The Urjans Iverson House is a historic

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, built in 1866. It was restored in 1990 and is preserved within Fort Lake Johanna Roadside Park off

Minnesota State Highway 104 Minnesota State Highway 104 (MN 104) is a highway in west-central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 9 in Norway Lake Township near Sunburg and continues north to its northern terminus at its intersection with State ...

. The cabin was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982 for its local significance in the theme of exploration/settlement. It was nominated for its broad associations with the early settlement of Pope County.

History

The Urjans Iverson House was built in 1866 near Lake Johanna, an early focus of Euro-American settlement in Pope County. Four families had homesteaded around the lake in 1862, but fled the area when the

Dakota War of 1862 The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several ban ...

broke out and didn't return until 1864. The following year the

2nd Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry Regiment The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment was a Minnesota USV cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment was mustered at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. for three year's service on Decem ...

constructed Fort Lake Johanna nearby, one of many short-lived frontier outposts established after the war due to ongoing fear of Native American attack. Urjans Iverson immigrated from

Hardanger Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is l ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, to the United States, arriving in

Spring Prairie, Wisconsin Spring Prairie is a town in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,123 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Spring Prairie and Voree are located in the town. The unincorporated communities of Honey C ...

, in 1854. He was one of several Norwegian immigrants to arrive in the Lake Johanna area in the mid-1860s, and he used some logs from the already-abandoned army outpost to build his cabin. However Iverson moved southeast to Kandiyohi County in 1868. The following year the Lake Johanna settlers began using the empty cabin as the district's first schoolhouse, and also held church services there until 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iverson, Urjans, House 1866 establishments in Minnesota Houses in Pope County, Minnesota Houses completed in 1866 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Log cabins in the United States Norwegian-American culture in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Pope County, Minnesota Log buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota

History

See also

References