Fillmore County Flashback – County Seat was Coveted Prize in the 1850s

By Joanne Hall, Preston Historical Society

The Preston Republican article of July 24, 1958, carried the headline “County Seat Was Coveted Prize in 1850’s”.  Minnesota was still a territory in the years 1851 to 1856 so government supervision came from St. Paul.  The boundaries of early Fillmore County included parts of what are now Houston, Winona and Olmsted counties. According to preserved records from that time, there were four villages hoping to become the county seat, namely Carimona, Chatfield, Forestville and Preston. In January 1854 the county commissioners selected Chatfield as the county seat. In March 1855 the Territorial Legislature designated Carimona the county seat through passage of a bill with “a … maze of provisions” as stated in the newspaper article.  On February 18, 1856, the State Legislature authorized the residents of a now-defined boundary of Fillmore County to vote among three villages: Forestville, Carimona and Preston, as the county seat.  The election was held on the first Monday in April, 1856 and Preston prevailed.  The county records were moved from Carimona to Preston in two coffee sacks.  The business of Fillmore County was then established in a small frame building on Mill Street.  Records indicate the village of Carimona was not willing to concede and in February of 1863 they “carried the fight” to the State Legislature. Carimona leaders William Meighen, William Strong and James Rossman presented a bond of $20,000 for the responsibility of donating a courthouse site and a completed building by June 1, 1865.

Meanwhile, on February 24, 1863, Preston was “presenting to the county commissioners a deed to … property given by John Kaercher and his sister, Mrs. Barbara Schweitzer.”  The Courthouse Building Association presented a proposal on the same day to the commissioners guaranteeing a courthouse built at no cost to the county. Citizens of Preston pledged to donate money, material and labor.  The bondsmen for the pledge were S.B. Murrell, William W. Fife, D.B. Coleman, Conkey brothers and J.C. Easton.  On July 4, 1864, the courthouse was officially accepted by the county commissioners.  The original building was two stories high and 50 feet square. Two wings were added in 1884 and north and south porches were added later.