lea ves>fram the tiee;' and hope ru" er ,It rd oil ed. Tree ~ that you will enjoy them as N Tway Hous a on hi i much as they hav