It was a dinner conversation that the members of both families would never forget. Neither family had met the other before, but prayers had been answered for both as they sat down together. The Hartman family prepared the meal, which however, took place in the Masenko home, however, a house the Masenko family was seeing for the first time. The Carl and Hazel Schild … [Read more...]
Ronnenberg, Volkart and Spring Grove Team Excel at State Trap Finale
Rushford-Peterson marksman Colton Ronnenberg, LeRoy-Ostrander super shooter Kimberley Volkart and the Spring Grove trap team all earned exceptionally high honors while competing versus the very best in Minnesota’s grand clay target finale on June 26. After tiebreakers, Spring Grove finished fourth among more than 400 teams, and Ronnenberg was state runner-up among more than … [Read more...]
Cougars, Trojans, Cardinals Capture State Clay Target Titles
Mabel-Canton in Class 4A, Rushford-Peterson in Class 3A and LeRoy-Ostrander in Class 2A, each won a state team championship at the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League’s annual state trap extravaganza at Alexandria. They were the first state clay target titles for a Journal-area team since Spring Grove captured three straight in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Going forward, … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – ‘Olde’ Barn Has Hosted Horses and Hoofers for 46 Summers
Revised from his first two columns in 2020 “Ye Olde Gray Barn” is not gray, but black. However, it is the “Gray barn” because the functional facility for draft horses was loaned by Dr. Jim and Karen Gray to an ambitious group of citizens, who in 1979 staged “Annie Get Your Gun,” the first of the often-acclaimed 46 summer musicals in Spring Grove - believed to be the … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Five Snafus on the Fourth of July, 1887
The morning train brought Judge Wells and the cornet band from Preston along with other citizens from that and nearby towns. The occasion was a Fourth of July celebration at Caledonia in 1887, the nation’s 111th birthday. A lot had been planned, but something unplanned would save the day. Mother Nature furnished the first of five snafus or mishaps. According to the Caledonia … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Birds and Bees and Animals Planting Walnut Trees
Ada Sheldon, on a Mound Prairie farm in Houston County, kept a large garden and raised chickens, geese, ducks and canaries as well as children, one of whom was son Sumner (born 1910), who would become a prominent area historian and columnist. “To be sure that she had enough to do, Mama kept about sixty swarms of bees,” quipped Sumner. His mother, while an accomplished … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – A Bear, a Bridegroom and a Bigamous Barber
Part two of a two-part series Popular Caledonia tonsorial artist (barber) James Hall was arrested for bigamy by a detective from La Crosse. The November 28, 1888 Caledonia Journal headline read, “TOO MUCHLY MARRIED.” On June 29, somewhere near La Crosse, Hall had married Sarah Carrigan from the town of Winnebago, Houston County. The newspaper knew not the whereabouts of the … [Read more...]
Eight are All-State Shooters; Repeat Crowns for ‘Canes, Cougars
Both Mabel-Canton and Houston claimed conference championships during the 2026 spring high school trap season. Rushford-Peterson, Kingsland and LeRoy-Ostrander were runners-up in their respective clay target conferences while Spring Grove had a third-place campaign. It was a third straight league title for Hurricanes. The Cougars have won two straight and four of their last … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past They Thought They Were as Good-Looking as Those Other Fellows
According to fifth-century Irish folklore, women were allowed to propose marriage to men every four years on Leap Day (February 29). Some 14 centuries later, leap year frivolity, socializing and romantic role reversal was alive in the United States, including Houston County, Minnesota. The leap year of 1888 was only days away when the last issue in 1887 of the Caledonia Journal … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – The Evening “Big Irv” Saved the Basket Social
Part two, Basket Socials During the previous column, Houston County historian Sumner Sheldon described early 1900s basket socials - opportunities (or socially-accepted excuses) for rural folks to socialize as well as raise funds for the host school or church. But one such event was likely the longest lasting and surely the most memorable because it so drastically differed from … [Read more...]