 The railroad platted out a new village in 1869, naming it Dassel, after one of their own employees, Bernard Dassel, a paymaster for the railroad, who came from a village named Dassel in the province of Einbeck, Germany.Bernard was a friend of railroad magnate James J. Hill and Hill gave Bernard the job of secretary of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, with a salary of $1800 a year.Parker Simons, a civil engineer for the railroad, put up the first frame building in Dassel.