- HOLMES CITY [Douglas County, Minnesota], settled in 1858,
established as a township
- October 4, 1866, was named in honor of Thomas Andrew HOLMES,
leader of its first group of settlers. He was born in Bergerstown,
Pa., March 4, 1804; and died in Cullman, Ala., July 2, 1888.
He established an Indian trading post in 1839 at Fountain City,
Wis., and in 1849 removed to Sauk Rapids, Minn.; was a member
of the first territorial legislature; founded the towns of Shakopee
and Chaska in 1851. Before engaging in the Indian trade, he had
been one of the founders of Janesville, Wis., in 1836. Following
the receding frontier, he went to Montana in 1862, and there
participated in founding Bannack City, at an early locality of
placer gold mining, which became the first capital of Montana
Territory.
-
- [Taken from "Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin
& Historic Significance - Collections of Minnesota Historical
Society, Vol. XVII" by Warren Upham; (c)1920 Minnesota Historical
Society, St. Paul, MN, p. 177]
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