Sherburne History Center Blog

June 25 and June 26 were not good days in the history of Becker, Minnesota.  In only 12 hours, disaster stacked up on disaster for the small community.  Near catastrophe set the entire town on edge like an over caffeinated speed freak.  In midafternoon, June 25, 3 pm to be exact, fire alarms rang out throughout the town.  The landmark potato warehouse, the storage facility of the Knutson and Gongoll store, began to burn. Becker did not have any type of firefighting equipment at the time.  Men fought the conflagration as a bucket brigade until responders from Big Lake and Clear Lake arrived.  While the neighboring firefighters fought the flames on the warehouse, the bucket brigade turned their attention to nearby homes and other buildings.  The gas pumps at the Hy-Way Inn were drenched with water to prevent explosion.  The shingles of the A. G. Stevens building smoldered and extinguished four separate times.  And, the flames reached the M...

The Klondike strain of Gold Fever infected Sherburne County in 1897.  The Sherburne County Star News noted the particular disease in August and began offering best advice for those afflicted with the virus and those contemplating an adventure into the Alaska gold fields.                In the summer months of 1897, the newspaper advised it was already too late to begin the trek to the Klondike.  Adventurous Sherburnites might reach Alaska when the goldfields would be snowed covered.  The paper calculated eight months to reach Juneau, the jumping off point for the Klondike goldfields.  The newspaper suggested adventurers time their journey so that they reach Alaska in the summer months and make the final trek to the interior during the easier summer months.              “Those who penetrate into the ice and snow must be rugged and hardy...

August 5 is National Underwear Day.  It seemed like a good time to expose a portion of the Sherburne History Center collection.  We all have seen them. Most of us wear them.  Yet, undergarments rarely occupy exhibit space. Undergarments don't receive much attention in the fashion magazines much less the ivory tower journals of history.  Yet, here they are: the garments that keep you warm and keep you dry.  Garments that serve a very important function in our daily lives.  Here are two examples of underwear from the SHC collection. Happy National Underwear Day!!

On the SHC website we offer “look ups” for both obituaries and death notices.   Requests for these look ups arrived in the past few weeks.  Concerned that researchers do not make the distinction between obits and death notices, maybe we need to note the difference.  When you search for death information, you know the difference and anticipate results.   Content provides a distinction between obits and death notices.  A death notice is a straight forward announcement of death.  Printed details include the name, date of death, and possibly some distinguishing feature of the individual.  In the early newspapers of Sherburne County, death notices can be found anywhere in the pages.  Often, small paragraphs are printed in the local news columns.   In contrast to the death notice, surviving family members help write obituaries.  They are longer than death notes, and they are much more personalized.  Date of birth; date of de...

A conservationist described the Sand Dunes State Forest as “A green dream come true.”  An area recovered from desolate, sandy soil to “a nature lover’s dream.”  An area in Orrock Township, at one time regarded as decent farmland.  With the coming drought in the 1930s the land became a farmer’s nightmare.  By 1940, farmers and Sherburne County residents described the land in Orrock Township as a wasteland, the epicenter of the poison ivy capital of the world, and the home of Zimmerman sand.  The land was so bad “the jack rabbits carried lunch bags as they hopped over the area.” Beginning in 1943, a transformation took hold and the resurrection of tillable land came about.  In no small part, this dramatic change resulted from efforts by Ray Clement, the Minnesota Forest Service and County conservationist Ella Kringland.    Farmers abandoned land or surrendered to tax forfeiture.   Clement petitioned the state legislature to set a...

Working in the Archival collections this morning, I came across this postcard from the Davis Brothers store in Elk River.  From the collection, it appears Davis Brothers issued a series of postcards for each month in 1911 and 1912.  No doubt mass produced, the post cards highlight the efforts of local businesses to promote themselves.  Unfortunately, we do not have a great deal of information about Davis Brothers in Elk River.  Andrew Davis created the mercantile.  He first worked with H. H. Wheaton.  Later he joined partnership with H. J. Heebner.  The fire of 1902 destroyed the company.  Out of the ashes, Davis built the mercantile that became Davis Bros.  He led the company until his death in 1922. In addition to the promotional cards, two undated photos in the collection illustrate business growth for Davis Bros.  The first is the actual store, the photo most likely is dated around 1910.  The second photo shows Davis ...

Fire is always a frightening threat in Minnesota.   The Hinckley Fire in 1894 and the Cloquet Fire in 1918 devastated land and destroyed lives in North Central Minnesota.  Just these two fires killed nearly 1000 people and caused property losses in the millions of dollars.  Fire also threatened small, isolated farms throughout Minnesota.  The newspaper columns carried numbers of reports on devastating farm fires.  April 1895, Sherburne County newspapers reported a significant fire at the farm of Chris Leider, Livonia Township.  “His house and nearly all of its contents,” were destroyed by fire.  “A granary and about 300 bushels of wheat which was kept over from the crop of three years ago were also destroyed.  The insurance had just run out, and as a consequence the loss is total.”  A few months later fire destroyed a second Livonia farm site.  The newspapers printed the terrible final news “no insurance.” Unfortunately, th...