Sherburne History Center Blog

As the end of summer nears, the football season beckons.  It seemed appropriate to share this photo of the 1914 Elk River High School football team.  As an added challenge, if you recognize any of the players, let us know.  As a hint, the gentleman dressed in the suit and bowler hat is School Superintendent Arthur D. White.

Photo of Camp Cozy dated approximately 1938  courtesy of LeeAnn Watzke Camp Cozy, Elk River experienced several different lives as a resort and gathering place in Elk River.  Originally created as a resort for overnight guests and campground, many regarded Camp Cozy as a technological marvel.  In 1925 A. W. and J. B. Jesperson created a series of canals and flues allowing canoes to float over and around, up and down the Elk River.  Unfortunately, their resort failed with the economic downturn of the depression.  Late in the 1930s a bar/dance hall/ roller skating rink, and fast food joint reopened at Camp Cozy.  This gathering place for Elk River residents kept the city entertained for nearly twenty years before portions of the resort burned and the remainder sold.  Yet, Camp Cozy held a distinctive position in the history of Elk River keeping visitors and city residents entertained for many years.     While researching Camp Cozy,...

Action in politics and serious lobby efforts remains an unappreciated yet constant presence in the lives of farmers in Minnesota.  A reminder of this omnipresent activity appeared in the pages of the Sherburne County Star News in June of 1927.     The newspaper reported nearly 5000 attended the Farm Bureau picnic held on June 7,  at Eagle Lake.  According to the paper, Farm Bureau President J. F. Reed addressed the large crowd and “illustrated the numerous ways” the Farm Bureau and local farmers helped each other. The overall message at the picnic revolved around the value of the Farm Bureau Federation and how the organized farmers produced “favorable legislation in the state legislature,”    Aside from the politics of the day, the local picnic committee created a number of events and contests to entertain the crowd.  The committee consisted of J. J. Stumvoll, C. C. Dawson, guy LaPlant, Carl Bender and O. E. Tincher.  The ...

Paddy wagon in front of St. Cloud Reformatory, circa 1920 Improved roads and new automobiles delivered an unwanted result to Sherburne County in the 1920s.  Crime flourished in the area.  Perhaps the high point of the 1920s county crime spree occurred in 1927.  That year, a bandit gang of five men terrorized communities on the outskirts of Minneapolis.  Led by Frank “Slim” Gibson, the crew included Jack and Lester Northrup, and Ralph and Lester Barge.  In a crime spree expanding beyond Sherburne County, all the way to North Dakota, the men robbed banks and burglarized businesses.  The intrepid police work of Sherburne County officers led to their capture and prison sentences.  Beginning in 1926, the outlaw crew robbed merchants and banks throughout central Minnesota and North Dakota.  In November 1926 the gang robbed the bank in Wheelock, North Dakota.  Frank Gibson murdered bank cashier H. H. Peterson.  Continuing into 1927...

Sherburne County Star News, frontpage January 11, 1900 An interesting column published in the Sherburne County Star News emphasizes the challenges of 1920s technology.  This brief statement generates some appreciation for the 21 st century ability to communicate:  "The Star news admits that it occasionally make typographical errors and we are not ashamed of it,” the paper reported.  “Possibly the general public does not know it, but in an ordinary column there are 10,000 pieces of type.  There are 7 possible wrong positions for each letter, 70,000 chances to make errors and millions of possible transpositions.  In the sentence, “To be or not to be,” by transpositions alone 2,759,022 errors can be made.”  The paper concluded their column with the defiant claim, “No paper is ever without errors and there never will be one.”   Considering this, spell check on my word processing program makes me appreciate the computer technology more than...

Inherent dangers exist in the timber industry.  A brief biography of Fred Cory illustrates some of these dangers.  His life also serves as an example of courage and hard work to overcome obstacles.  Born in Otsego and living in Elk River, Fred Corey worked the first half of his working life in the timber industry.  In 1895 he received the appointment as a land inspector for the Minnesota State Auditor’s Office.  His job as timber cruiser demanded he inspect land in the Iron Range, identifying trees suitable for harvest as lumber.  “He is honest and competent and will perform the duties of the office in a faithful and conscientious manner,” the Elk River Star News speculated.  The job, though, led directly to an accident that left him disabled for the rest of his life.  In March 1895, while cruising timber in the Iron Range, his compass failed him.  He became lost.  Shortly afterwards, a spring blizzard hit the area.  Corey ...

“Somebody,” the Sherburne County Star News in November 1919 reported, “has discovered a new way of reducing the high cost of living.”  Thieves victimized farmers in Sherburne County for several years by stealing anything they might be able to eat or sell.  A thieving crime wave first appeared in 1919, Jim Brown a Livonia Township farmer reported a two-year-old steer butchered in his field.  The thieves took “everything along except the head the entrails,” the paper reported.  According to the reporter, Brown’s steer was the second Sherburne County theft by butcher that year.  The paper also recalled several sheep had been similarly stolen.  “It may be that an organized band of thieves are operating in this section,” the Star News suggested.  Later in the 1920s, organized gangs of thieves again operated in the county.  For more than three years, 1921 to 1924, butter thieves targeted creameries owned by the Twin Cities Milk Producers Associ...