Sherburne History Center Blog

Elk River Base Ball Club, circa 1900 April is fast approaching, that mean spring training ends and Major League Baseball begins.  Although Sherburne County has never fielded a professional or semi-professional ball club, baseball was taken very seriously in the county.  Just a sampling of news reports in 1895 reveals several of the baseball clubs in Sherburne County and the serious nature of the sport.  In June of 1895, with the start of the local season, the Sherburne County Star News presented a brief history of the rivalries in the area.  Elk River and Monticello ball clubs long remained top of the list of serious rivals.  “In olden times there used to be some battles royal between the base ballists of these two towns,” the newspaper reported.  “”Monday reminded us a little of those old times, the chief difference being that Elk River was defeated this time which didn’t used to be the case.”  In this particular “battle royal” Elk River fel...

1910 through 1930 was a transition period for Sherburne County as can be seen with both automobiles and horse drawn wagons in this photograph.  Only very gradually did pavement replace dirt and gravel on the roads of the county. With road construction season arriving, I wonder about the times of road construction before the big trucks and monstrous land movers.  I wonder about the construction of Highway 10 through Sherburne County.  Why did it happen?  How did it happen? When we explore the actual construction the true impact of Highway 10 becomes apparent. Construction of Highway 10 in Elk River used “one of the biggest and latest improved concrete mixers and pavers in the state and it has the capacity of paving 600 feet a day,” the Sherburne County Star News reported.  Although small compared to modern equipment, the newspaper claimed the machines inspired crowds to gather each day and observe the work.  Credit for Highway 10 and the benefi...

Recruitment poster for WAVES in the United States Navy, circa 1944. Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services, the WAVES of World War Two, became an elite group of 81,000 women enlisted in the United States Navy in 1944 and 1945.  Minnesota had its share of WAVES.  Even closer to home, Frances Beck of Sherburne County served as a WAVE in a military specialty so top secret she couldn’t speak of it until 50 years after the war.  Francis Beck served as a code breaker against the Japanese.  In the early 1940s Beck felt a passionate desire to serve.   She wanted to volunteer and do her part in the war effort, the navy, however, actively opposed women joining the service.  Finally, in 1944 Beck and 81,000 other women became WAVES.  “When I enlisted they said, “’Well you’re going to be in there until the war is over.’  I told them, ‘Well it can’t go on forever,” she recalled.  The duration of Beck’s service lasted slightly lo...

Betty Belanger’s was a historian.  She retired as a nurse from Cambridge Hospital.  Yet, her avocation involved documenting the lives and histories of Sherburne County and the Hungarian immigrant families around Elk River.  Her research culminated with From Dairy Farms to Gravel Pits: A History of Sherburne County’s Hungarian Community .  She documented the lives of the many Hungarian immigrants coming to Sherburne County.  The introduction noted without her work “the stories and struggles” of these early settlers “would have faded into the past, leaving behind few traces.”  Although the statement may seem overly dramatic, it is accurate.  Without Betty Belanger, much about the Hungarian settlement in Elk River would have died.   Betty Belanger avoided branding the first arrival, or the latest, most vital of events.  Instead her history carefully cataloged the challenges facing early Hungarian immigrants.  She explored the role ...