Preserving the Past by Kim Nelson

Kim Nelson is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village, 1031 Bridge Ave.

Recently I have been asked about the story behind Albert Lea. I decided to share part of the information we have on Albert Miller Lea here at the museum. We have additional information available at the museum in our wonderful research library.

As a lieutenant with the First United States Dragoons, Albert Miller Lea served as a surveyor and map maker for an expedition exploring Iowa and southern Minnesota.

By order of the war department, issued March 9, 1835, the First United States Dragoons, under the command of Lt. Col. Kearney, were to proceed from Fort Des Moines up the Des Moines River to Raccoon Fork for the purposes of selecting a proper site for a fort. They were to proceed to the Sioux villages near the Mississippi highlands at about the 44th latitude, and then were to turn west and return. The purpose of the trip was to assess the negativity of rivers and the quality of the land. This march covered 1100 miles — north to about 20 miles south of Lake Pepin and then west through the Albert Lea area.

On July 28, 1835, the expedition camped about five miles from the northeast tip of Albert Lea Lake.

Lea wrote, “We soon got into a region of lakes and open groves of oaks, beautiful as English parks,” (Lea, Correspondence, p. 549).

The Dragoons were very impressed by the natural beauty.

Lea’s original name for Albert Lea Lake was Fox Lake.

“A fox ran by the column when moving along the lake — hence the name,” (Merryman, p 33).

It was actually the French explorer, Joseph Nicholas Nicollet, who changed the name from Fox Lake to Albert Lea Lake in the presence of Lea some years later, while the two surveyors were viewing the maps Lea had prepared.

The city of Albert Lea was named after the lake. The first settler arrived in 1855 and on the original city plat are the words, “Village of Lake Albert Lea.”

Albert Miller Lea was born July 23, 1808, in Richland, Tennessee. He graduated from West Point in 1831 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant. After leaving the military, he served as chief engineer for the state of Tennessee and chief clerk for the United States War Department. He taught mathematics and philosophy at the University of Eastern Tennessee at Knoxville, served in the Confederate Army and retired while living in Corsicana, Texas. He died there Jan. 30, 1891.

Lea’s life was full of challenges and a variety of experiences. He was a man of strong heart and purpose. Although he never lived here, his appreciation of beauty and resources of the area was evident and he left to the area the legacy of his name.

Resources

“Colonel Albert Miller Lea;” Freeborn County Standard; March 13, 1879.

Lea, Albert Miller; Correspondence; Iowa Historical Record; Vol. 6; October 1890; p. 535-553.

Merryman, Robert M.; A Hero Nonetheless: Albert Miller Lea, 1808-1891; Graphic Publishing Company Inc.; Lake Mills, Iowa; 1983.