In 1857, settlers platted a townsite in Section 14 of the Leavenworth area. During the next year, Dr. J. B. Calkins established the post office and became its first postmaster. Leavenworth Township was legally organized on April 16, 1859. Seven officers were elected: Luther Whiton, chair; Isaac Bandy and Seth Henshaw, supervisors; George Charnock, clerk; Peter Kelly, assessor; and G. W. Maffett and C. R. Putnam, constables. During the Dakota Conflict of 1862, the settlers fled the area, returning later to build the new village of Leavenworth in Section 27. The settlement grew and prospered to the point where it boasted a blacksmith shop, general store, sawmill, flour mill, shoemaker, physician, and druggist. The dreams of expansion were taken away when the railroad bypassed Leavenworth in the 1870s, and the new village was never incorporated. Today, the Church of the Japanese Martyrs, erected in the late 1860s, embodies the remnants of one of Brown County's earliest settlements.
Erected by the Brown County Historical Society in 1992
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