Part one of a series They depended on flames in the 1880s and 1890s. Wood-fueled stoves were almost always used for cooking, and during long Minnesota winters, wood was burned to heat buildings. After dark, light came from oil-burning lamps. A fire getting out of control was feared but unfortunately, a common occurrence. “Lookout for fires these cold, windy days and nights,” … [Read more...]

Part two a two-part series Her mother put it under the feather tick (mattress) after she got up in the morning so it would rise. What it was - was bread. Mother baked a lot of sourdough bread. “We were never without it,” recalled Caroline (Petersen) Heimerdinger about her childhood in the 1930s. There was also white bread, made with a potato water starter. Caroline was … [Read more...]

It was Christmas in the 1870s on a South Ridge farm in Mound Prairie Township in northeast Houston County. After the children had gone to bed, their German immigrant mother Emilie Freischmidt Burow spread a white table cloth on the dining room table her husband Fredrich had built. She set out four plates on which she placed some candy, apples, popcorn, a toy or two, and nuts. … [Read more...]

Long woolen underwear in that day was not red, but according to one wearer, “was rough and coarse and itched like blazes.” That day was the 1890s and that wearer was C. J. McNelly (born 1883) who wrote of his youth growing up on a farm on Portland Prairie in southern Houston County. He described the 1890s as the era between the pioneer days and the modern advances in the … [Read more...]

The well known ditty, “A shave and a haircut, two bits!” was more than an often vocalized musical phrase, dating back to a song in 1899; it was a fact of life in the 1930s, at least at the Hokah Barber Shop on Main Street in Hokah, Minnesota. “Two bits” was slang for 25 cents, which had the purchasing power then as does about $6 in 2025.  Going to church on Sunday and going … [Read more...]

Trees could be both a blessing and a curse for the first white settlers in 1850s and 1860s southeast Minnesota. Firewood for heat and cooking were necessities for both farmers and the few town dwellers. Large trees provided lumber for buildings or rail fences. “Raising a house” was the term used for putting logs in place, one in top of another until the structure was high … [Read more...]

In the late summer of 1931, Joe Von Moos purchased a new Model A Ford Tudor Sedan from the Ender Ford dealership in Hokah, Minn., for $460 (roughly equivalent to $9,800 in 2025). Frugal as he was, he bought the car with yellow wheels but without the matching yellow body stripe. Living eight miles from town on a South Ridge, La Crescent Township, Houston County farm with his … [Read more...]

Around home in Houston County, he was known for his humorous watercolor cartoons. In Europe, his photography helped the United States Army defeat Nazi Germany. George J. Stuber (1922-2020), after graduating from Aquinas High School in La Crosse, learned his craft while employed by Century Photo. Initially a janitor, he had become a manager by the time World War II took him to … [Read more...]

[atlasvoice] A good farm dog was valuable and greatly appreciated, both as a loyal friend and an indispensable co-worker. “Every good farmer had to have a good farm dog,” informed one anonymous man, interviewed in this 21st century about his 20th century boyhood in southeastern Houston County. He fondly remembered a “beautiful” collie named King, who accompanied him each … [Read more...]

In May and June 1854, a caravan of 13, mostly oxen-drawn covered wagons, was heading west from Dodge County, Wis., to settle in the Root River Valley. On June 9, they stopped for a meal near Cushon Peak, a familiar landmark in the valley, two miles west of Houston. While there, some of the party came upon a small, cage-like structure on the side of a bluff, in which sat, in an … [Read more...]