Sherburne History Center Blog

  Football season is upon us.   It seemed very appropriate to note the great history of Football in Sherburne County.   Sherburne county athletes played organized games of football for 130 years.   According to “A Century of Pride The History of Elk River Football,” the first game reported in the local news witnessed Elk River defeating a team from Monticello by a score of 29 to zero.   Since then, Sherburne County presented a number of notable games.   Here are two seasons of Elk River High School football players, 1914 and 1927.   Note, 1927 saw a championship season, with the Elk River team recording a record of 5-1-1.    Later, Big Lake and Becker presented outstanding teams.   The Big Lake team from 1967 presented below. Elk River 1914 Elk River Championship Team 1927                          Big Lake 1967

  With the coming of the twentieth anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers, 9/11, it may be appropriate to take some time and think about the events of that day.   Where were you when the towers were attacked?   Let’s think about the 3,000 people killed that day, and the 6,000 injured.   Remember, the attacks also hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. This week, every memorial ought to serve as a  reminder of what happened on 11 September 2001 This day is perhaps the single most important event of a generation.   Maybe we can take the events of that day, and the days immediately following, to become more sympathetic, more empathetic, more generous individuals.   Let’s emulate the good from the people that suffered that day. Remember them for the kindness and courage they showed us.   Learn from them and become better individuals. Let’s take some time and think: Where were you when the towers were...

A few weeks ago, we shared a few lines of letters from Pvt. George Bostrom to his sister.  Bostrom, originally from Elk River, served in the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War One.  Here is a second portion of a letter in 1918 sharing conditions in France in the last days of the war: Well Sister, I’m in the lines again and have been for some time.  I think we will move soon, possibly little further to the front because we are kind of in reserve here although we aren’t so very far from the front. Suits me alright tho because back here we would be an excellent target for the (Germans) if they had a mind to open up their big guns on us.  There has been some of their medium sized shells come our way at different times.  The other night they sent ove3r a few that made us wonder if they really had come with our names marked on them but I guess they must have misspelled them.  I shouldn’t joke that way.  It hurts me when I hear others t...

With the coming harvest season, I am reminded of the practices for preserving food during World War Two.  In 1943, with the war going full blast, every family tried to raise food in their own “victory gardens.”  The produce of these gardens seemed so abundant questions developed on how to best preserve the extra food.  In Elk River a unique program developed to provide canning services to any family in need of the service.  In June 1943, the Elk River newspaper announced the high school acquired a canning unit capable of processing 500 quarts per day.  With the aid of supervisors, anyone needing access to the canning unit might preserve any food grown in their victory gardens.  The unit canned in glass or tin cans.  If the family used tin cans, they would be charged two cents per can. “All are welcome to come in and can,” School Superintendent Robert Handke said.  He anticipated high demand for the unit, he encouraged residents to contact the ...

  The current weather conditions, drought, high heat, and lack or water reminds me of recent research into Sherburne County during the 1930s.   A time of worse weather conditions permeated throughout the county. Farming in Orrock Township after the difficult weather of the 1930s.  Notice the thick layer of sand sitting above the darker soil. In the years 1933 and 1934, the county suffered a major drought.   Farmers remembered the time as a “dust bowl.”   Some residents of Sherburne County remember this time as an end to farming in some areas of the county.   “The light, worn out soils took to the air and drifted like snow over the roads and onto front porches,” is the way historian Herb Murphy described it.   Some folklore of the times described Orrock Township as the “poison ivy capital of the world.”   Other tall tales suggested that “jack rabbits, when passing through Orrock Township, had to pack a lunch because there was nothing to eat.” ...

  Section of a letter written by H. C. Byson to his daughter Dawn with exciting details about POWs sighted in Elk River. Prisoners of War in Minnesota during World War Two often worked the lumber mills and the farms in the northern and central parts of the state.   Although not often seen in Sherburne County, POWs worked the potato harvest in Princeton in 1943, and possibly again in 1944.   At times, residents of Elk River and eastern Sherburne County witnessed these POWs being transported or working the potato fields. The casual sighting of POWs in Elk River, like other small towns in Minnesota, generated a certain amount of excitement witnessed in family letters such as the letter from H. C. Byson to his daughter Dawn Byson (later Moyer), in the summer of 1944.   Byson wrote to his daughter: Bruce came home this morning from downtown with those expressive eyes of his telling us an exciting story.   He and several other people watched German prisoners eat ...

  An interesting collection arrived at the Sherburne History Center in recent weeks.   A wonderful collection of letters from George Bostrom to his family members living here in Sherburne County.   Particularly interesting, the bulk these letters came from France during World War One.   George’s letters document the different training camps and finally his stations “somewhere in France”.   The letters begin in 1918 and continue through 1920.   In letters to his family George documents everything from experiencing bombings at the front, to the price of chocolate.   Also interesting, he provides the exchange rate from American dollars to French francs.   From his letters we know, a 12-ounce chocolate bars cost anywhere from thirty cents to sixty cents. Letterhead from the Knights of Columbus.   George Bostrom used this, as well as letterhead  provided by the YMCA, to write letters home In a letter written the day before the Armistic...