If the intent was to encourage rural settlement by newcomers, the name “Spring Grove” was inviting as it was accurate. The availability of land was widely understood, but the name promises the other two agricultural essentials – water and wood. Emphasizing the importance of all three, Jane Briggs Palen entitled her history book “Soil, Timber & A Spring; The Story of Spring … [Read more...]

A 7-year-old boy stood in Hokah Hardware where the owner handed him flowers to take to his grandma. On December 11, 1928, Anna Vogel was 68 when she headed off on foot with those flowers to a nearby cemetery. “I’m going to talk to Pa,” she reportedly said. John Vogel had died 11 months before (January 15, 1928). Before placing flowers on her husband’s grave, the mother of 10 … [Read more...]

In bygone days, OTC medication was not “over the counter,” but “over the cookstove.” Goose grease, onions, sulphur (sulfur) and lard were ingredients for keeping kids healthy in southeastern Minnesota during the late 1800s and early 1900s. When doctors were few or often far away, mothers were ready with “folk medicine” – home remedies or “cures,” handed down through … [Read more...]

One from Money Creek performed as far away as Panama and Puerto Rico. Another from Spring Grove performed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Another did not take his act on the road, but the act was so amazing that a Twin Cities newspaper reporter came to Brownsville to see if it was really true. An exceptional three, in order of their births: Tony … [Read more...]

Winnebago Creek flows through a valley in Winnebago Township and before it crosses into Jefferson Township (southeasternmost township in Houston County), there once was a town in the winding valley called Winnebago Valley. The town, about five miles (as the crow flies) west of the Mississippi River, has long since faded away; all that remains is a privately-owned National … [Read more...]

By Lee Epps Her oldest sibling, 14-year-old Walter, was understandably disappointed when she was born. After all, he already had five younger sisters. But young Adelia Schumacher would be tomboy enough to catch and shag the baseballs cousin Julius “swatted when Walt honed his pitching skills.” Adelia (Schumacher) Sievert (1913-2001) left a written account of growing up on a … [Read more...]

Most Houston County babies were born at home during the first half of the 1900s. And many homes were rural. If the mother was fortunate, there would be assistance from a midwife or nurse. Doctors made house calls, but getting to the farmhouse could be arduous, especially in winter and during spring rains, especially at night. In the in the southeastern part of the county, … [Read more...]

When she stopped at the homes of friends and found no one home, she would spontaneously pen a short poem and leave it at the door so they would know that Edith Thompson had stopped to call. Far beyond her friends’ doors, the Houston County native influenced countless lives, coast to coast, directly as a teacher and social worker. Indirectly, even more knew her as a soil … [Read more...]

Walls, a wood stove and even spectators were hazards; you might run or dribble into one – or someone. But it was too cold to play outside when high school basketball was first witnessed in Caledonia. The year was 1907; the venue was the Hundt Opera House, which built on North Badger Street, was originally intended to provide an indoor roller-skating rink. But that rolling … [Read more...]

Part two of a two-part series As commercial traffic on the Mississippi River followed settlement north into Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, thieves were attracted as well as honest merchants. A band of river pirates, thought to consist of 10 to 12 men, operated out of the southeast corner of Houston County. Their base, known as Robbers Roost, was located in Minnesota Slough, … [Read more...]

First of a two-part series Surely praiseworthy were the pioneer settlers of southeast Minnesota, immigrants from Europe or those moving west from previously settled areas of the United States. Hard-working farm families and merchants established communities, built churches and schools and were even willing to leave their families to serve far from home as Civil War soldiers. … [Read more...]

Part two of a two-part series “Any little gopher hole could and did start washouts,” wrote Houston area historian Ingrid Julsrud. Washouts of train tracks were expensive mishaps for the railroads and inconvenient interruptions for the daily lives of residents. During the first two decades of the 1900s, the tracks around Mound Prairie were especially susceptible to washouts … [Read more...]

Two young, probably teenage, cousins were on a passenger train from Houston, Minn., to visit relatives in Northfield, when they understood the conductor to say, “The coach is on fire.” But when the train stopped, they were the only ones to grab their coats and baggage in preparation to detrain. What the conductor had actually said was, “There’s a colt in the wire.” Two train … [Read more...]

A large horse-drawn sled, packed with blankets, called robes, and warmers would make the rounds to pick up the neighbors on the way to the host farm. In winter, dances would be inside a farmhouse. Rugs would be rolled up. An older youth or two might come along to babysit the younger children. There would be a fiddler or two, who would play square dances, waltzes and foxtrots. … [Read more...]

Julebukking, part three Kathleen Stokker, author of “Keeping Christmas; Juletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land” discovered that Norwegian-heritage settlements in the Midwest United States had widely engaged in julebukking (pronounced “YEW-luh-booking”), also known as “Christmas Fooling.” At the time, Stokker was not aware of any julebukking in her hometown of … [Read more...]