Sherburne History Center Blog

  Football season is upon us.   It seemed very appropriate to note the great history of Football in Sherburne County.   Sherburne county athletes played organized games of football for 130 years.   According to “A Century of Pride The History of Elk River Football,” the first game reported in the local news witnessed Elk River defeating a team from Monticello by a score of 29 to zero.   Since then, Sherburne County presented a number of notable games.   Here are two seasons of Elk River High School football players, 1914 and 1927.   Note, 1927 saw a championship season, with the Elk River team recording a record of 5-1-1.    Later, Big Lake and Becker presented outstanding teams.   The Big Lake team from 1967 presented below. Elk River 1914 Elk River Championship Team 1927                          Big Lake 1967

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...

With the lack of a graduation ceremony in 2020, we thought it appropriate to look back at another class of Elk River grads.   Men and women who put their lives on hold as the United states prepared to enter World War Two.   In three years, the world upon the class of 1938 to sacrifice for the war.    And the graduating class from Elk River answered the call.  Look closely on this image you may be able to pick out Jack Bade (second row, fourth from the right) and Charles Nagle (fourth row, second from left), both veterans from Elk River that served during the war (and men we have featured in these blog pages).  Other men and women on this photo collection may also have service records worth noting.

Senior Class photo of Jack Bade, 1938. When I first arrived in Sherburne County I began to explore the history of the county through biography.  I was developing my list of “profiles in courage” in Sherburne county, a type of historical/biographical exploration.  Recently I was directed to the life of one man in Sherburne County that most assuredly should be on a list of “profiles in courage:”  Jack A. Bade was born in 1920 in Minneapolis.  His family moved to Elk River when he was still an infant.  He grew up in Elk River.  In high school he played football and basketball, and had the lead in the school play, Robin Hood.  After he graduated in 1938, he attended the University of Minnesota majoring in engineering.   For a time he worked at Honeywell Corporation before enlisting in the Army Air Corps.   He received his commission and flight wings at Luke Airfield on July 26, 1942.  He then joined the 44th fighter squadro...