Blissful views, vintage
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Carver on the Minnesota is a non-profit dedicated to keeping our history alive. Embracing our past and preserving this town's buildings as well as small town charm. We want to share the story with all in our community and beyond. Stop by and visit - take an historic walking tour. Look for the historic story board signs with a glimpse into what it was like back in the days.
Carver is located directly on the Minnesota River, Rich in History starting with the Dakota Indians, pioneers from Sweden, Norway, Germany Ten thousand years ago glacial River Warren flowed through the Minnesota River Valley on which Carver is situated, carrying melt water away from retreating glaciers and leaving rich deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and fine silt soils, while cutting a deep and spectacular landscape. The River Warren was variously called the Riviere Pierre, the St. Peter River, Maddepaw, Menesotar, and finally the Minnesota River. Minnesota, a Dakota Indian name given to both the river and the state, means “sky tinted water”. It is through this Sky Tinted Water Jim Hansel paints his beautiful American small town rendition of Carver on the Minnesota. 
This marvelous mural is at the Upper Sioux Agency museum on the Minnesota River on highway 67 going toward Granite Falls.
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Historic Riverside town of Carver Minnesota
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History by John von Walter
Native Americans settled, hunted and fished here from about 1200 B. C. to 1850 A. D. Pierre-Charles Le Seuer first European known to have navigated the Minnesota River. 1683 and 1700 DISCOVER SO MUCH MORE ON THE LINK BELOW 
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July, 1859 Carver had three hotels, six general stores, carpenters, boot and shoemakers, wagonmaking and blacksmith shops, cabinet shops, doctors and surgeons, a dentist, several lawyers, a brickyard, warehouses, wharves on the Minnesota River levee, several saloons, a brewery, regular steamboat servce upstream and downstream, a stagecoach line, a river ferry, a hardware store, and a newspaper. •
Prior to 1860 most of Carver’s pioneer settlers were from the eastern United States. After 1860 most Carver settlers consisted of immigrants from Sweden and the German States, making Carver about half Swedish, half German |
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EXPLORE THE TOWN
Church by the River
Historic Homes, Businesses, and Structures in Carver
109 Main Street East Presbyterian Church, Church by the River. The church grew from a nondenominational Sunday school that began in 1893, with a church congregation being organized in 1899. On September 1, 1900 members and friends of the Presbyterian Church of Carver formally incorporated a congregation pursuant to the Laws of Minnesota and elected church officers at a meeting chaired by theological student and acting pastor of the church, Benjamin R. Weld. The first elected officers of the church were Trustees Andrew Sthol (3-year term), Noah Hammarlund (2-year term), and Dr.Everett Hartley (1-year term). Church Elders elected were John S. Danens and CharlesA. Franzen. Formal incorporation papers were filed with the Carver County Registrar’s Office a month later on October 2, 1900. In 1913 the congregation decided on building a permanent church and $3600 was paid for construction to Carver building contractor Olaf Hanson, whose own home yet stands at 308 Third Street West. On Armistice Day, 1918, the church bell cracked when it was rung too vigorously to celebrate the end of World War I. Church membership declined after 1959 and the building incurred damage in the great 1965 flood. Its last church service was held on Sept. 24, 1967 and many members then continued Presbyterian Church attendance in Chaska. Acquired by the nonprofit organization Carver on the Minnesota, Inc.in 1971, it was used for a few years as a museum and headquarters, with plans to turn it into an inn. The building was gifted to the City of Carver and is today owned by the city, which hosts city council and commission meetings, civic activities, and can be rented for special events such as weddings, parties, and funerals. Through the work, funds, and efforts of the Carver Lions Club, the Minnesota Historical Society, and many other volunteers, a church restoration was completed, which resulted in the Carver Lions receiving a 2006 Community Effort Award from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. The building’s interior now displays that award and many vintage photos and relics from Carver’s history. The building reveals conventional design in Gothic character with a touch of Queen Anne Revival. The building has a square plan with its principal entry through a square corner bell tower. Features include panels and moldings on the bell tower, shingled gables, Gothic windows, and a border of colored leaded glass squares around a central motif of the lead ed glass windows. As late as the 1930s a warehouse on pilings stood at the rear of the church on the riverfront, marking the time when the church property was once part of the Carver levee and a time when the river was much nearer the church than it is today |
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Find us. Walk through our history and stay a spell.
Join us. Be part of historic Carver on the Minnesota. Help us preserve our Historic Small Town.
Carver-on-the-Minnesota, Inc.
P.O. Box 24 Carver, Minnesota 55315 |
MAIN: (952) 448-7716
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Info@carverontheminnesota.org
sue@pointofdeparture.pro |
