Alyssa Ness's blog

In 1895, the two teenaged sons of Henry and Emma Fey were mostly tending to their schoolwork, although they far preferred other amusements.  Lincoln, affectionately known as “Link,” was sixteen years old and had already seen his name in the newspaper within a year of coming to Northfield.  He was, as the Northfield News wrote with some amusement, “attaining quite a reputation as a taxidermist,” having mounted in his room “a specimen of almost every bird known in these  parts,” as well as a handsome pair of ducks in a store display window.  Link also spent time observing and befriending the mechanics at work in the Fox and Ferris foundry, a habit that would benefit him later.  Frank, three years Link’s junior, was enthusiastic about his brother’s hobbies and probably spent much time hunting and fishing in the Cannon River, a favorite activity of both sons and father.

Life was not entirely easy for the boys, however.  Lincoln’s days were marred by asthma, which he believed had been caused by early exposure to the mill dust that his father labored in as head miller of several different mills through the years.  Although Link loved being outdoors, it was difficult for him to travel long distances by the horse-drawn vehicles of his time because the road dust that rose beneath his horses’ feet provoked his asthma.  He began to dream of machines that would independently be able to travel the same dusty roads as the horses.  Such daydreams brought him to the doorway of the Fox and Ferris foundry, where he learned lessons that were not being taught at school: how to construct a steam engine, how the engine operated, and what all of its parts and functions were called.  Link made up his mind to design and build an engine-powered vehicle.  He first drafted plans for a steam engine and had already constructed it and much of the vehicle’s carriage (with the help of some of his friends in town and at the foundry) when he saw an advertisement for a gasoline engine in a machinery catalogue. Gasoline engines did not require boilers, thereby reducing the weight of the engine in a vehicle’s carriage, and Link thrilled at the possibilities these engines presented.  He quickly sold his finished steam engine and hoped to begin work on a gasoline engine soon, but his aspirations did not go unnoticed or unopposed.

“When you’ve read the Independent, you’ve read the news.”  - early slogan for the Northfield Independent

Long before there were online news sites or local blogs, our newspapers had an older form of competition to contend with: other newspapers.  We primarily hear about two big-city papers vying for subscriptions in the same area, but this was also the case in our small town, where the Northfield News and the Northfield Independent operated simultaneously between 1887 and 1962.

The Northfield News: 1876 - Present

Amusingly, the Northfield News is not native to Northfield; Henry E. Lawrence originally established his newspaper in a neighboring village in the fall of 1876.  For three years, Lawrence’s “Dundas News” was published in Dundas, but in 1879 the paper was transferred to Northfield, where it was rechristened the “Northfield News” and eventually absorbed another community paper previously known as the Rice County Journal.

Greetings, Northfield history lovers!

My name is Alyssa Ness and I welcome you to my new blog “Out of the Attic,” through which I will be sharing with you some of Northfield’s lesser-known history. About myself: I’m a 2006 graduate of Northfield High School, a member of Saint Olaf’s class of 2010, and a distant relative of Gertrude Hilleboe and H.T. Ytterboe.  I would gladly receive your suggestions for future “Out of the Attic” topics, a simple question or two that you might like answered, OR an anecdote that relates to a previous post. I’m excited to learn more about Northfield and to gather any interesting personal stories that you may possess.

Speaking of personal stories, I think I first fell in love with local histories when I took Social Studies classes from Ron Morris and Earl Weinmann in 7th grade (I finished our Northfield James Raid test so quickly that Mr. Weinmann asked me to go down the hall and refill his coffee cup for him). I finally realized my passion for history two years ago while living at my grandma’s farm place for the summer.  I’ve been visiting historical societies and poring over newspaper microfiche ever since.

In my most recent visits to the microfiche drawers of the public library, I have noticed that over the years many buildings in Northfield have survived into the current day by changing their appearances and vocations.  A very special instance of this is seen in our city council’s repositioning.  In the past 150 years, four separate structures have borne the title of “City Hall,” and three of these buildings were previously used.

The Lyceum Building: 1875 – 1880

Though it was only a simple one-story, the Lyceum Building would become the gathering place for the fledgling city council when a charter for city government was procured in 1875.  The first official meeting of the Northfield city council was called to order on March 16th and amongst the new elects were an “H. Scriver,” mayor, and a “J.L. Heywood,” treasurer. 

As years passed, the council began to wonder if it had outgrown its accommodations.  In May of 1880, plans for a new city hall were adopted during a special meeting, and with that, the Lyceum building’s service to Northfield as “Old City Hall” had come to an end.