Of the many responsibilities we take on at MCHS, my favorite may be assisting patrons with research, as it can be a goldmine of new information. Guiding a visitor toward what they are looking for, whether they know what they need or require more direction, is a highlight of my work. So, I decided to begin a series called Adventures in Research, where I will share some of the interesting things I have learned about Morrison County from guests and exploring the collections!
Our first Adventure in Research comes from a guest who wasn’t even going to research in the first place! They came in to look around and kill time before meeting a friend for lunch until they got to reading books out of the R.D. Musser Library, where they found the history book A Land Called Morrison by Harold L. Fisher. After paging through some of it, they found me to do some further research, which would also entice me into the ghost town of Vawter.
Most of what we know of the lost village comes from the 1964 testimony of one John Dickson of Bellevue Township. Dickson, son of pioneer farmer Richie Dickson of Little Falls, was born in 1894 on his father’s property, about two miles west of what would become Vawter. He remarked on its founding, growth, and later disappearance, but gave two tales of its naming. It is not uncommon to find inaccurate or incomplete records of history. But when recounting them or using them as sources, it’s important to distinguish between verified fact and legend.
The settlement came about as the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie (Soo Line) Railroad was being built from Duluth-Superior through western Minnesota. Officials wanted to construct a station in Morrison County to connect more farmers to the market and were discussing where it should go. Rumor has it that they were going to build the station on land owned by John Schmolke, a Buckman merchant and German immigrant, and asked him what the area should be called. Schmolke responded in his thick German accent with, “How about vater? There is lots of vater everywhere,” and thus, Vawter was organized and recorded in 1908.
While Schmolke is credited with naming Vawter, the true founder is recognized as Thomas F. Callahan of Stearns County, who was urged to move to Vawter by Schmolke. Callahan built a merchandise store in 1908, the second building in town, and established trade for local farmers between Duluth and Morris. The settlement was slowly starting to grow; a community church was quickly organized, with its main building being built in 1920. In 1910, Callahan founded the Vawter school district alongside Richard Dickson, John Duerr, and Rev. J.R. Peterson, minister of the Vawter Congregational Church. A post office was put up in a section of the store in 1920, so mail was no longer delivered by rural service from Royalton. At one point, Borgording Lumber Company had a retail plant within the community, too.
Unfortunately, we know how this ends, and by 1943, Vawter had completely faded out of existence. While the village was a flourishing site for trade, the rise of truck hauling in the 1920s led to the decline of railway trade, and the Great Depression just exacerbated these issues. The main church building was removed in the 1930s. The post office was discontinued in 1940, and the freight service ended soon after. After barely 20 years, the town of Vawter disappeared.
Despite vanishing, Vawter would still be marked on maps for decades, going from a whole town in the 1940s-’60s plat books to a small circle at the tip of Bellevue Township in the 1990s. Today, there is no sign of the elevator, feed building, store, school, church, or station house that made up this small trade post town. If you take a trip to Vawter, you’ll only see farmland, private residences, and an auto repair shop with no remnant of the once-developing village.
By Alesha Ouren
Museum Manager
Sources:
Fisher, Harold L. “Chapter 13: Formation of the County.” The Land Called Morrison, Volkmuth Printing Company, St Cloud, Minnesota, 1972, p. 96.
This article originally appeared in the Morrison County Historical Society newsletter, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2025.
Thanks for the story. Keep them coming!
Thank you for your support! We definitely plan on putting out more stories.
My understanding is that the general store was moved to Buckman. I was told it was moved to Buckman in the 1920’s. My dad, Ervin Sitzman, owned and operated it for many years at the Buckman Lunch and Tap from the late 1950’s before we converted it to our home in 1967. We sold it upon the passing of our mother in 1986. The building still stands today and I believe is still being used as home.