Crime and Punishment in Sherburne County 1900

Recently reading the newspaper columns from a century ago, I gained a greater appreciation for the hard work of the police and law enforcement in Sherburne County.  In 1900, crime seemed prevalent in the county. Perhaps because the residents held onto a small-town sense of security, while criminals capitalized on Sherburne County’s proximity to the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  More than once, the newspapers noted the ease in which thieves preyed upon Sherburne County residents.  Even before thefts were discovered, the bandits sold stolen goods in the twin cities.  It must have been frustrating for law enforcement in Sherburne County.  Yet, the County Sherriff and local police noted significant apprehension of thieves and criminals in the county.  At the turn of the twentieth century, criminals often preyed upon Sherburne County residents, and police stepped up to provide protection.  

100 years ago, the newspaper columns provide interesting detail and appreciation for crime and law enforcement in Sherburne County.

Sherburne School Buses: Arriving in Style 1915

Students return to classes this week.  I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone of school days one hundred years ago.  Specifically looking at transportation and school buses around 1915.  We have all used or heard the phrase, “the good old days.”  Well, in looking at these school buses, the old days were not so good. 

The school buses were horse drawn wagons.  When weather became inclement, canvas siding provided protection.  When the cold set in, stove heated rocks, wrapped in blankets, provided heat.  When the snow made it impossible to use the wagons, sleds looking more like ice houses provided transportation to and from school. 

Looking back at the good old days, the days were not so good.  Give me the “magnificent modern days” instead.

Welcome to Elk River

"Welcome to Elk River" greeting opened welcoming arms to many a traveler along Highway 10 going east or west. As many different visitors, there have been a multitude of signs greeting travelers.  These are just a few of the more recent signs welcoming motorists to Elk River.  The oldest dates from 1970, the most recent sign was put in place in 2019.

December 1970

1986

On The Home Front: Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens seemed forever present beginning in 1942 and continuing into 1946 as World War Two impacted the civilian population of the United States. As a federal campaign declaring “food is fighting” the war, residents throughout Sherburne County took up the appeal to grow more food, and preserve more food, to help the war effort.

Pamphlets distributed by private companies and
the Federal govt. promoted the victory garden program 

“Every member of a well-fed farm family consumes $25 to $30 worth of vegetables and fruits every year,” Department of Agriculture agents claimed.  “A half to three-quarter acre garden will supply the needs of a family of six.”  The remaining produce grown on farms and small gardens throughout the county, and throughout the country, could be used in large cities and communities lacking the acreage to garden.

The surplus garden produce allowed the federal government to utilize commercially grown and canned vegetables for the war effort.  The federal government also suggested with enough victory gardens the railroads could stop transporting canned goods for family use. This way enhance transportation and shipping in support of the military machine.

In the community of Elk River, High School Principal Robert Handke developed a victory garden program.  Using school grounds to grow vegetables, he offered classes in the evening for city residents to learn the latest in food preservation practices. 

The Sherburne County Star News also provided advice for developing victory gardens.  “Food poisoning may lurk in the best-looking jar of meat, chicken or vegetables,” the newspaper warned.  “Don’t taste them until they have been brought to a good 15-minute boil.”

Growing and preserving food as part of the victory garden program provided every citizen an opportunity to contribute to the war effort.  The “food is fighting” program served a national role for local residents to participate in a program to win the war. 

The USS Sherburne A Tribute to the County

As World War Two entered the fifth year of battles and bloodshed, a little-known event of some pride to the citizen of Sherburne County unfolded in the naval yards of California.  Although unreported in Sherburne County newspapers, on July 10, 1944, the Navy officially launched the cargo ship the USS Sherburne, (APA 250) named for Sherburne County, Minnesota. 

The Navy designed the Sherburne as a Haskell class transport ship, built to haul 1500 troops and their combat equipment to areas of the Pacific Theatre.  After its launching and shakedown exercises, the Sherburne sailed from California to Hawaii, and destinations throughout the Pacific. Her crew sailed to Guam and the Philippines before taking part in the Battle of Okinawa in May and June 1945.  The Sherburne ended the war in Yokohama, witnessing the surrender of Japan. 

As a Haskell class ship, the Sherburne was designed to move rapidly through ocean waters, relying on speed to avoid submarine attacks.  Armed with 40 mm and 20 mm guns provided the ship with defense against air attack. 

With the conclusion of the war, the Sherburne briefly served as part of operation Magic Carpet, to rapidly return troops to the United States.  By 1946 her service was transferred to the Maritime Administration until 1969.  That year the Navy recommissioned and refitted the Sherburne as a range instrumentation ship.  Renamed the USS Range Sentinel, she served until 2012 when she was scrapped. 

Although seemingly insignificant in the greater history of the war, the USS Sherburne served with some honor.  From the initial launching in 1944, until her scrapping in 2012 the ship gave the county a unique position of pride in twentieth century history.   The ship was recognized with a battle star for service in the assault on Okinawa.  With maximum speed over 17 knots, the crew of 500 officers and naval personnel hauled cargo of 1500 to the battle fronts of the Pacific Theatre in the final year of World War Two. One of only a few ships to continue service through the remainder of the century the simple cargo ship warrants greater recognition.

Bank's Business Strategy: Remember the Ladies

The 1915 Bank of Elk River Building located on
Jackson Street.  Although not visible, a side entrance to
 the bank led to the basement lounge for farm families and ladies

Recent efforts to map the Elk River business district provided some interesting results, not the least of these is the development of a ladies’ lounge in the Bank of Elk River basement.  Researching the lounge, shows the businessmen of Elk River very attuned to early 1900s marketing and customer service ideas.  Their efforts to recruit entire families shows an appreciation for a close-knit community.

Fire destroyed the business district of Elk River in April 1915.  The Bank of Elk River immediately developed plans for a new bank building. With the new construction on Jackson Street, the bank also introduced the idea of providing a “rest room for farmers wives and families.”  The idea being to provide “a place for farmers wives and families a place to rest and visit with one another.” 

The opulence of the new bank set a unique standard of excellence for the Bank of Elk River.  “The walls are a soft cream tint,” the Sherburne County Star news reported.  “the wood work in the beautiful cathedral oak.  The wainscoting and counters are Italian marble.”  The new building clearly intended to impress bank clients and customers. 

The lounge promised to be equally luxurious.  The lounge invited the ladies of Elk River and “every woman in the country” to enjoy the luxury of the rest room, while men conducted their business around town.  Electrical lighting, carpets, and comfortable chairs waited to greet every woman as she entered the space. 

The bank provided additional efforts to separate women from the unsavory aspects of business, providing them a separate entrance to the rest area.  The ladies never set foot in the bank to relax in the luxurious lounge. 

The Elk River fire in 1915 allowed the Bank of Elk River an opportunity to create a new image of themselves.  A financial institution interested in the comfort of the entire family, clearly a new strategy for banking and marketing.

Spring Forward and Save!

Daylight Savings Times becomes effective, this year (2019), in slightly more than one week.  Reviewing DST and the history seems appropriate to appreciate the experiment.  The idea originated more than 200 years ago, yet, came into common use with the beginning of World War One.  Even today it remains a confusing experiment in time.

Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight savings time in 1784.  While touring France, he wrote an essay, “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light,” proposing Parisians could save the cost of candles if they were to rise from bed an hour earlier each day. Using natural light to start the work day would lead to significant savings.  Many readers regarded his suggestion as an attempt at humor and was not taken seriously. 

  

The start of World War One, Germany and her allies adopted a form of daylight savings time to save on the short supplies of coal and other fuels necessary for the war effort.  The United States adopted the Standard Time Act on March 3, 1918.  The idea of daylight savings was so offensive Congress ended the practice with the end of the war in November 1918.

The second war “to end all wars” witnessed the resumption of daylight savings.  Franklin Roosevelt ordered DST beginning February 9, 1942.  Known as “war time” the practice remained in place until September 1945.  In Sherburne County, the newspapers seemed neutral about this unique war sacrifice.  Daylight saving “will not mean so much of a saving this time of year,” the Sherburne County Star News commented in February 1942.  “It will make a big difference in mid-summer,” the paper suggested, “Sherburne county residents will see daylight at 10 pm in midsummer.”  

With the end of the war, DST also ended.  However, some states chose to keep the practice.  For twenty years, confusion of time seemed common. In 1966 the transportation industry insisted a consistent time standard be adopted.  Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, mandating daylight savings time beginning in 1967.  However, state options to reject, or expand, DST remain in place to this day.

Boosters Celebrate Sherburne County

Citizens may celebrate the birthday of Sherburne County, 163 years strong, on Monday 25 February.  Looking back on the original promotion and emigrant recruitment for the county reveals a very proud group of settlers.  

The Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper published an unsigned letter from an early settler of Sherburne County. 

Pierre Bottineau's cabin, one of the first
structures built in Sherburne County.
In later years the cabin abutted the
 Riverside Hotel

“At Elk River Station,” an 1868 letter writer suggested, “prosperity is at this time manifest.  A steam saw mill with the usual attachments for furnishing building material, is being built and will soon be in operation.  A new school house to cost two thousand dollars, is to be erected the present season.” 

The letter went on to describe a “people free from all bigotry and have no great partiality for any particular sect.”  The residents of Sherburne County supported education for their children and nearly guaranteed a dramatic growth in population.  Priced between four and eight dollars an acre, promoters promised land guaranteed to provide ample crops. 

As part of the efforts to promote Elk River and Sherburne County, a second letter described Elk river as “growing rapidly.”  The city housed “two first class hotels, at reasonable rates for both day and week board.”  From Elk River, “hundreds of men are to be seen daily, on their way to the pineries on Rum River and the Upper Mississippi.” 

After the legislative birth of Sherburne County, promoters of the community quickly developed a program to sell the county as new and exciting opportunity.  163 years later, Sherburne County continues to deliver exciting and new opportunities.

Update: Charlie Nogle at Pearl Harbor

Recently we published information concerning Elk River men stationed at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.  We noted the newspaper’s lack of information about Charles Nogle, reportedly stationed at Guam, possibly captured or killed.  New information, with help from Nogle’s descendant Sandra Koppendrayer, allows us to provide an update: 

Actually stationed at Ewa Field, near Pearl Harbor, Marine Air Corps mechanic Charles Nogle witnessed and survived the attack on Hawaii.  A 1989 newspaper article published Nogle reminiscences about the day.  “At the time of the attack, I was a crew member on a DC-5 that out on the field.  We had two of them, and on December 7, one of the was in the overhaul hanger at Ford Island,” he said.  “Ironically, it was the only hanger building on Ford Island that was not hit, and that old bird never got a scratch on it.”

Nogle explained at the time of the attack he was caught wearing nothing but a towel, preparing to shower and head for liberty in Honolulu.  In the chaos that ensued, an officer ordered him to get dressed before joining the fight to protect Pearl Harbor.  He also remembered an anticipated invasion generated significant tension the following days.  An attack that never arrived.

To conclude the update: Charlie Nogle served throughout the war and returned home.  Elk River remained a residence for only a brief time after his return. 

In Consideration of Barns

A recent facebook post from the Stearns County History Center noted a variety of explanations for round barn architecture.  Although I am not too thoughtful, the article caused me to wonder the different why’s of barn construction.  Why are they round?  Why paint a barn red, or white?  What are the motives of a house barn? 

According to the Stearns County post, folklore suggested round barns were built so the devil could not hide in the corners.  More practically, round barns better withstood high winds, tornadoes, and other natural disasters.  In the end, technology eroded the popularity of round barns.  Loading silos and feeding cattle in a round barn proved more difficult than using a rectangular barn.  And, the expense of construction also discouraged the unique architecture of a round barn. 

Round barn located on the Perry Garner farm,
near Elk River, circa 1916

Economics also determined the color of a barn.  Several farmers suggested to me they painted barns red or white depending on the price of paint.  Still others mention that a homemade mixture of skimmed milk, lime, and red iron oxide created a long lasting, red tinted paint.  In addition, red barns may be warmer than white barns or unpainted barns.  The red hue absorbs heat in the winter time and makes for a warmer interior for the farm animals. 

Heat from the animals also plays a role in the construction of house barns.  Ole Rolvaag discussed house barn construction in his classic work, Giants of the Earth.  In his novel, Rolvaag makes clear, the heat generated by farm animals creates a more comfortable environment for a family sharing the same building.  Farmers utilized the house barn architecture for centuries in both Europe and the United States. 

As the Stearns County post suggests, barn construction is complex and at time very personal.  Yet the history of barn architecture provides significant consideration. 

Rationing: A Vital Part of The War Effort

Today, as many people reflect on the wars of the twentieth century, “rationing” seems to serve as a great buzz word of the World War Two era.  In spite of a practice so common and mundane, many people do not fully appreciate the challenges and difficulties connected with this part of daily life.  Reading the pages of the Sherburne County Star News, the burden of rationing and the pressure to maintain a semblance of normalcy becomes apparent.

 

Ration book issued in Sherburne County, 1942

In Sherburne County, the greatest rationing challenge impacted farmers and the agriculture industry even before the war began.  As the winter of 1941 set in, advocates of the federal government urged farmers to keep their machines in good repair.  “New equipment in many instances will not be available” next year, the paper reported.   The war machine first rationed automobiles and tires, later sugar, gasoline, and pharmaceuticals joined the list. 1942 marked a year of even more stringent rationing as raw materials such as aluminum and steel came in short supply.  The Star News suggested in one headline: “People May As Well Get Accustomed to Rationing.” 

The Office of Production Management (the OPM), first developed the rationing programs.  A federal agency that created local offices to enforce rules and rationing laws. The War Production Board (the WPM) quickly took over the OPM, with a stricter adherence to the rationing programs.  The WPM issued the ration stamps to regulate and control access to scarce items.  Almost like coupons, individuals could not purchase some items, such as sugar or cooking oil, without redeeming ration stamps. 

As the war stretched, the government developed national programs to highlight civilians and their significant sacrifice, this way make the entire country appreciate self-sacrifice.  One such program featured Mabel Hislop, as an example of sacrifice.  By 1944, of her ten sons, eight had been drafted or enlisted in some branch of the military. That year she was featured when she gave all her kitchen pots, except one soup pot, to the local steel drive.  In the feature she allowed cooking would be difficult, but insignificant if it helped “bring her boys home.” 

For most everyone, like Mabel Hislop, rationing and sacrifice became common during the four years of World War Two.  Yet, more than 75 years later, society seems to have lost the meaning attached to these tasks so central to life in the 1940s.

A Singular Baker in Sherburne County

“Bake” Anderson, legally known as Clarence Anchor Anderson, remains a little known and unreferenced businessman and contributor to Elk River history.  Clarence Anderson gained the nickname “Bake” early.  He attended the Dunwoody Baker’s School in the 1920s with the goal of owning his own bakery.

Advertisement for Anderson's
Bakery, 1940

Beginning in about 1932, Bake Anderson opened Anderson’s Bakery in downtown Elk River.  38 years he operated, apparently, the only bakery in town. At times, he claimed the title of Sherburne County’s only bakery.  Regardless of the claims, he produced a wonderful array of pastries and breads for Elk River consumption.  Throughout the 1930s he sold ice box cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, and a variety of breads.  At Christmas he sold a number of fruitcakes and breads.  Jula Kaga, a Swedish Christmas bread, remained a specialty unique to his bakery.  He also continuously updated his bakery, guaranteeing a quality product.  To celebrate eight years of business, he gave away donuts and coffee to everyone entering his store.  And, so, he remained in business until the 1970s.

His love of baseball and work to organize little league teams also set Bake Anderson apart from most of Elk River.  In his obituary, memorials remembered his work during World War Two.  “All the fathers were called into service and the kids were running around town with nothing to do.  He organized” teams and leagues.  Despite gasoline and tire rations, Bake Anderson chauffeured the players to their games using his delivery truck. 

For 38 years he built and maintained a bakery business of high tradition. He also contributed to the community and support of young people in Elk River. After his retirement, he continued to live and support Elk River until his death in 1997. 

His community support and his work building a thriving business made the Anderson Bakery and Bake Anderson memorable to the history of Elk River.  A man and business worth noting.

Big City Schools and One-Roomed Schools: Education in Sherburne County

The lyrics from a Perry Como Christmas song keep running through my head, “Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.”  My thoughts turn to schools in Sherburne County; the large consolidated schools such as Handke School in Elk River; and the many small, one-roomed school houses in the county.  Although the larger communities of Elk River and Big Lake offered large well-established schools.  The majority of students in early Sherburne County attended one-roomed school houses.  Until the 1960s, one-roomed schools served an important role in education in Sherburne County.  In fact, from 1854 to 1969, more than 50 one-roomed schools taught children in Sherburne County.  Many of these schools educated 25 students each year, grades one through eight.  How they operated and functioned is a story better told in volumes.  Some of the memories, however, are worth recording here. 

Haven Township school circa 1905

Many of the teachers in the schools remember a typical schedule as described by Rozella Tinquist Gunderson in Lighting the fire: The Rural School Experience:  School begins at 9 am.  9 am to 9:15 opening exercises, flag salute and quiet time.  9:15 to 10:30 classes and recess, more classes until noon.  12 noon to 12:30 lunch and play time.  12:30 to 2:30 classes, study time, and recess.  2:30 to4 pm classes until school dismissed.  4:00 pm to 5:30 pm planning for next day, and 7 pm to 11 pm correcting necessary papers. 

Not surprisingly, the students remember a less arduous school day.  Dennis Weis remembered, “from the day school started, I knew what was the best part of school—recess.  We played lots of games—tag, red rover, hide and seek, marbles, anti over, dodge ball, keep away and tin can alley.  We ran races, played on the swings, built snow forts, and drowned striped gophers.” 

District 32 school circa 1929

Other students remember the one-roomed schools as institutions to be avoided.  In an oral history collected in 2016, Betty Belanger remembered her insistence in attending the “city school” in Elk River. “Started school at age six. Fought with my parents to not make me go to the little country school. I wanted to go to the big city school and ride the bus. So, I did go to school in town, in Elk River,” she remembered. “The new Handke building was already built by the time I started school. So, the senior high was over there in the new brick building and we were still in the wood frame building. We rode the school bus for a long time because there were only a few busses, so we had a good one hour or better ride.” 

Whether from the memories of teachers or from students, education in the one-roomed schools and the “big city schools” of Sherburne County made a lasting impression on the entire community of the county. The 115-year history of one-roomed schools in Sherburne County provides thought provoking history. 

Post Holiday Enthusiasm

Unfortunately, the holidays are over, yet, the joy of the season remains with me.  So, I want to share this small artifact from the collections of the Sherburne History Center.

This commemorative plate comes from the Frank Henkemeyer General Store in Clear Lake.  Probably dated around 1905 to 1910, Henkemeyer's store was a fixture on Clear Lake main street until around 1920.

I wanted to use this additional artifact to wish everyone a belated Happy Holidays, especially a Happy and Prosperous New Year.