The surveyor was C. B. Chapman.
The village was incorporated in 1881. The commissioners appointed
under the general act to effect the organization were Alphonso J.
Demenles, Erasmus Cross, B. K. Knowlton. A wagon bridge built across
the Mississippi at this point cost $25,000. It was greatly damaged by
a storm, and partially destroyed by the cyclone of 1886.
The dam across the Mississippi at Sauk Rapids was built in 1870 at a
cost of $140,000. The east wing is owned by the Commodore Davidson
estate; the west, by the Sauk Rapids Manufacturing Company.
The rapids are formed by the eruption of granite ledges across the
channel of the river. A flour mill built here with a capacity of three
hundred barrels per day was totally destroyed by the cyclone of April
16, 1886, which was one of the most destructive on record. The
estimated loss in Sauk Rapids was $300,000, of which $108,000 was made
up by voluntary contributions from St. Paul, Minneapolis and other
portions of the State.
The public buildings, including the court house, school buildings and
several churches, were destroyed, together with many fine stores and
dwellings.
Since the cyclone the village has been handsomely rebuilt. A new court
house has replaced the old one at a cost of $6,000, a new school house
has been built at a cost of $12,000--a model building with rooms for
five departments. There are five new church buildings, an Episcopal,
Congregational, Methodist and two Lutheran.
WATAB.
Watab appears to have been a noted Indian trading post from 1844 to