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Written by the Late Gertrude Bandt in 1927 when she was in 7th Grade
Once upon a time two men named Nelson and Morris agreed to race up the mountain and the person who won would have the honor of having the village named after him and Morris won so it was called Mount Morris.
In earlier days Berlin used to be the nearest town to which they could haul their products that they had raised and also from which to get their needed supplies and as they had to use oxen it would take them quite a long time to make the trip compared to the ways and time we make the trip. For instance it would take them about one day or more than a day to haul a load of wood to Berlin and come back.
We had more stores in Mount Morris at the time it first came to be settled than there are now. There was a cheese factory, several stores, a hotel, and a post office, then, which we do not have here now,. The cheese factory used to stand where the creamery stands now and after the cheese factory was made into the creamery our first and only butter maker was Arthur Jones.
The post office used to stand on that lot right next to Lewis Selsing’s house but it is now filled up with dirt. My Uncle Martin Hansen was the owner of it, while the hotel was run by my Grandpa and Grandma Christenson and still stands on the corner right across from the store.
John Peterson was about the first storekeeper that my folks remember of and his store stood where Oscar Anderson’s store is now and he later sold it to my father’s two cousins, George and Charlie Anderson, who kept store there until it burned down and now Oscar Anderson is keeping store just about where the old store stood.
Then my Uncle Charlie Simonson had a store once right across from the blacksmith and it still stands there to this day and was used for a garage by Irving Wilson, but he did not repair automobiles long before he moved to Wautoma and now it is used for a car shed. There were also many other stores run in Mount Morris at one time of which this one may be especially mentioned because it was about the biggest and best store that may be remembered of and that was the store that Rangwald Westhagen built and run for some time and then he sold it to a man by the name of Mr. Hart who also kept a good store until he sold it to Mr. Jones who had a splendid line of goods all the time until it burned down.
It is also very worthy of a mention to state that there are very few old settlers left here to tell of its early history. The few that are left are getting pretty well along in their years and have done much to help make Mount Morris what it is at the present time.
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