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A Brief History of Albert Lea

One small Midwestern town's journey

– By Cate Lineberry

Albert Leans, who claim to have had the country's first public Christmas tree, still gather for the annual lighting. – Courtesy of Freeborn County Historical Society

Actress Marion Ross (above, left) and singer Eddie Cochran (above, right) both lived in Albert Lea as children. — Photos by Corbis/Bettman

Lieutenant Albert Lea rode through the area in 1835. — Courtesy of Freeborn County Historical Society

About 90 miles south of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sits the small Minnesota town of Albert Lea. Surrounded by lakes and rolling farmland, this quiet hamlet has a Norman Rockwell appeal. "One of its greatest assets is the people," says Marion Ross, the Hollywood actress who played Marion Cunningham on TV's Happy Days. Ross grew up in Albert Lea and comes back at least once a year to visit her sister and friends. She attributes her success as "Mrs. C" in part to growing up there. "It was easy to play that role," she says, "because it was just like living in Albert Lea."

Albert Miller Lea

Just about anyone in Albert Lea can recite the story of the 27-year-old Army lieutenant who came to this area, then uncharted prairie, in 1835. Albert Miller Lea and his fellow cavalrymen, including one of Daniel Boone's sons, set out from Fort Des Moines to explore portions of the Iowa Territory, an expanse that extended all the way to North Dakota. Early in the three-month trek, the team "got into a region of lakes and open groves of oaks, beautiful as English parks," Lea wrote in a letter home. He sketched his findings and named Lake Chapeau and Fox Lake, two of the lakes that now surround the town of Albert Lea.

When Lea returned to Fort Des Moines, he resigned from the Army and wrote a book called Notes on the Wisconsin Territory, Particularly with Reference to the Iowa District, which chronicled and mapped his experiences on the expedition.

Joseph Nicollet, a French geographer, soon incorporated details from Lea's work into a larger map of the upper Mississippi River basin, creating one of the 19th century's most important and accurate charts of the country's interior. To show his appreciation for Lea's work, Nicollet invited Lea to his home in Washington, D.C., and announced that he would rename one of the lakes in Lea's honor.

A Makeshift Beginning

In 1855 pioneer Lorenzo Merry, his wife, and four children arrived on two ox-drawn wagons from Iowa—becoming the area's first residents. The family built a crude cabin and opened a boarding house they called "Strangers' Home."

Other settlers, many of Scandinavian descent, soon arrived and together they decided to name their new town after nearby Lake Albert Lea.

The Wages of War

The town continued to grow at a steady rate—even as the Civil War broke out and Minnesota sent thousands of troops to fight for the Union. By then Albert Miller Lea was living in Texas, and when his home state of Tennessee seceded, he joined the Confederate army. After the war, some in Albert Lea wondered whether the town's name should be changed because Lea had fought for the Confederacy. The controversy was settled in 1874 when the newspaper published a list of prominent businessmen and local leaders who opposed changing the town's name.

Just a few years later, Albert Lea finally got to see his namesake town when he spoke at the Old Settlers' Association reunion in Albert Lea.

A Town Industry

In 1877 the Brundin brothers opened a butcher shop, which eventually became a successful meatpacking company—and a symbol for the town. The business changed its name many times over the years, eventually becoming Wilson & Co. By the 1950s, it was one of the four largest meatpacking plants in the country, its growth helped in part by Albert Lea's location on several rail lines.

The town gained national attention in November 1959, when the United Packinghouse Workers of America went on a 109-day strike against Wilson & Co. After violence erupted, Governor Orville Freeman closed the plant and declared martial law. Within days, a federal district court in Minneapolis ruled against the governor, and the company regained control of the plant. The strike finally ended in February 1960, and business returned to normal.

Despite additional changes in ownership, the meatpacking plant continued to employ many in town through the rest of the century. But a fire in 2001 destroyed it—and left more than 500 people in Albert Lea without jobs.

The Town Today

In recent years Albert Lea has added a vegan restaurant, health food stores, and coffee shops, as well as grocery stores that cater to the growing Hispanic population. "It's changed from a primarily agricultural town to what is now a vibrant, more modern city," says Amy McDonough, AARP communications director for Minnesota. Among the 10 to 12 different businesses now operating in town, Albert Lea Medical Center, part of the Mayo Health System, is one of the largest employers, and the town is becoming a regional center for health care. Lou-Rich, a contract engineering and manufacturing company, makes medical devices along with other products. "We have great people here who are ready to work," says Scott Schmeltzer, publisher of the Albert Lea Tribune.

Ed Shannon, a columnist for the Tribune who has lived in Albert Lea for 51 years, says, "I've heard people describe it as another Mayberry. I don't know about that, but it's a nice, quiet Midwestern town."