Minnesota, Brown County, near Hanska
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This log cabin was built about 1857 by the Omsrud/Thordson and Torgrimson families, immigrants from Valdres, Norway. It originally stood on the Thord Omsrud farm on the shores of Omsrud Lake. The cabin was moved to this site in 1986 by the Omsrud-"Kolbrenner" clan, represented by the Levord, Ole, Tiedeman, Guttorm, Iver Thordson, and Torgrim Torgrimson families.
The cabin stands as a memorial to all Norwegian pioneers who were the first Europeans to permanently settle in this part of Brown County.
Velsigne Vare din Minde
(Blessed be your Memory)
(Forts, Castles • Man-Made Features • Settlements & Settlers • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
This log cabin was built about 1857 by the Omsrud/Thordson and Torgrimson families, immigrants from Valdres, Norway. It originally stood on the Thord Omsrud farm on the shores of Omsrud Lake. The cabin was moved to this site in 1986 by the Omsrud-"Kolbrenner" clan, represented by the Levord, Ole, Tiedeman, Guttorm, Iver Thordson, and Torgrim Torgrimson families.
The cabin stands as a memorial to all Norwegian pioneers who were the first Europeans to permanently settle in this part of Brown County.
Velsigne Vare din Minde
(Blessed be your Memory)
(Forts, Castles • Man-Made Features • Settlements & Settlers • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
It was here, along the Niagara River in the mid-1800s, that enslaved African Americans from the Southern United States first saw Canada, known as "the Promised Land" -- the place where they could live free forever. Local volunteers, led by Josiah Tryon, helped the freedom seekers by transporting them across the river by rowboat.
Historic Landmark
On this site
Prominent Indian trader and interpreter, employed by the provincial governor of Pennsylvania as an Indian agent in the Western Country. As a trader travelled "To Allegheny" as far as Logstown, (Ambridge, PA). With two other Indian traders established a trading post "At Allegheny" (Kittanning, PA.), June 1729. Became a citizen of Pennsylvania in 1735.
In 1751, the legislators of the Province of Pennsylvania ordered from an English foundry "A Good Bell" for the new bell tower of the state house (now know as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. It was to be the jubilee symbol of the Pennsylvania Colony--celebrating the 50th anniversary of William Penn's "Charter of Privileges," which had brought a half century of peace, prosperity and civil liberty to the colonists. The charter limited the power of government, and it gave Pennsylvanians the greatest personal liberty and material welfare experienced by any people up to that time. The bell was installed in 1753 and in time came to be recognized as the symbol of the new nation--America's Liberty Bell.
The Sioux Indians called this lake "minne hanska," meaning "long water." The basin of the lake was formed 11,000 to 15,000 years ago by the Wisconsin glacier; the original hard clay bottom is now about 50 feet below the present surface of the water.
The Spanish community of Taos developed two miles southwest of Taos Pueblo. It later served as a supply base for the “Mountain Men,” and was the home of Kit Carson who is buried here. Governor Charles Bent was killed here in the anti-U.S. insurection of 1847. In the early 1900’s, Taos developed as a colony for artists and writers.
In 1899, the Iowa and Minnesota Land & Townsite Company circulated a petition to locate a railroad station in Lake Hanska Township. The petition was signed by 77 people and on October 9, 1899 the village of Hanska was platted in section 24 by Harry and Anna Jenkins. It became a station on the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway. Hanska is a Dakota Indian word meaning long or tall. It was the word they used to describe the long, narrow lake in Lake Hanska and Albin Townships. Hanska was incorporated in 1901. At this time the population was 178.
Charles Johnson was a native of Sweden who settled in Austin in 1854. In 1858 he built his main residence near Deep Eddy along the Colorado River, which presently is the American Legion. The Johnson Ranch, consisting of 124 acres, was procured in 1867, and was located on the south side of Capital of Texas Highway where this historical marker is presently located. In 1899 the temporary Capitol building burned and the tin from the roof was brought to build the Johnson family barn and smokehouse. The original ranch house fell into ruins, but the smokehouse was painstakingly catalogued, stone by stone, disassembled and restored to its original state during recent recent development of the Johnson land. This structure is one of the few remaining auxiliary building components from its time and depicts the trials that a period family endured to merely preserve its daily sustenance.
