Osmundson, Osmund O. (1826–1914)

Osmund Osmundson, founder of Nerstrand, Minnesota, played a prominent role in a variety of local affairs, including business, civics, and education. He was one of several men who incorporated St. Olaf College in 1874. Built in 1880, his spacious brick house in Nerstrand was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Osmund Osmundson was born on March 31, 1826, in Nerstrand (meaning “near-the-strand”), Rogaland, Norway. As a young man, he became a carpenter and later went to sea for five years. In 1850, Osmundson immigrated to the United States and made his way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, via steamboat. He first lived in Rock County for one year before moving to Walworth County, where he settled for two years. In 1853, he set out for California to prospect for gold in Nevada County. Three years later, in the fall of 1856, Osmundson moved back to the Midwest and settled on section fourteen in Wheeling Township in Rice County, Minnesota, where he established his farm site.

In 1857, he married Anna Benson. Together, they raised eight children, two of whom survived their parents. The couple resided in a log cabin until 1861, when they built a frame house. By 1867, the state farming community took notice of Osmundson’s high yield of wheat. On a three-and-a-half-acre plot, he yielded 204 bushels, netting $100 per acre—a record that stood for decades.

As a leading citizen in Rice County, Osmundson was twice elected to the state legislature representing the Republican Party: in 1872 and in 1873. While in office, he served on the Insurance Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee, which he chaired in 1873. Osmundson also twice held the position of county commissioner.

In the ensuing years, the prosperous Osmundson was instrumental in developing the Norwegian American community of Rice County. On November 6, 1874, he was one of the five co-signers of the articles of incorporation that formed St. Olaf College in Northfield. As an original member of the college’s board of trustees, Osmundson served as a board member for the next six years. His work helped move the newly-formed school from its downtown location at the corner of Third and Union Street to its permanent location one mile west and situated on a hill commonly referred to as “Manitou Heights.”

Osmundson’s vision of developing the village of Nerstrand started with the purchase of 240 acres in section eleven in the northeastern part of Wheeling Township. There, he constructed a general store in 1877. The following year, a US Post Office began operating out of his store. The naming of the post office was suggested by Osmundson in honor of his hometown in Norway.

By 1880, Nerstrand had grown to support a blacksmith, a merchant, a shoemaker, a mason, and a carpenter. In the same year, Osmundson established the Citizens Bank of Northfield and completed building a sprawling, two-story, gabled red-brick house with an ornate balustrade front porch (located at 420 Kielmeyer Avenue in Nerstrand).

The private home, lived in by at least three generations of Osmundsons, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 1982. The structure remains significant for its connections to early commerce and settlement in Rice County, and to Osmundson himself.

Nerstrand was platted in 1885 when the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad, later renamed the Chicago Great Western, laid track through the village and established a depot. Osmundson, a strong advocate of temperance, insisted that none of the town lots were to be sold to alcohol vendors. Osmundson’s store, then located at the foot of Main Street, was on the railroad right-of-way and was relocated to Second Street.

Because of its proximity to the rich agricultural land and abundance of trading in the area, the village grew rapidly. Osmundson remained in Nerstrand for the remainder of his life, witnessing the steady growth of the village he had settled in decades earlier. He passed away at the age of 88, on August 2, 1914. At the time of Osmundson’s death, his estate was valued at $55,000—a sizable sum in its day. He was remembered as a kind and sympathetic man with an unassuming nature.