Zumbrota. In the southern part of Goodhue county, 22 miles from Red Wing (c h), and 36 from St. Paul. It is the terminus of the Wabasha branch of the C., M. & St. P. and of the Rochester & Northern branch of the C. & N. W. It is situated upon the Zumbro river, which gives power to flouring mills, and has a number of business houses and hotels. The churches are Congregational, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal and Lutheran. A high school, grammar, intermediate and primary schools are located there. Exports, wheat, oats and produce. Express, Am. Telegraph, Northwestern. Tri-weekly stage to Red Wing, Wastedo and Concord. Daily mail by rail. (Minnesota State Gazetteer and Business Directory including Dakota Territory 1880-81, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Co. and A. C. Danser, St. Paul and Detroit, Page 778)
Zumbrota on the Zumbro Celebrates Fifty Years of Progress. Special to The Journal. Zumbrota, Minn., Sept. 15. – Beginning Wednesday, Zumbrota, the second largest city in Goodhue county, will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Five hundred invitations have been sent to those who have at any time made Zumbrota their home, and it is expected that many of them will be present. The week will be called "Old Home Week." At the same time the Goodhue county agricultural street fair will be in progress. Governor Johnson, George B. Aiton, state inspector of high schools; Herman Biorn of Minneapolis, and other persons of note will take part in the program. Fifty years ago the pioneers, Smith and Doty, saw the possibilities of a future town here and pre-empted claims with that end in view. About this time a New England organization called Stafford Western Emigration company, sent men westward to invest in land and found a city. This part divided at Red Wing, and started to explore the country. One of these, Ira Perry, Samuel Chaffee, Joseph Bailey and Daniel Goddard, found Smith and Doty, and all were so favorably impressed with this location that they readily agreed to lay out a site for a town.
The following summer, 1856, the town was christened and ready for habitation. Then came sturdy, God-fearing people from the east who were seeking a fertile soil and a place to call home. The growth of Zumbrota has been slow but sure; the little log houses gradually gave way to more imposing structures. The town has become a little city of some 1,500 inhabitants and is surrounded by one of the richest farming regions in the northwest. Zumbrota has three railroads, the Milwaukee, the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago & North-Western. It has seven churches and one of the finest schoolhouses in the state for a town of its size. This building cost $50,000, and twelve teachers are employed. Zumbrota has always taken immense pride in its schools. Associated with them stand out the names of several prominent men who have at one time been instructors here, among others, George B. Aiton, state inspector of high schools; A. W. Rankin, state inspector of graded schools; Professor F. A. Weld, president of the Moorhead normal, and several others.
Zumbrota has an up-to-date telephone system and electric light plant, and an excellent system of waterworks and sewers. All the different lines of business are well represented and do an immense business with adjoining towns and the farming community. The Zumbrota Clay Manufacturing company is erecting a plant for the construction of building and drain tile, brick and other clay products. It has already expended about $50,000 in buildings, and will be in operation this fall. About two hundred men will be employed. Already the town feels the effects of this addition, for it is almost impossible to find a house for rent. Zumbrota is entirely out of debt, something unusual for towns of its size and improvements. It also has a volunteer fire department of 120 men. Company D, Third infantry, M. N. G., has been stationed here twenty-one years. (The Minneapolis Journal, Sunday, September 16, 1906, Part II, Page 2)