New Pierz, Minnesota in 1910

 New Pierz, as far as we can tell, was named because Pierz itself couldn't decide where a depot should go.  The  Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (Soo line) got tired of the dispute and simply built the tracks south of the village of Pierz.
However, New Pierz/Genola was never a pretty town ☺

Larry found this "postcard" for sale on ebay (tho it looks more like a newspaper print).  The photo was taken from the NE, looking SW.  Besides the depot and elevators, the hotel is the most identifiable building.  

Here's a closer pic from the Morrison County Atlas, to compare with the new old pic Larry found.   The historic airphoto from the Minnesota DNR shows where the photographer stood to take that pic.  Obsessive is obsessive.

Genola in 1940

Travel, Blow snakes and Karo syrup

The Andersons probably went by way of St Cloud, making the trip 132 miles instead of 103 miles and an hour and 49 minutes now.   

 The western hognose snake (puff adder or blow snake) is primarily diurnal. If threatened (or perceiving a threat), it may flatten its neck (much like a cobra), hiss, and make mock strikes...Although it is more common that they will flatten their heads out, some individuals may puff up, filling their throats with air. This is more common with adolescent males.

Oh yeah, I was sure this was a pull-yer-leg story, but just for fun I googled "blow snake"--and, wow, there really is/WAS such a thing.  (With snakes, you react first, talk later).  There may have been a small benefit in seeing one if it meant your friends plying you with liquor as a cure, too. "...the snake blew it's poison into his face and poisoned him" was enough, even if there was no poison.

 Wonder if the side track in Elk River ever materialized?  Who knew there were mineral springs there? Stranger things have happened; it was an age of possibilities and mineral water was mineral water, right?

 Wow, just think--Paul's wife Mary (Otremba) Hesch came here when she was 12, and now, at 57, she went to see the big ships.  Course, this may have had something to do with Math & Ted talking about going to Europe (they did the following spring), and maybe Mary wanted to see for herself whether or not the were safer now.

What an odd ad, huh?  Corn syrup was better than honey?  But maybe honey was considered poor man's sugar, where Karo was manufactured.  

This next article blew us away.  We thought "Live long and prosper" was Star Trek...but no--actually, it was used to wish a happy life to newlyweds too.

(Everything old, etc)

Why was scarlet fever so scary?

From the Pierz Journal (and probably loads of other rural newspapers), February 24, 1910:

"REGULATIONS REGARDING SCARLET FEVER

Since a few complaints have been made because the town board allows members of families in which scarlet fever exists, to be about the village, the supervisors have concluded to publish the following regulations adopted by the State Board of Health:

   1.  The local health officer shall forbid by notices posted upon the entrances to premises where a patient is sick with scarlet fever, any persons except the attending physician, health officer, sanitary inspector, or, in case of death, a licensed embalmer, from going to or leaving such premises without his permission, or the carrying of or causing to be carried, any material whereby such disease may be conveyed, until after the disease has abated and the premises, dwelling and clothing have been rendered free from danger by means of such disinfection and cleansing as the State board of Health may direct.  A quarantine card must give the name of the disease and the regulations set forth above.

   2.  The danger of transmitting scarlet fever by a second to a third person being slight when reasonable precautions are taken, the local health officer may permit those who do not have the direct care of the patient or patients to leave the premises in order to attend to their regular duties except when such individuals are associated with children away from the quarantined house.  This applies to teachers or school children in the quarantined house and must exclude such from attending school--public, private, parochial or church--while their home is under quarantine. The patient or patients, and those having charge of same, must be under rigid quarantine as directed in regulation 1".

Scarlet fever (also called scarlatina in an effort to make it sound less scary), was/is caused by the same streptococcus bacteria that causes strep throat. The bacteria "produces a toxin that leads to the hallmark red rash of the illness".  "The time between becoming infected and having symptoms is short, generally 1 - 2 days. The illness typically begins with a fever and sore throat", and most often strikes children hardest.

"The rash usually first appears on the neck and chest, then spreads over the body. It is described as "sandpapery" in feel. The rash can last for more than a week. These days, antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria that causes the throat infection. This is crucial to prevent rheumatic fever, a serious complication of strep throat and scarlet fever".

Ahh, rheumatic fever.  Was that the horror before there were antibiotics?  It's what mom's only sister died from, at 21, in 1938 (Loretta Janson).

No,read this from Scienceblogs:

"Simply hearing the name of this disease, and knowing that it was present in the community, was enough to strike fear into the hearts of those living in Victorian-era United States and Europe. This disease, even when not deadly, caused large amounts of suffering to those infected. In the worst cases, all of a family’s children were killed in a matter of a week or two. Indeed, up until early in the 20th century, scarlet fever was a common condition among children. The disease was so common that it was a central part of the popular children’s tale, The Velveteen Rabbit, written by Margery Williams in 1922..."

"From 1840 until 1883, scarlet fever became one of the most common infectious childhood disease to cause death in most of the major metropolitan centers of Europe and the United States, with case fatality rates that reached or exceeded 30% in some areas–eclipsing even measles, diphtheria  and pertussis".   

No wonder then.  Think of the soul-searching when a kid came down with it: WHO had s/he been playing with yesterday?  Did someone bring the germ when they visited?  Would the whole school or church get it?  It must have been horrible if your childen had it, and also horrible if they didn't.  No wonder people worried about who might be carrying it and demanding a ruling on who could be on the street or in the stores.

New Pierz

It's really fun when a pic like this from one of the atlases coincides with a news item(s) we found in the Pierz Journal.  This particular instance needs a little background, tho:  Originally there was a town named Rich Prairie, which eventually became Pierz in honor of Fr Pierz, the priest.  

The towns' people evidently differentiated the north end (Upper Town) from the south end (Lower Town).  When the Soo Line railroad came thru south of town, they called the depot area "New Pierz", which, by 1910, became Genola.

We also know that John Schmolke built a store across from the depot...or was it Frank Otremba...or Peter Mueller?  

The mystery I found that got us started on Genola was a blurb in the PJ about broken windows in the new building.  After that, every mention of Genola businesses seemed like the SAME building. We still don't know, but it looks like we only have six buildings to choose from in the pic (and no, the business district never grew much beyond this.  The depot photo was directly across the road from these few stores. just so ya know ☺).

Promoting Center Valley, Mn

Back in June 2012, we did a post on Theo Billmeyer, the main promoter of a place called Center Valley.  Evidently, Theo had some big ideas about the marvelous-ness of this little valley 7 miles east of Pierz, Mn.
As we found more and more articles in the Pierz Journal reporting on Theo Billmeyer's efforts, we realized that they were poking fun at him.  Here they were in Pierz, a well established town, and there was Center Valley, where nothing was happening at all.  A store, a creamery and a Soo line spur, nothing more.  

But then, I think postmaster Theo was also the Center Valley reporter to the PJ, and he often poked fun at himself....good for him!

A little Church history from 1910

When Larry found the confirmation celebration postcard sent from Pierz in 1911, Su over in GB saw it and remembered a very similar occasion that took place in Schamers, Bohemia, in--wow, 1910!  She'd read about it when she translated the town chronicles (Schamers Commemorative Book) written by Herr Schimeczek.

 "The event in Pierz and the one in Schamers happened within a year of each other and seem remarkably similar; note the common themes of the mass confirmation and the triumphal arch"!

Here's the first part of her quick translation:

"On 19 June 1910 was held in the local church, the general visitation held by Bishop Joseph Anton Hulke from Budweis.  
On this occasion, the bishop gave 246 believers the sacrament of confirmation, and held in the school with the children the religion test from. 
  The bishop in honor paid the community a forming with matching hearty welcome provided Triumphal Arch, in which he of the community representatives of the parish, the local School board Schamers, from school children and the teaching staff schools Schamers, Neustift and Heumoth and Weissenbach, and numerous popular assembly festive greetings was received. 
  The community representative and the School Board drove the bishop via the municipal boundary to meet the upper tree garden [could be the village of Oberbaumgarten] and accompanied him on the clock at 5 in the afternoon departure to Neubistritz made to Grambacher Kreunze".
----------------------------------------
Right away, we thought about "Year of" declarations by the Vatican--Year of the Priest, Year of Atonement, Year of Repentance--or, maybe 1910 was a Jubilee year:
"In Judaism and Christianity, the concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fiftieth year, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest".
VIA
But no...1910 doesn't seem to have been a special liturgical year...so what else was going on?  Aha, Larry to the rescue again, from a different perspective:

"...much of the first thousand years of the history of the Church, all three sacraments of initiation—baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist—were bestowed in the same liturgy, even for infants. To this day, this continues to be the practice for Eastern Catholics.

But in the Middle Ages, the time for first reception of Communion in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church was gradually moved to the teenage years. This was done in large part because of the perceived need for a clear understanding of the sacrament before its reception.

This practice continued into the first years of the 20th century until Pope St. Pius X in 1910 allowed for first Communion to be celebrated at an earlier age".

Right, but that's concerning First Communion, not Confirmation, and besides, we know that Buckman, at least, kept the tradition of First Communion at 12 for a good long time after the pope's declaration (see the photo of mom at 5 and her 12-year-old cousin Adela Brandl about 1920, above).  

So things were changing among Catholics--but we still have questions: what prompted such a huge class of confirmants in 1910 in at least 2 parishes that were 4,600 miles apart?  How come both celebrations were so over-the-top that they invited a bevy of clergy, erected arches to decorate the town, and had a brass-band-and-horses parade?  Confirmations are generally not THAT big a deal.  Oh, and besides, where did Pierz FIND 245 un-confirmed souls, anyway? 

Never fear--we'll keep researching!

Wonder who won...

Wouldn't it be fun to know which Pierz girl won "this beautiful doll" 102 years ago this week?  Funny that F.X. offered it but would have nothing to do with the raffle.  Would that make it fairer?

The Minnesota State Fair, 100 years ago

So I have these cool ads from the Pierz Journal touting the state fair.  I can't wait till NEXT Fall to post them, so here they are, about 102 years, and a few days, late. Deal.

Ok, by contrast, these are from 2 weeks ago!

 Yup, a deep fried Snickers bar being appreciated by our NYC Hesch, Kathy's daud Laurel.

 My favorite stop at the fair.  We went occasionally as a family 50 years ago--first Machinery Hill, then ALL the MILK YOU CAN DRINK booth!  I think it was free.  There was a tanker truck backed up to a covered serving table and hundreds of wax paper cups.  It was heaven.  Even with the wasps.
Scott and Josie, about to go back for more!

And here's the next generation of family fair goers, encouraged by the most devoted 'goer' among us, Marion.  Josie got to meet Princess Kay of the Milky Way, a REAL princess!

"I'll call ya!"

I remember when calling Buckman from Sauk Rapids was a sort of game that depended on who you knew in between.  We could call Rice for free, Rice could call Royalton for free, and Royalton could call Buckman. Once the end person was reached, the process went in reverse...and people actually did this for each other.  A phone call directly to Aunt Jeanette might cost a whole dollar. Yikes!

But that's not what this post is about ☺.  
I've been finding announcements in the early Pierz Journals regarding early telephone service around there.  Thought you'd be interested!
(OK, so at least PRETEND to be ☺ ).