Preston

9780738532363

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Nestled in a lush valley along the banks of the Root River, Preston, Minnesota, is ideally located at the geographic center of Fillmore County. The earliest settlers found the area rich with everything they needed to build a community: timber, building stone, water power, and fertile soils. By 1860, Preston was a bustling business and government center in the heart of the most populous county in Minnesota. With rare and vintage photographs culled from the collection of the Fillmore County History Center, as well as from the albums and scrapbooks of many local residents, this book brings together nearly 200 images of Preston and its environs.

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Candyland in the Twin Cities

9781626193635

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When Candyland opened its doors in downtown St. Paul in 1932, it was called Flavo Korn and sold mainly popcorn to office workers and the throngs that lined up outside the many sparkling downtown movie palaces. Streetcars plied the brick-paved streets before giving way to buses, and the corner of Wabasha and Seventh Streets was considered the heart of St. Paul and the city's own movie row. The movie theaters and streetcars are long gone, but over the years, Candyland has survived momentous social change and urban revitalization efforts to become a destination for generations of visitors lured by the store's signature popcorn blends and delectable homemade chocolates and fudge.

Cover image for Candyland in the Twin Cities, isbn: 9781626193635

Spring Grove

9780738519494

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Spring Grove: Minnesota's First Norwegian Settlement is a tribute to the state's earliest Norwegian emigrants, and to generations of Norwegian Americans who have made this small farming community amongst deep valleys, fjord-like bluffs, and winding streams their true vesterheim. It is a tale told through striking historic photographs, many previously unreleased, and personal narratives, often humorous and always insightful.

The area was first settled in the 1850s by pioneers like James Smith, who, inspired by the landscape, named the place Spring Grove. Smith was followed by the likes of "Big" Ole Gulbransgutton, who chased crooked land surveyors out of town with his bare fist; by the innovative Mons Fladager, whose business acumen earned him the title of "Father of Spring Grove"; and by the 20th-century cartoonist Peter J. Rosendahl, whose work gave a comical voice to the challenges of cultural assimilation. Spring Grove: Minnesota's First Norwegian Settlement also conveys the universality of the Norwegian immigrant experience, and anyone with Norwegian roots who desires to learn more about their ancestors will find it an enjoyable read.

The Ghostly Tales of the Twin Cities

9781467196086

$12.99 $9.74 Save 25%

Ghost stories from the Twin Cities have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to the spooky Twin Cities!

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know that St. Paul's Wabasha Street Caves are haunted? Or that at the historic St. Paul theater, spirits sometimes take center stage? Can you believe the Minneapolis Institute of Art is not only home to incredible art . . . but unforgettable ghosts?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see the Twin Cities forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!

Cover image for The Ghostly Tales of the Twin Cities, isbn: 9781467196086

Wabasha County

9780738500546

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Wabasha County captures the spirit of a region and its people through rare historic photographs, many of which are previously unpublished. A truly multicultural community, Wabasha County has been home to residents of Canadian, French, English, Irish, Native American, and German origin. The earliest known pioneers, Augustine Rocque and his family, became the first white people to occupy a year-round residence in Minnesota in 1826. Within these pages, discover the people and events that have shaped Wabasha County's history over the past 170 years. Wabasha County was named after the great chief Wabashaw II. Many aspects of Wabasha's heritage are featured here, including the dewakanton Band of the Dakotas, riverboats of the Mississippi, pioneers and their descendants, and buildings throughout the area. Author Judith Giem Elliott has produced a volume that truly reflects the value Wabasha County's residents place upon their rich and colorful history.

Legendary Locals of Crookston

9781467101578

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Crookston is in the heart of the fertile Red River Valley. Railroad baron James J. Hill positioned the city to be a hub of transportation, so Civil War veterans and railroad workers settled Crookston first. At Hill's behest, a long tradition of learning how to "farm smart" started with the Northwest School of Agriculture in 1906. Facing a short growing season, farmers stayed close to the soil and invented better implements to harvest the area's bounty. The tradition of improving technology continues from the century-old practices begun at the Experiment Station. Currently, precision agriculture is taught at the University of Minnesota, Crookston's "laptop university." Familiar family names from Crookston's retail sector have prevailed throughout the farmers' cycle of boom and bust. Many other talented personalities shine through, especially those skilled in sports and music. Also included in this volume are unsung heroes for their acts of kindness and volunteerism.

Robbinsdale

9781467111614

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Robbinsdale was named for entrepreneur, politician, and real estate developer Andrew B. Robbins. While serving in the Minnesota State Senate, Robbins often passed through the area just north of Minneapolis by train. Impressed by the landscape, he purchased 90 acres of rolling hills and lakes. In 1887, he platted a tract called Robbinsdale Park. Five years later, the development was incorporated as a village bearing his name. Robbins worked tirelessly to attract residents, business, and industry. When the transit company refused to extend a streetcar line to the area, he built his own. City dwellers came out in droves to enjoy hunting, fishing, boating, and the bathing beaches on Robbinsdale's lakes. In the 1920s, the village gained notoriety with every new issue of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang. Created by local veteran Wilford Hamilton Fawcett, the little humor magazine launched a publishing empire. Along with the rest of the country, Robbinsdale grew up in the 20th century, but the first suburb of Minneapolis still feels like the small town Andrew B. Robbins dreamed up more than a century ago.

Crookston

9781467110150

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Crookston was first settled in 1872, organized in 1876, and incorporated in 1879. By 1880, the enterprising young town known as the "Queen City of the Northwest" had 1,500 inhabitants. Its location on the Red Lake River and in the fertile Red River Valley secured its tenure as the Polk County seat. Crookston first served the northwest as a trading center, then as a grain shipping point, a lumbering center with large sawmills, a brewery and liquor distribution base, and a railroad hub with terminal facilities, a roundhouse, and office headquarters. It was also a banking center of the prospering northwest. By 1915, Crookston's population of over 8,000 people made it the 14th-most-populated city in Minnesota.

Shoreview, Minnesota

9780738518602

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This fascinating pictorial history arrives as the City of Shoreview marks its 45th anniversary of incorporation. In over 200 historic photographs, Verna Rusler tracks the area's development, from its roots as a farming community and recreational area to today's bustling city. During the early 1800s, the area now known as Shoreview was part of the Indian Territory. By 1850, Samuel Eaton and the aptly named Socrates Thompson philosophized that the Shoreview area would make for an ideal land claim. More than one hundred years later, residents voted to incorporate as a village, with the first mayor being Kenneth Hanold. Shortly thereafter, it became a city. Shoreview includes images of familiar lost landmarks, from the summer cottages and farms that formerly dotted the shores of the community's lakes and ponds, to the Snail Lake Tavern, where Chicago gangsters mixed with local residents.

Northern Pine County

9780738583440

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Featuring over 210 historical photographs, Images of America: Northern Pine County guides readers on an exciting journey into the past as it explores the successes and sorrows as well as the joys and trials of the people of northern Pine County, Minnesota. Each chapter examines a unique aspect of their daily lives. Readers meet loggers and settlers from the county's earliest days, catch a glimpse of many towns and villages, and encounter a variety of industries, businesses, schools, and churches that shaped the area's economic and social landscapes. Life was not easy for the people who called northern Pine County home. On September 1, 1894, and again on October 12, 1918, forest fires devastated portions of the county, killing hundreds, destroying thousands of acres, and leaving countless residents homeless. While photographs cannot capture the heartache of fire victims, they do provide a window into northern Pine County's rich history and help tell the fascinating stories of its residents.

Lyn-Lake

9780738583310

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The Lyn-Lake area of Minneapolis, centered around the intersection of Lyndale Avenue and West Lake Street, is one of the city's most distinctive neighborhoods. The core commercial district is one of the oldest in South Minneapolis, thanks in part to its strategic location along several early streetcar lines. A rail line along Twenty-ninth Street, now the Midtown Greenway, brought an industrial element to the neighborhood and provided additional jobs for the thousands of residents who lived in the surrounding houses and apartment buildings. As the neighborhood evolved, it took on a distinctive bohemian bent and filled with a diverse mix of artists, musicians, and writers living side by side with blue-collar industrial workers, along with those who worked at professional office jobs downtown. Lyn-Lake retains its unique flavor today, characterized by its blend of both the historical and the cutting edge.

Faribault Woolen Mill:

9781467117937

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The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats: 1882-1962

9780738519869

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Beginning in 1882, many Russian and Eastern-European Jews who fled to the United States settled in the "West Side Flats" in St. Paul, Minnesota. The area once stretched from the banks of the Mississippi River to the cliffs of the West Side Hills, about 320 acres in all, but has since fallen victim to the vagaries of the mighty river and the progress of "urban renewal." The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats: 1882-1962 takes the reader on a pictorial tour down memory lane. The families, houses, businesses, streets, and synagogues-all vanished now-are brought back to life through vintage photographs from the archives of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the private collections of many former residents. This is a memoir of a historic neighborhood that can no longer be visited.

The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats: 1882-1962

Ewald Bros. Dairy

9781467126847

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For nearly 100 years, the Ewald family has been associated with delivering the world's finest milk to families of Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. In 1886, the 16-year-old Chris Ewald, who had recently emigrated from Denmark with his widowed mother and siblings, secured a position on a milk route to help pay his family's expenses. Chris eventually purchased the milk route, which is now marked as the beginning of the dairy. Ewald Bros. grew by continuous expansion on the merits of quality dairy products, customer service, and loyalty, eventually becoming the largest home-delivery dairy operation in Minneapolis. With nearly 300 employees, Ewald Bros. quickly became one of the city's largest employers. Formerly located in North Minneapolis, the company was well recognized for its large two-story creamery covering two city blocks and its bright-yellow milk trucks.

Blue Earth County, Minnesota

9780738508306

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The first white settlers came to what is now Blue Earth County in 1852, and discovered an abundance of rich land, streams, rivers, and lakes for survival in southern Minnesota. Showcasing photographs from the area's first 70 years, the Blue Earth County Historical Society has compiled over 200 images of the lifestyles and advancements of its earliest settlers.

The pioneers of Blue Earth County recognized the potential for success at the bend in the Minnesota River, and forged a vibrant community out of the big woods and prairies of southern Minnesota. Pictured here are the fruits of those settlers' labors, seen in vintage images from the townships of Blue Earth County, including life on the farms and in the towns.

Rock County

9781467111386

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Rock County, located in the southwest corner of Minnesota, is proud to share its history through a pictorial journey of settlement, growth, and development. The county is, and has always been, an agricultural community. One of its outstanding features is the Sioux Quartzite cliff line visible to settlers who moved in or came through the area as well as today's residents and visitors. The cliff line is 120 feet high and stretches for about two miles. It was formed through the early glacier period and travels northwest through Rock County, past the South Dakota border, before going back underground. The rock was quarried and used in many of the homes and businesses in Luverne and other Rock County communities.

Around Clearwater

9781467116596

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Burrowed below bluffs overlooking the Mississippi and Clearwater Rivers, Clearwater's houses, its churches, and most of its original businesses resemble those that settlers had left behind in the East. With its arch-like trees sheltering Oak and Main Streets, the community remained home to many who lived and died there and those who had moved on only to return for yearly Old Settlers' gatherings. This sense of community allowed Clearwater to thrive. Flour and pulp mills lined the shores of the Clearwater River. Mercantile, hardware, jewelry, and drug stores cropped up, providing the products for a growing community. Trade once powered by steamboats on the Mississippi was taken over by James Hill's Great Northern Railroad. While the village and surroundings have changed over time, the original charm is still there, ready to be explored again.

Cover image for Around Clearwater, isbn: 9781467116596

Rochester

9780738531502

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In 1869 The Minnesota Guide summed up Rochester, Minnesota as a fine business point. Today Rochester is not only a fine business point but also a world-class medical center, a technology town, and a city of such favorable charms and amenities that it has been repeatedly recognized as the best place to live in America. The story of Rochester's journey from frontier crossroads to international destination is found in Rochester, Minnesota. With nearly 200 photographs and insightful commentary that help preserve the city's rich history, this book is a tribute to the individuals and institutions that gave rise to this classic Midwestern city. The homesteaders of the 19th century, the founders of Rochester's tradition of medical excellence, and many of the enterprises that contributed to Rochester's growth are remembered here.

Cover image for Rochester, isbn: 9780738531502

Jewish Pioneers of St. Paul

9780738518626

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The roots of the Jewish community of St. Paul, MN, were established in 1849, with the arrival of two American-born brothers from Pennsylvania. From these early pioneers the community grew and spread. Through the medium of historic photographs and stories, this book captures the remarkable evolution of the Jewish people of St. Paul. It is a story of the cultural, religious, economic, and everyday life of St. Paul Jews.

These pages bring to life the people, events, neighborhoods, and institutions that helped shape and transform today's Jewish community. These photographs, derived from the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Ramsey County Historical Society, paint a poignant and vivid picture of Jewish life in St. Paul. In addition to recalling the establishment of Mt. Zion and Sons of Jacob, the first two major synagogues in St. Paul, this book displays the distinct impact that prominent Jews of the community, such as Abram Elfelt, Judge Isaac N. Cardozo, and Isador Rose, had on the shaping of St. Paul.

Moorhead

9780738533025

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Moorhead, Minnesota, was founded in 1872 as a major stop on the Northern Pacific Railroad during its push toward the Pacific Ocean. The town grew to prominence in western Minnesota because of its location at the intersection of the rail line and the commercially important Red River of the North. Garnering an unenviable reputation in its early years as a wide-open town, dominated by its saloons, Moorhead subsequently developed as an important rural service center. Tracing the history of Moorhead from its founding in 1872 to the present day, the images in this volume reveal the experiences of this small Midwestern community within a framework of change and continuity.

Rochester

9780738551944

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Rochester has grown and changed incredibly since it was chartered as a city in 1858. Many of the places depicted in this book either no longer exist or have changed significantly. Despite these changes, Rochester retains its small-town welcomeness. Using vintage postcards, this book tells the story of the development of a remarkable community. Whether readers have lived in Rochester all of their lives or are first-time visitors, this book is a fascinating look back into a unique history.

Martin County

9780738577210

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When the first settlers arrived in Martin County in March 1856, the county was part of Brown and Faribault Counties. Perhaps these settlers heard the stories told by soldiers who passed through the region. They spoke of the many lakes and streams of clear water and abundant fish and waterfowl, ever-popular fur-bearing mammals, and timber stands where elk, deer, and buffalo foraged. Word spread fast, and by the winter of 1856-1857, the population of Martin County exploded to 20 men, 9 women, and 23 children. Martin County provides a visual record of the many cities in the county, from Dunnell to Truman and back down to East Chain and all the rest in between. There are photographs of the blizzard of 1881, a 1918 Red Cross auction, men balancing on telephone poles, and much more.

Enfield

9780738523095

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The area of Silver Creek Township was settled in the 1850s by Swedish immigrants who left their ancestral home to face the challenges of life in the new world. They cleared the land and developed a prosperous farming community, which they named Enfield when a post office was established in 1910. Enfield was a booming farm community in the early part of the 20th century, with schools, churches, a potato warehouse, a cheese factory, and its own baseball team. The rural farm community thrived for a century, but now the farming way of life has given way to a residential bedroom community for nearby Minneapolis. Those first homesteaders are long gone, but their legacy lives on, and many of their descendants continue to live and work in the community.

Breezy Point

9781467114882

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In 1919, Wilford Hamilton Fawcett, better known as Captain Billy, published the first issue of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang. Filled with jokes and cartoons, the little magazine made a fortune for Fawcett. In 1921, he purchased 80 acres on the shore of Big Pelican Lake near Brainerd, Minnesota, and built a bluff-top village of cabins. The following year, as Fawcett Publications brought out True Confessions magazine, construction began on the Breezy Point Lodge. This magnificent log structure featured a ballroom, casino, billiard room, and bowling alley. After Fawcett's untimely death in 1940, the resort was closed until the end of World War II. When Breezy Point reopened, Minnesota families returned in droves. After a fire destroyed the main lodge in 1959, Breezy Point was rebuilt and reimagined by Hollywood entertainer Ginny Simms. The legendary resort has grown and changed over the years, but Fawcett's vision and adventurous spirit are still soaring above Big Pelican Lake and the piney woods of Breezy Point.

Long Prairie

9781467129039

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The area known today as Long Prairie was once the battleground of the Sioux and Chippewa Native American tribes. With the arrival of the US government–established Winnebago Agency in 1845, Long Prairie became the first white settlement in what became Todd County. Approximately 700 Winnebagos and 150 buildings were located here. Since those days, town roads have been cut from the sloping hillsides, straightened, and leveled. The river traffic succumbed to the power of the railroad. The addition of a stunning courthouse in 1883, overlooking the townsite, has greeted families and visitors for generations. The historic main street, lovingly built by the founding members, has given Long Prairie that comforting sense of place that only small towns seem to have. Long Prairie, home to generations of people, has seen many changes.

Cover image for Long Prairie, isbn: 9781467129039

Milwaukee Avenue

9781626194342

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In the 1970s, a politically savvy and hardworking neighborhood organization, the Seward West Project Area Committee (PAC), outmaneuvered a public agency's renewal plan to demolish approximately 70 percent of a historic neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Demolition would have included all the houses on Milwaukee Avenue, a half-hidden, very narrow two-block-long street flanked by small brick houses. Built in the 1880s, many of these houses were the very first homes in Minneapolis. Milwaukee Avenue offers a unique presentation of determined citizens saving their neighborhood in a decade that changed history.

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Central Minnesota Beer

9781467142236

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Central Minnesota Beer unfolds the history of the region's bountiful beers--from its storied past to its illustrious present.

German immigrants settling in Central Minnesota in the early 1800s built a thriving brewing culture. While Prohibition destroyed these early beer empires--like the St. Cloud Brewing Company and New Munich's Pitzl Brewing--the Cold Spring Brewing Company survived various reincarnations and financial crises to brew continually at the same spot since 1874.In recent years, the craft beer boom added medals and new chapters to a saga that includes Prohibition brawls, a New Deal project, the famous Billy Beer, Elvira's personal brand and a multistate brewpub chain. The rise of taproom culture throughout the region has given new identities to St. Cloud, St. Joseph, Annandale, Big Lake and more. Beer writer Jacob Laxen presents this definitive take on the region's rich brewing history.

Nobles County

9781467124881

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Located in the southwestern corner of Minnesota, Nobles County was first established in 1857. However, a financial panic and concerns about Indian conflicts delayed the area's settlement until the 1870s. Railroad companies had only recently expanded their rail networks to this part of the state. Meanwhile, hundreds of people, including many Civil War veterans, began migrating to the region to make their homestead claims. They were attracted to these virgin prairies by the allure of plentiful land and fertile soil. Other new settlers chose to reside in one of the many small towns that had sprung up around the railroad depots, offering business services and community support to townspeople and the growing farm population. Though there have been changes over time in how people work the land, farming and agriculture-related industries continue to be the major driving forces of the county's economy.

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Twin Cities Prohibition

9781609491277

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Ferret out the haunts and habits of those who kept speakeasy doors oiled and politics crooked in the Twin Cities. If you take a tour of former blind pigs today, you will probably encounter nothing more dangerous than a life-long attraction to the 5-8 Club's Juicy Lucy Burger, but Twin Cities Prohibition will return you to a time when honest reporting like that of Walter Liggett was answered with machine gun fire. Clink glasses with notorious characters such as Kid Cann, Dapper Dan Hogan and Doc Ames, the "Shame of Minneapolis" in Elizabeth Johanneck's raid on this fascinating era of history.

Nordeast Minneapolis

9781626197831

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What began as the boom site for the mid-nineteenth-century Upper Midwest lumber industry quickly grew into the town of St. Anthony. In 1872, St. Anthony was annexed by its neighbor, Minneapolis, but the area retained its identity as Northeast Minneapolis, or Nordeast to future residents. Northeast was an industrial hub that attracted immigrant labor from Eastern Europe and beyond. Because of its diverse labor and cultural institutions and communities, it grew and prospered despite the challenges presented by Prohibition, the Great Depression and World War II. Today, Nordeast embraces its status as a neighborhood where art galleries, independent theaters, live music venues, world-class ethnic restaurants, taprooms and historic churches all exist within mere blocks of one another.

Cover image for Nordeast Minneapolis, isbn: 9781626197831

A Boundary Waters History: Canoeing Across Time

9781596299702

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Teasing out the history of a place celebrated for timelessness--where countless paddle strokes have disappeared into clear waters--requires a sure and attentive hand. Stephen Wilbers's account reaches back to the glaciers that first carved out the Boundary Waters and to the original inhabitants, as well as to generations of wilderness explorers, both past and present. He does so without losing the personal relationship built through a lifetime of pilgrimages (anchored by almost three decades of trips with his father). This story captures the untold broader narrative of the region, as well as a thousand different details sure to be recognized by fellow pilgrims, like the grinding rhythm of a long portage or the loon call that slips into that last moment before sleep.

A Boundary Waters History: Canoeing Across Time

Rochester Stories

9781467149167

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Explore the delightful history of Rochester

Best known for the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, Rochester's rich history holds so much more beyond medical excellence. But why was the world's greatest medical center built virtually in the middle of a corn field in the first place? What happened to the Native Americans in the area? Were there ever bears in Bear Creek? Why are there so many geese at Silver Lake, and how did the Zumbro River get its name? What do the extinction of the dinosaurs and the passenger pigeon have to do with Rochester?

Retired Mayo Clinic doctor and Rochester native Paul Scanlon answers these questions and more in this collection of historic tales from Med City.

Otsego

9780738550718

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Heavily laden with deciduous trees and interspersed with lakes, rivers, ponds, and prairies, the area of Otsego was part of the region known as the Big Woods. Located at the junction of two major waterways, the Mississippi and Crow Rivers, this fertile land attracted its first settlers of European descent in 1852. After only a few short years the land was clear, businesses, schools, and homes were built, and an abundant future in agriculture had begun. The story of Otsego, as told through pictures, newspaper clippings, and the memories of local residents, shares how generations of war heroes, agricultural scientists, and entrepreneurs survived years of hardship to eventually form what is now the youngest city in

Minnesota, having been incorporated in November 1990.

The William Marvy Company of St. Paul

9781626195691

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The William Marvy Company's barber poles, encased swirls of red and blue above a rounded stainless-steel base, hang on street corners around the country. The company began creating the vibrant signposts in St. Paul three generations ago. Modern versions of the bloody rags used by surgeon-barbers in the Middle Ages, barber poles are well-known icons, but the Marvy family story is largely unknown. From his humble beginnings as the son of a Latvian émigré carpenter through the growing pains of his namesake company, Marvy showed business acumen and innovation that culminated with his invention of a shatterproof barber pole, ensuring the company's continued success. From crew cuts and the Beatles up through today, barber poles have remained an easily recognized social constant.

Cover image for The William Marvy Company of St. Paul, isbn: 9781626195691

Legendary Locals of Pine City

9781467101196

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Throughout the history of Pine City, individuals have dreamed, struggled, and created a remarkable place of American culture. Legendary Locals of Pine City represents an amazing mix of talents and activities, sometimes with far-reaching effects. The Pine City story is told here in the faces of its people: the innovators who brought industry and commerce; generous people and institutions who have given back to the community in a variety of ways; participants in Pine City's thriving cultural life embracing a spectrum of interests and enthusiasms; and ordinary people living everyday lives who have done extraordinary things or had remarkable experiences. This book honors such individuals as the renowned Karla Nelsen, the world's most muscular woman; Anna Dickey Olesen, the first woman to break the glass ceiling and run for US Senate; and Shane Bauer's mom, Cindy Hickey, who worked diligently for more than two years to free her son from captivity in Iran, along with many other memorable people.

Cover image for Legendary Locals of Pine City, isbn: 9781467101196

Historic Tales of the Hiawatha Valley

9781467143097

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Adored for its tremendous beauty, the Hiawatha Valley also harbors a rich and varied history. Native Americans settled on the sandy shores of the Mississippi River and gave rise to the legend of Wee-no-nah. Later settlers arrived by steamboat and horse cart to tame the rugged hills and valleys and raise the finest of America’s crops, industries and children. The “gandy dancer” of early railroading drove his spikes, and pickle makers fed the troops in early war efforts. All the while, the Mighty Mississippi beckoned to hardy explorers, Mark Twain among them. Join local author Kent Otto Stever as he blends historic events, places and people with personal reflections on everyday life in the valley.

Cover image for Historic Tales of the Hiawatha Valley, isbn: 9781467143097

Old Frontenac Minnesota

9781596295070

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

The entire village of Old Frontenac is snugly nestled on the National Register for Historic Places--a tribute to the frontier paradise cultivated under the patronage of the Garrard family. With the exception of the modern county road that serves the local residents, all the streets are still unpaved gravel. No streetlights or visible utilities mar the overall impression of an untouched early settlement. No commercial businesses are in the village. As we enter the twenty-first century, the nineteenth-century buildings of Old Frontenac remain virtually untouched by the heavy-handed development that has so recently decimated other historical areas. It is hoped that this little time capsule of Minnesota's architectural history, occupied by preservation-minded owners, will survive.

Old College Street

9781609496142

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Every city has a neighborhood that housed its earliest founders and their successors, an enclave of local power and financial success. For Rochester, Minnesota, this neighborhood is personified by a ten-block stretch of tree-shaded street originally platted in 1855 as West College Street, now designated as 4th Street Southwest. In the span of 150 years, two and sometimes three generations of remarkable buildings have come and gone in this neighborhood. Under the direction of movers and shakers like George Head and Dr. William J. Mayo, the street helped shape the city's architectural legacy and define its purpose. Join architectural historian Ken Allsen on a stroll down this storied street.

Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness

9781609497323

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Canoeing the Boundary Waters Wilderness: A Sawbill Log continues the story of wilderness canoeing begun in A Boundary Waters History: Canoeing Across Time, this time offering historical information about black bear attacks on humans, loon calls and behaviors, lightning strikes on the waters, the experience of a woman going into labor while canoeing with her husband, the sighting of spectacular northern lights, and reflections on the wilderness experience. All the while Wilbers reflects on experiences canoeing with his family. As in the first book, quotes from some of Minnesota's well known wilderness authors appear throughout the manuscript.

Stevens County

9780738540825

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The land area that came to be known as Stevens County was ceded to the United States government by the Dakota Indians in the treaty of the Traverse des Sioux in 1851. Government and railroad exploration parties, Red River Trail oxcarts, and pioneers and missionaries had come through the area long before it was officially ceded or settled. After the Dakota uprising of 1862, the United States government made the decision to put a fort in Dakota Territory. In 1864, Fort Wadsworth, later called Fort Sisseton, was built. Mule teams with supplies for soldiers and Native Americans, and pioneers began traveling in greater numbers across the tallgrass prairies of Stevens County from St. Cloud and into Dakota Territory. Pioneers from many different countries settled in Stevens County to break up the prairie sod and plant wheat and tree claims on their homesteaded land. Grasshoppers, prairie fires, and blizzards tested their determination, but the hardy ones survived to provide for their children's education, organize local governments, and build homes, churches, and businesses.