Sherburne History Center Blog

Meeting in the basement of the Big Lake Municipal Liquor Store, September 3, 1941, a group of men and women living in Sherburne County came together and organized the Sherburne County Conservation Club.   For the next forty-one years they met to develop and discuss plans for very necessary projects, to aid conservation in Sherburne County.   Because of drought, over-farming and several natural disasters, land in Sherburne County in the 1930s rapidly deteriorated.   Zimmerman was known as the poison ivy capitol of the world.   Sandstorms were so common, “there were days when Highway 10 was closed,” club member Art Nelson remembered.   An early project for the club called for tree plantings to develop wind breaks and stop the soil erosion.   Over the years, the club estimates millions of trees were planted in Sherburne County as part of the Conservation Club program.  Construction of a cement dam on Mud Lake, circa 1955, by the Sherbu...

Recent research at the Sherburne History Center disclosed a copy of memoirs, describing the work of early settlement on farmland in the county. Written by Vernon Bailey, it provides interesting insight in the multitude of tasks needed to ready a farmstead for occupation.  Between other work during the winter, Father and Charles cut and hewed the logs and timber for the new house, hauled them together in the snow.   When spring came, the foundations of the house were laid, the walls were rapidly built up of great logs, fitted tight together and hewed smooth on the inner surface.   The roof was framed of dry tamarack rafters, wide roof boards, and good pine shingles.   A cellar for vegetables was dug under the house after the roof was on but later an outside bank cellar was constructed in the side hill at one corner of the house where milk and meat and vegetables and fruit could be kept cool in the summer and from freezing in winter.   When the house neare...

Strawberries and west Sherburne County seemed synonymous for a number of years.   At the highpoint, the Becker Strawberry Days Festival solidified the connection.   The lesser known memoirs of Sherburne County residents remain equally important to connecting the local strawberry crop and the county.   A brief paragraph in the published memories of Walter Gohman bear out this important connection: I remember vividly a strawberry feed.   There was a strawberry patch that went the full length of the garden.   The Gohman farm had some of the most fertile soil in Minnesota and the strawberry patch produced a large crop of luscious berries.   A big strawberry feed was in order.   In the morning when they separated the milk, a large pitcher of cream was saved.   The pitcher or cream was placed on ice in the ice house.   A long table was set up by placing planks on saw horses in from of the long porch.   We were each given a bowl and told to p...

An abundance of stories exist describing the anger and backlash against Germany during World War One.   Numerous stories tell of American cities changing street names to no longer reflect a German influence. Or, restaurants changing menu items, such as the hamburger suddenly became a Liberty sandwich, or sauerkraut became liberty cabbage.   Memoirs in the Sherburne History Center collections serve as reminders that Elk River displayed an animosity towards Germany.   The story of this animosity, however, faded from memory and did not come back to light until the 1990s.   The actions in Elk River expose an interesting character trait for the small city.  In 1917, with the United States preparing for war, patriotic fervor seemed omnipresent.   In the case of Elk River High School students initiated action to force the removal of German language instruction from the curriculum.   Students walked out on strike, refusing to return to the classroom unti...