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Founding of Hanover

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Black and white photograph of downtown Hanover seen from the Hennepin County side of the Crow River, ca. late 1800s.

Downtown Hanover seen from the Hennepin County side of the Crow River, ca. late 1800s. Used courtesy of the Hanover Historical Society.

In 1891, homesteaders in Hanover realized their dream of officially incorporating their farming community. It had been thirty-six years since Jacob Vollbrecht, a German immigrant, first arrived by canoe from St. Anthony Falls (later Minneapolis) after coming to the area from New Orleans. Jacob staked his land claim in Minnesota Territory and made the area his home. He and his brother William, who followed in the next year, are credited with founding the village of Vollbrecht Mills, later renamed Hanover.

Two resources lured Vollbrecht to Minnesota Territory: fertile farmland lying close to bodies of water and the Big Woods. Woodlands supplied cheap fuel, firewood for warmth, building materials for homes and barns, fencing for livestock, an abundance of nuts and berries, tree sap for making maple sugar and syrup, and plenty of wild game.

In 1856, when Vollbrecht first stepped ashore at the future site of Hanover, Minnesota was not yet a state; Wright County had only been officially established the year before. In 1862, the U.S. government’s Homestead Act granted acreage to anyone over the age of twenty-one who promised to build a house and live on the land for at least five years. This policy, in part, enticed Germans, many of whom were farmers, to emigrate to America and Minnesota Territory.

As more German families arrived in the 1870s, the town prospered. Its citizens began to seriously consider incorporating the village. The General Village Act of 1883 created a multi-step process. First, residents submitted a petition for incorporation to their district court. A judge then issued the order of incorporation, which was followed by a special election to confirm that the townsite wished to incorporate. In 1885, a change in the law transferred the responsibility of hearing and ruling on the incorporation petitions from the district court to the board of county commissioners.

Certain criteria were required for incorporation, including a town census of at least 200 and land deeded by the owners to the townsite. On August 29, 1891, following the completion of the Wright County surveyors’ plat, town homeowners signed their names in joint agreement to confer their individual plats to form the “townsite of Hanover”.

Documentation of the Plat of Hanover townsite indicates that those individuals who signed their names jointly agreed to grant public use of the town’s streets and alleys. They also agreed that Bridge Street would extend from the bridge over the Crow River to a point in the center of Main Street, where an iron monument would be erected at ground level. A deed laying out the new town’s boundaries was signed by its “owners and proprietors”: Herman Vollbrecht and his wife, Johanna; Henry Vollbrecht and his wife, also named Johanna; Johanna Vollbrecht, William Vollbrecht’s widow; George and Barbara Strunk; Edward and Augusta Strunk; William H. and Amelia Vollbrecht; and Max and Eliza Saenger.

According to the May 16, 1891 Minnesota census, the rural community recorded 206 residents in that year, thus satisfying the final incorporation requirement.

Following enumeration and the subsequent incorporation election in September 1891, Hanover’s officials presented a petition signed by thirty-four residents to county commissioners asking that the village be incorporated. The Wright County commissioners approved the election results on October 9, 1891, and Hanover, Minnesota was officially recognized. Jacob’s brother William was not alive to witness the event; he had died in 1889 at the age of seventy-three.

In October 2016, the city of Hanover commemorated its 125th anniversary.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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Coons, Mary. “Remember ’91 … 1891?” Crow River News, September 29, 2016.

——— . Safe From the Outside World: A Social History of Hanover, Minnesota. Minneapolis: LifePath Histories, 2004. Second printing 2009.

Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. History of Wright County, Minnesota. Vol. 1. Chicago: H. C. Cooper, 1915.

“Hanover, Minnesota.” Great Northwest 10, no. 12 (December 1909): 122 [photograph of Louie Strunk’s Meat Market].

“Plat of Townsite of Hanover, acknowledged August 29, 1891, and recorded September 1, 1891.” Book A of Plats. Available at Wright County Historical Society.

Vollbrecht Smith, Luella. Handwritten manuscript, ca. 1970s. Vollbrecht family private collection.

Related Images

Black and white photograph of downtown Hanover seen from the Hennepin County side of the Crow River, ca. late 1800s.
Black and white photograph of downtown Hanover seen from the Hennepin County side of the Crow River, ca. late 1800s.
Black and white photograph of Johanna and William Vollbrecht, early founders of Hanover, ca. 1855.
Black and white photograph of Johanna and William Vollbrecht, early founders of Hanover, ca. 1855.
Black and white photograph of Hanover Creamery Association building, ca. 1880–1900. Used courtesy of the Hanover Historical Society.
Black and white photograph of Hanover Creamery Association building, ca. 1880–1900. Used courtesy of the Hanover Historical Society.
Townsite plat Exhibit A, Block A, 1886, Wright County Abstract.
Townsite plat Exhibit A, Block A, 1886, Wright County Abstract.
Black and white photograph of John Lockedell General Merchandise & Fine Liquors, ca. 1900–1910.
Black and white photograph of John Lockedell General Merchandise & Fine Liquors, ca. 1900–1910.
Black and white photograph of Vollbrecht Hardware Store in Hanover, ca. 1906.
Black and white photograph of Vollbrecht Hardware Store in Hanover, ca. 1906.
Black and white photograph of Strunk Saloon in Hanover, ca. 1906.
Black and white photograph of Strunk Saloon in Hanover, ca. 1906.
Black and white photograph of Louis Strunk Meat Market, originally printed in The Great Northwest Magazine, December 1909.
Black and white photograph of Louis Strunk Meat Market, originally printed in The Great Northwest Magazine, December 1909.
Black and white photograph of a woman and baby posing in front of the band shell in Hanover, ca. 1925–1930.
Black and white photograph of a woman and baby posing in front of the band shell in Hanover, ca. 1925–1930.
City of Hanover petition for incorporation, 2004.
City of Hanover petition for incorporation, 2004.
Color image of the first home built in Hanover, 2010.
Color image of the first home built in Hanover, 2010.
Aerial view of Hanover, 2015
Aerial view of Hanover, 2015

Turning Point

In 1891, the townsite of Hanover is officially incorporated.

Chronology

1855

Jacob Vollbrecht arrives in what will become Hanover, Minnesota.

1856

William Vollbrecht, Jacob’s brother, arrives in the area with his wife and step-daughter.

1858

Minnesota becomes a state.

1862

The federal government passes the Homestead Act.

September 1, 1891

Hanover residents sign an incorporation petition and send it to Wright County Commissioners.

1891

The townsite of Hanover is officially incorporated on October 9.

2016

Hanover celebrates the 125th anniversary of its incorporation on October 8.