Land Contracts
The Pipestone County Historical Society chose to highlight the Close Brothers & Company land contracts from their collection in MDL. Page through one of the documents below:
Background
The Close Brothers Land Company was a British firm composed of brothers William, James, John and Frederick Close along with S.H. Graves. It was organized in 1876 and located in Pipestone in 1883, contributing to a settlement boom in Pipestone County and the region. Buyers signed a contract with the Close Brothers (also doing business under two other names: Western Land Company and South Minnesota Land Company). The Close Brothers prepared the land for sale by building a house and barn and digging a well on many of the properties. These 1400+ sale records are the original contracts signed by buyers.
Although concentrated in Pipestone County, they cover southwest Minnesota and even northwest Iowa. The documents include sale price, payments due, completion information, and if the contract was transferred to another party. Their office was in Pipestone from 1883 to the late 1890s when their local landholdings were sold, and they moved on to land speculation in Canada.
Significance
The large collection of contracts covers a sizeable portion of land in the county and shows the major impact the Close Brothers had on the development of Pipestone County. Having original documents like these contracts in the collection and shared online provides a valuable research resource.
Why is it one of your favorites?
These contracts tell a large part of the story of the history and settlement of Pipestone County. The original documents provide a wealth of useful information including where the buyers were from, exactly where the purchased land was located, how much the land cost, and a record of the payments with interest. We are happy to be able to share these original documents with the public, which would not have been possible without the Minnesota Digital Library
About the Pipestone County Historical Society
Located in a former city hall building now on the National Register of Historic Places, the Pipestone County Museum, Pipestone, Minnesota, is home to the Pipestone County Historical Society, which collects artifacts, creates exhibits, maintains archives and a research library, and provides programming relating to this southwestern county. Their holdings include photographs, county newspapers, Native American artifacts, school records, agricultural artifacts and textiles. For the Minnesota Digital Library, the Pipestone County Museum contributed images featuring the National Pipestone Monument area including the Three Maidens, Winnewissa Falls, Leaping Rock, and the works of 1880s photographers G.L. Chesley, F.B. Eykyn, and F.O. Pease.
Browse the Pipestone County Historical Society collection in MDL.
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