Part two of a two-part series
“A splendid view of the rich country on both sides of the tract could be had. The train moved along rapidly and the station of Newhouse appeared in view,” wrote George Kuster, Spring Grove newspaper proprietor and editor in 1903 and 1904.
Newhouse, eight miles west and a mile south of Spring Grove, in the early 1900s, had a railroad depot, elevator, stockyard, warehouse and Ole O. Lee’s country store, which offered a variety of dry goods, hardware and some clothing, such as overalls, shirts and shoes.
Kuster noted it was a train trip where “Eddy Foss, genial (rail station) agent was at his post to bid the pilgrim welcome …. After a few packages for the merchants, O. O. Lee and Andrew Peterson and a ‘little of La Crosse’s wet goods’ were unloaded, the passenger moved on while we enjoyed the flowers that Eddy had planted and nicely cared for around the depot.
“Next merchant O. O. Lee was visited where we pleasantly met our good-natured County Commissioner, O. T. Newhouse and his brother T. T. Newhouse, the latter one of the most progressive farmers in that vicinity. They had come over to make some purchases at Mr. Lee’s store where a pleasant social chat was enjoyed – (By the way, Mr. Lee has a big double store filled with goods of all kinds and grades from which his customers ought to get good selections.) … In his store several well-to-do farmers and J. Hallan, the blacksmith, had gathered to do business and spent a short time in relating news and swapping stories.”
In 1912, Lee ran a newspaper ad. “Store News. You will miss it if you don’t come to our Red Tag and Bargain Sale. It will last only through March. Besides getting big bargains you get some goods free – just for patronizing us.” In smaller print: “We have calicos for 4 cents and 5 cents, 10 cent Outing Flannels for 8 cents and 8 cents Outing Flannels for 5 cents. Eureka Harness oil per gallon 50 cents. $20.00 Sewing Machines for $19.00. One Iowa Dairy cream Separator, capacity 850 pounds, regular price $75.00, Price for this sale $60.00. One new 18 disc Tiger drill will be sold cheap, apply at once. OLE O. LEE, Newhouse, Minn.”
Store patrons could trade farm products, such as eggs, for credit. Ilyn (Ingvalson) Musser, born in 1910, who grew up on a farm northwest of Newhouse, recalled from her youth, going to Newhouse once a week for groceries. “I would walk to the store and carry eggs in a gallon pail.”
Storeowner Lee conducted all the business and also served as postmaster for a few patrons.
Despite being busy, he was always eager to please customers and was known to keep the doors open well into the night. Sometimes, Lee extended generous periods of credit to customers who struggled during an era when money was often scarce. “If any person was entitled to a niche in the Hall of Fame, I would nominate this person,” vowed Clarence Husemoen (born 1907) who patronized the store as a boy.
“Here we brought our eggs to the store to be traded for some staple commodities – such as sugar, flour, coffee, salt and maybe a couple rings of bologna that was kept in a keg containing a salt solution, as there was no electric refrigeration in those days.” But there was an icehouse where large blocks of ice were stacked and packed in sawdust. Inside the store, those blocks of ice were placed in an icebox for bottles of pop and to preserve perishable merchandise.
Critical to conducting business were a balancing scale, coffee grinder, tobacco cutter and to provide heat, a large pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room. In winter, especially during December, there were “large stacks of dried codfish in some corner where a stray dog would lift a hind leg in passing.” Nevertheless, this was a source for good lutefisk when prepared properly.
Customers patiently waited their turn to approach the counter and place their order. The owner or clerk would then procure each item and write down the prices in a small book. There were no calculators; it was all tabulation by hand and brain before running up the total on a “jingling register.” With credit coming from the eggs brought in and shrewd shopping selections, it was possible, instead of owing money, to receive money to be pocketed for future purchases.
Approximately, four decades later in 1953, Roger Williams owned the Newhouse Store with his name, Newhouse Store, R.F.D Mabel, Minn. PHONE 19-J-12 machine-printed on a then handwritten February 16 receipt for O. Rosendahl who received credit for the eggs he had brought in. At 33 cents a dozen, 15 dozen was worth $4.95. On the next line, designated “Regrade” added 52 cents to make a total credit of $5.47. The regrade likely reflected the result of “candling,” holding an egg up to a light in order to reveal the freshness or the approximate time since it had been laid.
The bill then listed purchases: P. Wheat (puffed wheat) 30 cents, p. butter 43 cents, tapioca 20 cents, crackers 49 cents, catsup 25 cents, cheese 65 cents and lye 30 cents. The total of $2.62 deducted from the egg credit of $5.47 made $2.85 due be paid to the customer.
The existence of a store in Newhouse “saved us time to go to a larger town for these necessities,” said Husemoen, who recalled running errands as a boy to get small items. “We enjoyed doing it. We were usually rewarded with a little spending money so we could buy some jelly beans or a box of CHUMS (later called Cracker Jacks), which contained a nice prize or toy of some kind. This place did a thriving business for almost a century until the railroad was taken out.”
All that remains in 2024 are three houses. Without the railroad, local historian Percival Narveson concluded, “Newhouse just withered away.”
Sources: “Moments of Meditation,” by C. Husemoen; “A Trip to Newhouse,” by George Kuster; Advertisement, Spring Grove Heald, 7 March, 1912; Percival Narveson’s Historical Sketches by Percival Narveson, 2002; Yesteryears of Spring Grove, 1997.
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