AN ACT OF GOD?

Generally, the Norseland Community has been “dry”. However, at one time (perhaps during the 1930’s) a tavern was opened and operated for a time. At least one current resident was able to make an underage purchase of a case of beer at said tavern. According to Jerry Johnson, the pastor at Scandian Grove Lutheran Church was not thrilled that there was a tavern in the community. Jerry Johnson said, “our preacher preached about closing (it) and how happy he as that it melted into the dust.” The tavern burned to the ground when the sawdust used to keep the ice ignited from spontaneous combustion. Could it have been an Act of God? Find out who was able to buy the case of beer and other good stuff when our book is published. Remember History Matters!

Rural Youth Have Aged

In 1960, the Rural Youth Group in Nicollet County was changing. The young single people who made up the group were getting married! What to do? What to do? Why not start a young married couples group? Good Idea!!!!!
With the help of Fred Wetherill, County Agent, the Nicollet County Young Couple's Club was born. Now, 48 years later, we are still a couple's club - even though we are not young! We have taken the word "young" out of our name - but we are still young in other ways. How you ask?
We probably hold the record for the group that has attended the most Syttende Mai events at Hanska. That would be 18 years that our group has laughed at those Norwegians.
We have held Halloween Costume parties; gone roller skating; taken mystery trips; held hay rides, progressive dinners, fondue parties and more. We like history and we have seem many historic sites and learned much about the people who settled our area. Read more about our group in the book in progress. REMEMBER HISTORY MATTERS! end

New Sweden township history

In the 1890’s the township started graveling roads. The town purchased several gravel pits, and the graveling was done by men who had been assessed one or more days of work on the road.

An interesting entry from the annual meeting of 1898 reads as follows:

“on motion it was resolved that no one whatsoever shall be allowed to enter upon the public highway with their plows for the purpose of using said highway to scour their plows, nor for any other purpose, both before and after said highway has been graded”.

An entry from the annual meeting of March 10, 1914 reads, “on motion it was resolved to pay 20 cents an hour for man and 20 cents an hour for a team of horses or mules for road labor.”end

Tell Us Your Story

The committee is looking for your story to publish in our book. Our members are doing research - but we need your help to get the "good stuff" that only you community members know about. Our research is limited to what was printed in local newspapers and some documented histories of families and organizations. A lot of you folks who live in other areas grew up here and have many good memories and stories of happenings that did not make the local paper!
Please take a moment and jot down your accounting and send it to our Google mail box at norseland150@gmail.com or make a comment on this blog and we will use your story in our history book. Thanks for your help! And remember, History Matters! end

LEFSE BY MARY

Ole and Mary Olmanson were Norseland residents. Ole-1876-1968; Mary 1881-1964. Mary was famous for baking Lefse. In 1959, she was featured in a Mankato Free Press article and was quoted as follows: "I have made about 32,000 lefse in my lifetime!"

That's a lot of lefse! Ole said that the secret was to wait for the potato, shortening, sugar, and salt mixture to cool before adding the flour. Read more about lefse in our Norseland History book, entitled "Norseland: Where the Big Woods Meets the Prairie". Remember, History Matters! end

150th Anniversary Logo

Grasshopper Plague

The pioneers in the Norseland Area were attacked by grasshoppers during the years of 1874-1877. The worst year was 1875. During that year, Nicollet County reported 5,000 acres of damage. During this plague, the state of Minnesota allowed counties to offer a bounty on all grasshoppers caught and destroyed. The price paid by the Nicollet County Auditor was from three to ten cents a bushel. Read a full account of the plague in our coming book. Find out which Nicollet County farmer caught 633 bushels of them. Learn about the cottage industry that developed as local entrepreneurs built "hopperdozers" to trap the locusts. Remember, "History Matters!" end