After working for the railroad, John Vogel came to Dassel in 1877 and settled on a farm in section 20. Samuel O. Lindgren came in November 1879 and he attended school until spring when he started working in August Sallberg's store as a clerk. After two years, John went to Minneapolis to work for a while. Then in the summer of 1883, he returned to Dassel and formed a partnership with John Thompson. The following September, they opened a general merchandise store in a building that they had just built. They operated it for four years, then they sold it to the Rudberg Brothers. In 1890, the Rudbergs sold an interest in it to Louis Palmersten of Stillwater, who remained a member of the firm of Rudbergs & Palmersten until 1895, when Nels Rudberg bought out Peter Rudberg and Louis Palmersten, and the partnership was dissolved. Palmersten opened a store of his own and Peter Rudberg bought the hardware store of John Clarquist. Later Charles Olson became a partner with Palmersten under the firm name of Palmersten & Olson. In 1890 Charles sold out his interest in the company and then established a new store known as Andrew Olson & Co. A few years later, Charles sold his share of the business to his brother, Joseph, who became the general manager of this store. John Norgren & Company, dealers in general merchandise, came to the village in the spring of 1875 and established their business. The “Company” was his blind son-in-law, J. O. Berlin. The last ten years of business, it was owned by J. W. and L. M. Norgren. In 1878, Richard Elliot, a Civil War veteran, traded his farm elsewhere for an interest in the steam sawmill in Dassel. Two years later, he sold his mill interests and built a hotel, which, for a time, was leased out. In 1881, he took charge of the hotel himself. At the same time, he started buying and shipping hoop poles and cordwood.