Bruce 

 On section 30, Martin township, two miles west of Hills, is located the Illinois Central station of Bruce. In addition to the depot, the business houses of the unpretentious hamlet are confined to a general store and two elevators. Bruce has known better days. At the time of its founding it gave promise of eventually taking high rank among the communities of Rock county. Its season of glory was short lived, however, and it was forced to bow to the stern decree of fate while yet an infant.

 The first intimation of a Rock county town on the Martin township prairies was received in November 1887, when the Illinois Central authorities, whose railroad had just made entry into the county, located a station on J. H. Helgeson's farm, on section 30. Before December was over the company had built a side track on the site of the town to be, which it proposed to name Martin. The station bore that appellation only a few months, and then was christened Bruce, in honor of one of the chiefs officials of the Illinois Central.

 Unlike some of Rock county's towns, there was no long lapse of time before it responded to the hopes of its sponsors. Activity began with a rush in Bruce during the first year of its existence, which was also the one of its fullest development. The survey of the town site was made in May, 1888, by J. F. Whalen. The plat, indicative of the expectation of the promoters, was made to include sixteen blocks. The dedication by John Butler and Charles E. Moore took place May 22 and the day following record was made in the office of the register of deeds.

The boom commenced at once. Hickey & Co. were the first on the ground and built a grain warehouse. The depot was erected about the same time, in the month of June, and G.B. Hartley was installed as the first agent. John Butler, one of the owners of the townsite, was especially active in the promotion of building operations. During the summer he erected a hotel, which was first conducted by M. McCarthy and later in the same year by Andrew Nelson: a store building, in which the first merchants, Fransen & Miller, were located; and a second warehouse, with a capacity of 30,000 bushels of grains. A second general store was established by Jacobson & Sexe before the year was over, as was also a blacksmith shop by Ole Lund. During the summer an attempt was made by George Bollinger to conduct a saloon in Bruce. He was refused the necessary license by the county commissioners, but proceeded, nevertheless, in violation of the law. This action led to his arrest and conviction in December.

 The post office was established in the store of Jacobson & Sexe in 1888. J. N. Jacobson conducted the office as deputy until September, 1889, when he was regularly commissioned postmaster. Bruce progressed to a noticeable degree during the second year of life.

 Early in the spring of 1890 the existence of Bruce was threatened, because of the founding of the town of Hills, two miles away at the intersection of the Illinois Central with the new Sioux City & Northern railroad. It became evident to the business men of Bruce that their interests were certain to suffer in competition with the rival favored by a more strategic location. In February the hotel closed its doors and March witnessed the removal across the fields of Bruce's leading business establishment, the Jacobson & Sexe store, as well as the blacksmith shop. What few buildings remained in the once promising community of Bruce were deserted.

 But Bruce refused to entirely forfeit its lease of life. There were a few signs of activity during 1890, but none of a nature that assured a regeneration. J. N. Jacobson, upon moving to Hills, resigned as postmaster of Bruce, and was succeeded in May by F.T. Miller. Mr. Miller laid plans for the opening of a general store but did not put them into execution. A store was established however, by Hans N. Kjergaard. Postmaster Miller served only a few months in that capacity and withdrew in favor of Mr. Kjergaard, who has ever since held the office. For six months during 1890 Bruce came into prominence as a wholesale center. Two liquor firms, Hickey & Mecknemar and the North Star Drug Company, which were forced from South Dakota by prohibition laws, located for business at Bruce, the first town over the state line, but their career was run within a s short period.

 All later efforts to "boost" Bruce have ended in failure. During the spring of 1893, N.T. Burroughs, of Cherokee, Iowa, who was interested in the townsite, proposed to once more establish the place on a firm footing. But the hopes thus awakened never saw fulfillment. A year prior to this the two grain warehouses at Bruce became the property of Edmonds & Londergan, and were converted into elevators. Disaster visited Bruce on the morning of October 16, 1900, when fire destroyed the Illinois Central depot, which was later rebuilt on a smaller scale.

 The town of Bruce is today virtually controlled by one man, Hans J. Kjergaard, who is postmaster, only merchant, propietor of the two elevators, stock buyer and station agent. He was one of the few who refused to leave Bruce in the day of its crisis, and largely through his determination to stay, Bruce has maintained its place on the map.

 

Bruce, the new station in Rock county, Minnesota, midway between Sioux Falls and Rock Rapids, has been platted and no doubt will be a town of two hundred souls before the leaves begin to fall.--Rock Rapids Reporter, May, 1888

 

The little town of Bruce on the Sioux Falls branch of the Illinois Central, in Martin township, Rock county, is about depopulated on account of its people moving, bag and baggage, over to Hills, the new town on the Northern named after the general manager of the road. Hills is about a mile and a half east of Bruce, and the only blacksmith shop, grain buying establishment and general store in Bruce have been moved to Hills. The post office will probably follow in short order.--Sioux City Journal, March, 1900