John W. North
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John W. North was a 19th century pioneer American statesman of national reputation. He is the founder of the cities of Northfield, Minnesota and Riverside, California, where John W. North High School is named after him.
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[edit] Early Biography
North was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer County, New York, January 4, 1815.
[edit] Founding Northfield, Minnesota
On August 17, 1855, North purchased 160 acres (0.6 km²) of land from each of the other two original pre-emptors. The entire tract of 320 acres (1.3 km²) was platted in the fall of 1855, and the plat of the Original Town, comprising most of what is now the First and Second wards and a small tract across the river south of the section line now marked by Fourth street, was filed in the office of the register of deeds March 7, 1856.
The connection of John North with the community which he founded, although of the utmost significance, is quite brief. It lasts only about six years. The first years in Minnesota were spent at St. Anthony. In the fall of 1850, North was elected a member of the second legislature of the territory and wrote the act which became the charter of the University of Minnesota from 1851 to 1860.
In the summer of 1855, North commences work on the dam and a $4,000 saw mill which is completed so as to commence sawing lumber about the first of December of that year. A college-bred man, whose cultural viewpoint has already been evidenced, the founder of Northfield was keenly interested in the organization of the Lyceum Society, which was formed October 1, 1856, and of which he was the first president.
[edit] Founding Riverside, California
John North left Minnesota in 1861, moving first to Nevada and then to California, where he founded the city of Riverside and, later, the small farming community of Oleander near Fresno. He died in Riverside in 1890.
[edit] References
The News, Northfield, 8/16/1929. Northfield H&A, 4, 5-7, 20, 30, 34, 42, 46, 86; Continuum, 23, 41; #1: 8-10; Timeline
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