by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
On Thursday, May 19 Garretson resident and Pipestone Museum Director Susan Hoskins presented a lecture to the Minnehaha County Historical Society on the lost town of Palisade. This presentation was a part of their Third Thursday Public Talk.
Hoskins said she first became interested in the town when she worked as the Naturalist for Palisades State Park back in 2001.
Observant readers will note that the township name Palisades and town name Palisade are different in word tense. Hoskins said that this is a small detail that people often get wrong.
Palisades Township was the designation the area was given during its first land survey in the 1870s.
The initial settlement was founded around a grist mill, where farmers would bring their wheat to be ground into flour. The miller in question was C.W. Patton. He was born in Illinois, grew up in Iowa and came to the Dakota territory via Missouri.
Patton’s grist mill, powered by Split Rock Creek, provided flour for the local settlers and the town of Palisade grew up around it. In the 1880 census, there were 35 structures in all, including a blacksmith, a grocery store, and a hotel. The community also had its own newspaper, the Palisades Progress. (The printing press for said paper is thought to be the very same one that was owned by the Sanders Family and recently purchased by the Garretson Area Historical Society, and is on display at the Gazette offices.)
It was, of course, the railroad that eventually spelled the doom of the town of Palisade. Initially, the railroad built around the town, and even created a tunnel at the behest of the citizens to go through the rock formations without disturbing the mill race. However, eventually the railroad built a track junction point, and that junction location is what became Garretson. Almost overnight, many of the buildings and businesses of the town of Palisade were transported and transplanted to the new site, much of it moved on the ice of the creek in the dead of winter. Thus, Palisade vanished into history.
“I’ve myself have hardly scratched the surface of the history of Palisade, so a lot more could be done on this topic,” said Hoskins. “Back in 2001 the railroad tunnel still existed and I went inside it, but since then the current railroad company has closed it off. I wish I’d remembered a camera at the time. You can still find some ruins and rubble from the town, and parts of the mill race.”
Hoskins’s lecture was the last of the County Historical Society’s lectures for this season. However, there are several other events planned for this summer.
First is their Ice Cream Social on June 16th at the lower Sherman Park at 6:30 p.m. Next is a musical performance by Miss Myra and the Moonshines on July 14th at 6:30 p.m. at Levitt Center on Phillips Ave.
