Railways across the plain performed many various and much-needed functions. Transportation of farmers’ products to markets in big cities was by train and all necessities for farmers in the agricultural regions were transported to them by train. Train stations sprang up and soon around them villages and towns. Marshall was one such town.
Marshall is the largest town in Lyon County, Minnesota. It came on the map in 1872 when a railway was laid there. The choice of location was probably not a coincidence, as the Dakota Indians had regularly set up tents there during their travels on the plains. The name of the town is in honor of Governor William R. Marshall, who was the governor of Minnesota from 1866 to 1870. This town grew rapidly and the town newspaper, Prairie Schooner, said on October 25, 1873, that the town’s first house had been built earlier this year. At the beginning of October, that number had reached 79 and they were residential buildings. In April 1874, the same paper states that the population has reached 300, but to this can be added that by the turn of the century 1900, the population had reached 2,088. Some Icelanders, who settled in Lyon County after 1875, sought a different kind of future than agriculture, so they chose to settle in towns and villages. It was possible to get manual labor, sales jobs, etc.
The Icelandic community in the town did their part to strengthen solidarity and one part was weekly meetings at someone’s home where house reading was read. Both pastors in New Iceland at that time, Rev. Jón Bjarnason and Rev. Páll Þorláksson, visited the Icelandic settlements in the years 1877-1878, came to Marshall, and sang Mass. The arrangement lasted for the next few years, as when Icelandic pastors visited the settlement, the Icelanders of Marshall benefited. It was in 1890 that the Icelandic church saw the light of day and was consecrated by Reverend Steingrímur Níels Þorláksson on November 15, 1891. The Icelandic women’s association in the town played a large part in the church building and put a lot of effort into fundraising.
In the summer of 1892, it was difficult for the settlers who lived in the counties of the southwestern corner of Minnesota. At 8 o’clock, Sunday evening, August 8, there was a storm, a storm with dark hail stones. The destruction of the farmers’ fields was enormous, some lost all their crops. But things got worse as the night wore on, and this time the town of Marshall was hit hardest. The destruction of residential buildings, shops and office buildings was horrific, and the Icelandic church collapsed and almost disappeared in the weather. The church was rebuilt on the same site a year later, but in the years 1910-1911 the number of Icelandic parishioners in the town had greatly decreased and a decision was made to close the congregation.
English version by Thor Group.