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Updated on 24 Dec 2010
Tenhassen, a Dakota word which means "sugar maple," was known from 1856 to 1873 as Tuttle's Grove, in honor of Calvin Tuttle, the
first settler in Martin County. The fur trade furnished its only cash revenue in its earliest years. A post office was established in 1862, and
by 1875 there were stores, a sawmill, and other businesses that once rivaled Fairmont in size and importance. In 1875-76 the village aspired
to become a station on the Ft. Dodge & Ft. Ridgely Railroad. When those hopes faded in 1878, businesses began moving to Sherburn and
in 1899 to Ceylon, a new town on the Chicago & Northwestern line. By 1900 Tenhassen was in rapid decline and lost its post office.
Bypassed by the railroad, all that remains of Tenhassen today is a cemetery.