Historical Atlas of Dakota 1884

Lincoln Co., SD - Description and History, 1884. Found in A. T. Andreas' "Historical Atlas of Dakota", 1884. .EDEN.--The earliest settlers in this town were, Frazier Gilman, John Davis, A. B. Wheelock, David Thorpe, J. B. Bradley, Andrew Gove, and some others, who settled in 1868.The original town plat of Eden was laid out two or three miles southwest of its present site, on land owned by Frazier Gilman. This must have been in the northeastern part of Virginia precinct, in Union County, then, however, forming a part of Lincoln County.Mr. Gilman blocked out a town and surveyed and probably sold a number of lots, though no plat was ever recorded. He erected a fine store building and carried on the mercantile business for a number of years. He also built a hotel, and was the leading citizen of the place for several years. When he sold out or closed his business, it was carried on by S. B. Culbertson, who continued for about four years with a general stock.In 1878, the C. M. & St. P. Railway reached the site of the present town of Eden, which was laid out and began to grow rapidly. This was the death knell of the old town, and business and people soon removed to the new location. The present town site was laid out by A. B. Wheelock, in 1878.The place is organized as a village, and governed by a president and board of trustees. The population of the town is probably from 200 to 300.CHURCHES.--The Protestant Episcopal is the only church in the place, the organization dating back to 1878. A church edifice was erected in 1879, at a cost of $1,500. Rev. ____ McBride was the first pastor.SCHOOLS.--The first school was opened in the old town, in 1872, in a temporary building erected at a cost of $300. A new school building was erected in the present town, in 1880, at an expense of $1,700, which is a credit to the place. The school is graded, with about seventy-five pupils in attendance.A Good Templar's Lodge, No. 4, was organized in 1881.A newspaper, called the "Eden Sun," rose above the horizon on a cold morning in January, 1880, and for a brief period illumed the heavens in the region of the Big Sioux; but in the frosty atmosphere of October, in the following year, it "paled its ineffectual fires" and changed its orbit to a more congenial clime, to-wit, the growing town of Men[n]o in Hutchinson County.A flouring and custom mill was put in operation, in 1876, by Struble Brothers, which has done a good business, and met a want of the people of the Sioux Valley.A banking institution was established, in 1881, by Taylor & Russell. The first store was opened by S. B. Culbertson, and the original hotel by A. Snyder. A. B. Wheelock was the first postmaster.There are a half-dozen mercantile firms in the place, several grain and lumber dealers, two hotels, one or two physicians, a number of mechanics and artizans, and a considerable business.The place is organized as a village, under a president and board of trustees.
I am still trying to find the author of the following piece.
JAMES B. BRADLEY, of Hudson, Lincoln county, is numbered among the sterling pioneers and captains of industry who have aided in laying so broad and deep the foundations of our great commonwealth, and he stands today as a representative citizen of the county and state in which he took up his residence as a young man! thirty-five years ago, at which time the great undivided territory of Dakota was considered on the very frontier of civilization. It is well that the life records of these members of the "old guard" be perpetuated in connection with this generic history of the state. A son of John and Sarah Bradley, both of whom are now deceased, the subject of this sketch was born in Morgan county, Indiana, on the 12th of January 1849, and there he passed his early childhood, accompanying his parents on their removal to Iowa, in 1854. His father became one of the pioneer farmers of Appanoose county, that state, and thus the early educational opportunities of our subject were limited, owing to the exigencies and conditions then in evidence. He continued to assist in the work of the home farm until 1868, when, at the age of nineteen years, he came as a youthful pioneer to the territory of Dakota, locating in Lincoln county, where he has ever since maintained his home. With the growth and development of the county his fortunes have kept pace and he has no reason to regret the choice which led him to cast in his lot with its early settlers. In 1870 he took up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Marion county, and this figured as the nucleus of his prosperity. He is now the owner of valuable farming lands in addition to his real estate holdings in the own of Hudson. In 1882 he left his farm and took up his residence in Hudson, which then bore the name of Eden, and here he engaged in the general merchandise business. In November of the same year, under the administration of President Garfield, he received the appointment of postmaster in the village, and he continued to serve in this capacity for the long period of twelve years. In 1883 he established himself in the grocery business, having the post office in his store, and in 1886 he associated himself with P. H. B. Clement, under the firm name of Bradley & Clement, in the purchase of the general merchandise business of S. B. Culbertson, the firm continuing to conduct the enterprise until 1897, when they disposed of the same. In 1899 Mr. Bradley engaged in the retail drug business, becoming the silent partner in the firm of W. M. Pigott & Company, and with this enterprise he is still identified. In politics Mr. Bradley has been a stalwart supporter of the Republican party from the time of attaining his legal majority, and he served six years as mayor of Hudson, though he has never been ambitious for public office. He holds the esteem of the entire community and is one of the best known citizens of the same.