Marthin Koll was 3 when he and his family left Gjovik, Norway, in 1850 and boarded a sailing ship bound for America.
While the ship was still in Oslo Harbor, cholera broke out and 100 aboard died. Marthin was stricken, but he and 11 others, including his father, survived. Marthin and his father eventually sailed to America and settled near Coon Valley, Minn.
In April 1878, Marthin Koll came to Dakota Territory in a covered wagon and settled on a homestead in Brookings County, according to information in the Brookings County Museum.
When he later received his homestead ownership papers, a bureaucratic error listed his name as Marthin Christianson, not Marthin Koll. He was devastated, but to avoid the possibility of losing his land and having to start all over again, he decided to change his last name to Christianson. He later Americanized his first name to Martin.
Martin Christianson was the first settler in what became the city of Brookings. He married Gurina Johnson in 1880. They lived on the claim in a sod house near what is now Sixth Street and 17th Avenue. He dug a shallow well and built a sod barn with a straw roof for his horses Frank and Fanny.
His 160-acre homestead included much of what is now South Dakota State Universitys east campus. In 1885, because of the Tree Culture Act, Christianson filed for an additional 160 acres south of his original claim.
As required by the tree claim, Martin planted ash, cottonwood and maple trees. Many of the maple trees did not survive the periodic droughts, but many of the other trees did.
He sold his land to a man named Lommen for $5,000 in 1900, and the Christianson family of 11 moved to a farm northwest of Volga.
Martin died there in March 1928.
Gradually his Brookings land was broken up and sold piecemeal to the college and city dwellers. Eventually the city bought what was left of Martins tree claim, and it became a city park.
In a park naming contest in 1937 sponsored by the Brookings Kiwanis Club, Mrs. Harry Searles won $5 for submitting the winning park name of Hillcrest.
In 1950, Brookings Mayor Homer Dwiggins announced that major expansions for recreational uses would be made at Hillcrest Park in among many of Martins trees.
Improvements included a playground, a community building, parking for 200 vehicles, modern restrooms, croquet, horseshoe, shuffle board, badminton court, a volleyball court, tennis courts and a baseball field. (This year, pickleball courts were added.)
In the early 1960s, Brookings first full-time parks director Al Frerichs nurtured and looked after Martins trees that were still standing in straight rows, each 16 feet from one another as Martin had planted them.
Since then, many of the original trees have died or have had to be removed. But there may still be a few still there.
A state historical marker honoring Martin was added near the parking lot in the mid-1950s.
We have all this because a boy of 3 survived cholera 174 years ago while aboard a sailing ship anchored in Oslo Harbor.
Leave a Reply