Dingman & Co. started a brickyard in the west end of Dassel in 1881, which was in operation until 1885. Some of the older buildings in town have Dassel brick in them. Marion Boyer, a Civil War veteran, worked at a meat market and ran a dray business in Dassel in 1881. William S. Cox did railroad work until 1881 when he purchased a farm on section 33, Dassel Township, where he farmed until 1885. He moved into town in January 1886, and for a year was a member of the firm of Johnson & Cox, dealers in agricultural implements, until January 1887. Then he was elected city marshal, but in August he resigned and started working for the Minnesota & Dakota Elevator Co. Louis Rudberg and Nels Erickson established a firm under the name of Nels Erickson & Co. in 1881, and built a building en the southeast corner of Block 8, but before it was completed a tornado struck Dassel and ripped off the second story of the building. It was then converted into a one-story building. They opened their general store on November 1, 1881. The post office was located there with Louis Rudberg as its postmaster, who was Meeker County's member of the Legislature in 1876, and County Commissioner in 1877.