South Washington Heritage Society

January 2007	Bev Gross began our meeting by telling of her growing up just down the road from the Cottage Grove Cemetery and then introduced our guest speaker, Norma Manke. Norma began her presentation by telling us she was born in South Dakota and moved to Minnesota as a young person and eventually met and married her husband, Carl. She and Carl are caretakers of the Cottage Grove Cemetery on 70th St. in Old Cottage Grove. The cemetery began its history in in April of 1856. Around the end of the Civil War, a monument was supposed to be purchased for the cemetery. Norma explained that is one of the mysteries of the cemetery; no one knows where it is. A common problem of cemeteries is unmarked graves and Cottage Grove Cemetery has very few as it is very well mapped. She went on to tell us of the history in a cemetery and told stories of some of the people burried there. Norma has been the caretaker for 46 years and in 2006 was awarded the Cottage Grove Historical Presentation plaque.
February 2007	My Teaching Career, A High School Teacher's Story was presented by Dan Moriarty. Dan began his story by telling us his life story has good parts and bad. He said he would tell us of both. Dan's life began in 1924 in Paducah, KY. His mother passed away when he was 4 years old and his father passed when he was 6. He and his siblings were adopted by his aunt and uncle and relocated to North Dakota. Higher education was accomplished at St. Thomas College on a scholarship from whence he graduated. He later went to the U of M for further studies. Dan served from 1942 until 1945 with the Marine Corps in WW-2. His teaching career began in 1948 when School District Supt. Frank Fox called and asked if he would like to teach in Morris, MN. Dan accepted and taught English, journalism, speech, was advisor on the school newspaper, and announced both basketball and football games. Supt. Fox moved to our district and asked if Dan would like to come along. He did and began teaching at Park High in 1954. He had a chance to participate in a Kent University program studying education on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. He traveled Europe, with his wife, observing teaching methods and considered it a "trip of a lifetime." After he retired from teaching, he worked for the Minnesota Education Association for 15 years and after that, went back into teaching as a substitute. When he retired from teaching, again, he devoted his time to writing and has published several books. There were several handouts available. A number of his former students were in the audience.
March 2007	Judy Spooner was our meeting moderator and though she isn't a quilter, she is interested in quilt making in America. The invitation for our meeting asked that our members bring in their quilts, new or old, and tell us the stories behind them. Judy has looked into the history of quilt making in America from Colonial times to the present. Quilts have represented hopes and dreams of quilters, history of families, the Underground Railroad and more. Quilts were made and sold to finance the American civil War, WW-I, WW-II and so on. In Minnesota alone, the German Sewing Society raised 14.5 million to finance the American Civil War. The Underground Railroad used them to indicate "safe houses" and routes to freedom. Over 25 quilts were brought in by our members and we heard the stories behind them. Some were old and some were new, but all were exquisite. The various patterns were explained along with the blend of materials and colors. Back in earlier times, farms were quite far apart and quilting parties were get-togethers where women could chat about current events and family. This was a meeting where our audience was fully involved in their quilts.
April 2007	Our topic this month was about the Wm Watson family. Frankie Ratzlaff lead off our discussion as she lives on part of the former Watson farm in Cottage Grove. Her husband's family bought the farm from the Watsons in 1931. She then introduced our speaker, Robert Vogel, noted historian of our area. William Watson came from Dundee, Scotland in 1838 and settled in Parma, OH. Being a weaver by trade, he thought he would try farming. He and his wife, Jessie, had three sons, William, Robert and John. The Watson sons came up river from Galena, IL around 1850 looking to buy a farm. They answered an ad and bought Louis Hill's, which consisted of 80 acres and some log buildings. They sent for the rest of the family, back in Ohio and began farming in Cottage Grove. They traded farm crops for lumber, for which to build their houses. The middle brother, Robert, ran for the House of Representatives for the Minnesota Territory in 1853. He was elected, but George Campbell of Point Douglas contested the election on the grounds that Robert wasn't an American citizen. A special committee was formed in the House to investigate and later ruled in Robert's favor. Robert married Belle Furber in 1854 and they had four [?] children. In 1857, the Watson brothers split up the farmland. They stayed in the area until 1878, when Robert moved to Northfield, MN for "better education opportunities for the children." Robert's daughter, Isabella was an instructor at Carlton College. Robert led a quiet life and died in 1926.
May 2007	Jerry Shaver gave a short history of Park High and how Granny came to coach. He then introduced Granville "Granny" Smith, our guest speaker. Granny began life in 1921 in St. Paul. His love for baseball began at about age nine. Collecting baseball cards, he invented a game that he could use the cards to play a game. He told the story of how he was persistent in getting Dizzy Dean's autograph. Long story short-he wound up getting the entire St. Louis Card's team autographs of 1937. He graduated from high school and went on to college. After a stint in the Air Force, he transferred from St. Thomas College in his senior year to Hamline College. At Hamline, he worked as Sports Editor and won an award for an article he wrote. He also met his wife-to-be; Janet so he said it was a very good move. He was also the first person to graduate Hamline under the G.I. bill. He began teaching at St. Paul Park in the 1945-46 school year and coaching football, baseball and basketball. Every day in baseball, he taught the fundamentals of stealing bases, bunting, pitching, covering first base and hustle. He told several stories of games played. One story was about Park High up against a visiting team. Undefeated for the year in basketball, baseball and football, Mahtomedi was a formidable opponent. In the bottom of the last inning, with a tie score, Park made a forced bunt and won the game by one run. Granny told us of players he had during the years and where they are in life today. He also stated he had excellent assistant coaches who made his job a lot easier. He retired in 1977 and received a ring that he is quite proud of. He then updated us on his family and what they are doing. Questions and answers followed.
June 2007	This month's meeting centered around a book of minutes kept by the Langdon Mothers' Club. The village of Langdon was established by the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in the late 1800's. Back then, schools were one of the social focal points of every community. Mothers' clubs were formed to render support and financial aid for items that were not included in school budgets, but still very important. The book of minutes spanned meetings from 1930 until 1950. Several pages of secretarial and treasurer's reports were read to give us an idea what was important to residents of the school district. Many social functions were held to raise funds for items such as window curtains, playground equipment, and during WWII, Red Cross donations and sending boxes of candy to Langdon soldiers, overseas. Several of our members, in period costume, reenacted an actual meeting scripted directly from the recorded minutes of March, 1942. Meetings opened with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the singing of "God Bless America." The meeting minutes of the previous meeting were read and voted on along with the Treasurer's report. One item of importance was a report on the scrap iron drive for the War effort. After that segment, a list of the former teachers was read and we had one of the teachers in our audience along with a few former pupils. Our thanks to Barry Heldman for donating the book to our Society. His mother Ruth was the last Recording Secretary of the Mothers' Club and retained the book for all those years.
July 2007	Our presentation this month was The Mississippi River-Bridges, Dams and Photography. Rich Hyde's portion was about the bridges in our area, beginning with the Wabasha Street Bridge, ending with the Hastings bridge. Span length, year built and replaced/remodeled stats were given. He noted there are 219 spans on the Mississippi, 135 reside in Minnesota. Jerry Shaver's topic was locks and dams. He told us of how and why wing dams were constructed. The purpose of holding dams, river depth for steamboats, log rafting and the navigation problems caused by reoccurring sandbars. In the beginning, the river was very shallow. The Army Corps of Engineers took over river maintenance in 1866. Constructing holding dams allowed pools to be formed and a constant depth maintained. The depth began at 4.5 feet then to 6 feet. Today's depth standard is 9 feet. Herb Reckinger was the last presenter. His portion was painting and photographing the river. He profiled the lives of photographer Henry Bosse (1844-1903) and painter Henry Lewis (1819-1904). Bosse both mapped and photographed the river from St. Anthony Falls to St. Louis for the Mississippi River Commission, the forerunner of the Corps of Engineers. He left over 300 photos of the river and a collection had been published in book form. Lewis left us with a 12 foot by 1,300 foot panoramic painting of river.
August 2007	Our meeting this month was a tour of three historic houses in St. Paul Park. The first house, built in 1882, was known as the Williamson house, is now owned by Steve Hunstad. He purchased the house in 1994 from the Maas family and wanted to continue the restoration the former owner began. He raised the ceilings to their original ten-foot height, rebuilt the front staircase, stripped floors and wallpaper and completely rebuilt the front porch. He has accomplished a lot and the project is on going. Our second house tour was at the Don and Karen Schmidt residence. Built around 1900, the house used to be a boarding house for teachers at a local college. It then was owned and transformed into a duplex by one of our area's railroads. Don and Karen have completely renovated the entire house and added a bath upstairs. Our third house was the Dingle house, now owned by Dan and Sandi Dingle. Dan grew up in the house and his family has owned it for over 80 years. Built around 1880, it showed signs of age in its sagging floors and ceilings. All woodwork was completely replaced with period millwork, milled by Dan. Sandi took a class in sheet rocking, which paid off. The walls were stripped down to the studs and refurbished. Three interesting houses with a colorful history, the tour was appreciated by all.
September 2007	A historic tour of Stillwater on the trolley was this month's meeting. The twelve people in attendance were informed of the historical significance Stillwater played in our state's history. With an abundance of Northern White Pine, the town of Stillwater was the center of lumber mills and all associated support businesses. We went by the original courthouse and prison and many fine Victorian houses built by the lumber barons. The riverfront used to be the home for many riverboats in the 1800's. The railroad played an important part in passenger and freight transportation. Over 30 trains a day used to rumble through town along with switch engines clanking back and forth making up trains headed for all parts of the country. Our tour guide told us of the many bed and breakfasts in town and the accommodations they offered. We made a stop at one of the Victorian houses and had a botanical tour of some of the local tree species. We finished up our outing with lunch at the Dock Cafe.
October 2007	This month's meeting was about the East Cottage Grove Fire Department. Presenting the history were former members; Glen Brown, Larry Gerlach, Mike Dalaska, Warren Spicer and Bud Gross. It was formed in 1957 by a group of citizens after a barn fire raised concerns that something had to be done to prevent losses to property because of fire. On May 17, 1957, postcards were sent out to the community announcing the possible formation of a fire department. Forty people responded and attended the meeting. The first need was to buy a fire truck and $843 was collected at that meeting. A truck was purchased for $1,000. Fund raisers, such as the smelt fry, dances, meat raffles and ham dinners were given to raise more funds for equipment and a tanker to haul water to the fires, as there were no hydrants. In the early days, firefighters were notified by telephone. It was thought that a siren was needed, but funding was short. Donated train horns took care of the problem and were sounded when a fire call originated. The trucks were housed at Gerlach Service or the Biscoe farm. A new fire hall was eventually added. Many stories were told by the former members. The East Cottage Grove Fire Department was later merged into the Cottage Grove Department, formerly the Thompson Grove Fire Department. The East Cottage Grove Department survived nicely as it was based on premise "neighbors helping neighbors."
November 2007	"I've been working on the Railroad" was this month's theme. Our presenters were Jim Reed and Bud Hanner, both former railroad employees. Jim began by telling us his grandfather was born in 1884. He learned Morse code of which he taught his son and in turn, Jim's dad taught Jim. His dad worked on the Savanna to LaCrosse division as an operator, issuing train orders. When single track gave way to double, he went on the extra board. During the Depression Years, he worked wherever he could. In 1939, he bid on and was transferred to St. Paul and worked at both Division Street and Oakland Towers. He later bid on Station Agent in St. Paul Park where he retired from in 1954. Jim worked in the tower in Chicago for his career. Bud Hanner worked in the DuPont factory in Rosemont. Seeking a better job, he signed up to work on the Rock Island Railroad as an engineer. Before you can become and engineer, you have to serve your time as a fireman. Bud told us of his beginnings as a fireman on different student (unpaid) runs to qualify. He qualified as a fireman in 1945. He learned all the workings of a steam locomotive, beside the book of Railroad Operating Rules, which is a real challenge. In 1922-23, the Rock Island went with all diesel power, so he had to learn everything about diesel engines. He was promoted to engineer in 1954. He said it was a good life, hard, but good and met many fine people along the way. He went on to tell us many colorful stories about his career.
December 2007	Alice opened the annual meeting. This meeting marked our tenth anniversary. Officers elected are: Naomi Purves Adams - Treasurer and Joanne Hyde - Corresponding Secretary. New Board members are: Georgia Kelm - Membership Chair and Herb Reckinger. After the business meeting concluded, we had this month's program, our own version of "Antiques Roadshow." Mike Kranz, Stillwater antiques appraiser, was our guest and appraised several antiques brought in by our members. The stories members told about their antiques were quite interesting. Although none of our antiques were million dollar items, we had a good time hearing about their history. We all partook in brunch and good conversation. A very interesting meeting enjoyed by all in attendance.
January 2008	Our topic this month was "Women on the Farm...the early days" and was presented by three members from the Denmark Township Historical Society. Lila Davies began her life near Aberdeen, South Dakota. When the family moved to the farm, they had a rather large garden for family use. Water, for the garden, was hauled on a stone boat from the creek some distance away. Cow chips fueled the kitchen range and straw was burned for heating the rest of the house in winter. When twenty head of cattle were purchased, the farm was used for collateral to secure the loan. Unfortunately, after the cattle were purchased it was discovered they had TB and had to be destroyed. The family farm was lost. Moving to Minneapolis in 1936, Lila was appointed family cook as her mother worked long hours as a beautician. She married in 1944 and moved to her husband's farm. Just as her former family farm, there wasn't any electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. Lila worked on the farm feeding cattle, milking cows and sewed all her children's clothes. Lorraine Brown has lived In Old Cottage Grove for 58 years. Born in 1931 on the farm in Goodhue, she knew hardship with the Great Depression. Her family raised and canned all vegetables. One summer, when rain was in short supply, they canned lamb's quarters for a vegetable. Times were tough in the mid 30's. Her father sold a 250-pound pig for 100 pounds of flour and sugar and that is what they lived on for the winter. Feed sack clothes were common although they were scratchy. Purebred Guernsey cows comprised the family's herd and Lorraine milked them before attending school each day. As time went by, her dad sold his Gurseys all across the U.S. Later on, Lorraine attended the U. of M. Farm School and studied home economics and office management, education that played an important role in her later life. While at the U, she met her future husband and later, married and moved onto his farm. Mavis Voigt was born in that part of treeless eastern South Dakota in 1934. They had a farm with the usual no running water, indoor plumbing and the house was a bit run-down. Music was important in the family and family songfests were common. Her mother left school at the age of seven so stressed education to her children. Mavis and her four siblings all attended college. Her sister Joyce Brookins spoke on the books she had brought to our meeting and the role they played in the University Press. Many old family photographs were on display and the meeting closed with the singing of The More We Get Together.
February 2008	"I've Been Working on the Raillroad...revisited" was our subject this month. Bud Hanner, a former Rock Island Railroad engineer was our main presenter. He began by explaining how the gauge (distance between the inside of the rail tops) of railroads came about. It seems it started back in Roman times when the wheel spacing of chariots was at 4 feet, 8 inches. The American standard gauge is now 4'-8-1/2". It worked so well, wagons, coaches and the like stayed with that spacing throughout history. He told of the first engine in Davenport, IA coming over the river on ice in winter. It seems that Bud bad luck with bridges. The St. Paul Park swing bridge to Inver Grove was one of them. He had a diesel engine with a fuel leak that left a trail of fuel oil along the bridge. Some kids, fishing in the river, spoted it and set it on fire with a fire brand from their camp fire. Bud called the dispatcher and told him to call out the fire department. Another time someone had cut a main brace in a hopper car, which allowed the sides to bow outwards and the hopper was a bit to wide to fit under the Dale Street (St. Paul) bridge. Well, you know the rest..a new bridge was built to replace the old one. Many railroad employees had nicknames and Bud was no exception. His monicker was "Highball Hanner." He told us in the early days of railroading a single ball hung at all stations. When the three foot ball was in a low position on the pole, a train had to stop for orders. If the ball was in the high postion, a stop wasn't necessary. He also told us of "Silk Hat Harry." Someone spotted him in formal attire, complete with a top hat, and thus, the name stuck. Bud brought many books as did Herb Reckinger. Bud even had his train orders from his last run.
March 2008	To celebrate the our tenth anniversary, Herb Reckinger, Alice Robinson, Donna Reynolds, Bev Gross and John Hunziker presented the formation and history of our Society. Herb began the presentation by informing us of the people who formed the S.W.H.S. and where the meetings were first held. Donna, Alice, Bev and John gave either an in-depth or chronology of all the past meetings and programs presented. Hard to believe we have been in existence for ten years. Many photos and clippings, of our past programs, were on display for all to view.
April 2008	Bob LaNasa, Jr. told the complete story of St. Paul Park's Carbone's Pizzeria. The original pizza shop was located on the northwest corner of Broadway at Third Street. It was a take-out only shop owned by Dick O'Brien. Bob, Sr., a heavy equipment operator, was looking for a winter part-time position. He lived three doors away from a Carbone's located on Seventh and Maria in St. Paul. After striking up a conversation with Mario Carbone, Mario asked him if he wanted to lean the pizza business as a part-time occupation. Bob, Sr. and Mario went into partnership and bought the shop in St. Paul Park from O'Brien in 1961. Bob, Sr. did the cooking and Mario kept the books. Bob, Jr. began in the shop in 1963 as an employee. In 1971, after a tour of duty in Viet Nam, Bob, Jr. bought into the business. In 1987, an opportunity to build their own sit-down restaurant presented itself. Both Bob, Sr. and Bob, Jr. were a bit apprehensive, but went ahead anyway. The new restaurant offered many new menu items, besides pizza, and it was a learning experience for both of them. After a shaky start, Carbone's in the Park flourished. Bob, Sr. passed away in 1985, but left Bob, Jr. and Bob, Jrs. son Brian as the new team. Bob said they have shipped pizzas by request to California and Texas to name a few. Their largest order was 350 pizzas in one day to one customer. Normally, they do about 100 a day. Many interesting questions were asked by audience members.
May 2008	Our field trip to the Minnesota History Center was this month's meeting. We went to see the MN150 display and the Dunlap Broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence along with other historical displays. The MN 150 was comprised of 150 interesting tidbits of Minnesota history to celebrate Minnesota's Sesquicentennial. The Dunlap copy of the Declaration of Independence was one of twenty five copies known to exist. On the eve of July 4th, 1776, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap was ordered by John Hancock to print around two hundred copies to be distributed by horsemen to the members of Congress throughout the colonies. New York was the only hold-out not to agree with the other twelve colonies to be a free and independent nation. The copy we saw on display, was a copy that was discovered in 1989 by a man who pruchased a painting for $4.00 at a flea market because he was interested in the frame. Concealed in the backing of the frame was a Dunlap broadside which was auctioned for $8 million in 2000. A trip to the Minnesota History Center is always a treat.