Sherburne History Center Blog

  Recently, it occurred to me, this blog heaped a great deal of attention on athletics in Elk River.   Unfortunately, the attention focused on men’s sports, specifically football and basketball.   It is time to shift the focus and give attention to women in sports in Sherburne County. Elk River Women's team, 1921 As early as 1921, several schools in and around Elk River offered Women’s Basketball to the female students.   Based upon the writing in the Elk River yearbook the women of Elk River presented a relatively new sport to the student body. The description of the Elk River team noted “inexperienced” players for the team.   In addition, the yearbooks writers reported “a lack of a suitable place in which to practice.”   In spite of these shortcomings, the Elk River team posted a 2 and 3 record, facing Anoka, Princeton, Buffalo, and Monticello.   The women of Elk River continued to build on their experience.   Women’s Basketball became a reg...

  Section of a letter written by H. C. Byson to his daughter Dawn with exciting details about POWs sighted in Elk River. Prisoners of War in Minnesota during World War Two often worked the lumber mills and the farms in the northern and central parts of the state.   Although not often seen in Sherburne County, POWs worked the potato harvest in Princeton in 1943, and possibly again in 1944.   At times, residents of Elk River and eastern Sherburne County witnessed these POWs being transported or working the potato fields. The casual sighting of POWs in Elk River, like other small towns in Minnesota, generated a certain amount of excitement witnessed in family letters such as the letter from H. C. Byson to his daughter Dawn Byson (later Moyer), in the summer of 1944.   Byson wrote to his daughter: Bruce came home this morning from downtown with those expressive eyes of his telling us an exciting story.   He and several other people watched German prisoners eat ...

Although, individually unidentified, the 1921 Elk River Women's Basketball Team included: Rosie Roggatz, Maria Taplin, Esther Cornelius, Althea Gould, Evelyn Bressler, and Agatha McBride   Fifty years before the federal mandate known as Title IX, sports for high school women seemed the norm in areas around Sherburne County.   With the conclusion of Women’s History Month, it seemed appropriate to acknowledge an earlier generation of female athletes competing in the high schools. Referencing the earliest yearbooks available in the collections of the Sherburne History Center, the Elk River High School Women’s Basketball Team stands proud in 1921 and 1922.   Unfortunately, their record seemed less than stellar. In 1921 they posted a 1 and 4 record, and in 1922 their record ended at 2 and 4.   The simple fact that they played remains the important detail.   Not only Elk River, but Buffalo, Princeton, Anoka, and Monticello all organized women’s basketball teams. ...

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...

An interesting bit of local detail: Charles Babcock, native resident of Elk River and Minnesota’s first State Commissioner of Highways, can claim yet another first in Sherburne County.  The Sherburne County Star News reported on 18 April 1907: “Charley Babcock is the first to invest in an automobile in this village.  His is a fine ‘Buick’ car, propelled by a 22 horse power engine.”  A brief search indicated the car’s speed topped out around 40 miles-per-hour.  The newspaper reported the novel contraption entertained local friends and neighbors.  “His longest run since bringing the machine home was to Princeton and back last Sunday.  His wife, mother and Cora Babcock accompanied him.”