Immigrants

Betty Belanger begins her book, From Dairy Farms to Gravel Mines with a very telling quote.  Elizabeth Ekker Rotz said, “this isn’t America, this is miseryca.”  These six words summarize the challenges, difficulties, and problems faced by immigrants coming to America.  In her study of Hungarians in Sherburne County, Betty highlights the local challenges to immigrants.  Although her work is specific to the Hungarian community, it highlights the prejudices and challenges that every immigrant is forced to face. 

She reported: for a long time dental care was not available to immigrants in Elk River.  The only dentist in town refused to see Hungarian patients.  In addition young Hungarian girls were derisively referred to as “gypsies”.   Betty also reported at volunteer, social events, Hungarian women were often given the dirty and heavy work in the kitchens and on clean-up duty. 

 

The prejudice spilled over to significantly impact entire families in the immigrant communities.  Perhaps one of the most well-known stories of Elk River history recalls the fire at the Bedoch family farm where five children were killed.  Only the father and mother survived. Because of the prejudices of the local legal system, the father of the family (a Hungarian immigrant) was suspected of setting the fire and the murder of his five children.  He was held in the St. Cloud jail for five months while the grand jury investigated and finally exonerated him.   

Immigrant life was never easy.  Reports of events like those revealed by Betty Belanger and by others show the immigrant life is often more difficult than it needs to be.

When Bicycles Reigned Supreme

The importance of the bicycle in transportation history is often overlooked.  For a twenty year period, before mass production of automobiles, the bicycle reigned supreme as the means of transportation.  In the 1890s, one-third of all patents and inventions were bicycle related.  The city of Minneapolis created an ordinance mandating a 10 mile an hour speed limit for bicycles.  More locally, in 1896 future Highway Commissioner Charles Babcock engineered a bicycle path between Elk River and Anoka.  According to reports in the Star News, he borrowed a road scrapper from the town supervisor and created a smooth path paralleling the gravel highway. Until 1915, bicycles served as important forms of transportation in Sherburne County.

The State of The Economy in 1901

News reports published in the Sherburne County Star News on May 5, 1901 noted the sale of the Merchants Hotel in Elk River.  Mrs. V. S. Rubeck sold the property to M. Blanchett for approximately $10,000.  A quick search of the internet for conversion charts, suggested the hotel sold for $269,000 in 2015 money.   

  

Not a bad price for the time, but that led me to question: What was life like, what was the state of the economy in 1901?  What were the average wages in the United States?  I came to the conclusion that poverty was rampant and life was pretty miserable.  

Research presented at the 1901 Pan American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York, revealed the average annual income was $449.80.  Most workers put in 9 hour work days, six days each week.  Doing some quick math, workers put in 2808 per year on the job.  That averages 16 cents per hour!  In the factories, there were no health benefits.  There was no retirement plan.  A person would work until they were able to save enough to stop working, or more likely, they worked until they died.  

Many factories required workers to live in factory controlled housing, creating full blown company towns.  Rent was charged on a monthly, or weekly, basis.  Company towns also paid their workers in script, employees could shop only at the company store.  The store would extend credit, but that tied the worker to the company even further.  Hence the popular song by Tennessee Ernie Ford was based in truth, “I owe my soul to the company store.”  

 

Low income, no health benefits, no retirement plans.  I can’t help but conclude life was pretty miserable in 1901.   

A Most Unusual Birth Announcement

Coming out of Blue Hill Township gossip columns in the Sherburne County Star News, the correspondent outdid themselves in writing this creative birth announcement: 

A very young man arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Kahlier last week.  He will remain indefinitely, presumably until he is twenty one years of age should he live. 

Published in the March 7, 1901 issue of the newspaper, this announcement covers the full range of emotions.  From birth to death, from joy to sorrow, this brief message suggests so many possibilities in a young man’s life.

Robert Handke: A Significant Educator in Elk River

This past week Independent School District 728, the district encompassing Elk River, commemorated the 85 anniversary of the opening of the Elk River High School.  Rather than honor the building and its years of service, I thought it more important to explore the life of one truly dedicated and interesting educator: Robert Handke.

           

Hired as superintendent of the Elk River Schools in 1925, Robert Handke served for 30 some years as the leader of Elk River education.  Under his watch, Elk River High School, the current Handke Center housing community education, was built.  The brick monument of today replaced a smaller school described by the Elk River Star News as “a 50 year old frame building pitifully overcrowded and already waiting for fire and safety inspectors to declare it unsafe.”

Elkhi Stadium, the location for the first organized hockey in Elk River, along with baseball and football were built in the same area. 

Handke must have been a very dynamic and charismatic leader.  Only five years after he took the helm as superintendent, the new high school was open.  After 1931, a pet project for Handke was a school lunch program.  With this project, Handke revealed his truly forward thinking and imaginative philosophy in education.  In the early 1930s, school lunch programs were in the discussion stage at most school districts around the county.  Yet Handke built a kitchen and lunch room and developed gardening projects to provide fresh vegetables to students.  As economic need expanded, he opened up the school kitchens for use in community food programs to provide for entire families, not simply students.  With the coming of World War Two, the gardening program expanded to become a community wide victory garden. 

           

Born in Kendallville, Iowa, he took a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.  Later he earned a Master’s in Education from the University of Minnesota.   He came to Elk River from Brownton, MN in 1925.  In addition to his work as superintendent at Elk River, Handke taught physics in the High School.

After 32 years of service in Elk River, Robert Handke retired in 1957.  In his time leading the Elk River Schools, he left an indelible mark on the entire community.

Newspapers: First Recorders of History

Newspapers serve as the first recorders of history.  Their content provides invaluable information. 

A truly unique collection of newspapers published by the Becker Schools reside in the collections of the Sherburne History Center Library and Archives.  These papers provide unique insight into the community and the activities of the area.  Known simply as The Beacon, the collection of newspapers ranges from 1942 to 1944.  Publishing in the midst of the war, the reporters for the school paper took a very serious tone while they provided news of the schools and of the community. 

An example of the serious tone of the paper, the front pages of the December 10, 1942 The Beacon reported the details of the draft registration scheduled for the week of December 18 to December 24, 1942.  The paper also reported on the scheduled blackout test on December 14.  “In Becker the fire bell will be rung at intervals of 5 seconds as a signal that the black out is beginning,” the paper reported.  “Twenty minutes later the fire bell will be rung continuously for two minutes to indicate that the black out is over.” 

On a lighter note, local community gossip within the school and around Becker was also published.  From “Senior News” to the “Primary Grades” events were reported.  “We were pleasantly surprised on Friday when Phyllis brought two tiny turtles to school.  We all enjoy our new pets very much,” the primary grades reported.  While the senior news discussed the physics class explorations in fire and heat. 

Community news also prevailed.  “Lorraine Cox visited at her home Saturday and Sunday.”  Meanwhile, “Mr. Koester and Nina Koester visited at the Henry Fox home Wednesday evening.”

Although they are mimeographed copies of newspapers, the information contained on these pages show the unique personality of Becker, Minnesota in the midst of World War Two.  The local character of the pages provide insight that cannot be found anywhere else.

Front Page Becker Beacon 
Thanksgiving issue, 

25 November 1942

Wolves in Sherburne County

Recently, drinking with friends, the topic of wolves in Sherburne County came up for discussion.  Someone had seen two wolves running through their cut fields in recent weeks (this would have been in the middle of December, 2015).  It inspired me to seek a few details about the wolf population in the County. 

Reading the newspapers of 1900, particularly the Sherburne County Star News, there appears to be a very large population of wolves in the county.  The spring of 1900 the newspapers reported some success for the wolf hunters of Sherburne County.  In Blue Hill Township on May 10, 1900 the paper reported, “the wolf hunters are camped near Almond Thompson’s house and are doing good work.  Up to Saturday night they had secured 14 wolves.”  In the same newspaper, reporting outside of Elk River, “Eben and Elmer Ingersoll caught four young wolves one day last week.” 

Clearly a large population of wolves lived in Sherburne County.  Unfortunately, they were regarded as a menace to farmers and ranchers.  And, the local population enthusiastically hunted the animals.  Another report published on August 9, 1900 by the Star News: “Sherburne county has sent 90 applications for wolf bounty to the state auditor.  The amount available with which to pay these claims was $5000, and as the appli9cations call for more than double this amount, nom more claims will be paid until another appropriation shall be made.” 

Clearly, at one time a large population of wolves lived in Sherburne County.