Pomme de Terre, Minnesota

Pomme de Terre is an extinct town in section 24 of Pomme de Terre Township in Grant County, Minnesota.

History[]

Both the town and the Fort were located next to the Pomme de Terre River

Fort Pomme de Terre memorial for the men of the 8th Minnesota killed by the Sioux

The village of Pomme de Terre was first settled in the late 1860s and was platted in 1874 in section 24 of Pomme de Terre Township. In 1862 when the Sioux Uprising broke out, Company K of the 8th Minnesota Infantry was posted at Alexandria and ordered to send a guard small force to Pomme de terre in January 1863. Company D of the 8th was the garrison at Fort Ripley. They were ordered forward to Pomme de Terre a short time later. They were led by Capt. Samuel McLarty who would command the outpost for a year. In February he received orders to construct stockade nine feet in height. A post office existed during the years 1868-79, and 1880 to 1902. At its height, Pomme de Terre had two stores, two blacksmith shops, a grist mill, elevator, hotel and saloon. In 1873 an attempt to have Pomme de Terre named the county seat failed. The development of Herman, the growth of Elbow Lake as the county seat, and the failure of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad to come through Pomme de Terre (going instead to the north through Ashby) led to the eventual demise of the village.^[1]

Etymology[]

The name Pomme de Terre is French and is translated as "apple of the earth," which usually refers to the potato. In this case, however, it refers to the prairie turnip (Psoralea esculenta),^[1] a potato-like root vegetable which was commonly eaten by the Sioux.

Notes[]