In the spring of 1854, Thomas Cummings and his family settled on the west side of Cascade Creek. At that time the Cummings family, along with the McReady family, made up the entire population of the settlement that eventually would become the city of Rochester. They celebrated their first Fourth of July by hunting and fishing all day. Later that afternoon they climbed to a bluff overlooking the settlement and fired guns in salute of it.
The settlement continued to grow and by 1859, the Winona-St. Peter Railroad was surveying a route from Winona to Rochester. Thomas Cummings knew very well that the railroad was coming and he didn’t at all like the thought that it was to be routed across his claim. When the first grading of the route was extended across his land, Mr. Cummings resisted. The foreman of the grading crew, one Bill Messler, became irritated with Cummings, so be shot him in the chest. A menacing mob appeared and the possibility of lynching was so great he was hurried out of town to Winona in a fast train. Cummings eventually recovered and later moved to Fort Ridgley, MN, away from the trains. (Information was obtained by the Olmsted Historical Society.)
Mr. & Mrs. Kutzky
August W. Kutzky
While he may not have the same prominence in Rochester as Mayo or Plummer, Mr. August W. Kutzky was a well known early settler of Rochester and the original owner of our neighborhood and park land.
August Kutzky was born on May 28th, 1855 in Schloppe, Germany to Fredericka and Frederick Kutzky and was brought to the United States when he was eight weeks old. After six months in Geneva, Illinois, the family moved to Olmsted County and farmed in Cascade township. Thirteen years later, the family sold their land and moved to Greenwood Prairie, where for the next three years they operated a saloon and dance hall.
On June 10th, 1880, August married Bertha Stephan where a heavy rainstorm kept everyone but their immediate families from attending the wedding. In 1887, the couple moved to Rochester and for a time lived at 205 N. Broadway. During these years, August Kutzky was employed as an agent for the Davis Sewing Machine Company and then became a salesman and machine expert for D. H. Williams. Mr. Kutzky soon began buying land in and around what is now known as Kutzky Park. In May 1898, he bought lots in what was then known as McCullough’s addition, and built a house and barn on the west side of the addition. The house was at 724 W 5th (now W. Center). In March 1899, he bought 90 acres of land, west of 11th Ave. and north of St. Mary’s Hospital, and the lots were named Kutzky’s Addition. The family moved in 1914 to a new house at 718 W. Center. In 1927, he donated 51 acres, north of Kutzky’s Addition, to the city for use as a park.
Bertha and August had two sons who died at an early age. August Kutzky died of bronchopneumonia in July 1948 at the age of 93. August and Bertha had been married for 68 years!