Terrace is an unincorporated community in Chippewa Falls Township, Pope County, Minnesota, United States. The community was settled in the 1870s around the Terrace Mill. In 1982, a historic district of early buildings and structures was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Terrace Historic District for having local significance under the themes of exploration/settlement and industry. It was nominated as a well-preserved example of the small communities that grew up around Minnesota's rural mills in the latter 19th century.
History Terrace was established by George Wheeler, John Wheeler, and William Moses; settlers who had moved from eastern Canada to Owatonna, Minnesota, to the Minnesota frontier to establish a mill. Located on the East Branch of the Chippewa River, the town was originally called Chippewa Falls, but soon changed names due to ongoing confusion with Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The original mill relocated to Brooten circa 1895, but in 1903 a new miller constructed the existing Terrace Mill and resumed the town's founding industry.
Historic district The Terrace Historic District consists of 13 contributing properties. Five contributing properties closely associated with the mill itself were originally listed on the National Register as the Terrace Mill Historic District in 1979, but a more comprehensive historic district was declared in 1982 in recognition of the rare integrity of the broader community. Early rural mill towns tended to be abandoned due to the cessation of small milling operations and competition from towns prospering along railroad lines. They are particularly rare in western Minnesota, where settlement was minimal until rail lines were laid. The properties of the Terrace Historic District represent the full suite of industrial, commercial, educational, social, religious, and residential structures comprising a small community.
Contributing propertyImageLocationBuiltSummary 1st Street 1873 Two-story frame house expanded by Wheeler with several additions to the rear 1st Street Two-story frame house with early rear addition Coburn Hotel SE corner Co. Hwy. 21 & 1st St. 1877 One-and-a-half-story frame hotel with later west addition House 1st Street One-and-a-half-story frame house with later west addition Foulds–Skinner House 1st Street One-and-a-half-story frame house with early east addition and second floor Miller's House/Peter Takken House County Highway 21 1930 One-and-a-half-story fieldstone bungalow Terrace Flour Mill County Highway 21 1903 Three-story frame watermill Steel Beam Highway Bridge County Highway 21 1915 Steel beam bridge, remodeled in 1940 Mill Dam Off County Highway 21 Fieldstone dam Stone Arch Bridge County Highway 21 over the Chippewa River 1903 stone arch bridge Skinner Drug Store (Terrace General Store) County Highway 21 Two-story frame commercial building with false front. Originally built in north part of town and moved in 1940 to the site of an 1871 store that had recently burned down. Chippewa Falls Lutheran Church County Highway 23 1886 Carpenter Gothic church with 1924 façade and steeple and 1949 rear addition School/Chippewa Falls Town Hall County Highway 23 1906 One-story frame building with open bell tower
See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Pope County, Minnesota
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