Historic Contexts Study and Phase II Inventory (Downtown Elk River) 2022

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Orono was a successful if small mill center, but the arrival of the railroad encouraged growth to the south in what was known as Lowertown. Elk River was not platted until 1865, then replatted in 1868, and incorporated in 1880-81.59 The original plat was made by O.E. Garrison for J.Q. A Nickerson. The incorporation included the townsite of Orono. Interest in the Elk River as a location for commerce began in the 1850s, with Pierre Bottineau's Riverside Hotel. An earlier log cabin on the site remained adjacent to the frame hotel. Bottineau sold the hotel to J.Q. A. Nickerson and it was subsequently owned by Nickerson's brother Henry. An advertisement of March 25,1853 in the St. Anthony Express may have referred to this property. It described a large tavern, store building, dwelling and a barn and stables. The building burned in 1907. (This is now the First National Bank of Elk River site.) Photographs of ca. 1900 show it as a simple two- story, gable -roofed structure with a one- story wing. View of Elk River, Sherburne County (1879). The original townsite plat of Elk River was like those of many railroad towns, where the streets straddled the trackage and provided depot, warehouse, store, and hotel sites. The two -block commercial district was centered on State Street facing the tracks. The bird's eye view of Elk River shows the collection of frame buildings, most with boom- town facades. By the 1890s, there were about twenty businesses in the area, including the Norval and Wheaton general store, Baltzell Furniture, A.N. Dare's newspaper office, Peter Moeger's tailor shop, the Heebner and Babcock general store, J.M Crockett's tin and hardware store, and the Lewis and Crawford drug stores. The Bank of Elk River, a GAR Hall, a Music Hall and a roller rink completed the area. A railroad hotel, the Sherburne House, was built in 1867 on the south side of the railroad tracks. It was subsequently enlarged and renamed the Merchant's and later the Blanchett Hotel. Many Main Streets have suffered fires, but Elk River has had at least four major conflagrations. In 1887 a fire destroyed Uppertown mills and businesses. In 1898 Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 412002 21