CHARLES H. BENNETT (1873), the oldest settler of Pipestone county now residing in the county, is deservedly referred to as the "Father of Pipestone City." Since the day in April, 1874, when he erected the first human habitation in Pipestone county he has been a guiding spirit of the community. In company with D. E. Sweet, he platted the original Pipestone City in the spring of 1876, and ever since he has been a generous-hearted resident of the city, ever zealous of its welfare. He has seen Pipestone develop from a site without a building or an inhabitant, through the pioneer stages, into the substantial city it is today. During all those years none have given more of his time or talent to the promotion of every worthy cause than has Mr. Bennett. Not only has he taken a leading part in the material advancement of his city and county, he has preserved in memory and records the events of historical importance from the earliest days, and to Charles H. Bennett the author of this volume is indebted more than to any other person for assistance in compiling this history of Pipestone county. Without the aid furnished by him, much of historical importance must have remained unrecorded.
Mr. Bennett comes from a family of town founders. His father, Isaiah W. Bennett, was a co-founder of the cities of Union City, Ann Arbor and Jackson, three of the prosperous cities of Michigan.
At Union City, Branch county, Michigan, on the second day of July, 1846, the subject of this biography was born, and in that vicinity he spent his boyhood days. He served an enlistment in the civil war of 1861 to 1865, in 1864 as a member of company D, One Hundred thirty-fourth Illinois infantry, (Aka The Chicago Zouaves) and after the war moved to the western country. Prior and subsequent to service in the army he had qualified himself as a pharmacist, as a student with Professors Proctor, Sargent, and other prominent pharmacists in Dubuque, Philadelphia, Chicago and Omaha.
In 1867 Mr. Bennett located in the village of Sioux City, Iowa, then a town not larger than Pipestone is now and without a railroad. For two years he was employed as clerk in a drug store in that frontier village, and in 1869 he located on the site of the present city of LeMars, Iowa, erecting the first business building in the town, in which he established a drug store. He conducted that business about seven years, or until taking up his residence in Pipestone county. Mr. Bennett first beheld the scenes of his later activities in August, 1873. At that time he paid a visit to the famous Red Pipestone quarries, accompanied by his wife, who died the following year; his sister, Mrs. Annie E. Wright; his baby nephew, Cenie C. Wright; and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Flint. While at the quarries on that visit Mr. Bennett selected the site of Pipestone for a future home and as the point at which he would some day found a city. In carrying out his plans, Mr, Bennett, accompanied by others, visited the site again in April, 1874, and erected the first building in the county. That was on a claim of 160 acres he had pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 12, township 106, north of range 46 west. The exact site of the claim shanty is lot 14, of block 12, original plat of Pipestone City, and is diagonally across the street from Commerce block, at the northwest corner of the intersection of Centennial and Hiawatha streets. The lumber for the pioneer. shanty was hauled from Luverne. (A large reinforced concrete cement building is now being erected on the foregoing site by Joseph Sturzl for a garage and machinery establishment). A few weeks after it was put up Mr. Bennett had thirty-seven acres of prairie land broken oh and near the townsite.
In order to devote his entire time to the new settlement, Mr. Bennett disposed of his drug business in LeMars on the first of January, 1876, and in the spring of the same year he and D. E. Sweet platted Pipestone City. He planted twenty acres of trees and later twenty acres more and erected an office building, which now forms a part of his residence, on lots 14, 15 and 16, block 11, original plat. The lumber for the building was secured in Worthington and was hauled with teams by him fifty miles across country where roads were unknown. Mr. Bennett broke more land and planted the seeds that were to bear fruit and help transform the wilderness into a blooming garden. Settlers were invited into the new country, and largely through Mr. Bennett's instrumentality the first mail routes and post roads were established and the first steps taken for a civil organization.
On October 6, 1877, Charles H. Bennett took as his second wife Adelaide B. George, of Warner, New Hampshire, and in 1878 they established a permanent home in Pipestone. Hauling lumber from Luverne, a large two-story building was erected, in which, in the spring of 1879, Mr. Bennett established the first drug store in the county, a business he has ever since conducted. The business is now housed in the substantial and beautiful stone building on Centennial street, erected in the early days. Many other men hesitated through lack of faith in the future development of the town to invest of their means in building, but Mr. Bennett, confident of a future prosperity, spent freely of his means and all he could borrow to such ends. Besides the Bennett block, he erected the former postoffice corner of the Syndicate block. Portions of the first frame building put up by Mr, Bennett for his drug business were used for church services, court purposes, county offices and public hall.
Many of the flourishing institutions and factors of progress of which Pipestone today attributes its substantial and attractive appearance can be traced directly to the activity and influence of Charles H. Bennett. He was largely instrumental in the removal from LeMars, Iowa, of the widely-known English firm of Close Bros., who established their office headquarters in Pipestone and inaugurated a boom for that city. To this Mr. Bennett contributed liberally in money and many thousands of dollars' worth of land and lots, which were turned over to the great land firm. He secured the building by Close Bros, of the first Calumet hotel, costing $40,000, which was burned, and the erection by them of forty new houses on adjacent lands. He assisted in bringing additional railroads to the county and was the most active agency in securing legislation and appropriation from congress for the founding in Pipe-stone of one of the finest government Indian industrial schools in the United States.
In an official capacity Mr. Bennett has also been of invaluable service to this city and county. Although not a lawyer by profession, he was elected the first county attorney of Pipestone county, later served as county court commissioner, and for several years efficiently served as chairman of the board of Pipestone county commissioners. He was the first clerk of Sweet township and has served as justice of the peace and as a member of the city council. In 1897 he was elected mayor and during his incumbency he accomplished an enterprise that has had lasting effects. He inaugurated the plan of conducting a contest for civic improvement among the housekeepers of the municipality. He offered as a prize a town lot valued at $150, which was given to the lady who during the year caused the most improvements in her dooryard, street and surrounding lots and who secured the maximum amount of labor from tramps in bringing about the desired results. This novel plan, prompted by generosity and public spirit, set the mark for a better Pipestone in sanitation and general improvement.
The business conducted by Mr. Bennett is a model enterprise of its kind. It is headquarters for the largest stock of raw and manufactured Indian pipestone in the world. A large exhibit, under a concession, for the sale of pipestone curios was maintained at the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago in 1893, and also at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904 by Mr. Bennett. In both instances he was awarded silver and bronze medals and diplomas of significance. Mr. Bennett is a member of three local Masonic orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, Blue Lodge and Eastern Star. In the affairs of that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Bennett has always been an active participant. He is a charter member and a past commander of Simon Mix Post No. 80, department of Minnesota. He has been honored by the department as a former member of the committee on the state soldiers' home and he is at present adjutant of the post, an office he had held for many years. He was also a charter member of the First Presbyterian church of Pipestone City.
As a life member of the Minnesota Historical society, Mr. Bennett has rendered valuable aid to the society. He is a charter member of the Pipestone County Old Settlers' society and has been its president. He has been continually secretary and historian of the society, and in those capacities he has prepared a rare record of local event in the county by keeping on file copies of every newspaper ever published in Pipestone City. These files, comprising many bound volumes, have been loaned to and placed by the society in the Carnegie public library. He has also preserved a duplicate set of files as above for his own use.
(Charles Bennett was the younger brother of Orson W. Bennett, Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient; and William True Bennett, Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General who served in the Civil War as an officer leading Union African-American soldiers.)
Mr. Bennett comes from a family of town founders. His father, Isaiah W. Bennett, was a co-founder of the cities of Union City, Ann Arbor and Jackson, three of the prosperous cities of Michigan.
At Union City, Branch county, Michigan, on the second day of July, 1846, the subject of this biography was born, and in that vicinity he spent his boyhood days. He served an enlistment in the civil war of 1861 to 1865, in 1864 as a member of company D, One Hundred thirty-fourth Illinois infantry, (Aka The Chicago Zouaves) and after the war moved to the western country. Prior and subsequent to service in the army he had qualified himself as a pharmacist, as a student with Professors Proctor, Sargent, and other prominent pharmacists in Dubuque, Philadelphia, Chicago and Omaha.
In 1867 Mr. Bennett located in the village of Sioux City, Iowa, then a town not larger than Pipestone is now and without a railroad. For two years he was employed as clerk in a drug store in that frontier village, and in 1869 he located on the site of the present city of LeMars, Iowa, erecting the first business building in the town, in which he established a drug store. He conducted that business about seven years, or until taking up his residence in Pipestone county. Mr. Bennett first beheld the scenes of his later activities in August, 1873. At that time he paid a visit to the famous Red Pipestone quarries, accompanied by his wife, who died the following year; his sister, Mrs. Annie E. Wright; his baby nephew, Cenie C. Wright; and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Flint. While at the quarries on that visit Mr. Bennett selected the site of Pipestone for a future home and as the point at which he would some day found a city. In carrying out his plans, Mr, Bennett, accompanied by others, visited the site again in April, 1874, and erected the first building in the county. That was on a claim of 160 acres he had pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 12, township 106, north of range 46 west. The exact site of the claim shanty is lot 14, of block 12, original plat of Pipestone City, and is diagonally across the street from Commerce block, at the northwest corner of the intersection of Centennial and Hiawatha streets. The lumber for the pioneer. shanty was hauled from Luverne. (A large reinforced concrete cement building is now being erected on the foregoing site by Joseph Sturzl for a garage and machinery establishment). A few weeks after it was put up Mr. Bennett had thirty-seven acres of prairie land broken oh and near the townsite.
In order to devote his entire time to the new settlement, Mr. Bennett disposed of his drug business in LeMars on the first of January, 1876, and in the spring of the same year he and D. E. Sweet platted Pipestone City. He planted twenty acres of trees and later twenty acres more and erected an office building, which now forms a part of his residence, on lots 14, 15 and 16, block 11, original plat. The lumber for the building was secured in Worthington and was hauled with teams by him fifty miles across country where roads were unknown. Mr. Bennett broke more land and planted the seeds that were to bear fruit and help transform the wilderness into a blooming garden. Settlers were invited into the new country, and largely through Mr. Bennett's instrumentality the first mail routes and post roads were established and the first steps taken for a civil organization.
On October 6, 1877, Charles H. Bennett took as his second wife Adelaide B. George, of Warner, New Hampshire, and in 1878 they established a permanent home in Pipestone. Hauling lumber from Luverne, a large two-story building was erected, in which, in the spring of 1879, Mr. Bennett established the first drug store in the county, a business he has ever since conducted. The business is now housed in the substantial and beautiful stone building on Centennial street, erected in the early days. Many other men hesitated through lack of faith in the future development of the town to invest of their means in building, but Mr. Bennett, confident of a future prosperity, spent freely of his means and all he could borrow to such ends. Besides the Bennett block, he erected the former postoffice corner of the Syndicate block. Portions of the first frame building put up by Mr, Bennett for his drug business were used for church services, court purposes, county offices and public hall.
Many of the flourishing institutions and factors of progress of which Pipestone today attributes its substantial and attractive appearance can be traced directly to the activity and influence of Charles H. Bennett. He was largely instrumental in the removal from LeMars, Iowa, of the widely-known English firm of Close Bros., who established their office headquarters in Pipestone and inaugurated a boom for that city. To this Mr. Bennett contributed liberally in money and many thousands of dollars' worth of land and lots, which were turned over to the great land firm. He secured the building by Close Bros, of the first Calumet hotel, costing $40,000, which was burned, and the erection by them of forty new houses on adjacent lands. He assisted in bringing additional railroads to the county and was the most active agency in securing legislation and appropriation from congress for the founding in Pipe-stone of one of the finest government Indian industrial schools in the United States.
In an official capacity Mr. Bennett has also been of invaluable service to this city and county. Although not a lawyer by profession, he was elected the first county attorney of Pipestone county, later served as county court commissioner, and for several years efficiently served as chairman of the board of Pipestone county commissioners. He was the first clerk of Sweet township and has served as justice of the peace and as a member of the city council. In 1897 he was elected mayor and during his incumbency he accomplished an enterprise that has had lasting effects. He inaugurated the plan of conducting a contest for civic improvement among the housekeepers of the municipality. He offered as a prize a town lot valued at $150, which was given to the lady who during the year caused the most improvements in her dooryard, street and surrounding lots and who secured the maximum amount of labor from tramps in bringing about the desired results. This novel plan, prompted by generosity and public spirit, set the mark for a better Pipestone in sanitation and general improvement.
The business conducted by Mr. Bennett is a model enterprise of its kind. It is headquarters for the largest stock of raw and manufactured Indian pipestone in the world. A large exhibit, under a concession, for the sale of pipestone curios was maintained at the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago in 1893, and also at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904 by Mr. Bennett. In both instances he was awarded silver and bronze medals and diplomas of significance. Mr. Bennett is a member of three local Masonic orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, Blue Lodge and Eastern Star. In the affairs of that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Bennett has always been an active participant. He is a charter member and a past commander of Simon Mix Post No. 80, department of Minnesota. He has been honored by the department as a former member of the committee on the state soldiers' home and he is at present adjutant of the post, an office he had held for many years. He was also a charter member of the First Presbyterian church of Pipestone City.
As a life member of the Minnesota Historical society, Mr. Bennett has rendered valuable aid to the society. He is a charter member of the Pipestone County Old Settlers' society and has been its president. He has been continually secretary and historian of the society, and in those capacities he has prepared a rare record of local event in the county by keeping on file copies of every newspaper ever published in Pipestone City. These files, comprising many bound volumes, have been loaned to and placed by the society in the Carnegie public library. He has also preserved a duplicate set of files as above for his own use.
(Charles Bennett was the younger brother of Orson W. Bennett, Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient; and William True Bennett, Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General who served in the Civil War as an officer leading Union African-American soldiers.)
CHARLES H. BENNETT (1873), the oldest settler of Pipestone county now residing in the county, is deservedly referred to as the "Father of Pipestone City." Since the day in April, 1874, when he erected the first human habitation in Pipestone county he has been a guiding spirit of the community. In company with D. E. Sweet, he platted the original Pipestone City in the spring of 1876, and ever since he has been a generous-hearted resident of the city, ever zealous of its welfare. He has seen Pipestone develop from a site without a building or an inhabitant, through the pioneer stages, into the substantial city it is today. During all those years none have given more of his time or talent to the promotion of every worthy cause than has Mr. Bennett. Not only has he taken a leading part in the material advancement of his city and county, he has preserved in memory and records the events of historical importance from the earliest days, and to Charles H. Bennett the author of this volume is indebted more than to any other person for assistance in compiling this history of Pipestone county. Without the aid furnished by him, much of historical importance must have remained unrecorded.
Mr. Bennett comes from a family of town founders. His father, Isaiah W. Bennett, was a co-founder of the cities of Union City, Ann Arbor and Jackson, three of the prosperous cities of Michigan.
At Union City, Branch county, Michigan, on the second day of July, 1846, the subject of this biography was born, and in that vicinity he spent his boyhood days. He served an enlistment in the civil war of 1861 to 1865, in 1864 as a member of company D, One Hundred thirty-fourth Illinois infantry, (Aka The Chicago Zouaves) and after the war moved to the western country. Prior and subsequent to service in the army he had qualified himself as a pharmacist, as a student with Professors Proctor, Sargent, and other prominent pharmacists in Dubuque, Philadelphia, Chicago and Omaha.
In 1867 Mr. Bennett located in the village of Sioux City, Iowa, then a town not larger than Pipestone is now and without a railroad. For two years he was employed as clerk in a drug store in that frontier village, and in 1869 he located on the site of the present city of LeMars, Iowa, erecting the first business building in the town, in which he established a drug store. He conducted that business about seven years, or until taking up his residence in Pipestone county. Mr. Bennett first beheld the scenes of his later activities in August, 1873. At that time he paid a visit to the famous Red Pipestone quarries, accompanied by his wife, who died the following year; his sister, Mrs. Annie E. Wright; his baby nephew, Cenie C. Wright; and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Flint. While at the quarries on that visit Mr. Bennett selected the site of Pipestone for a future home and as the point at which he would some day found a city. In carrying out his plans, Mr, Bennett, accompanied by others, visited the site again in April, 1874, and erected the first building in the county. That was on a claim of 160 acres he had pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 12, township 106, north of range 46 west. The exact site of the claim shanty is lot 14, of block 12, original plat of Pipestone City, and is diagonally across the street from Commerce block, at the northwest corner of the intersection of Centennial and Hiawatha streets. The lumber for the pioneer. shanty was hauled from Luverne. (A large reinforced concrete cement building is now being erected on the foregoing site by Joseph Sturzl for a garage and machinery establishment). A few weeks after it was put up Mr. Bennett had thirty-seven acres of prairie land broken oh and near the townsite.
In order to devote his entire time to the new settlement, Mr. Bennett disposed of his drug business in LeMars on the first of January, 1876, and in the spring of the same year he and D. E. Sweet platted Pipestone City. He planted twenty acres of trees and later twenty acres more and erected an office building, which now forms a part of his residence, on lots 14, 15 and 16, block 11, original plat. The lumber for the building was secured in Worthington and was hauled with teams by him fifty miles across country where roads were unknown. Mr. Bennett broke more land and planted the seeds that were to bear fruit and help transform the wilderness into a blooming garden. Settlers were invited into the new country, and largely through Mr. Bennett's instrumentality the first mail routes and post roads were established and the first steps taken for a civil organization.
On October 6, 1877, Charles H. Bennett took as his second wife Adelaide B. George, of Warner, New Hampshire, and in 1878 they established a permanent home in Pipestone. Hauling lumber from Luverne, a large two-story building was erected, in which, in the spring of 1879, Mr. Bennett established the first drug store in the county, a business he has ever since conducted. The business is now housed in the substantial and beautiful stone building on Centennial street, erected in the early days. Many other men hesitated through lack of faith in the future development of the town to invest of their means in building, but Mr. Bennett, confident of a future prosperity, spent freely of his means and all he could borrow to such ends. Besides the Bennett block, he erected the former postoffice corner of the Syndicate block. Portions of the first frame building put up by Mr, Bennett for his drug business were used for church services, court purposes, county offices and public hall.
Many of the flourishing institutions and factors of progress of which Pipestone today attributes its substantial and attractive appearance can be traced directly to the activity and influence of Charles H. Bennett. He was largely instrumental in the removal from LeMars, Iowa, of the widely-known English firm of Close Bros., who established their office headquarters in Pipestone and inaugurated a boom for that city. To this Mr. Bennett contributed liberally in money and many thousands of dollars' worth of land and lots, which were turned over to the great land firm. He secured the building by Close Bros, of the first Calumet hotel, costing $40,000, which was burned, and the erection by them of forty new houses on adjacent lands. He assisted in bringing additional railroads to the county and was the most active agency in securing legislation and appropriation from congress for the founding in Pipe-stone of one of the finest government Indian industrial schools in the United States.
In an official capacity Mr. Bennett has also been of invaluable service to this city and county. Although not a lawyer by profession, he was elected the first county attorney of Pipestone county, later served as county court commissioner, and for several years efficiently served as chairman of the board of Pipestone county commissioners. He was the first clerk of Sweet township and has served as justice of the peace and as a member of the city council. In 1897 he was elected mayor and during his incumbency he accomplished an enterprise that has had lasting effects. He inaugurated the plan of conducting a contest for civic improvement among the housekeepers of the municipality. He offered as a prize a town lot valued at $150, which was given to the lady who during the year caused the most improvements in her dooryard, street and surrounding lots and who secured the maximum amount of labor from tramps in bringing about the desired results. This novel plan, prompted by generosity and public spirit, set the mark for a better Pipestone in sanitation and general improvement.
The business conducted by Mr. Bennett is a model enterprise of its kind. It is headquarters for the largest stock of raw and manufactured Indian pipestone in the world. A large exhibit, under a concession, for the sale of pipestone curios was maintained at the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago in 1893, and also at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904 by Mr. Bennett. In both instances he was awarded silver and bronze medals and diplomas of significance. Mr. Bennett is a member of three local Masonic orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, Blue Lodge and Eastern Star. In the affairs of that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Bennett has always been an active participant. He is a charter member and a past commander of Simon Mix Post No. 80, department of Minnesota. He has been honored by the department as a former member of the committee on the state soldiers' home and he is at present adjutant of the post, an office he had held for many years. He was also a charter member of the First Presbyterian church of Pipestone City.
As a life member of the Minnesota Historical society, Mr. Bennett has rendered valuable aid to the society. He is a charter member of the Pipestone County Old Settlers' society and has been its president. He has been continually secretary and historian of the society, and in those capacities he has prepared a rare record of local event in the county by keeping on file copies of every newspaper ever published in Pipestone City. These files, comprising many bound volumes, have been loaned to and placed by the society in the Carnegie public library. He has also preserved a duplicate set of files as above for his own use.
(Charles Bennett was the younger brother of Orson W. Bennett, Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient; and William True Bennett, Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General who served in the Civil War as an officer leading Union African-American soldiers.)
Mr. Bennett comes from a family of town founders. His father, Isaiah W. Bennett, was a co-founder of the cities of Union City, Ann Arbor and Jackson, three of the prosperous cities of Michigan.
At Union City, Branch county, Michigan, on the second day of July, 1846, the subject of this biography was born, and in that vicinity he spent his boyhood days. He served an enlistment in the civil war of 1861 to 1865, in 1864 as a member of company D, One Hundred thirty-fourth Illinois infantry, (Aka The Chicago Zouaves) and after the war moved to the western country. Prior and subsequent to service in the army he had qualified himself as a pharmacist, as a student with Professors Proctor, Sargent, and other prominent pharmacists in Dubuque, Philadelphia, Chicago and Omaha.
In 1867 Mr. Bennett located in the village of Sioux City, Iowa, then a town not larger than Pipestone is now and without a railroad. For two years he was employed as clerk in a drug store in that frontier village, and in 1869 he located on the site of the present city of LeMars, Iowa, erecting the first business building in the town, in which he established a drug store. He conducted that business about seven years, or until taking up his residence in Pipestone county. Mr. Bennett first beheld the scenes of his later activities in August, 1873. At that time he paid a visit to the famous Red Pipestone quarries, accompanied by his wife, who died the following year; his sister, Mrs. Annie E. Wright; his baby nephew, Cenie C. Wright; and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Flint. While at the quarries on that visit Mr. Bennett selected the site of Pipestone for a future home and as the point at which he would some day found a city. In carrying out his plans, Mr, Bennett, accompanied by others, visited the site again in April, 1874, and erected the first building in the county. That was on a claim of 160 acres he had pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 12, township 106, north of range 46 west. The exact site of the claim shanty is lot 14, of block 12, original plat of Pipestone City, and is diagonally across the street from Commerce block, at the northwest corner of the intersection of Centennial and Hiawatha streets. The lumber for the pioneer. shanty was hauled from Luverne. (A large reinforced concrete cement building is now being erected on the foregoing site by Joseph Sturzl for a garage and machinery establishment). A few weeks after it was put up Mr. Bennett had thirty-seven acres of prairie land broken oh and near the townsite.
In order to devote his entire time to the new settlement, Mr. Bennett disposed of his drug business in LeMars on the first of January, 1876, and in the spring of the same year he and D. E. Sweet platted Pipestone City. He planted twenty acres of trees and later twenty acres more and erected an office building, which now forms a part of his residence, on lots 14, 15 and 16, block 11, original plat. The lumber for the building was secured in Worthington and was hauled with teams by him fifty miles across country where roads were unknown. Mr. Bennett broke more land and planted the seeds that were to bear fruit and help transform the wilderness into a blooming garden. Settlers were invited into the new country, and largely through Mr. Bennett's instrumentality the first mail routes and post roads were established and the first steps taken for a civil organization.
On October 6, 1877, Charles H. Bennett took as his second wife Adelaide B. George, of Warner, New Hampshire, and in 1878 they established a permanent home in Pipestone. Hauling lumber from Luverne, a large two-story building was erected, in which, in the spring of 1879, Mr. Bennett established the first drug store in the county, a business he has ever since conducted. The business is now housed in the substantial and beautiful stone building on Centennial street, erected in the early days. Many other men hesitated through lack of faith in the future development of the town to invest of their means in building, but Mr. Bennett, confident of a future prosperity, spent freely of his means and all he could borrow to such ends. Besides the Bennett block, he erected the former postoffice corner of the Syndicate block. Portions of the first frame building put up by Mr, Bennett for his drug business were used for church services, court purposes, county offices and public hall.
Many of the flourishing institutions and factors of progress of which Pipestone today attributes its substantial and attractive appearance can be traced directly to the activity and influence of Charles H. Bennett. He was largely instrumental in the removal from LeMars, Iowa, of the widely-known English firm of Close Bros., who established their office headquarters in Pipestone and inaugurated a boom for that city. To this Mr. Bennett contributed liberally in money and many thousands of dollars' worth of land and lots, which were turned over to the great land firm. He secured the building by Close Bros, of the first Calumet hotel, costing $40,000, which was burned, and the erection by them of forty new houses on adjacent lands. He assisted in bringing additional railroads to the county and was the most active agency in securing legislation and appropriation from congress for the founding in Pipe-stone of one of the finest government Indian industrial schools in the United States.
In an official capacity Mr. Bennett has also been of invaluable service to this city and county. Although not a lawyer by profession, he was elected the first county attorney of Pipestone county, later served as county court commissioner, and for several years efficiently served as chairman of the board of Pipestone county commissioners. He was the first clerk of Sweet township and has served as justice of the peace and as a member of the city council. In 1897 he was elected mayor and during his incumbency he accomplished an enterprise that has had lasting effects. He inaugurated the plan of conducting a contest for civic improvement among the housekeepers of the municipality. He offered as a prize a town lot valued at $150, which was given to the lady who during the year caused the most improvements in her dooryard, street and surrounding lots and who secured the maximum amount of labor from tramps in bringing about the desired results. This novel plan, prompted by generosity and public spirit, set the mark for a better Pipestone in sanitation and general improvement.
The business conducted by Mr. Bennett is a model enterprise of its kind. It is headquarters for the largest stock of raw and manufactured Indian pipestone in the world. A large exhibit, under a concession, for the sale of pipestone curios was maintained at the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago in 1893, and also at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904 by Mr. Bennett. In both instances he was awarded silver and bronze medals and diplomas of significance. Mr. Bennett is a member of three local Masonic orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, Blue Lodge and Eastern Star. In the affairs of that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Bennett has always been an active participant. He is a charter member and a past commander of Simon Mix Post No. 80, department of Minnesota. He has been honored by the department as a former member of the committee on the state soldiers' home and he is at present adjutant of the post, an office he had held for many years. He was also a charter member of the First Presbyterian church of Pipestone City.
As a life member of the Minnesota Historical society, Mr. Bennett has rendered valuable aid to the society. He is a charter member of the Pipestone County Old Settlers' society and has been its president. He has been continually secretary and historian of the society, and in those capacities he has prepared a rare record of local event in the county by keeping on file copies of every newspaper ever published in Pipestone City. These files, comprising many bound volumes, have been loaned to and placed by the society in the Carnegie public library. He has also preserved a duplicate set of files as above for his own use.
(Charles Bennett was the younger brother of Orson W. Bennett, Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient; and William True Bennett, Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General who served in the Civil War as an officer leading Union African-American soldiers.)
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Born Union City, MICH
Died Pipestone, MINN
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