Franklin Steele

Franklin Steele

.cite web| title =History of Hennepin County and The City of Minneapolis, 1881| publisher =North Star Publishing| url =http://hennbios.tripod.com/steele.htm| accessdate = 2007-05-29]

Early success

With encouragement from his future brother-in-law Henry Hastings Sibley, Steele saw opportunities in the western frontier and traveled to Fort Snelling via the steamboat Burlington, arriving June 18, 1838;cite web| title =The Tale of Two Cities| work =Minnesota:A State Guide| publisher =New Deal Network| url =http://newdeal.feri.org/guides/mn/ch13.htm| accessdate = 2007-05-29] he soon became a storekeeper at the fort. At that time, the land on both sides of the Mississippi River at St. Anthony Falls was controlled by the U.S. Government as part of the Fort Snelling Reservation. However by 1837 over 150 squatters had staked unofficial claims on fort property. In 1838, the fort commander, Joseph Plympton convinced the government to release the east bank of the river for settlement, hoping to stake a personal claim on the valuable land closest to the Falls.cite web| title = History of the Minneapolis Riverfront District and vicinity| work = Bridges| publisher =Minneapolis Riverfront District| url =http://www.mrdbridges.com/history.php| accessdate = 2007-05-29] But Steele surreptitiously staked the first claim on the choicest land before sunrise on the first day of legal settlement.cite web| title =St. Anthony Falls:Timber, Flour, and Electricity| publisher =National Park Service| url =http://www.nps.gov/miss/historyculture/upload/River_Ch_6.pdf| accessdate = 2007-05-29|format=PDF] He claimed a half-mile of east-bank riverfront, controlling half of the water power of St. Anthony Falls; [cite web| url =http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/TWHP/wwwlps/lessons/106wheat/106setting.htm| title= Wheat Farms, Flour Mills, and Railroads: A Web of Interdependence| accessdate = 2007-05-29] adjacent property was claimed by Pierre Bottineau (1817–1895), a Métis, of French-Canadian, Ojibwe, and Dakota descent.

Lumber mills

Eventually, in 1847, Steele secured financing, in the form of $12,000 for a 9/10 stake in the property. On May 18, 1848 president Polk approved the claims made in St. Anthony, and Steele was able to build his dam on the east side of the river above the Falls, blocking the east channel. The dam extended diagonally into the river convert|700|ft|m, was convert|16|ft|m|0 high, and was secured to the limestone riverbed. Its thickness tapered from convert|40|ft|m|0 wide at its base to convert|12|ft|m|0 wide at the top. Steele dispatched logging crews to the Crow Wing River in December 1847 to supply pine for the his sawmill, and by September 1, 1848 sawing commenced using two up-down saws. He was able to sell the lumber readily, supplying construction projects in the booming town. The new community at the Falls attracted entrepreneurs from New England, many of whom had experience in lumber and milling. He had hired Ard Godfrey to help build and run the first commercial sawmill at the Falls. Godfrey knew the most efficient ways to use natural resources, like the falls, and the great pine forests, to make lumber products.cite web| title =1838: Franklin Steele claims land at the Falls| work =Timeline| publisher =Minnesota Historical Society|url =http://www.mnhs.org/school/classroom/communities/themes/timeline/st_anthony/blurb.html|accessdate = 2007-05-29] Godfrey built the first home in St. Anthony, Steele had the town platted in 1849, and it incorporated in 1855. [cite web| title =Old St. Anthony| work =Mississippi River Design Initiative| publisher =University of Minnesota| url =http://www.riverdesign.umn.edu/river_stories/stanthony.html| accessdate = 2007-05-29]

Foothold on west bank

, Richard and Samuel Chute, Sumner Farnham, and Frederick Butterfield.

First Mississippi River bridge

The two communities of Minneapolis and St. Anthony shared the resources of the Falls. Both towns grew quickly and developed a number of industries at the falls. The earliest waterpowered facilities were sawmills; flour mills soon followed. For many years river crossing between the communities was via a rope-drawn ferry, by foot when the river surface was frozen, or on floating log booms that often filled the channel.

Although he ran one such ferry, as early as 1852, Steele anticipated a need for a permanent bridge to span the river near present-day Hennepin Avenue. He formed the Mississippi Bridge Company to build a convert|620|ft|m|0|sing=on-long, convert|17|ft|m|0|sing=on wide suspension bridge, linking Minneapolis to Nicollet Island and hired Thomas Griffith to design it. The bridge was opened on 23 January, 1855 with a large celebration. As a private enterprise, tolls were levied: five cents per pedestrian, twenty-five cents per horse-drawn wagon, and two cents for swine and sheep.

Steele had previously (in 1853) built a shorter bridge to cross the channel from Nicollet Island to St. Anthony; together these created the first permanent bridge to span the Mississippi at any point along its length. They linked the two cities, which legally merged in 1872, taking the name Minneapolis: a compound of the Dakota Indian word, "minne" or "mni" for "water", and the Greek "polis" for city.cite web| title = First Hennepin Avenue Suspension Bridge (1854/55 - 1876)| work = Bridges| publisher =Minneapolis Riverfront District| url =http://www.mrdbridges.com/hennepin.php#1stHennepin| accessdate = 2007-05-29] [ [http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/janfeb01/legacyofnames_sop.html "A Sense Of Place: The Legacy of Names", Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website] undated, URL retrieved on 3 June 2007]

Purchase of Fort Snelling

By 1858, Franklin Steele bought the fort and convert|8000|acre|km2 surrounding for $90,000, as the government no longer needed a frontier outpost at that location. [cite web| title =Fort Snelling State Park Upper Bluff Reuse Study| publisher =Minnesota Department of Natural Resources| month = November | year = 1998| url = http://wwwa.co.hennepin.mn.us/files/HCInternet/EPandT/Community%20Development/Economic%20Development/Fort%20Snelling%20Upper%20Bluff%20Reuse%20Study%20with%202006%20updates%20Part%20I.pdf
accessdate = |format=PDF
] But during the Civil War, he leased it back to the government for use as an induction station. After the war was over Steele leased the land to settlers and the city began to grow. The town of Minneapolis became a city in 1867. [cite web| title =Urban Connections - Minneapolis| publisher =USDA Forest Service|url =http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/urban_connections/Cities/Minneapolis/| accessdate = 2007-05-29] He ultimately became prosperous from lumber, the suspension bridge, and land deals.

The University of Minnesota

In 1851 the territorial legislature of Minnesota decided to create a university and four acres (near present-day Central and University Avenues) in St. Anthony was donated by Franklin Steele. [cite web| last =Franzen| first =Carl| title =Humble Beginnings by the Falls:A hardscrabble start for the founders of the University| work = Winter 2001| publisher =Regents of the University of Minnesota| url =http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/m/Winter2001/beginnings.html| accessdate = 2007-05-29]

Places bearing his name

*Steele County, Minnesota
*Franklin Steele Square - (Portland Avenue & 16th Street East)

ee also

References


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