Sherburne History Center Blog

Electricity in Sherburne County generates a variety of unique stories about living and growing up in the county.   Providing electricity to the entire county stretched, in time, for over forty years.   Electrical power first arrived in Elk River in 1917.   In other areas, isolated farms, in the county, electricity came available in the 1950s.   Stories of electricity and the times before electrical power provide a unique perspective on life in Sherburne County.   The edited oral history of Angela Goenner. of Clear Lake, is one of these unique stories.   Born in Nebraksa, Angela (Eikmeier) Goenner found her way to Minnesota as a child.   Her parents operated a general store in Stearns County before moving to Sherburne County.   Angela married Ernest Goenner in 1933.   She lived on the family farm, in Clear lake, until her death in 2001.   She remembers her family getting electricity in 1948. I can remember a lot about what it wa...

You have to read alot of verbiage, yet the advertising in the Sherburne County Star News (in 1940) documents some interesting changes in the county. Electricity reached out to the citizens of Sherburne County to the point they need to consider re-wiring their homes.  Meanwhile, the Bank of Elk River urges their customers to save a trip into the bank, and bank by mail.  "We'll give the same careful attention as if you came in person."  Reading the advertising from a different era reveals a variety of changes to modern life.

Exactly 100 years ago, electricity was a novelty in Elk River.  In the year 1916, a new company, Elk River Electric built a power plant and installed lighting throughout the village. Until the work of F. D. Waterman in 1915, the only buildings to have electricity were the Blanchett Hotel and the Opera House.  These were powered by gas fueled generators.  Elk River developed very quickly into “a most modern” community.  Beginning in 1912, Fred Waterman opened negotiations with the village to build a dam and power plant for the city.  The city itself agreed to maintain power lines and serve as the go between for customers and Waterman’s Elk River Electric Company.  After three years of struggle to find financial backing, the plant was built and power sent through the city in January of 1916.  Immediately, the streets of Elk River lit up.  The Sherburne County Star News explained, “for lighting the streets 40 sixty candle power and 10 one hundr...