South Washington Heritage Society

January 2010	Our meeting this month was presented by Robert Gabrick, author of "Going the Greyhound Way-The Romance of the Road". It all began in Hibbing, MN with a 1914 Hupmobile. Carl Wickman and Andy (Bus Andy) Anderson transported iron ore miners from Hibbing to Alice. The town of Alice sat on a large iron ore deposit and was moved to and incorporated into Hibbing. In 1915, Wickman joined forces with Ralph Bogan, who was running a similar service from Hibbing to Duluth. They renamed their company the Mesaba Transportation Co. Through the years, they took over other small bus companies and in 1926 renamed their enterprise Greyhound Lines. Greyhound suffered during the Great Depression, and by 1931 was over $1 million in debt. However, with the improvement in the economy, the Greyhound Corporation began to prosper again. In 1935, Wickman was able to announce record profits of $8 million. By the outbreak of World War II the company had 4,750 stations and nearly 10,000 employees. Robert talked about the advertising ideology for Greyhound Lines. The theme was "The Romance of the Road" and how the public needed to travel. Promotions aimed at women teachers for traveling on summer vacation were prevalent. Greyhound began publishing The Highway Traveler, largely a magazine advert for the company. In 1935, General Motors redesigned the bus by placing the engine in the rear and luggage in a bottom compartment under the seats. On the road, the bus would stop every two hours for food, fuel and toilet breaks. In 1940, the bus was again redesigned to the "Silverside" look as it is today. During WWII, advertising changed to depicting soldiers and bus transportation. In 1949, bi-level busses were introduced. Motorcoach, Inc., a subsidiary of Greyhound, began building their own coaches in 1963. By 1980, bus ridership declined due largely to people wanting to drive their own cars on the freeway system and the speed of travel afforded by the airlines. The question was asked, by Greyhound, "Who needs us?". The answer came back, "Nobody." This was, truly, the end of an era.
February 2010	Our guest speaker this month was Carolyn Phelps, Director of the Historic Courthouse in Stillwater. She opened her address with a DVD presentation of the Historic Courthouse. The story of the courthouse is located here. She, next, spoke of previous sheriffs, then focused on this month's topic; Sheriff Rueben Granquist. Born in Stillwater, in 1900, Rueben lost his father when he was a young child. His mother moved the family to St. Paul. Although Rueben had only an eighth-grade education he became a Game Warden for Ramsey and part of Washington counties. He was a true conservationist and visited area schools to show movies that promoted conservation. Married wife, Gladys and had two sons, Bob and Don. He ran for Washington County Sheriff and was elected in 1943. He would go on for six more terms. When first elected, the Granquist family moved into quarters in the courthouse where Gladys cooked and did laundry for both her family and inmates. With three meals a day for about 20 people, her free time was short. Hers was an unpaid position until the late 1950's when the State Legislature passed a statute paying county sheriffs' wives for their services. Gladys was officially a deputy, complete with I.D. card and handcuffs. Rueben rarely wore a uniform or service pistol and every Christmas donned his Santa suit to make calls on anyone that would request a visit. Carolyn told us one of Rueben's sayings to illustrate what kind of a person he was. "Let the milk of human kindness run through your veins", sums up why everyone liked him. Rueben and Gladys had a farm in Scandia and when asked what color she wanted the buildings to be, she replied, "Pink." It was the only farm in Scandia with pink buildings. Carolyn brought many artifacts, including Gladys's handcuffs and the special purse she carried them in plus her I.D. card. A question and answer period followed.
March 2010	Our meeting, this month, was to be our version of "Antiques Roadshow." Unfortunately, our appraiser didn't show so we modified the program to a show and tell theme. Everyone who brought in an antique for appraisal was asked to tell the story and history, if any, to our group. We had many interesting pieces and the stories were interesting. Items presented were: WWI and WWII swords, a Gram-O-Phone, Swiss music box, cast iron toys, books, coins, unique ice cream scoops, a coffee grinder and butter press. Everyone enjoyed the program change and many memories were stirred by members.
April 2010	The history of Northwestern Refinery was this month's topic and was presented by Herb R. He had broken his presentation down by decades, beginning with 1930's, the decade the refinery began. The seven Erickson brothers owned a gas station in Wisconsin 1922. In the late 1930's, they bought a small refinery in Texas and had it transported to the 100-acre site in St. Paul Park. Twenty people ran the refinery which produced 1,000 barrels per day. In the 1940's, crude oil was purchased from Wyoming and Montana and was hauled in by rail. They also bought crude from Ashland Oil and had it shipped in by barge. All the while, the refinery grew as more towers and vessels were added. The 1950's saw crude coming in from North Dakota and Canada via pipeline. Developed in the 1940's, a cat-cracker was added along with the largest electric motor on then N.S.P.'s power line which ran the blower. In the 1960's, the New Brighton refinery shut down and an alcohol unit was added along with a sulfur recovery unit. This was the decade SuperAmerica began with the station on East 7th in St. Paul. Ashland Oil purchased the refinery in the 1970's. High octane lead was taken out of gas in the 1980's and a re-former unit was shipped in from the closed Buffalo, N.Y. plant. Supermom's Bakery came on the scene in St. Paul Park. In 1990, diesel fuel sulfur had to be eliminated and a unit was built to accomplish that task. A very complex water purification unit was added. Marathon Petroleum bought into partnership with Ashland Oil and a new loading dock was completed. In 2000, Marathon bought out Ashland. At this point, Herb told of the refining process and all the products that come out of a barrel of crude. He also told of the various units and what they did to refine crude. Many story boards by decade and other artifacts from all the divisions were on display. A question and answer period followed.
May 2010	Heritage from the Swedish Trunk was this month's topic and was presented by Eleanor Edman. She outlined all of the traditional folk costumes from the various parts of Sweden. Swedish dress evolved by regions of the country, from north to south and individual provinces of each region. Eleanor had costumes from the Sami, who live near the Arctic circle, and more traditional (blue and yellow) parts of the country. Colors taken from the Swedish flag are the more prominent dress. Aprons worn on Sundays denoted which church week Sunday they represented. Folk dress went out of style for a while, but is back in style today. Not being available commercially, cost-conscience women wove their own cloth. Later, when available, women bought fabric and embroidered French silk to fashion their dress. By wearing a shirt and cap, women identified what part of Sweden they were from and mourning and widowed women wore a particular apron. Churches now have folk costumes for special occasions. Eleanor brought many examples of clothing and photos of dress from all parts of Sweden. Traditional Swedish clothing celebrates their national heritage.
June 2010	Twelve members enjoyed a morning at the Minnesota History Center. Everyone was wearing bifocals, so we all were admitted for free. Ben Franklin was a very talented, multi-faceted individual. Founding father, Inventor, scientist, statesman, printer and publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac, he did it all. The Franklin exhibit has many hands-on exhibits to use and learn, such as how electricity is made, lightening rods used on homes. Artifacts at the exhibit included bifocals, the Franklin stove, the armonica (glass harmonica), microscope and his activities in publishing, firefighting, postal service, libraries and education, abolition of slavery, diplomacy and government. Also, there was a Franklin library diorama showing his library chair with a step stool under the seat. After viewing the Franklin exhibit, we viewed the movie Home Places in Minnesota. All enjoyed a good lunch and conversation in the cafeteria and checked out the book store before heading home.
July 2010	Our tour bus was filled to capacity with 47 members and friends eager to scout out the homes that John Dillinger and his girlfriend, Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette, rented while planning the next move, as well as Ma Barker and her boys when the Saintly City wasn't so Saintly. The guide, dressed as "Dapper" Danny Hogan who ran the Green Lantern on Wabasha and was the leader of the underworld until a car bomb took him in 1928. We toured the East Side of town, Swede Hollow, where the Hamm family lived on the hill to show where William Hamm, Jr was kidnapped from and held 4 days for ransom by the Barker-Karpis Gang in 1933. The Hamm mansion burned in 1954, but 3 houses built for the daughters still stand across the street guarded by a carved Hamm's Beer bear. We learned about the Police Chief, Tom Brown, who tipped off the gang when the FBI came hunting them. The tour included South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Midway and down town. The girl friends would distract the victims with kisses while her lover robbed them. The guide used the book, John Dillinger Slept Here, for his talk. The Wabasha Caves are a constant 52 degrees and include a restaurant, bar and dance area. A Southern Minnesota contractor purchased the caves and has cleaned up 5. When the flats were flooded a few years ago, the city cleared out the flooded houses and dumped the debris into the caves. The city wanted to get rid of the caves where kids were exploring and being hurt... 2 caves still hold debris. The caves have new ceilings, lighting fixtures, furnace, restored furniture, cement floors. The machine gun carrying woman guide took us through all 5 caves and explained the remodeling done by this contractor. She said the contractor is still paying for removing all the house debris.