Sherburne History Center Blog

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.” 

An early example of the dedicated and adventurous settlers of Sherburne County is the namesake of Haven Township, John Ormsbee Haven.  A local public servant, John O. Haven established himself as an early leader in Sherburne County. Although his life history is sparse in detail, it is worth noting and acknowledging.    Born in Addison County, Vermont on October 3, 1824.  He graduated from Middlebury College and began teaching.  In 1854 he migrated to St. Paul, then to Wright County, Minnesota.  During his time in the county to the south, he surveyed both Monticello and Big Lake.  In 1866 he relocated north of the Mississippi River to Big Lake.  There he took up the many duties of public servant.  The next few years he served as: Sherburne County auditor, Register of Deeds, Surveyor, Superintendent of Schools, Clerk of the District Court, and County Commissioner.  In 1872, he also had time to represent Sherburne County in the State S...

It is tough to keep a good man down—even a thief.  Sherburne County learned this difficult lesson at the hands of W. S. McDonald, a “sneak thief” and robber of local post offices.  The Sherburne County Star News reported in July of 1906 at least two men removed window panes, gaining access to the Elk River Post Office.  A year earlier the safe in the post office had been blown open and never replaced.  Due to the earlier robbery, few valuables were kept in the office.  The 1906 robbery thieves made away with about $10 and books of stamps.  The police arrested McDonald in St. Cloud.  He had stamp books in his possession at the time.  These books connected him directly to the robbery.  The police had captured this nefarious criminal. Unfortunately, for the police, McDonald somehow managed to escape from their custody.  Trying to immediately recapture McDonald, bloodhounds from the reformatory were brought in to track his scent....

How we treat paupers and the less fortunate at the final, most important event of life: death, can tell us a great deal about society.  A recent article in the New York Times gave great detail about Hart Island and the disposal of paupers in New York City.  Unfortunately, many buried in Hart Island are receive little respect for their remains.  Hart Island burials include individuals donating their bodies to science.  When the local university or medical examiner finishes with the remains, they become part of the anonymous population shipped off and interred.  Additional internments at Hart Island include prisoners whose families refused to claim remains.  Burial at Hart Island translates into a large trench, pine boxes stacked four or five on top of each other and the trenches filled in.  The city keeps a record of the interments.  Individuals can be identified by their trench number, along with several hundred others.  But identificati...

In the year 1903, the Sherburne County Star News published an interesting set of statistics that tell a great deal about the county.  Simply going by the numbers:  in the year 1902 there were over 3500 horses in the county; there were 14,051 cows; and there were 700 dogs.  Sherburne County was growing as an agricultural community.  In contrast, in 1901 there were 100 fewer horses, 700 fewer cows, and 83 fewer dogs.  In a multitude of measurable statistics, Sherburne County was growing at the beginning of the new, twentieth, century.  The numbers can be interpreted different ways, yet they are all fascinating.  

The drama of crime reveals itself in the pages of the Sherburne County Star News .  Reporters tell the stories of victims and perpetrators.  They also reveal the patterns of crime and use language to generate greater interest in the events.  As an example, in 1903 the newspaper noted crime is seasonal in Sherburne County, “parallel with the influx of the tramp a hobo fraternity.”    The crime reporting also generates creative writing from newspaper correspondents.  In a burglary in Haven Township in August of 1903, “two men, on a tall and ugly looking genius, and a shorter companion with a dark mustache” burglarized a home.  They ransacked a home, “to show how thorough and accomplished there in the work they cut open and ripped every mattress in every bed in the house.”   Less than two weeks later, “bold burglars” used explosives to rob the Clear Lake bank.  “Sheriff Ward has gone up to do some sleuth work.”  The string ...

The cliché tells us that “truth is often stranger than fiction.”  In the case of the Becker Post Office robbery of 1931, the truth reads like fiction.  Here is a story of a woman betrayed and a group of cold hearted men plotting for the promise of easy money.   The story begins with Mr. Berga Glisson.  A resident of St. Cloud, in 1931 he had been spending time with the post mistress of Becker, Miss Gertrude Dyson.  For two years the couple had been together.  In December 1931, according to the Sherburne County Star News Glisson and three cohorts schemed to rob the safe of the Becker Post Office.  Glisson’s part in the crime was to duplicate a house key to the residential portion of the Post Office and deliver it to another of his co-conspirators.   The evening of December 6, 1931, using the key provided by Glisson, three men burst into the home of Miss Dyson.  They took Dyson and Glisson hostage and forced the postmistress to o...