New Ulm (Settler Descendant)

New Ulm, the City of "Charm and Tradition," is 90 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, in the heart of the scenic Minnesota River Valley.

The idea for the city of New Ulm, a settlement of German immigrants, was conceived by Frederick Beinhorn in Germany. Beinhorn came to America in 1852. By 1853, he was in Chicago where he and a group of other German immigrants formed the "Chicago Land Society." In 1854, the site of the present New Ulm was selected by the advance group. The name, New Ulm, was selected because many of the original settlers were from the Province of Wurttemberg, Germany, of which Ulm is the principal city.

In 1856 Wilhelm Pfaender arrived in New Ulm with members of the Turner Colonization Society of Cincinnati. The two groups merged and in 1857, the town of New Ulm was incorporated by an act of the Legislature.

New Ulm has been important in Minnesota's history. The first steamboats passed by New Ulm in 1853, going upriver with troops to lay out the site for Fort Ridgely. For the next 20 years, boats brought setters, freight, Indian supplies, and gold to the area.

The Indians mingled freely with New Ulm settlers in those days. Much trading was done between the Indians and the settlers of New Ulm.