Maps from 1914 plat map. Judge George Gale purchased in 1853 over 2,000 acres which included the location of Galesville, his namesake city. He secured the right to water power on Beaver Creek and in January 1854 organized the new county of Trempealeau. Judge Gale procured Galesville as the county seat and also obtained a charter for a university, Gale College. In the summer of 1854 a grist mill was erected and AH Armstrong put up the first building. Ryland Parker opened the first grocery store and hotel. One of the first white men to settle in the Town of Gale was BF Heuston who had originally settled in Trempealeau in 1851 but relocated to the new village of Galesville in 1853. His cabin was built on a lot that became the site of the first county courthouse. In autumn of 1853 a group of Scots coal miners took up land on Decorah Prairie. Once the county was organized more and more settlers flooded into the area, Frenchville had its first store in 1867 when Iver Pederson and Ole Scow started a general mercantile. The 1917 ‘History of Trempealeau County’ records “Work on Gale College..was started in 1858, the preparatory department opened in the courthouse in the summer of 1859 and the collegiate department opened in the fall of 1861. The first county fair was held in the fall of 1859. The Galesville Transcript was established in 1860. During this period of prosperity many houses were erected , several church societies perfected their organizations and the Rev John Frothingham, the first Presbyterian minister in the county,took charge of his work.” Lake Marinuka was formed and named for the daughter of a Hochunk chief. Galesville was built around a town square with houses and businesses arranged around it in New England fashion. A train track was laid from Trempealeau into the Lower Table of Galesville. The train would back in and then return. Frenchville/French Creek was named for a French trapper who wintered in the vicinity. The settlement was almost totally comprised of Norwegians. The Town of Gale had eight rural school districts- Crystal Valley, Decorah Prairie, Frenchville, Glasgow, Grant, Hardies Creek, Silver Creek and Smith.
