From settlers to sesquicentennial

Kleins have owned North Prairie farmstead for over 150 years

BY NATASHA BARBER | STAFF WRITER

TWO RIVERS – Minnesota had yet to become a state when Mathias Klein laid claim to an 80-acre property in what is today Two Rivers Township, Morrison County. The Prussian-born blacksmith built his life with wife Eva on a ridge that intercepted the Red River Trails system.

“He was a blacksmith in the Army, and they needed a blacksmith out here, so that’s why he ended up at the property,” Joe Klein said. “This is the first settlement of the Kleins.”

Joe, or Joseph by birth, is the great-grandson of Mathias and Eva Klein. He is the fourth generation to occupy the property that was officially homesteaded in September 1869. Joe estimates the property just outside of North Prairie has been in his family for 170 years.

“Covered wagons actually went through this yard,” he said. “This was a place to be fixed.”