Sherburne History Center Blog

“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 mat...

Promotional announcement for the Sherburne County Fair in the Star News 1915. Sherburne County Fair, 2017, meets on July 20 to 23.  It seemed appropriate to look back at the early days of the fair and experience the Great Sherburne County Get-Together from 128 years ago. The fair first met at the A. B. Carlson farm in 1889.  After the first year, the event moved to the Meadowvale School, the future site of the Sunbeam Grange Hall.  Later sites for the fair included the Houlton property near the Mississippi River and the current site near Highway 10.  Until 1915 the county fair consisted of a one day meeting.  Farmers brought out samples of their best crop, while women displayed craft work, baked goods, and jams and jellies.  The day concluded with a potluck picnic.  October first and second, 1915 the fair staged a two day event.  Slowly, over time the Sherburne County Get-Together expanded to the four day event of today.  ...