One hundred year of old NEWS

Whoa, I already have an exciting file of interesting stuff we've found in the Little Falls newspapers from 1893 to about 1932.  For instance, did you realize that Little Falls hosted Chautauquas?  "The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day".  They were the TED talks of those years.
And remember John Heach who was written up in the Pierz Journal in 1914-15?  He was known around Pierz as a vagabond, an eccentric fix-it guy who preferred to sleep in peoples' barns.  Well LOOK what Larry found from November, 1899--John wasn't destitute after all, unless he blew thru $23,000 in 15 years, which is, I suppose, possible.  

 Here's the announcement of the birth of Dad's older sister Mary Louise, the baby who died before he was born.  She died when she was a year old, January 1911.

 "Joe Hortsch, Jr., cut his foot quite badly last week while cutting wood at home.  The foot part would not be so bad, but a brand new rubber is gone too."

 No, Little Falls wasn't a big town in 1900, except by rural Minnesota standards.  5,774 people was big enough that you didn't know everybody.  It had grown a lot in 3 years, and St Cloud was only about 3,000 people larger.
Little Falls showed "every indication of still greater growth in the immediate future."

And here's the obituary of Louisa (Rausch) Sand, grandma's mom.  She died at the end of 1921 at the home of her daughter, Vernie Wintermeyer, in St Cloud.  Mike Sand lived until 1931, in Buckman.

There are a couple glaring mistakes here, like Sr Teresita, not Ccriza, and John Sand and Mrs Anton Hesch of Buckman, not John Anton Hess.

We figure a more concise obit was published in the PJ, but so far 1921 isn't online.  We'll see, eventually.
















This ad for the 1916 Minnesota State Fair caught my eye cuz it's so....different.  It looks military, with those wings and gears  and psudo-helmet at the top.  Makes me wonder if they had a competition back then too, for the design of the posters and logo.  If not, we should remember that this was right before we got into WWI, and everyone knew we were gearing up for it.  The thought of 3,000,000 square feet of labor saving devices for home, factory and farm IS daunting.  But then, it's still what's shown at the fair ☺.

Ok, this is just a small sample, the first installment,  of what we've found.  Stay tuned for a Mike Sand story about a missing Grittner boy, and why Genola decided against calling itself Grainville, and a few wedding announcements of people you'll recognize, and a birthday party mom attended when she was five....good stuff!