Prehistoric and Euroamerican Archaeology of Elk River, Minnesota: Current Knowlege and Probability Modeling

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1868, the village began to expand west toward Orono with Houlton's Addition in 1874, the Thomas Addition in 1875 and Auditors Addition in 1882. Elk River of this period is illustrated in the 1879 Perspective Map (Map 1). Development and Re-develo ment 1880s —191Os) Elk River's growing population led to the construction of several buildings and the establishment of numerous businesses toward the end of nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. Elk River had a good industrial base by 1880 that included two saw mills, a planing mill, a flour mill, two blacksmith shops, two tin and iron ware manufacturers, a chair factory, a furniture maker, and a cooper shop.15 Elk River also had a few General Merchant stores, a drug store, two law offices, a couple of carpenters, a harness shop, and two hotels." Banking in Sherburne County also got its start in Elk River. In June 1885, W.L. Babcock, W.H. Houlton and Henry Castle incorporated the Bank of Elk River with a capital of $10,000. The Bank of Elk River re -incorporated in 1902 as a state bank and in September 1929 the bank became a member of the Northwest Bank Corporation." In 1899 Houlton sold his interest in the Bank of Elk River to Babcock and Castle and organized a separate private bank, simply known as Houlton's Bank. It operated as a private bank until 1907 when it was converted to a national bank and has since been known as the First National Bank.18 Major fires were a common occurrence throughout this period of Elk River's history. Fires destroyed numerous homes, leveled many mills and factories, and reshaped downtown Elk River several times. One of the earliest fires occurred in 1868 when the Mills and Houlton Flour Mill was destroyed.' The first major fire in Elk River, however, took place in 1887 when a fire started in the Mills and Houlton planing and went on to level the flour mill, the sawmill, and several other buildings, including H. Galley's chair factory and E. Dickey's hotel.20 The mills and many of the other buildings were replaced shortly after the fire. Eleven years later another major fire destroyed what had been Elk River's downtown. The fire in April 1898 destroyed a row of frame buildings that were located along the northside of the railroad tracks on current Railroad Drive. The buildings were on the blocks east and west of Jackson Avenue and included the J.H. Romdene jewelry store, the Heeber, Davis & Co. general merchandise store, Dr. N.K. Whittemore's office, the Sberburne County 14