Rembrandt, Iowa

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From Rolf E. Mosbo 4/5/2001

I have uncovered a strange situation for which I have nowhere to go for an explanation. Absolutely anything you can provide in the way of enlightening me on this subject will be appreciated. I am writing a history of my little town, Rembrandt IA, for our centennial this summer.

Rembrandt was one of 14 new towns established when the M & St. L built their Storm Lake IA to New Ulm MN line in 1899. In searching the court house for records of property transactions, along with reviewing local newspaper accounts of the times,

Here is the chronology which perplexes me: In April of 1899, the M & St. L announces that a new track will be laid from Storm Lake to New Ulm via the existing towns of Sioux Rapids, Spencer, and Estherville, etc. About that time, a Mr. Day, supposedly the general manager of the M & St. L from Chicago, reportedly says that no one owning stock in the M & St. L would be allowed to own property in any of the towns adjoining the new line.

The rail line was already under construction in June of 1899 when the M & St. L began paying property owners (farm owners) for right of way. A few of them objected to the compensation being offered, including a B. N. Orsland who owned the quarter section where Rembrandt would eventually be built.

The case goes to a "Sheriff's Jury" and an August 5 report indicates that Orsland has been awarded $900 for what other owners in the area received $650 to $700. This report also says that the railroad is appealing. An August 3 report in a different paper says that a "Mr. Kellogg, the town site man, was here Tuesday, but very reticent."

An August 11 paper proclaims that "There will be two new towns on the M & St. L railroad between Storm Lake and Sioux Rapids........the other will be on a part of the Orsland farm. It is to be called Rembrandt." There is no record that the $900 r-o-w fee was ever paid to Orsland, but an agreement dated August 28, 1899 and filed 9/15/99 transfers a huge chunk of the Orsland property, including the r-o-w, to Harry L. Jenkins, an individual.

Jenkins was from Minneapolis MN, and while another reference mentions him as a representative of the Iowa and Minnesota Land & Townsite Company, which is associated in some way with the M & St. L, Jenkins and his wife take possession of the property personally. Jenkins records the plat of the town of Rembrandt on November 3, 1899, and begins selling lots three days later (He also purchased and platted the town of Truesdale, the other new town mentioned above, and had gone so far as to have sale contracts and transfer documents prepared with his and his wife's names pre-printed where one would normally expect blanks in a standard document).

By the end of April, 1899, he has agreements signed for the sale of just 10 lots in Rembrandt. Then, in late July and early August of 1900 (the new line now completely open from Storm Lake to New Ulm), there are local ads for a "FREE EXCURSION" on the new Omaha Extension on the M & St. L RR for the purpose of conveying investors to the sites of the 14 new towns on this line. An auction schedule is presented in the ad which runs from August 6 through August 21, with a different town being sold each day. The Rembrandt sale is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on August 20, and "All Sales will positively take place, rain or shine." Of the lots being offered, it says, "They will go regardless of value and to the highest bidder." The small print explains that there really is a reduced ticket price for this 15 day trip, which will be refunded upon the purchase of one or more lots. Finally, the ad appears to be sponsored by the "Iowa & Minnesota Land & Townsite Co." with an address listed at the Lumber Exchange, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It looks to me like the railroad and the townsite company are promoting the sale of property owned personally by Harry Jenkins and his wife Anna, because nowhere in the abstract of title to these town lots does either the M & St. L or the IA & MN L & Townsite Co. appear.

Whatever happened at the Rembrandt auction, only 8 more lot sales agreements were signed by the end of 1900. The Town of Rembrandt officially incorporated by a vote on August 5, 1901. Harry Jenkins still owned quite a number of lots at that time, and a few weeks later he and a guy named Outcalt (who was supposedly the secretary of the IA & MN L & Townsite Co., according to a local report which also claimed that Jenkins was the president of the company) opened up an addition to the town called "Outcalt's Addition" which, once again, Jenkins and his wife owned.

It is clear from other information that Jenkins was in the lumber business as he formed many partnerships with local individuals who would co-own and operate lumber yards in these new towns---the Jenkins-Hesla Lumber Company in Rembrandt being an example.

In 1906, Jenkins finally gave up on the prospect for selling any more individual lots as he sold the last twenty or so in a cheap bundle and that was the end of him here.

My questions are multiple: Was the lumber business a front for the M & St. L railroad company? Was Jenkins acting as an individual or for this mysterious Land & Townsite Company? If so, who owned the L & T Co.? Was Jenkins an employee? Why would a railroad hide behind an individual? Why would an individual be given favors by the RR? Who really decided where the new towns would be, and why, and what they would be called? You get the picture. I am confused. HELP! Rolf E. Mosbo email: rolfmosbo@iowaone.net

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