Laserfiche WebLink
• <br /> ELK RIVER <br /> ll wl.•an M\e I:.N.• <br /> J. <br /> 6r e <br /> .s s e ..+... r. ..Vtll... A' <br /> Fria a..''•' <br /> HT.l a..a TIC Jnnn.IPnll.x <br /> -- -- •.. 4.ir" '3rj <br /> I; 4� <br /> l',,...,...—„1,20-7-0 'r.9. I I I1 JIG AJCE; <br /> i N. a° <br /> r \'I,� 1: 'I6:w!1 3I�ON Ill <br /> -- <br /> -' <br /> 3 <br /> g) ,/...> 1 ) ifr ,;*....tv -.;,,..,-,,triiiimai,,,„ -,.-,,,,,''''R V,Virlit FF:i.: <br /> A tAG 44..14 P <br /> F / l'S • Y � P''.'',S. p , I x,:4 •ilk S �'1"" <br /> ''tik'''''OAS*.rieg'''1.11k 131 4..' ''..:-,49/' 1 .''" b gelS, <br /> rw <br /> I ( a y J F. 1�f <br /> d;tl <br /> 411 Elk River.Atlas of Sherburne County(1903).Orono is at left;the Elk River townsite and its additions occupy <br /> the central and right portions of the map. <br /> The original townsite plat of Elk River was like those of many <br /> railroad towns,where the streets straddled the trackage and <br /> provided depot,warehouse,store,and hotel sites. The two- <br /> block commercial district was centered on State Street facing <br /> the tracks. An 1879 bird's eye view of Elk River shows the <br /> collection of frame buildings,most with boom-town facades <br /> (a usually squared-off and sometimes ornate front applied to a <br /> smaller gable-roofed building).By the 1890s,there were about <br /> twenty businesses in the area,including the Norval and <br /> Wheaton general store,Baltzell Furniture,A.N.Dare's <br /> newspaper office,Peter Moeger's tailor shop,the Heebner and <br /> Babcock general store,J.M Crockett's tin and hardware store, <br /> and the Lewis and Crawford drug stores. The Bank of Elk <br /> River,a G.A.R.Hall,a Music Hall and a roller rink completed <br /> the area.The Sherburne House,a railroad hotel,was built in <br /> 1867 on the south side of the railroad tracks.It was <br /> subsequently enlarged and renamed the Merchant's and later <br /> the Blanchett Hotel. <br /> Elk River has had at least four major business district fires.In <br /> 1887 a fire destroyed Uppertown mills and businesses. In 1898 <br /> thirteen buildings were destroyed on State Street. <br /> Subsequently businesses located closer to the river at Main and <br /> Princeton(now Jackson)streets.Here,an open market square <br /> on a wedge-shaped block was eventually improved into a <br /> public park with a few trees and a wooden paviliondating <br /> • <br /> Elk River Historic Contexts and Phase II Downtown Commercial Area Study <br /> 28 <br />