Terrace, Minnesota


Terrace is an unincorporated community in Chippewa Falls Township, Pope County, Minnesota, United States. The community was settled in the 1870s around the Terrace Mill. In 1982 a historic district of early buildings and structures was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Terrace Historic District for having local significance under the themes of exploration/settlement and industry. It was nominated as a well-preserved example of the small communities that grew up around Minnesota's rural mills in the latter 19th century.

History

Terrace was established by George Wheeler, John Wheeler, and William Moses; settlers who had moved from eastern Canada to Owatonna, Minnesota, to the Minnesota frontier to establish a mill. Located on the East Branch of the Chippewa River, the town was originally called Chippewa Falls, but soon changed names due to ongoing confusion with Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The original mill relocated to Brooten, Minnesota, around 1895, but in 1903 a new miller constructed the existing Terrace Mill and resumed the town's founding industry.

Historic district

The Terrace Historic District consists of 13 contributing properties. Five contributing properties closely associated with the mill itself were originally listed on the National Register as the Terrace Mill Historic District in 1979, but a more comprehensive historic district was declared in 1982 in recognition of the rare integrity of the broader community. Early rural mill towns tended to be abandoned due to the cessation of small milling operations and competition from towns prospering along railroad lines. They are particularly rare in western Minnesota, where settlement was minimal until rail lines were laid. The properties of the Terrace Historic District represent the full suite of industrial, commercial, educational, social, religious, and residential structures comprising a small community.
Contributing propertyImageLocationBuiltSummary
1st Street
1873Two-story frame house expanded by Wheeler with several additions to the rear
1st Street
Two-story frame house with early rear addition
Coburn HotelSE corner Co. Hwy. 21 & 1st St.
1877One-and-a-half-story frame hotel with later west addition
House1st Street
One-and-a-half-story frame house with later west addition
Foulds–Skinner House1st Street
One-and-a-half-story frame house with early east addition and second floor
Miller's House/Peter Takken HouseCounty Highway 21
1930One-and-a-half-story fieldstone bungalow
Terrace Flour MillCounty Highway 21
1903Three-story frame watermill
Steel Beam Highway BridgeCounty Highway 21
1915Steel beam bridge, remodeled in 1940
Mill DamOff County Highway 21
Fieldstone dam
Stone Arch BridgeCounty Highway 21 over the Chippewa River
1903 stone arch bridge
Skinner Drug Store County Highway 21
Two-story frame commercial building with false front. Originally built in north part of town and moved in 1940 to the site of an 1871 store that had recently burned down.
Chippewa Falls Lutheran ChurchCounty Highway 23
1886Carpenter Gothic church with 1924 façade and steeple and 1949 rear addition
School/Chippewa Falls Town HallCounty Highway 23
1906One-story frame building with open bell tower