Sherburne History Center Blog

Today, June 29, we recognize National Camera Day.  A day to commemorate the camera, its invention, and the photographs and images cameras create.  For historians and history museums, the camera provides important evidence and resources that help document life in the past.  In honor of this momentous day, we provide images from the collections of the Sherburne History Center (dated to approximately 1880) and samples of cameras (dated much later in time) that made this documentation possible. None of these photographs have been identified. Details within each photo assist in dating the images

Beauty contests have been the rage of popularity in the United States.   In 1939, while the country emerged from economic doldrums, the Miss Elk River beauty contest gained the enthusiastic attention of Sherburne County.   The wave of popularity continued into 1940 as Miss Margaret Spence represented the community at the Miss Minnesota contest.   The contest in Elk River presented an unusually popular spectacle. “The contest attracted to Elk River one of the largest crowds seen here for a long time,” the Sherburne County Star News reported.     Ticket sales required a second and third show to entertain everyone interested in the pageant.   Unfortunately, news reports failed to detail the talent portion of the contest.   Yet, the reports emphasized the poise and charm of all the contestants as they presented themselves to judges.   Miss Spence went on to compete in the Miss Minnesota Pageant 1940, staged near Marshall, Minnesota.   ...

National Donut Day originated by the Salvation Army in 1938.   A means to recognize all of their members that served donuts to soldiers during World War One.   The Salvation Army served more than donuts to soldiers.   According to Wikipedia, volunteers established huts near the front lines in France to serve baked goods to U. S. troops.   National Donut Day began as a fundraising event for the Salvation Army, and remains a source of income to this day.   In honor of National Donut Day, here at the Sherburne History Center we publish this photo of Bake Anderson and his Bakery in Elk River.   From a different time than the World War One volunteers; Bake Anderson provide culinary delights to a generation of Elk River.

Improving technology significantly impacted Sherburne County in the 1930s.   Increasing access to electricity made life so much easier for local farmers.   The local telephone company promised a telephone in the house could save your life.   Electric refrigerators reduced waste caused by the less functional ice box, the new machines also provided “26 percent more storage space.”   Perhaps the most significant advances in technology allowed farmers more time and greater productivity.   The advertising for new farm equipment seemed magical in the enhanced production the machines provided.   The Allis-Chalmers Sherburne County Star News advertising Allis-Chalmers tractors in March 1938, promised “work just melts away.”   The ad promised “with an air-tired WC you plow up to 5 miles an hour.”   With this speed it was like adding extra equipment to a “slower outfit.”   The Allis-Chalmers ad alluded to other technological improvements. ...

Summer’s beginning, memories of luxurious heat and the pleasure of cold ice cream springs to mind.   Memories takes us back in time, one constant fixture of summer in Elk River continuously comes to mind: Shadick’s Confectionary. Opening in 1928 and remaining on Main Street until 1954, Ernie Shadick introduced new and unusual treats to the Elk River palate, providing sweet flavored relief from summer heat.   Yet, his early life in Anoka County gave no indication Ernie L. Shadick was destined to operate the sweet treat institution in Elk River.   Born in 1899 to Herbert and Bertha Shadick, he spent his early life in and around St. Francis.   He served in the Army Air Corps during World War One.   Discharged December 1918, after ten years in Minneapolis, he found his way to Main Street, Elk River.   Pineapple, one of the many unique flavors offered up at Shadick's in 1938 Beginning in 1928, Shadick purchased and modernized the Riverside Conf...

Transportation advertising found in the Sherburne County Star News , 1938 Country roads became smooth bands of pavement throughout Minnesota in the 1920s. As gravel and mud disappeared, replaced by sleek, flat thoroughfares, roads generated a new need for speed and power.   Automobiles graduated from the small buggy model-T’s to the V-8 power of Ford and Chevrolet.   Newspapers in the 1930s witnessed a dramatic change in the object of advertising.   No longer the small cars or buggies.   With the completion of the Jefferson Highway through Sherburne County, and roads running north, the Sherburne County Star News began advertising what must have seemed like truly powerful machines of transportation. Deluxe Ford V-8’s “bigger and more luxurious than any previous Ford V-8,” the newspapers advertised.   Delivered for only $802, “why pay more” the ads wondered.   Chevy and Buick also promised greater power in their automobiles.   In addition...

Weather extremes, the newspapers documented in 1936, wreaked havoc in Sherburne County communities.   Floods and high water in April and a ten-week drouth in August the weather played a significant role in life during a bad year in the 1930s economic depression. The headlines of the Sherburne County Star News, in April 1936, reported high water marks on the Elk River.   Camp Cozy suffered the greatest catastrophe.   The newspaper reported flooding and ice flows destroyed footbridges crossing the Elk River.   High water destroyed cabins along the river.   Yet, these reports seemed only a precursor to the weather extremes of later in the year.   In the summer months, heat waves burned crops and killed people in the upper Midwest.   The St Paul newspapers in the summer 1936 reported 100 people dying from heat.   Newspapers noted the heat allowed men to fry eggs on the city pavement.   The heat in Sherburne County seemed lower, yet sti...