Southeastern Minnesota's hidden historical gems: Restored Civil War buildings reopen to the public
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In April of 1861, several seminarians and teachers walked out of their school building in the town of Wasioja in southeast Minnesota and marched into a recruiting station four blocks away to become among the first volunteers to fight for the Union Army in the Civil War.
The buildings — or parts of them — are still there, and they’ve now been restored and are open to the public.
About 70 people gathered Tuesday afternoon in the rural community about a half-hour drive northwest of Rochester for a dedication celebrating the culmination of the yearslong restoration project.
The crowd sat facing the ruins of the old seminary. Founded in 1858, it was one of Minnesota’s first colleges, but a fire in 1905 nearly destroyed the towering limestone building. It is still missing large chunks of its walls and roof, but new iron beams now hold the restored remnants of the structure steady.
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It’s not the only historic building in town. The limestone quarries were once a major industry in Wasioja, and there are a number of 19th century limestone buildings that remain. Two blocks to the west and two blocks down the hill to the north, for example, sits a small limestone building that was built in 1855 and is the last standing Civil War recruiting station in the state.
Jim Checkel, a local amateur historian who lives on a farm in Kasson about seven miles away, said he grew up hearing the lore of Wasioja from his history buff father. He says it's Minnesota’s best-kept secret.
“This is extremely rare,” Checkel explained. “If you tell people that we have Civil War-era sites in Minnesota, most people will say ‘No, the Civil War happened down south,’ but this is our gem.”
Wasioja might appear to some to be a ghost town — fewer than 100 residents live there. But it’s also home to some of the most historically significant structures in the state — offering a glimpse into Minnesota’s role in preserving the Union.
What is Wasioja’s connection to the Civil War?
Minnesota became a state in 1858, and the Civil War erupted just three years later in 1861. Minnesota, possibly eager to show its gratitude for statehood, was the first state to answer President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to join the Union Army. And some of the first to enlist came from the Wasioja seminary.
Michael Eckers, a local historian and author of the book “The Boys of Wasioja,” said that almost all of the students of fighting age — 16 years and over — and several faculty enlisted that April. Then they marched to neighboring Mantorville, got on wagons and made the 70-mile trek up north to Fort Snelling in St. Paul for training.
The new state of Minnesota ended up sending nearly 25,000 troops to fight in the Civil War, and neighboring Wisconsin sent more than 90,000 to the Union cause. The Dakotas were not yet states, and the Union Army recruited only a few hundred soldiers in the Dakota territory to protect white settlers.
The 68 men who enlisted in Wasioja became Company C of the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Just as the First Minnesota helped save the Union at the Battle of Gettysburg, Eckers said this unit also played an important role in protecting the Union Army at the Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought at the Georgia-Tennessee border.
Of the 68 men who enlisted in Wasioja, 22 of them died in war. Only one of them is buried in the small, unincorporated town.
“Here we had this little fledgling four-year college that dedicated virtually all of its pupils to the Civil War,” said former State Sen. Dave Senjem, who represented the area and helped secure funding for the historic sites’ restoration. "They didn't know slavery. Are you willing to die for something you hardly understand? And somehow they were.”
Senjem wanted to help preserve the historic gems, especially the recruiting station and the crumbling seminary, which he feared would be demolished. But he knew asking his fellow lawmakers to fund the restoration of a half-burnt building few people had ever heard of would be a tough sell.
So he alerted the Dodge County Historical Society.
“If we're going to have any chance of getting this project [funded], we're going to have to put on a show,” Senjem said he told Society members. “And so I want all of you to dress up in your period costumes.”
They answered the call. When Senjem brought a group of lawmakers down to visit the site, they were greeted by dozens of local residents dressed up in hoop skirts, bonnets and other Civil War-era garb. And, of course, they provided 19th century-inspired refreshments.
“I didn't know what the reaction of my committee was going to be because they could say, ‘Senjem, this is the most stupid way to waste money that you could ever imagine.’ But instead, it was just absolutely the opposite. It was like, ‘You need more than $500,000! We have to do this right!’”
The following year, after Senjem had retired, his successor, Sen. Carla Nelson and State Rep. Duane Quam, secured more than $2 million from the legislature to preserve and restore the Wasioja sites. Senjem says it's a worthy cause.
"You just get a little older in life, honestly, and you understand that there are stories like this and indications of sacrifice that should never be forgotten," he said.
At the ribbon cutting Tuesday, local and out-of-state visitors alike gathered to celebrate. Some even wore t-shirts emblazoned with the logo “University of Wasioja” in commemoration of the ancient seminary and its impact on the community.
Colleen Hayne of nearby Dodge Center said being able to visit the sites helps make the history come alive for her.
"You imagine what life was like then,” Hayne said. “Every time I step up there, it's like, what was it like to go to school here? What was it like to leave the school and go off to the Civil War? It's such a kind of a monumental building for the times."
For some, the restoration of the site feels deeply personal.
Marilyn Luck, 88, grew up in one of the few remaining historic buildings in Wasioja — a private home known as the Andrew Doig House. It was built in 1858 by one of the Scottish stone masons that constructed the other limestone structures in town.
Luck, one of seven children, recalled playing in the abandoned seminary ruins when she was little.
“This was our playground,” said Luck, who now lives in Rochester.
She married her husband of 69 years in the historic limestone church, and still comes back to visit Wasioja as much as she can.
Luck said it’s wonderful to see the site finally preserved and protected from crumbling further.
“[There’s] nothing like it,” Luck said. “Something I never though I would see. It’s home.”
This story comes from the Upper Midwest Newsroom, a public media collaboration between Wisconsin Public Radio, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Prairie Public in North Dakota and Minnesota Public Radio News made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
