As with many families in Austin’s history, the Todds had two generations of influence in our community. Municipal plant superintendent William Todd had four daughters and the oldest one served the city for 40 years.
Born in 1891, Miss Jane Todd began working for the city municipal plant as an assistant to her father William Todd on July 6, 1900. (His obituary from 1931 states that she had been his secretary since ‘childhood.’) She continued to serve for 9 years after his death, retiring in 1940. She was appointed secretary of the city’s first board of water and light commissioners in 1903. According to an article from the Mower County News on May 2, 1940: “She... saw the plant grow from a small institution of an investment of only $16,000 to the present large plant valued at about two million dollars and she took part in that expansion.”
Miss Todd was honored by city leaders including chief electrician Wallace Gregson, plant chief H. W. Boody, commissioner C. F. Cook, water department chief E. C. Butler and gas department chief Elmer Nelson. The article also notes that six office employees spoke honoring Miss Todd: Edith Laufle, Esther Marcusen, Florence Wilder, Margaret Boyd, Blanche Mahachek and Dorothy Johnson. Miss Todd received a gold wrist watch in appreciation of her service.
Jane Todd lived in her childhood home, 419 E Mill Street, until her death in 1949. She was staying in the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis after attending a national trustee meeting of the Order of the Eastern Star in Chicago when she suddenly became ill and died.
Photo above: Jane Todd at work at the city municipal plant.
Photo below: The Todd sisters
Both photos courtesy of the Mower County Historical Society
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