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Dave SchroederI worked as a high-pressure boiler operator for twen-ty-three years at a Minneapolis refin-ery, and then at Ja-cobson Elementary School in Rush City as their maintenance and boiler engineer for twenty years. I retired in June 2014.
I was on the Rush City Volunteer Fire Department for thir-ty-one years. I was also on the board of Serenity Manor for nine years, being chairman for five years. I currently volun-teer for the Rush City Lions and was a district governor for fifty-two clubs. I volunteer for the food shelf and also for NCHS. s
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C H I S A G O C O U N T Y, M I N N E S O TA • V O L . 1 0 N O . 1 • W I N T E R 2 0 16
Meet our New DirectorsWe recently voted in two volunteers to fill vacancies on the NCHS board of directors. Find more information at nchsociety.org.
Deb DahlbergI am a lifelong resident of Rush City. I have been married to Dan Dahlberg for twen-ty-nine years and we have two children and two grandchildren. I am active in many projects with First Lutheran Chuch in Rush City. I have worked for Plasti Dip International for twenty-nine years in customer service and sales management. I volun-teer in numerous civic and community-service activities including Lions and NCHS.
THE MUSEUM IS OPEN • WEDNESDAYS 1:00–4:00 P.M. • SATURDAYS 9:00 A.M.–4:00 P.M.
UPCOMING EVENTSNCHS Monthly Meeting Featuring the Amber Mill
7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, Rushseba Town HallPresenter will be Dennis Pedersen. Meeting coordinated by Dave Schroeder.
Museum Anniversary Open House
Saturday, May 14, at the MuseumSame day as the RC-wide garage sale. Cookies, bars, coffee, and tea with new exhibits. Coordinated by Marian Eklund and Bev Heinrich.
Piecemaker's Quilting Guild Anniversary
Monday, May 16, at the MuseumMeeting and display of many quilts. The quilts should be on display for a few days afterward. Arranged by Ilene Olson Holmberg.
the North Chisago
HISTORIANNorth Chisago Historical Society
DFROM THE PRESIDENT
Did you know there was a broom factory in Rush Point?
At last, on January 28, 2016, the librarian of the Rush City Public Library called telling me that our microfilm read-er/printer was being released to NCHS. Some volunteers moved it to our research room on January 29. The micro-films we have on hand are the 35 films of the ECM Post Re-view newspaper from January 4, 1973 through December 28, 2005. The librarian said that more films will be returned later. The reader/printer was purchased by NCHS in 1998. Having no building, it was housed in the Rush City Public Library for the public to use until we got a building. It is now available for use when the museum is open, and pos-sibly by appointment. Volunteers are on hand to help. We hope to get the rest of the microfilms soon.
Did you know there was a manufacturing plant for potato equipment located in North Branch?
Do you know what nationalities settled in North Chisago County and why?
The NCHS museum is open on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We invite everyone to come and see what has been done. The displays are changed quite often.
Do you know that Sunrise was considered as the site for the Minnesota capital?
We can always use help to work on displays. We are still receiving artifacts from area residents.
Do you know that the area where the Rush City schools are built was once a cranberry bog?
The NCHS Museum is open on Wednesday afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. This was planned as a time when people could come and discuss old times and learn more about the area.
Do you know there was a lake north of Harris on the east side of Highway 61? (This was shown in the 1888 plat book that NCHS has for sale.)
These and other questions could be answered on Wednesday afternoons at the museum.
—Carl Heinrich, President s
BOARD OF DIRECTORSPRESIDENT Carl Heinrich, Rushseba
320-358-4525VICE PRESIDENT Larry Hendrick, Rock Creek
320-591-0057SECRETARY Marian Eklund, Stanchfield
320-396-2676DIRECTOR Ronnie Hunt, North Branch
651-674-7521DIRECTOR Marlin Gregerson, Rush City
320-358-4556DIRECTOR LaVonne Foster, North Branch
651-674-4834DIRECTOR Deb Dahlberg, Rush City
612-819-7312DIRECTOR Dave Schroeder, Rush City
320-358-4030 TREASURER Pat Moulton, Rush City
320-358-3534 LIBRARIANS Marian Eklund, Bev Heinrich
NEWSLETTER EDITOR Charlotte Wilcox, Sunrise651-674-4819, [email protected]
MUSEUM ADDRESS
350 South Eliot Avenue, Rush City
MAILING ADDRESSNorth Chisago Historical Society
P.O. Box 556Rush City, MN 55069
MUSEUM E-MAIL ADDRESS
Website: nchsociety.org
NCHS is a member of the Rush City and North Branch Chambers of Commerce.
NCHS thanks Plastech Corporation of Rush City for printing and mailing this newsletter to its members.
the North Chisago
HISTORIANNorth Chisago Historical Society
O F F I C I A L M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T
The specific purposes of this corporation are to discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge regarding the history of North Chisago County and the state of Minnesota.
2 NORTH CHISAGO HISTORIAN
Standing in front of the real tree were Carl and Bev Heinrich (on left) as they showed Florence Swanson and Dorothy Siljendahl around the museum. s
Two small aluminum trees were displayed in the common room
and library. The three-foot-tall silver aluminum tree was set on a display
case and was illuminated by a rotary color wheel, both loaned from Bev
Heinrich. The two-foot aluminum tree sat in the library on one table and a
manger on another library table.
A green artificial tree sat in the common area with decorations
loaned from Ronnie Hunt and Esther Schmidt. Beside it was
a rocking Mrs. Santa loaned from Ronnie.
One real tree was cut down out east of Rush City and brought
in by Carl and Bev Heinrich, and its decorations were on
loan from them as well. Below this tree was a sleeping Santa
that snored and snorted as his chest rose and deflated.
SStarting December 5, 2015, and running through the first of the year, trees and decorations adorned the museum’s common area. As soon as you came into the museum, on the left was a collection of rag dolls, the kind many little girls wanted. This was only about one-third of a collection by Ronnie Hunt of North Branch.
Here are some highlights of the festive spirit that permeated the museum for its first Christmas:
Christmasat the Museum
THE NCHS MUSEUM WAS AS DECKED OUT IN COLOR
AS IT COULD BE.
By Larry Hendrick
Around the common room was a collection
of Santa bears on loan from Marian Eklund. They were
various sizes and materials.
Several gingerbread “people” came around (but they did not sign our register). However,
few of them left the museum, as they were in demand by many visitors. Most other cookies did not make it back to their original owners either.
We received a donation of
several games and some toys
from Marvel Anderson
and others. Displayed were games such as
checkers, Lotto, Chinese checkers,
chalk and slate, and other games. On this display case was the
lighted aluminum tree.
WINTER 2016 3
II’m looking at an autograph book from my grade-school days. The older I get the more precious childhood mem-ories become. What a wonderful way to look into our past—a past filled with love, fun friends and not a worry in the world. I wonder if children in today’s world enjoy those carefree days as we did. Most of the penmanship was so per-fect—and it should have been, as we were taught the Palm-er Method of penmanship by practicing perfect circles to make our letters line up exactly with the line below.
Autograph books were popular from the 1800s until perhaps the 1940s. The little books, often four and a half by six inches, held some seventy-five blank pages. The cov-ers would be embossed with “Autographs,” “My School-Day Autobiography,” or similar wording. Autograph books could be made with elegant covers or could be very plain in varying colors. Mostly young girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen would pass them among their friends, asking them to write momentos of times together or cute poems, as shown in this article.
The first page of one of my books reads “Schoolday memories bring back pleasant thoughts of happy hours, spent in work and play.” I remember it as great fun to see what each friend would write; and we in turn would write in our friend’s book. When school yearbooks began to be published, it seems that the autographs came to be written in them and the little autograph books lost their popularity. It certainly is a chance to peek into the life of someone who has lived in another time—a link to the past.
Autograph books are filled with sweet verses, many in a teasing way reminiscent of our growing-up days. I have two autograph books from the late ’20s and early ’40s era belonging to Louraine Olson Ogren. Among the verses are these:
Dear Louraine (Tudor), May your joys be as deep as the ocean, your sorrows
as light as its foam.Your friend and pal, Vivian Watt
Another, dated May 21, 1928:
Poor ink, poor pen,Poor writer. Ahem!
Kathryn Coste (Katy), May 21, 1928
If you see a monkey in a tree, pull his tail and think of me.Your Pal, Veronica Young
Violets are blue, cowslips are yellow.Your loving friend, you are the one who stole my fellow.
Your loving friend, Genevieve Johnson
When you get married and live by the lake,Send me a piece of your wedding cake.
Your friend, Elizabeth
Remember me early, Remember me late,Remember me at the golden gate.
Your friend, Elvira Keiser
This little book is a golden spotIn which to write the words “forget me not.”
Clifford Kraft
Dear Louraine,Please forget the fights and remember only the good
times we’ve had together.James Olson (Jimmie)
VintageAutograph
BooksROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE; SUGAR IS SWEET, AND SO ARE YOU.
By Marian Eklund
4 NORTH CHISAGO HISTORIAN
In your golden chain of friendship, consider me as a link.Friend, Olive Johnson
Dear Louraine,Louraine now, Louraine forever. Olson now, but not forever.
Your friend, Lorraine Murray
Here’s wishing you the best of success and happiness on your journey through life. Be good!
Love, Bessie L. Hinds, Rush City
May 2, 1929:
Dear Tudor,I love you little. I’ll love you big. I’ll always love you
like a pig. Your schoolmate, Weenie Bolony,alias Irene Viksten (Lindberg)
Tudor went to the carnival, the clowns for to see; and when she tiptoed in the house, the clock struck half-past three.
Burnett p.s.(And in the corner is written in another hand: It was exactly 10 minutes to 12.)
Dear Tudor, I love you.Kliffy (also known as Crif)
October 28, 1929:
Dear Tudor,Those who look for flowers find flow-
ers; those who look for weeds find weeds.Wishing you loads of success in the
future.Yours till the kitchen sinks,
Audrey Mahlin
When you are old and want to laugh,Just take a look at this autograph.
I wish you much success, wealth, and happiness in the years to come.
Your friend, Dora Warner, Senior
February 6, 1930:
Dear Tudor,I think I’ll just take this page opposite my kid sister’s
and let her verse do for both of us.Remember the good times we’ve had at good ole
R.C.H.S. Here’s hoping they continue.A friend of thine, Dick Warner
Dear Tudor,Flowers may wither, grass may die,Friends may forget you, but never will I.Away down here out of sight,I sign my name just for spite.
Your friend and classmate, Eddalee Batterson
From an autograph book dated 1933:
Dear Tudor,You’ve got the prettiest hair and the cutest little dimple;
you’ve got the sweetest little voice and a nose that is quite so simple.
May I wish you all the luck that is needed for you during the rest of the school days.
Your friend, Carlos Sommer s
Marian Eklund lives in Stanchfield and is a member of and secretary for the NCHS board of directors.
WINTER 2016 5
SSince we are publicly open for business, these are the num-bers of people who signed our guest register at the museum. But what are these three numbers? We have more numbers, but these will indicate what is going on.
We had a soft museum opening on May 9, 2015. We had several exhibits up for viewing and we had more than 75 people come by! This was our highest one-day atten-dance so far.
We advertised that our Christmas decorations would be up by Santa Day on December 5. Our second highest one-day attendance that day was over 59! This attendance is due to the extensive media advertising we did.
Since May 9 through early December, we had over 387 people come through! We were open for three hours on Wednesdays and seven hours on Saturdays.
What else happened last year? As you know, we opened a small museum. The year 2015 came in while we were re-constructing the interior of the old dental building donated to NCHS by Dr. and Mrs. James Guptill. Several interior rooms in the center of the building came out to create a common area, the electrical and heating were redone, and two bathrooms remodeled. The common room was carpet-ed and most rooms were repainted by members or volun-teers. We added lighted exit signs, fire detectors and extin-guishers, and the intrusion alarm—all from donations.
75–59–387Or, How NCHS Did in 2015: An Annual Report
IT’S THE NUMBERS! THIS IS WHAT WE WANT—NUMBERS!
By Larry Hendrick
The museum has three exhibit rooms, a library, an office, storage room, furnace room, soon-to-be research room, and two handicap-equipped restrooms. One of the exhibit rooms has military displays and one has a bedroom setup. The museum has a locked office which is used for society business. The computer, printer, and software were obtained through an East Central Electric grant. And the Internet connection was funded via donation also. The li-brary is a comfortable place to sit and read.
The museum was open on Wednesdays for storytell-ing. Some of the sessions were recorded and we hope to make them more available for viewing. Saturdays were for general museum viewing.
Since opening, the museum/society has received do-
Military room at museum. Bedroom at museum.
The museum building.
6 NORTH CHISAGO HISTORIAN
nations from various residents. We received family histo-ry books, pamphlets, and military uniforms. As gifts or on loan, we received many old toys and games. Wow—we were given a pump organ that really works, and a couple of visitors who know how to play one did so. Every month the museum is given an item or items that could be displayed or preserved.
We have several pictures hanging on the walls now. One picture was given to NCHS that depicts Highway 61 in Rush City in 1955, a watercolor painted by Pastor Ernst Dahle. Several Effie Bornhoft paintings were donated and are hanging in the common room. Other Bornhoft paint-ings are in the library.
We held open meetings at the Rushseba Township Hall on the first Tuesday of each month, and many times we had full rooms of people. Marvel Anderson did an excellent job putting together programs for these meetings, and she will be missed since she has moved. This type of meeting is unique in that many county historical societies don’t have these; many have just an annual business meeting instead.
We still have a lot of items in the two trailers at Carl Henrich’s place, even though a lot of boxes and individu-al items have come to the museum. We have several very large items such as a horse-drawn hearse and a train-sta-tion wagon stored.
We had two fundraisers. These were teas or luncheons that drew over thirty people each time. Each event had a guest speaker/entertainer; one had a master gardener dis-cussing annual flowers and the other had Elvis in the house. Each was profitable and the NCHS thanks Thrivent Finan-cial for their financial assistance in each event.
Tea party in June (from left): Marvel Anderson, Alma and Michas Ohnstad, and Gladys Enzenauer.
Finances did better than anticipated. With an average monthly expense of $400, we came out ahead for the year. We expect the monthly expense to increase to around $500 by mid-summer of this year. And our membership is at ninety-five; membership numbers supposedly were declin-ing over time but they seem stable now. The membership is
made up of sixty percent women and forty percent men. If we can keep the museum and our monthly meetings rele-vant to what you, the member, want to see, then hopefully our membership and donations can increase. If not, then let us know.
Thrivent also financed our High-way 61 T-shirts for sale. The front of the shirts had “Highway 61” and the backs had a listing of participating restaurants located on Highway 61. Their grant pur-chased twenty-two shirts for us and we sold them at $18 for full profit.
We formed a new communications committee that will take care of all advertising on NCHS events with appropri-ate media. And they will put the newsletter together as well.
A new NCHS website was born in December with an address of nchsociety.org. It was revised to make it current and we will try to keep it current. The webmaster will up-date everything for us as we send him the information. The Facebook page will be linked as well.
One newsletter was sent out last summer and one in the fall. None had been sent out since 2008. Feedback was positive for these newsletters so we hope to continue with up to four per year. We now have a member who is able to format newsletters so they will look better. We can thank Plastech Corporation for printing and mailing our newslet-ters. If you have a topic you want covered, or you want to write a historical article, let us know.
We formed a membership committee to work with our treasurer to keep the membership list up to date and help with any mailings we need. At times, this committee will need to work with the communications committee.
The museum needs better interior lighting, window improvements, and exterior siding repair and painting. We have applied for a Rush City Economic Development loan/grant, and it may be mid-year before we can do the im-provements if we are approved for program funds. We did get preliminary approval to continue with the application.
In the end, the first statement above is not correct. It isn’t really about the numbers. It is about preserving our ideas and the items around us that have given us comfort over time. It is reminiscing the good times and even the heartaches of our lives and our friends and loved ones. We hope to be able to accomplish some of this.
If you want to advise us of your ideas for the museum or society and haven’t had the chance, send a note to P.O. Box 556. Hopefully, you will be glad you did. s
Larry Hendrick lives in Rush City. He is vice president of NCHS.
WINTER 2016 7
Use AmazonSmile to Help Fund NCHSWhat is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile. amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as ama-zon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million or-ganizations to support.
How do I select a charitable organization to support when shopping on AmazonSmile?
On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), you need to select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shop-ping. Select North Chisago Historical Society. Amazon will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
How do I shop at AmazonSmile?To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.
com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. You may also want to add a bookmark to smile. amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile.
How much of my purchase does Amazon donate?The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5 percent
of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile pur-chases. The purchase price is the amount paid for the item minus any rebates and excluding shipping and handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes, or service charges. From time to time they may offer special promotions that increase the donation amount on one or more products or services, or provide for additional donations to charitable organiza-tions. Special terms and restrictions may apply.
For more information on Amazon Smile, go to smile.amazon.com and select About AmazonSmile. s
RRepresentatives from the North Chisago Historical Society spent a memorable day touring the Pine County Historical Society Museum on Thursday, March 31. Arla Budd, director of the PCHS Museum, led the tour of the 50,000-square-foot old high school on H.C. Andersen Alle in Askov, Minnesota.
The group enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Little Mermaid Cafe on-site, while Kathy Bade, project director, discussed some of the management aspects of the muse-um, including taking an inventory of their vast collection. Favorite exhibits included the model train, doll, machine and lumber rooms. Dave Schroeder and Larry Hendrick organized the trip using the First Lutheran Church bus for transportation from Rush City. s
From left: Larry Hendrick, Vern and Cindy Koepp, Marlin Gregerson, Carl and Bev Heinrich, Seneda Deming, Marian Eklund, Lavonne Foster, Nancy and Dave Schroeder, Marvin Hedberg, and Harvey Johnson. Not pictured but who also went on the trip were Ilene and Bruce Holmberg and Lynn Hansen.
An Enjoyable DayVisiting Pine County
8 NORTH CHISAGO HISTORIAN
