Historical Marker: 
1862 Fair Haven Fort
(located at Fair Haven Park)

1862 FAIR HAVEN FORT

During the Dakota Incident in 1862 danger threatened the Forest City area. Twelve men from the Fair Haven area, comprised of settlers, scouts and men from Company I, 8th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry under Captain Adkins, marched away to give aid. This left the families in the Fair Haven area poorly protected. Those who were left erected a stockade around the old log hotel, the only building large enough to accommodate the group. The women and children were placed in this protection, where they stayed for three weeks. The men worked their fields by day and spent their nights in the stockade. This fortified structure was located on the northwest corner of the second city block, south of this marker (lot 12 of block 45).

Again in 1863, after the McGannon Incident occurred near Fair Haven, and the attack on the Block farm in Fair Haven Township, state scouts quartered in the village made the people feel much safer. Though the fort was never attacked, it did serve to provide peace of mind to the settlers during a time of stress.

Erected by the South Haven Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 7332
1991