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WILLARD, MYRON G To an unusual degree the city of Mankato has been fortunate in having a citizenship composed of progressive, public-spirited men, whose abilities have been enlisted in behalf of civic improvements, whose sympathies are on the side of beneficial enterprises, and whose time has been given unreservedly to the development of the local welfare. Numbered among these citizens may be mentioned Myron G Willard, whose identification with the city as an attorney and as a man of large commercial interests has been helpful to the growth of his adopted town. The date of his arrival in Mankato, December 1, 1868, marked his association with the vital interests of the growing place, and from that time to this he has been regarded as a man of talent, commercial acumen and genial social qualities. While life has not been without its misfortunes, he has weathered every financial storm and has won an important standing financially among the people with whom he has had years of association.
The ancestry of the Willard family is traced to Captain Simon Willard, a seafaring man who settled in New England in 1664. Myron G Willard was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, October 23, 1842, being a son of Daniel S and Catherine (Williams) Willard. During the uneventful years of boyhood he remained on the home farm and attended country schools. Later he became a student in Whitestown seminary and still later had the advantage of taking the regular classical course in Hamilton college, from which institution he was graduated with high honors in 1868. Three years afterward he received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater.
During the progress of his literary studies Mr Willard had carried on a special law course and after leaving college he completed his studies in the law office of Senator Francis Keman at Utica, New York. During October of the same year (1868) he was admitted to practice in all the courts of New York, having passed a successful examination at Syracuse. The other members of the family had preceded him to the northwest and during the latter part of 1868 he Joined them at Mankato, Minnesota, where on the day of his arrival he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. Opening an office he became successful in corporation and real estate law, in which lines he was regarded as an authority. For a time he was associated with A E Pfau, Sr, now District Judge of Sixth Judicial District, and later had Thomas Hughes as a partner.
In the fall of 1885 Mr Willard gave up his law practice in order to embark in the manufacturing business. With his brother, John A Willard, he built and equipped a plant for the manufacture of fiber ware, and became manager of the business, which was incorporated under the title of the Standard Fiber Ware Company. During 1892 he became associated with the erection of a plant for the manufacture of hosiery, operated as the Mankato knitting mills. The plant had scarcely received its equipment when the financial depression began and the infant industry was ill-fitted to withstand the storms that brought bankruptcy to many old and substantial concerns throughout the entire country. However, it weathered the storms until 1897, when the plant for knitting as well as that for the manufacture of fiber ware suffered the fate incident to financial panics. However, within one year the mills had been started again with W L Hixon as president and Mr Willard as superintendent, and from that time the plant enjoyed a growing business along the line of its specialties. Mr Willard sold out his interest and retired from the business in the fall of 1903 and is now engaged in the real estate, insurance, loan and investment business.
The first marriage of Mr Willard took place in 1870 and united him with Miss Julia E Knowlton, of Holland Patent, New York, who died in July of 1876. Three years later he married Mary W Willard, of Holland Patent, a niece of the late General H W Halleck. Two children were born of his first marriage, both of whom are sons, namely: Charles K, formerly manager of the Mankato Citizens Telephone company, but at present engaged in the manufacture of brick, tile and building blocks at Heron Lake, Minnesota; and Elkins C, formerly assistant manager of the Mankato Mills Company, is at present proprietor of a chicken ranch near Mankato, known as "West Lawn Farm." A daughter, Clara E, was born of the second marriage.
The family hold membership with the Presbyterian church of Mankato, in which Mr Willard has officiated as a ruling elder for thirty years or more, and of whose Sunday school he served as superintendent for thirteen years. It has been Mr Willard's aim to aid all movements for the material, educational and commercial upbuilding of his home city, and while serving as secretary of the Board of Trade he was able to be especially helpful to the town, although in the capacity of a private citizen his work has been no less advantageous to local interests, and his ambition constantly has been to arouse an interest in securing for the city more railroads and more factories, for he realizes that upon these two depends the ultimate prosperity and permanent growth of the population. An everlasting monument to Mr Willard was his beautifying the park and boulevard system and giving to the city "Willard Park-Way," lying adjacent to and abutting either side of Glenwood avenue for about half a mile.
[source: History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens, by Thomas Hughes, pub 1909]
WILLARD, MYRON G To an unusual degree the city of Mankato has been fortunate in having a citizenship composed of progressive, public-spirited men, whose abilities have been enlisted in behalf of civic improvements, whose sympathies are on the side of beneficial enterprises, and whose time has been given unreservedly to the development of the local welfare. Numbered among these citizens may be mentioned Myron G Willard, whose identification with the city as an attorney and as a man of large commercial interests has been helpful to the growth of his adopted town. The date of his arrival in Mankato, December 1, 1868, marked his association with the vital interests of the growing place, and from that time to this he has been regarded as a man of talent, commercial acumen and genial social qualities. While life has not been without its misfortunes, he has weathered every financial storm and has won an important standing financially among the people with whom he has had years of association.
The ancestry of the Willard family is traced to Captain Simon Willard, a seafaring man who settled in New England in 1664. Myron G Willard was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, October 23, 1842, being a son of Daniel S and Catherine (Williams) Willard. During the uneventful years of boyhood he remained on the home farm and attended country schools. Later he became a student in Whitestown seminary and still later had the advantage of taking the regular classical course in Hamilton college, from which institution he was graduated with high honors in 1868. Three years afterward he received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater.
During the progress of his literary studies Mr Willard had carried on a special law course and after leaving college he completed his studies in the law office of Senator Francis Keman at Utica, New York. During October of the same year (1868) he was admitted to practice in all the courts of New York, having passed a successful examination at Syracuse. The other members of the family had preceded him to the northwest and during the latter part of 1868 he Joined them at Mankato, Minnesota, where on the day of his arrival he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. Opening an office he became successful in corporation and real estate law, in which lines he was regarded as an authority. For a time he was associated with A E Pfau, Sr, now District Judge of Sixth Judicial District, and later had Thomas Hughes as a partner.
In the fall of 1885 Mr Willard gave up his law practice in order to embark in the manufacturing business. With his brother, John A Willard, he built and equipped a plant for the manufacture of fiber ware, and became manager of the business, which was incorporated under the title of the Standard Fiber Ware Company. During 1892 he became associated with the erection of a plant for the manufacture of hosiery, operated as the Mankato knitting mills. The plant had scarcely received its equipment when the financial depression began and the infant industry was ill-fitted to withstand the storms that brought bankruptcy to many old and substantial concerns throughout the entire country. However, it weathered the storms until 1897, when the plant for knitting as well as that for the manufacture of fiber ware suffered the fate incident to financial panics. However, within one year the mills had been started again with W L Hixon as president and Mr Willard as superintendent, and from that time the plant enjoyed a growing business along the line of its specialties. Mr Willard sold out his interest and retired from the business in the fall of 1903 and is now engaged in the real estate, insurance, loan and investment business.
The first marriage of Mr Willard took place in 1870 and united him with Miss Julia E Knowlton, of Holland Patent, New York, who died in July of 1876. Three years later he married Mary W Willard, of Holland Patent, a niece of the late General H W Halleck. Two children were born of his first marriage, both of whom are sons, namely: Charles K, formerly manager of the Mankato Citizens Telephone company, but at present engaged in the manufacture of brick, tile and building blocks at Heron Lake, Minnesota; and Elkins C, formerly assistant manager of the Mankato Mills Company, is at present proprietor of a chicken ranch near Mankato, known as "West Lawn Farm." A daughter, Clara E, was born of the second marriage.
The family hold membership with the Presbyterian church of Mankato, in which Mr Willard has officiated as a ruling elder for thirty years or more, and of whose Sunday school he served as superintendent for thirteen years. It has been Mr Willard's aim to aid all movements for the material, educational and commercial upbuilding of his home city, and while serving as secretary of the Board of Trade he was able to be especially helpful to the town, although in the capacity of a private citizen his work has been no less advantageous to local interests, and his ambition constantly has been to arouse an interest in securing for the city more railroads and more factories, for he realizes that upon these two depends the ultimate prosperity and permanent growth of the population. An everlasting monument to Mr Willard was his beautifying the park and boulevard system and giving to the city "Willard Park-Way," lying adjacent to and abutting either side of Glenwood avenue for about half a mile.
[source: History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens, by Thomas Hughes, pub 1909]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WILLARD, MYRON G To an unusual degree the city of Mankato has been fortunate in having a citizenship composed of progressive, public-spirited men, whose abilities have been enlisted in behalf of civic improvements, whose sympathies are on the side of beneficial enterprises, and whose time has been given unreservedly to the development of the local welfare. Numbered among these citizens may be mentioned Myron G Willard, whose identification with the city as an attorney and as a man of large commercial interests has been helpful to the growth of his adopted town. The date of his arrival in Mankato, December 1, 1868, marked his association with the vital interests of the growing place, and from that time to this he has been regarded as a man of talent, commercial acumen and genial social qualities. While life has not been without its misfortunes, he has weathered every financial storm and has won an important standing financially among the people with whom he has had years of association.
The ancestry of the Willard family is traced to Captain Simon Willard, a seafaring man who settled in New England in 1664. Myron G Willard was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, October 23, 1842, being a son of Daniel S and Catherine (Williams) Willard. During the uneventful years of boyhood he remained on the home farm and attended country schools. Later he became a student in Whitestown seminary and still later had the advantage of taking the regular classical course in Hamilton college, from which institution he was graduated with high honors in 1868. Three years afterward he received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater.
During the progress of his literary studies Mr Willard had carried on a special law course and after leaving college he completed his studies in the law office of Senator Francis Keman at Utica, New York. During October of the same year (1868) he was admitted to practice in all the courts of New York, having passed a successful examination at Syracuse. The other members of the family had preceded him to the northwest and during the latter part of 1868 he Joined them at Mankato, Minnesota, where on the day of his arrival he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. Opening an office he became successful in corporation and real estate law, in which lines he was regarded as an authority. For a time he was associated with A E Pfau, Sr, now District Judge of Sixth Judicial District, and later had Thomas Hughes as a partner.
In the fall of 1885 Mr Willard gave up his law practice in order to embark in the manufacturing business. With his brother, John A Willard, he built and equipped a plant for the manufacture of fiber ware, and became manager of the business, which was incorporated under the title of the Standard Fiber Ware Company. During 1892 he became associated with the erection of a plant for the manufacture of hosiery, operated as the Mankato knitting mills. The plant had scarcely received its equipment when the financial depression began and the infant industry was ill-fitted to withstand the storms that brought bankruptcy to many old and substantial concerns throughout the entire country. However, it weathered the storms until 1897, when the plant for knitting as well as that for the manufacture of fiber ware suffered the fate incident to financial panics. However, within one year the mills had been started again with W L Hixon as president and Mr Willard as superintendent, and from that time the plant enjoyed a growing business along the line of its specialties. Mr Willard sold out his interest and retired from the business in the fall of 1903 and is now engaged in the real estate, insurance, loan and investment business.
The first marriage of Mr Willard took place in 1870 and united him with Miss Julia E Knowlton, of Holland Patent, New York, who died in July of 1876. Three years later he married Mary W Willard, of Holland Patent, a niece of the late General H W Halleck. Two children were born of his first marriage, both of whom are sons, namely: Charles K, formerly manager of the Mankato Citizens Telephone company, but at present engaged in the manufacture of brick, tile and building blocks at Heron Lake, Minnesota; and Elkins C, formerly assistant manager of the Mankato Mills Company, is at present proprietor of a chicken ranch near Mankato, known as "West Lawn Farm." A daughter, Clara E, was born of the second marriage.
The family hold membership with the Presbyterian church of Mankato, in which Mr Willard has officiated as a ruling elder for thirty years or more, and of whose Sunday school he served as superintendent for thirteen years. It has been Mr Willard's aim to aid all movements for the material, educational and commercial upbuilding of his home city, and while serving as secretary of the Board of Trade he was able to be especially helpful to the town, although in the capacity of a private citizen his work has been no less advantageous to local interests, and his ambition constantly has been to arouse an interest in securing for the city more railroads and more factories, for he realizes that upon these two depends the ultimate prosperity and permanent growth of the population. An everlasting monument to Mr Willard was his beautifying the park and boulevard system and giving to the city "Willard Park-Way," lying adjacent to and abutting either side of Glenwood avenue for about half a mile.
[source: History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens, by Thomas Hughes, pub 1909]
WILLARD, MYRON G To an unusual degree the city of Mankato has been fortunate in having a citizenship composed of progressive, public-spirited men, whose abilities have been enlisted in behalf of civic improvements, whose sympathies are on the side of beneficial enterprises, and whose time has been given unreservedly to the development of the local welfare. Numbered among these citizens may be mentioned Myron G Willard, whose identification with the city as an attorney and as a man of large commercial interests has been helpful to the growth of his adopted town. The date of his arrival in Mankato, December 1, 1868, marked his association with the vital interests of the growing place, and from that time to this he has been regarded as a man of talent, commercial acumen and genial social qualities. While life has not been without its misfortunes, he has weathered every financial storm and has won an important standing financially among the people with whom he has had years of association.
The ancestry of the Willard family is traced to Captain Simon Willard, a seafaring man who settled in New England in 1664. Myron G Willard was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, October 23, 1842, being a son of Daniel S and Catherine (Williams) Willard. During the uneventful years of boyhood he remained on the home farm and attended country schools. Later he became a student in Whitestown seminary and still later had the advantage of taking the regular classical course in Hamilton college, from which institution he was graduated with high honors in 1868. Three years afterward he received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater.
During the progress of his literary studies Mr Willard had carried on a special law course and after leaving college he completed his studies in the law office of Senator Francis Keman at Utica, New York. During October of the same year (1868) he was admitted to practice in all the courts of New York, having passed a successful examination at Syracuse. The other members of the family had preceded him to the northwest and during the latter part of 1868 he Joined them at Mankato, Minnesota, where on the day of his arrival he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. Opening an office he became successful in corporation and real estate law, in which lines he was regarded as an authority. For a time he was associated with A E Pfau, Sr, now District Judge of Sixth Judicial District, and later had Thomas Hughes as a partner.
In the fall of 1885 Mr Willard gave up his law practice in order to embark in the manufacturing business. With his brother, John A Willard, he built and equipped a plant for the manufacture of fiber ware, and became manager of the business, which was incorporated under the title of the Standard Fiber Ware Company. During 1892 he became associated with the erection of a plant for the manufacture of hosiery, operated as the Mankato knitting mills. The plant had scarcely received its equipment when the financial depression began and the infant industry was ill-fitted to withstand the storms that brought bankruptcy to many old and substantial concerns throughout the entire country. However, it weathered the storms until 1897, when the plant for knitting as well as that for the manufacture of fiber ware suffered the fate incident to financial panics. However, within one year the mills had been started again with W L Hixon as president and Mr Willard as superintendent, and from that time the plant enjoyed a growing business along the line of its specialties. Mr Willard sold out his interest and retired from the business in the fall of 1903 and is now engaged in the real estate, insurance, loan and investment business.
The first marriage of Mr Willard took place in 1870 and united him with Miss Julia E Knowlton, of Holland Patent, New York, who died in July of 1876. Three years later he married Mary W Willard, of Holland Patent, a niece of the late General H W Halleck. Two children were born of his first marriage, both of whom are sons, namely: Charles K, formerly manager of the Mankato Citizens Telephone company, but at present engaged in the manufacture of brick, tile and building blocks at Heron Lake, Minnesota; and Elkins C, formerly assistant manager of the Mankato Mills Company, is at present proprietor of a chicken ranch near Mankato, known as "West Lawn Farm." A daughter, Clara E, was born of the second marriage.
The family hold membership with the Presbyterian church of Mankato, in which Mr Willard has officiated as a ruling elder for thirty years or more, and of whose Sunday school he served as superintendent for thirteen years. It has been Mr Willard's aim to aid all movements for the material, educational and commercial upbuilding of his home city, and while serving as secretary of the Board of Trade he was able to be especially helpful to the town, although in the capacity of a private citizen his work has been no less advantageous to local interests, and his ambition constantly has been to arouse an interest in securing for the city more railroads and more factories, for he realizes that upon these two depends the ultimate prosperity and permanent growth of the population. An everlasting monument to Mr Willard was his beautifying the park and boulevard system and giving to the city "Willard Park-Way," lying adjacent to and abutting either side of Glenwood avenue for about half a mile.
[source: History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens, by Thomas Hughes, pub 1909]
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