Summary
Stillwater is located 20 miles east of St. Paul on the banks of the scenic St. Croix River and the Wisconsin border. Settled in 1843, Stillwater became the center of the lumber industry in the upper Midwest for the next 75 years. During the late 1880s and early 1890s, more logs passed down the St. Croix River than any other place in the world, and the lumber produced in Stillwater was used to build the central part of the United States. One of the first institutions authorized by the Territory of Minnesota, the prison, was located in Stillwater. Three of the most notorious convicts were the Younger brothers--Cole, Jim, and Bob--who, along with Frank and Jesse James, tried to rob the bank in Northfield in 1876. The Jameses eluded capture, but the Youngers served 25 years behind the stone walls of the Stillwater Prison.
Brent T. Peterson, a historian and executive director of the Washington County Historical Society, has written and published five books on local history. He started his history career at the St. Croix County Historical Society in Hudson and worked for more than five years at the Minnesota Historical Society before coming to the Washington County Historical Society. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Stillwater Area High School in 2008.
