Sherburne History Center Blog

Several communities in Sherburne County, today, present outdoor movies to entertain the local residents.   The first outdoor movies presented in Sherburne originated nearly 85 years ago in Elk River.   Interestingly, the band concerts and the park gatherings inspire long memories, these first outdoor movies remain nearly forgotten.   Manager of the Elk River Theater, Mr. Christiansen, developed plans to present an outdoor movie in conjunction with a band concert on Thursday evening, July 19, 1934.   With expenses paid for by a long list of business sponsors, “Arizona Terror” starring Ken Maynard became the first outdoor movie projected in Elk River.   The Elk River Star News described the presentation as “a story of an innocent cowboy who become a fugitive from justice.”   For audience members not favoring the western story line, the newspaper added, “a western love story helps keep up the interest, and there is a lot of shooting and adventure before ...

Marking the history of Kemper Drug reinforces the significance of this landmark in Elk River.   This oral history collected from Bob Kemper provides new insight into the building and also contributes understanding to the business history of the city. When I bought the store it was the only drugstore in town; and it remained the only drugstore for quite a while.   But, of course, eventually, all the grocery stores had pharmacies in them.   So, it’s quite a different picture, although Kemper Drug is still there. My dad had a drugstore in Perham.   My older brother is also a pharmacist.   So, we grew up in the drugstore.   I worked in several stores after that.   And then, of course, the war came on; I went and joined the navy.   Then I came back and bought the store in Elk River.   My partner was my brother.   We also had the Perham drugstore.   Eventually, we separated and I owned the Elk River store and he, the Perham stor...

Nationally, there have been recent discussions about immigration and citizenship.   On a local level, here at the Sherburne History Center, in recent weeks, we have been called upon several times to discuss immigration and ethnicity in the county.   With so much information about immigrants in my brain, I wanted to visit one of the truly unique and valuable oral histories we have collected about immigrants and Elk River.   Betty Belanger lived her entire life in Elk River.   She was born to Hungarian immigrants north of Elk River.   In the household, Hungarian was the language of choice until Betty started school at age six.   Although a brief excerpt of her longer oral history, Betty provides interesting insight into growing up in Elk River: I was born on the farm with a midwife who was a Hungarian immigrant.   She delivered a number of babies for the Hungarian moms in the neighborhood.   Her name was Theresa Toth.   I grew up ...

An absolutely fascinating collection at the Sherburne History Center includes the many maps of the communities and the county.  This image is a portion of an Elk River map, probably dating around 1895.  The map contains the original street names of Jackson and Highway 10, originally Princeton and State Street.  Looking closely at the map, the two original hotels, located on the corner of Princeton and State Street, and near the corner of Main Street and Quincy, show themselves. Exploring the growth and development of Elk River is an interesting process.  Using the maps from the collection enhances the research.