Next edition of magazine sure does get around

Tim Engstrom, Pothole Prairie

Published Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Editor’s note: The following column as appears in the Fall 2009 issue of www.southernminnesotamagazine.com, coming out in early September. Tim Engstrom is the editor of the magazine.

We sure do get around. It wasn’t intentional, but looking at it now, it is clear this issue of the magazine highlights more places in Southern Minnesota than any other issue. And this is the 16th issue we’ve done.

Road trips have a way of covering a lot of ground. Cue the “I’ve Been Everywhere” song. This issue of Southern Minnesota goes to: Harmony, Caledonia, Rushford, Austin, Albert Lea, Owatonna, Northfield, Dundas, Millersburg, Shieldsville, Faribault, Kilkenny, Waterville, Elysian, Marysburg, Mankato, Madelia, La Salle, Shakopee, Prior Lake, Cambria, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Morgan, Gilfillan, Mantorville, Oronoco, Zumbro Falls, Kellogg, Rochester, Lansing, Medford, Hope, Ellendale, Jackson, Alden, Minnetonka, Falcon Heights, St. Peter and Clear Lake and Arnold’s Park down in Iowa.

From Caledonia to Gilfillan, that’s pretty good!

OK, I know what you are asking: Where is Gilfillan?

At Southern Minnesota, we like towns big and small. I get a kick out of knowing little places that have names but aren’t even incorporated. Near Albert Lea, which is where I live, we have Lerdal, Newry, Bath, Baroda, Walters, Mansfield, Petran, Oakland and Armstrong. Southern Minnesota is littered with these sort of places. It’s great.

Gilfillan is one such place. It is named for C.D. Gilfillan. Why are names in American history given with first and middle initials? If this were the 1800s, my byline would be T.M. Engstrom.

An orphan at 11, his full name was Charles Duncan Gilfillan — you are correct if you guessed Scottish — and because he served in the state Legislature, there is information about him in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

It says he was a Republican who served Ramsey County and lived in St. Paul. He was elected in 1865 to House District 1, in 1876 to House District 24, in 1878 to Senate District 24 and in 1883 to District 26. The switch in numbers makes me think he moved to Southern Minnesota — those look like numbers from our area — but a check of the record shows he served St. Paul each session.

Gilfillan was educated at Hamilton College in New York and moved to Missouri in 1850 to be a teacher. He came to Minnesota in 1851 and taught in Stillwater. He was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1853 and served as the first town recorder for Stillwater. By 1854, he settled down in St. Paul as a lawyer with his brother.

Our man C.D. was busy. He was the first chairman of the Minnesota Republican Central Committee in 1856. He was a Republican candidate for St. Paul mayor in 1860. He was instrumental in building the St. Paul water system. And he was among the organizers of the Minnesota Valley Historical Association.

He married Emma G. Waage in 1859, but she died four years later. Later, he married her sister, Fanny. They had for children: Emma, Fanny, Charles and Fredrick.

Gilfillan purchased 13,000 acres in Redwood County in 1882 and built an estate in the place now named for him. He became a cattleman whose beef was shipped overseas to England. He died in December 1902. It was his son, C.O. Gilfillan — for Charles Oswin — who donated the Gilfillan Estate to the Redwood County Historical Society. It now serves as a popular meeting spot, campground and tourist destination.

Teacher. Lawyer. Cattleman. Who says people didn’t change careers in the olden days?

Tribune Managing Editor and Southern Minnesota Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every Tuesday in the Tribune and near the front of the quarterly magazine.

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