Greeting of the Village of Chaska. To the Jobbers Union of St. Paul, Minn. Gentelmen, - The business men of Chaska, "your customers," realizing that the length of your stay in our village, as you pass on your way upon your second excursion to the "Blue grass region," will not afford you an opportunity of viewing the beauties of our village, its evidences of thrift and prosperity, and the extent and importance of its business and manufacturing interests, and being desirous that should form a correct estimate of our advantages, our importance, commercially and otherwise, and of our future prospects and possibilities, have taken the liberty of preparing for your perusal, the subjoined statement of the past and present condition of our village.
The village of Chaska, the principal village in, and the county seat of Carver county, was incorporated in March, 1871, and contained at that time a population of about six hundred people. Its present population is about two thousand. The growth in population, during the three years last past, ahs been very rapid and is still unabated, being checked only by an inability to accommodate those who desire to become citizens of our village with houses in which to make homes. The progress made during the same time in the improvement and ornamentation of our village has been marked, and to-day we believe that we can safely say, that our village, in the matter of public improvements, will compare favorably with any village in the state.
Our village is beautifully situated upon the banks of the Minnesota river, and at the junction of the Minneapolis & St. Louis and the Hastings & Dakota railways, thus furnishing us with the very best of facilities for supplying ourselves from abroad with all needed commodities, and for exporting to markets the fruits of our business and manufacturing enterprises.
The Catholic, Moravian and Methodist denominations of churches are represented in our village by large and prosperous societies. The Catholic society has now in process of construction a church edifice which will cost, when completed, about twenty thousand dollars, the other societies have comfortable and commodious church buildings. Educational facilities are afforded by graded public schools, and a seminary controlled by the Sisters of Mercy. The Masonic, Odd Fellows, Druids, Sons of Herman and Catholic Benevolent societies are represented by large and prosperous lodges.
The Valley Herald, one of the oldest newspapers in the Minnesota valley, having been established by the late Hon. Charles A. Warner in 1860, is edited and published by F. E. Du Toit, who also operates a completely equipped job printing office.
The principal industry of the village is the manufacture of brick. The clay which abounds in and about the village is of a superior quality, and the beautiful cream colored brick manufactured therefrom have already obtained a wide celebrity. This enterprise has grown to gigantic proportions – no less than nine yards, with a combined capacity of at least thirty million annually, being now in operation. These brick are largely shipped to the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, but shipments are also made into Wisconsin, Iowa and Dakota. So great has become the traffic in brick that the Hastings and Dakota Railway company are compelled to operate one train daily for the exclusive transportation thereof.
Forest and farm products of a large and thickly populated district are received and principally consumed here. Our wheat exports are about 150,000 bushels, grade No. 1 hard. Barley 40,000 bushels. Oats, corn and other feed stuffs are imported by elevators on wholesale scale. As a railroad station it is one of the most important to the respective roads both in freight and passenger traffic. (The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Tuesday Morning, July 8, 1884, Page 5)