Sherburne History Center

Sherburne History Center
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Friday, August 31, 2018

"Make Your Own Mattress" in Sherburne County


“Make Your Own Mattress:” served as a program developed by the United States Department of Agriculture in the Fall 1940 to eliminate a cotton surplus from the South.  The USDA targeted Sherburne County as a potential location to benefit from the program.  Although small in economic impact, it provided some aid to local families.

According to reports from Washington. D. C., an over-abundance of cotton hit the market in the fall of 1940.  The Agriculture Adjustment Administration, a depression era program to help farmers, created the “Make Your Own Mattress” program to reduce the cotton surplus.

The preliminary plans reported by the Sherburne County Star News, noted an undisclosed warehouse will store cotton and “good grade ticking” so that individuals might sew their own mattresses.  The government developed the program for low income, rural families in Minnesota.  Income could not exceed $500 for a family of four and households received one mattress for two household members, not to exceed three of the mattresses.

Adult family members paid a fee of one dollar to cover the cost of needles and thread, the newspaper reported.  The families worked in the warehouse as a team to sew their own mattresses and take them home.  The County Extension Office and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration provided trained instructors to supervise the manufacturing process.  

Although a minor event in the greater activities of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the “Make Your Own Mattress” program serves as another example of the multitude of Depression Era economic experiments to aid Sherburne County.  Although smaller than the WPA or the CCC, “Make Your Own Mattress” and other AAA projects certainly provided significant aid to the county.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Electricity Expands in Sherburne County

demand for electricity in rural Sherburne County reached a fevered pitch in the last years of the 1930s.  Reading ads in the Sherburne County Star News reveals a rising demand for electricity in areas immediately around Elk River.  Although power did not reach every corner of Sherburne county until the 1950s, the pre-war period witnessed a rising demand.


Advertising in the Sherburne County Star News in 1938, 39 and 1940.

Friday, August 10, 2018

WW II Draft Explained to Sherburne County


History describes the draft in World War Two as an arbitrary, straight-forward, yet fair method of selecting young me to serve in the armed forces.  We all understand men between the ages of 21 and 45 registered for the draft.  Local draft boards would determine the fitness of each man and his ability to serve.  A man could be excused from service for several reasons: family and dependents or possibly essential occupations.  Yet rarely is the arbitrary nature of the draft explained. 

Each man receives a number.  The numbers are drawn from a lottery in Washington, D.C.  But, how are these numbers assigned?  And, how does Washington determine the quota for each state? 

Shortly after the creation of the draft process in 1940, the Sherburne County Star News explained the process to readers.  According to the newspaper, local draft board registered and examined between 6,000 and 6,500 men.  Based on the population of Sherburne county in 1940, in all likelihood, one draft board examined the entire county.  After all men were registered, the local board shuffled the cards and assigned numbers to each card.  When young men speak of their draft number, this is the number they reference. 

During the process, the board placed each potential soldier into four categories:
1-      available for immediate service.
2-      Deferred as a result of an essential occupation
3-      Deferred because of family and dependents
4-      Deferred by law, such as legislators, judges and others.

Drafted men received an examination to determine their physical ability to serve.  If the quota, assigned to the state and the local draft board, could not be met by men available for immediate service, the board then drafted from the deferment categories.

Washington D.C. assigned a quota to each state.  The number took into consideration the population and the number of men already serving in the army or navy. 

The World War Two draft started October 1940.  The requirements quietly expanded so the men ages 18 to 45 eventually registered for the draft.  The arbitrary assignment of numbers provided a sense of fairness to the draft, something that had plagued earlier call-ups from wars dating back to the Civil War. 

The World War Two draft, the first peace time draft enacted in the United States, provided an equitable method to build an army.  By the end of the war, the United states armed forces totaled 16 million.  Almost 11 percent of the total population served.  The draft, with the limited deferments, provided an equitable method to call men into war. 

Saturday, August 4, 2018

The Times they Are Changin'

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.