Tour-able Sites/Evidence

TOUR-ABLE SITES & EVIDENCE In and Around New Ulm

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This list of sites will eventually include sites throughout Brown County. Keep checking back for updates.

Specific Sites Relevant to the Dakota Conflict In and Around New Ulm

Interpretive Markers Downtown

Mike Eischen's Battlefield NU, Painting          2 North Broadway                 

“Battles of New Ulm” Plaque                         25 North Broadway

Forster Building     1 2                                   117 North Broadway              Photos courtesy of the MNHS

New Ulm Battery                                           100 North Broadway

Jacob Nix Platz                                              126 North Broadway              Photo courtesy of the MNHS

Kiesling House                                                220 North Minnesota             Photo courtesy of Kim Janke

Grand Hotel                                                    208 North Minnesota

Erd Building                                                   108 North Minnesota               Image courtesy of Kim Janke

Dakota House   1 2                                        105 North Minnesota              Photos courtesy of the MNHS & Kim Janke

Brick Sculpture                                               16 North Minnesota

Interpretive Markers Around Town

Roebbecke Mill                                            1 South State 

Brown County Pioneers                                14 South State (on the Courthouse front lawn)

Defenders’ Monument                                  715 Center Street (on the boulevard                         
                                                                     between State and Washington Streets)             Photos courtesy of Kim Janke

Leavenworth Rescue Expedition                    501 South Garden                                             Photo courtesy of Kim Janke

Waraju Distillery                                             2^nd North and West Streets (in Harmon Park)  Photo courtesy of Kim Janke

Unmarked Sites Around Town

Schell’s Brewery Office    1 2                        1860 Schell Road

 Area Sites from that Era

Recruitment Party Ambush Site                       Highway 29 – 8 miles west of N. U.

Milford Monument                                          Highway 29 – 8 miles west of N.U.           Photo courtesy of Kim Janke

Harkin Store                                                   Highway 21 – 8 miles west of New Ulm

 Ft. Ridgely                                                      Highway 4 – 15 miles west of New Ulm

Chief Sleepy Eye Monument                           Highway 14 – in the middle of Sleepy Eye   

Sod Houses by Sanborn                                  Highway 14 - Magnolia Road, near Sanborn

The only structures remaining* in New Ulm from before the Dakota Conflict of 1862:

1. The Friedrich Kiesling house                                (220 North Minnesota)                Photo courtesy of Kim Janke      

It is the best preserved of all and is on its original site.

It was full of straw ready to be burned by the settlers in the Uprising if the Indians took the town.

2. The Frederick Forster building                            (117 North Broadway)                  Photo courtesy of the MHS    

The original brick was stuccoed over and has had varying additions over time. It now houses an   
            antique store, “Antiques Plus”. There is evidence of bullet marks from the Uprising on the north    side, behind the 
            smoked glass. The 3 interpretive panels on it’s front are worth seeing themselves.

3. The August Schell Brewery                                  (1860 Schell’s Road)                     Photo courtesy of the MHS    

The original building from 1860 is now used as their office and it’s in good shape externally.

4. The Frank Erd building                                       (108 North Minnesota)                    Photo courtesy of Kim Janke

It has undergone a variety of changes, including stuccoing over the beautiful brickwork.

Read the historic plaque on it describing how the women and children gathered in here during the Uprising. 
            Today it is an accounting business, “Larson & Allen.”

5. The Weddendorf home                                         (826 North Minnesota)          

It is still a private home with additions over the years. Apparently the basement has evidence of its age. There’s a nice story about its role in the Uprising in Louis Fritsche’s book!

6. The Schalk house                                                   (822 North State)       

A private home but with many additions and moved from its original site on 3^rd North and Minnesota where it was during the Uprising. (As of June, 2008 the metal and granite marker on the front yard was down, but it may be reinstalled.)

7.  The Waraju Distillery                                  (Harman Park, Center and Garden Streets)      Photos courtesy of Kim Janke         

            Only the chimney remains of this former liquor distillery that was burned in the Uprising.

* There is a possible house on the 200 South Minnesota block that has claimed 1858 as a construction date, but hard evidence needs to be forthcoming before being included in this grouping.

*This list is not intended to convey the feeling that everything else was destroyed during the fighting.
That is not true. While it’s true that many of the original structures were destroyed, many were also victims of “modernization,” subsequent fires, a variety of damage, and changing real estate needs.