In the spring of 1854, Thomas Cummings and his family settled on the west side of Cascade Creek. At that time the Cummings family, along with the McReady family, made up the entire population of the settlement that eventually would become the city of Rochester. They celebrated their first Fourth of July by hunting and fishing all day. Later that afternoon they climbed to a bluff overlooking the settlement and fired guns in salute of it.

The settlement continued to grow and by 1859, the Winona-St. Peter Railroad was surveying a route from Winona to Rochester. Thomas Cummings knew very well that the railroad was coming and he didn't at all like the thought that it was to be routed across his claim. When the first grading of the route was extended across his land, Mr. Cummings resisted. The foreman of the grading crew, one Bill Messler, became irritated with Cummings, so be shot him in the chest. A menacing mob appeared and the possibility of lynching was so great he was hurried out of town to Winona in a fast train. Cummings eventually recovered and later moved to Fort Ridgley, MN, away from the trains. (Information was obtained by the Olmsted Historical Society.)

August W. Kutzky
Did you ever wonder who the Kutzky was in Kutzky Park? While Kutzky will never have the same prominence in Rochester as Mayo or Plummer, Mr. August W. Kutzky was a well known early settler of Rochester.

(Once the grand residence of the Kutzkys.
Click the photo for a larger view.)

August Kutzky was born on May 28th, 1855 in Schloppe, Germany to Fredericka and Frederick Kutzky and was brought to the United States when he was eight weeks old. After six months in Geneva, Illinois, the family moved to Olmsted County and farmed in Cascade township. Thirteen years later, the family sold their land and moved to Greenwood Prairie, where for the next three years they operated a saloon and dance hall.

On June 10th, 1880, August married Bertha Stephan where a heavy rainstorm kept everyone but their immediate families from attending the wedding. In 1887, the couple moved to Rochester and for a time lived at 205 N. Broadway. During these years, August Kutzky was employed as an agent for the Davis Sewing Machine Company and then became a salesman and machine expert for D. H. Williams. Mr. Kutzky soon began buying land in and around what is now known as Kutzky Park. In May 1898, he bought lots in what was then known as McCullough's addition, and built a house and barn on the west side of the addition. The house was at 724 W 5th (now W. Center). In March 1899, he bought 90 acres of land, west of 11th Ave. and north of St. Mary's Hospital, and the lots were named Kutzky's Addition. The family moved in 1914 to a new house at 718 W. Center. In 1927, he donated 51 acres, north of Kutzky's Addition, to the city for use as a park.

Bertha and August had two sons who died at an early age. August Kutzky died of bronchopneumonia in July 1948 at the age of 93. August and Bertha had been married for 68 years!

Lourdes High School
While the current Lourdes High School was not build until 1940, work on the Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes, a 72 X 48 building, was begun in 1877. The cost of building the Academy was $24,000 and approximately 210 female students began classes there on December 3, 1877. There were eight teachers, and about 20% of the students were boarded at the school. While religious and moral training was the primary purpose of educating the students, English, French, German, Latin, science, music, art, and needlework were included in the curriculum.

By 1882, continued growth of applicants to the Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes led to the purchase of the Saint John's Benevolent Society, a hall that was moved to the corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street SW. This became Saint Mary's Hall and all classes were taught here with the exception of music and fine arts. The previous Academy building was used for boarding students and for administrative space. Eventually classrooms were added on the Academy and all classes were moved back to that one location. Saint Mary's Hall then became Saint John's Grade School.

In 1912, two more schools were built - one for boys to be taught by the Christian Brothers, known as Heffron High School; the other for girls - known as Saint John's High School for Girls. The Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes then ceased to exist, and all it's all-female student body transferred to Saint John's. The Christian Brothers left Rochester in 1925 and their male students were transferred to Saint John's High School for Girls. The school became co-educational and was called simply Saint John's High School. The school then began to face accreditation problems due to the need for larger and more modern classrooms, as well as educational resources such as science laboratories. Because of this, the need for a new high school became evident.

On October 23, 1940, a groundbreaking ceremony took place for a new high school on the corner of West Center Street on the block bounded by Sixth and Seventh Avenues NW. As the Saint Paul Pioneer Press described, "...the edifice was to be constructed of Mankato stone in a Tudor-Gothic style at an expected cost of $225,000, to easily accommodate 400-450 pupils." The new high school was named Lourdes High School after the original Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Currently 547 students attend the school each day, as well as approximately 50 staff members. Lourdes High School is perhaps the most visible structure in our neighborhood. The building brings character and history to Kutzky Park, and has been a focal point for our neighborhood association as the school allows us use of space for neighborhood meetings.