In 1856 settlers from Maine established a community here that grew into a vigorous pioneer village with three churches and stores, two lodge halls, a blacksmith shop, and a cheese factory, all built near the site of a 2½-story tamarack fort used during the Sioux outbreak of 1862. With the coming of the Soo Line in 1886, most buildings were moved to Kimball, and the last to remain burned in 1919.