1914 Plat map. The Town of Trempealeau has seen settlement from Native Americans, French explorers and traders, riverboat men, trappers, pioneer farmers and speculators. The 1917 ‘History of Trempealeau County” gives the following account-‘When the first white man gazed upon the Trempealeau country he beheld a vastly different land physically than we live in today. It was dressed in its primitive clothes, so to speak. The bluffs, save for the work of the mound builders, had not been defaced by men. The contour of the hills and valleys were influenced only by the alluvium and the wash of storms, for scarcely any land was cultivated, in the modern sense of the word, by the Indians…..generally the country was untimbered and covered with brush and wild grass which was burned over each year by the Indians.” The first permanent white settlement consisted of a half dozen cabins scattered by the Mississippi and occupied by French and Metis families. James Reed had a large log house and at first, the little settlement was known as ‘Reeds Landing”. Farming was done on a small scale but the fur trade was the primary industry of the little town. The first farmer was James Douville who planted oats, wheat, flaxseed , beans and potatoes. The first American child born in the Town was David P Bunnell, born November, 1843. As more settlers came into the county, Reed’s Landing became “Montoville” platted in 1852. A month later a post office was established with the name “Trempealeau” with BF Heuston as the first postmaster. Heuston and Ira Hammond erected warehouses by the river and for many years, Trempealeau was a hub for wheat delivery from county farmers. The grain was loaded on to steamboats and shipped out. The Trempealeau Hotel was built in 1852 and catered to the rivermen and grain buyers. Early settlers to the village of Trempealeau and the prairie to the north of it included NB Grover, Jacob Melchoir, Marvin and James Pierce, BB Healy, Charles Holmes, Mary Huff, Catherine Davidson, AM Brandenburg, Patrick Drugan, ,AP Webb, Oscar Beardsley, William Olds, Frank Feeny and Hiram Brown. The financial crash of 1857 slowed the development of Trempealeau and many speculators and would be citizens moved to La Crosse , Winona and Red Wing. A fire in 1888 burned most of the village and the cinch bug put an end to the big wheat crops. The railroad came through but the town never grew substantially again. Small trading centers in the Town were Centerville,(known originally as Martins Corner) and Dooney’s Siding .Rural school districts in the Town of Trempealeau were Bortle, Centerville, Hare, Maplewood, South Prairie, West Prairie and White.
