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Take Hwy. 61 West to Red Wing, MN |
Wacouta and Frontenac, Minnesota |
Take Hwy. 61 SE to Lake City, MN |
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Eleven
miles south of Red Wing in Goodhue County, you will find the twin communities of Frontenac
and Old Frontenac. Frontenac grew up along the railroad, while old
Frontenac had its beginnings as a river port. Old
Frontenac was established as Waconia by James "Bully" Wells,
in 1839. It was originally a trading post. James sold off his interest in
the trading post to Everett Westervelt in 1853 who later sold it to
General Israel Garrard and his brother Dr. Lewis Garrad who renamed Frontenac.
It features many
stately elegant homes spread among tree-lined avenues. But easily the most
prominent institution in the Old Frontenac vicinity is the Villa Maria, established
in 1891 by the Ursuline Sisters as a convent school for girls and
currently serving the area as a conference center.
Old Frontenac is noteworthy for a number of reasons. It is located at the widest stretch of the Mississippi River, Lake Pepin. Limestone from a local quarry was used locally and faraway and famous places such as the baptistery in the St. John's the Divine in New York City. Two architecturally significant houses are located here, The Westervelt and the St. Hubert's Lodge. The first Christian chapel in Minnesota was built here by the French in 1727. The Chicago-Milwaukee railroad was planning to lay
tracks to the south along the Mississippi River. The General did not want
the tranquility of the village disturbed so he granted the necessary
right-of-way acreage needed to move the tracks two miles from the lake
front. Thus, New Frontenac, a.k.a. The Station was formed and Old
Frontenac was spared the traffic and noise of the railroad and later, Hwy
61. Wacouta was first settled in 1853 by an Indian trader named Bullard. Having built a village around his trading post, Bullard named the village after Chief Wacouta, who was the last chief of the Red Wing band of the Dakota Indians. Chief Dakota was a compassionate man who thought peace was a virtue and advised his people accordingly. This small village once competed with Red Wing for county seat when it was a bustling town, filled with rivermen and lumberjacks. At one time millions of logs were fated together to be sent down the river to the growing towns of St. Louis and Kansas City. But today summer homes is all that remains of this once thriving town. |
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