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Sleepy Eye History, Sleepy Eye, MN (2026)

04/18/2026

Berkner Brothers Baseball Team

Baseball was a very popular sport in Sleepy Eye. There were two baseball teams in town during the summer of 1909. The "Town Team" was managed by Jack Grimes, while Ed and Alfred Berkner sponsored the "Berkner Brothers," team under the management of Owen Sullivan and Clarence Herbert.

Sleepy Eye had quite a reputation for baseball in those days; as many as seven to eight players on the "Town Team" were salaried men. They were picked up from Springfield, St. Peter, Waseca, the Cities, and other places. The Hughes brothers, Mike and Tome, of St. Peter, made up the battery.

The Berkner team, was made up of practically all home town players and in the picture are left to right, front row are George Helget, right field and Pete Fischer, third base. Second row; Al "Cossy" Kent, first base; Barley Thorson, catcher; Roy Bzoskie, pitcher; Richard Blake, centerfield and Nick Eischen, shortstop. Third row: Ed Berkner, one of the owners; Ted Fisher, left-field, Clarence Herbert, manager, Ed Berkner, one of the owners, Alfred Berkner, co-owner, Owen Sullivan, manager, Luke Schmidt, as utility.

Before signing up on the Berkner Brothers team Peter Fisher was the star third basemen on the "Town Team" and was considered one of the best players for that position in this part of the state. Managers of nearby teams used to call on him occasionally to bolster up their team.

The baseball diamond for the Berkner Brothers ball team was located at the east edge of the city on land owned by the Peter Christensen family. A small grandstand for the convenience of patrons was erected by the Berkner Brother at the beginning of the baseball season.

Luke Schmidt got his baseball start while still in high school at which time he served as catcher on the team. He spent 10 or more years in the game and most always played the backstop position. Other catchers of that time were John Hertz and Ex-sheriff John Reitter. Mike Fohl (Al's brother), Roy Bzoski were the pitchers.

Springfield seemed to be the hardest team to beat every year. There were generally pitted against Sleepy Eye on the Fourth of July in the "Game of the Year", however they would usually walk off with the bacon quite regularly.

03/11/2026

Why Did The Citizens of 1872
Name Their Newly Plotted Town “Sleepy Eye?”

In 1872, the Winona & St. Peter Railroad came through the area of land in which our town has now been established. After 1862, more and more families moved into areas of land in which a lake had been renamed; it once was called “Pretty Water by the Big Trees or Minnewashte Chanhatonka”. After the death of Chief Sleepy Eye, the lake became known as “Lake Sleepy Eye” in honor of the Chief Sleepy Eye.

As our town became more established with pioneers and the railroad came into the area more industries were able to begin to trade with other areas within Minnesota. Soon after this more jobs became available. With more jobs within the area our town began to grow and flourish. Many different types of schools were needed along with churches. One of our oldest churches in town is the St. Mary’s Catholic Church. This church can date back to the early 1850’s.

Chief Sleepy Eye played an influential role in our local history because he was said to be kind and friendly, not only amongst his own people but he attempted to make peace between everyone. We do know that Chief Sleepy Eye, Ish-tak-ha-ba was born in 1780 at Swan Lake in Nicollet County, near Nicollet. He also was described to be around six feet two inches tall, muscular, large in frame. Chief Sleepy Eye also had a dignified presence, narrow forehead with drooping eyelids, which offered the sense to his name – “Sleepy Eye” .

Known as the most important Chief at the signing of the Treaty of Traverse Des Sioux in 1851, Chief Sleepy Eyes was one of the four Dakota and four Ojibway leaders to visit President James Monroe in Washington DC in 1824. While in Washington DC, President Monroe commissioned him a Chief along with the Department of Indian Affairs. At this time, Chief Sleepy Eye also requested if he and his band could remain at Swan Lake away from the reservation. He was granted his request at that time.

However in the spring of 1857, when the settlers of the Minnesota Valley were thrown into a paroxysm of fear by the murder of some settlers at Okoboji and Jackson by Inkpaduta and his followers, a company of home guards went marching one day into Chief Sleepy Eyes’ camp at Swan Lake from Judson, Courland and Nicollet and demanded that he remove at once to the reservation. Of course being the man of peace, Chief Sleepy Eye left the home of his fathers and settled at “Pretty Water By The Big Trees” (better known as Sleepy Eye Lake), near where the City of Sleepy Eye now stands. (Though in reality these guards basically stripped land that was given to Chief Sleepy Eye and his Band and simply took it away from him for something he had nothing to do with and made him go find another piece of land [reservation lands] to live on at a moment’s notice – So Chief’s Sleepy Eye knowing his jurisdiction he knew that Sleepy Eye Lake area had good fishing, hunting, water supply, trees, and land to live off of so he moved his Band here to the Sleepy Eye Lake area).

In 1860 some Canadian Indians had engaged the Chief Sleepy Eyes’ Band along the Minnesota River in a fierce battle and the Canadians took with them a number of women as ransom. After considerable delay, Chief Sleepy Eye succeeded in getting together a creditable number of horses and taking with him a few trusty young Indians from his tribe they started for Canada in an effort to trade these horses for the release of the captives. On this mission he was entirely successful. And it was on the return journey from this trip that he decides to go visit his friend Red Eagle at Sisseton, South Dakota (now Roberts County, South Dakota). Just about there, he is thrown off his horse. His back is severely injured and he breaks his neck. He dies soon after this accident.

Let us not forget from years before Chief Sleepy Eye had to move away
from Swan Lake, Nicollet County, till his death, payments that were guaranteed by many treaties were not made, due to Federal preoccupation with the American Civil War. Most land in the river valley was not arable, and hunting could no longer support the Dakota community. Losing land to new white settlers, non-payment, past broken treaties, plus food shortages and starvation following crop failure led to great discontent among the Dakota people. Tension increased through the summer of 1862 which led up to the Uprising.

On account of the long journey from Canada Sleepy Eyes' clothes were in a rather worn and soiled condition, consequently Red Eagle had dressed him in one of his own new buckskin suits and in this he was buried. Chief Sleepy Eye died in 1860. 2 years before the Dakota-Sioux Uprising. Some say that if Sleepy Eye had been alive, the 1862 conflict between the settlers and the Indians might not have happened, because of the way Chief Sleepy Eye believed in making peace.

The first person to suggest moving Chief Sleepy Eyes’ remains back to
Sleepy Eye was Reverend George Pax. The person who took the necessary steps to accomplish this task was A.C. Von Hagen, head of the Sleepy Eye Flour Mill. First A.C. Von Hagen went to the City of Sleepy Eye requesting a spot for Chief Sleepy Eye, but they could not settle on a spot for him. Von Hagen then went to the president of the C & NW Railroad, Marvin Hughitt, who enthusiastically agreed to give a 50 foot square plot with a perpetual easement next to the new brick depot being built at that time, so that all railroad passengers would view the monument and motorists passing by would be in close proximity.

As A. C. Von Hagen and Daniel F. Alexander Fairbault sought after Chief
Sleepy Eyes' remains, Red Eagle (now 90 years old) describes the facts of all the details of how Chief Sleepy Eye was dressed, what was buried with him, how his body had been protected with large boxes (to which was added bark) and also other pertinent facts as follows; a small mirror, on which the head was left an ornaments, together with beads and other small articles. Chief Sleepy Eyes' body had been resting for practically forty years, but when the party reached the island in Bull Head Lake (Roberts County, South Dakota) where the Chief was buried, Red Eagle and his son led them to a spot under a large tree. There was no mark of any kind to identify the place, but Red Eagle, who was then over 90 years of age, placed his hand on the ground and told Daniel F. Alexander Fairbault to sink his spading fork there (on that spot). He did so, and finding nothing, there was a look of disappointment on the face of Red Eagle; so he stooped again, and moved the fork six inches west, and in going down the second time they hit Sleepy eyes' skull right in the middle. This illustrates what a keen mind and memory Indians have/had, for whom among us, after a lapse of forty years, could duplicate that feat? The grass and weeds were of the same general character in every direction and with the exception of the tree there were no other distinguishing marks.

Finding Chief Sleepy Eye ended a long search. Their efforts had been
crowned with complete success. In 1899 a parcel arrives with the bones and everything but the pipe had been packed in a cracker box, protected by excelsior.

The information received from Washington about Chief Sleepy Eye, was
that he was a large man and Red Eagle confirmed this, as did others. The records indicated his height as six feet two, so an anatomist came down from the University of Minnesota and in the office of Von Hagen's office floor; they placed the bones in proper position. They were all well preserved except for the points of the fingers and toes. It proved the height exactly, and the skull coincided with the picture painted of Sleepy Eye by Hall in 1824 in Washington, for it showed a narrow forehead and other distinguishing features.

On October 17th, 1902 the monument where Chief Sleepy Eye has been laid to rest was dedicated. Placed – under the monument were bones and records, which were put into a copper box. The monument had been constructed of hard granite about 50 feet high, all joint and the foundation are laid in imported Italian cement.

For the many sacrifices that our Chief Sleepy Eye endured our early fore
fathers of our town, here at Sleepy Eye, decided in 1872 to consider the title of our town to be named – SLEEPY EYE. A very honorable name.

11/18/2025

Sleepy Eye’s First Female Doctor

One of the first female doctors in Sleepy Eye was a frontier woman named Mary Ranson Strickler. Mary was the daughter of a doctor, though she was not encouraged to study medicine, "there was no calling for a woman" according to her father, Dr. Stephen William Ranson. Mary was born on May 25th, 1873 to Mary (Foster) Ranson and Dr. Stephen William Ranson, at Dodge Center, Minnesota. Both parents were of English heritage.

Mary had graduated in 1894 from Hamline University, from there she taught in Marshall, Minnesota. She was praised highly by the superintendent for her geometry class, though she was unhappy as a teacher and did not return to Marshall after their Thanksgiving break.
Mary's father had said to Mary un-approvingly that if she were to quit this job she would have to be very ill in order to do so, she should at least have to finish out the rest of the year. Mary had said, "I will just have to get sick then". Her father said it would have to be something very serious. Mary was quite convincing when she set her mind to something. Mary convinced her father to write to the school board that she had come down with none other than a bad case if typhoid which would make it impossible for Mary to continue to teach that year.

Once again in 1895 Mary attempted the teaching profession at St. Paul for a third grade class at the Hancock School District. However, tried and true unhappiness settled in again. Mary's sister Carrie could see how unhappy she was so she offered to pay the expenses of a medical education. Mary at once registered at the medical school in Minneapolis. However, there was still one problem, Dr. Ranson, or rather “father”. But instead of being angry about the situation Mary's father agreed to allow Mary to attend medical school if Carrie, Mary’s sister, would pay the expenses for room and board, and allow Dr. Ranson to pay for tuition and books. Attending medicine school was no picnic for Mary. Oftentimes men would play jokes on the women. One of the jokes would be placing human fingers in the pockets of the smocks they would wear during lab time. When the women would reach in their pockets they would be in for a freaky surprise. The fingers would come from autopsies the students would be performing. However, Mary toughed through it and in 1896 Mary graduated from medical school.

Dr. Mary then worked with her father Dr. Ranson until she married. She learned a lot about what it was like being a Dr. on the frontier. During her early years of being a Dr. her father entrusted her to take care of a few patients alone while he was away. One visit was out in the country, ten miles out of town to be exact. A simple case; to remove a cast from a fractured leg, massage the leg, and then replace with a new cast. However, a blizzard from the day before had made a drift of snow to make it impossible to where the roads were, or the ditch, or even the fields. The boy who was driving the sleigh for her was careful enough, but the sleigh had turned upside down, and nearly decapitated the driver. One of the horses had slipped and fallen under the other and was badly cut. The whiffletree of the sleigh was broken, but ropes and straps from a nearby farm that were furnished to repair it wasn’t enough to do the job. Dr. Mary had to go part of the distance on foot, but she made it. It took several weeks for the injured horse to recover from this incidence.

On September 15th, 1900, Dr. Mary Ranson wedded to Dr. Abraham Franklin Strickler who was born on January 2nd, 1873 to Elizabeth Henderson Strickler and Daniel Strickler of Ontario, Canada. They were a couple of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and were of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. The family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when Franklin was nine years old. Franklin graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1894.

Right after Mary and Abraham's wedding the couple went to Europe in 1900. Abraham went off to study the "eye, ear, nose, and throat" at the Vienna Hospital. Mary also wanting to learn, she learned about the German language through museums and other cultural places. Once Abraham was done with his studies, in 1901, the couple returned to the States, and moved to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Here they made their home and began their practices of medicine together. They had but one child together. On July 25th, 1901 a daughter was born, Elizabeth Strickler.

Dr. Mary had many adventures as a frontier Dr. in our small town Sleepy Eye. At times she found out that summertime could be just as harsh of a time as wintertime could be. One of those stories was when Mary had a delivery call for a baby in Evan, which is about 10 miles away from Sleepy Eye. It happen to had rained heavily previously and made the gravel roads into rivers of mud. By the time midnight came along one could not see so easily of any previous tracks in the road, so the only way to see if you were on the road was to watch for the differences between the roadside weeds and the weeds in the middle of the road. With a rising moon, Mary reached Evan. The return by daylight however, seemed far more terrifying because the danger could be seen. The conditions of the roads were reported to the authorities and they had blocked off the road from Evan to Sleepy Eye for a month until the water had drained away. In those days this whole area was sloughy.

Grading Roads with Horses

At another time in Evan a resident called during winter to report the nearness of a baby. It was suggested waiting for the train at the Depot to take her to Evan, however the train wasn't due for another two hours. Dr. A. F. Strickler had said because there was very little snow he would drive Dr. Mary and a nurse to Evan. By the time they got to the edge of town, they ran into drifts he wasn't able to free up his car. They were stuck just three miles out of Sleepy Eye. Of course the train steamed right past as they sat in the car. You can imagine the look on the two women's faces as they glared at Dr. Abraham. The two women picked up their "little black bags", and walked to the nearest farm, and asked the farmer to take them to Evan with his bobsleigh. "I have no bobsleigh", answered the farmer. "All I have is a manure wagon." Dr. Mary persuaded him to pile a lot of straw in the wagon and put a horse blanket over it and it would do. Dr. Mary's destination was an apartment over the village bank and just as they arrived they saw the banker and the general store proprietor standing on the sidewalk.

Back in those days women wore ankle-length skirts. Modesty forbade the lady doctor to show her ankles. Handing her satchel to the nurse and asking the two men to assist the nurse from the wagon, Dr. Mary took full advantage of their inattention to spring from the wagon on the opposite side. To her embarrassment, the men who rushed to help her got a view of her underclothes. However, the story doesn't end here. Reaching the patient Dr. Mary discovered that the delivery was going to be quite difficult, so she phoned her husband to come on the next train to Evan. The new baby was delivered safely, and the doctors then took the next train for Sleepy Eye home.

While World War I was going on, here at home Dr. Mary was busy. She had the flu epidemic to battle with. This was the time that the flu had swept over the nation in a form which took many lives. One night, in a blizzard, a man phoned that his wife was very ill and wanted help at once. A seven-mile distance drive did not seem too safe, but the man insisted that his wife could not wait.

Dr. Mary had driven to the farm once she got there Mary found the woman’s lungs, temperature, and pulse to be completely normal. There was nothing wrong except that she was worn out from trying to do her own housework and helping her husband with his chores. In addition she was frightened almost to death of getting the flu. Mary knew that she couldn’t tell the lady that there was nothing wrong with her otherwise the couple would just end up calling one of the other male doctors in the area and of course they would of surely made up “something wrong” with her just to go against Dr. Mary’s official diagnosis because she was a woman. So in response of the situation, Dr. Mary made a diagnosis. She told the lady, “you have sent for me in the nick of time. If you do exactly what I say you will come along O.K. and it probably will not be necessary for me to come out again. But if you do want me I will come day or night.” Mary ended up giving her a tonic and told the lady not to get out of bed for a week. Then she was to phone and tell Mary how she felt. Mary also made sure the husband would feed the wife a nourishing diet that Mary prescribed. Also, he was to keep her feet warm with bags of salt. Back then farmers rarely owned hot-water bottles but they did own salt, so they would warm up salt bags which worked just the same. By the end of the week, the woman called Mary, and said Mary had “saved her life.”

After a brief period of time, the Sticklers lived in a small apartment in Sleepy Eye when they first moved to Sleepy Eye. Since then they had ended up building a home at 300 1st Avenue S., which the present owners are Casey and Julia Coulson. Historically, this house was built in 1905 and was unique to the area due to its Italianate design.

Today our Medical Center is lucky enough to have several women that are educated in the medical field. We have Dr. Karlyn Armbruster who practices family and obstetrics, Dr. Harman Dhalival who practices family and obstetrics, Susan Ahiness who practices as a family nurse practitioner, along Jennifer Hilledtad who practices as a nurse practitioner under emergency medicine. We also have as Outreach providers; Dr. Corinne Jordan who practices general surgery and Dr. Angela Honstad practicing orthopedic surgery. All of these ladies can be seen at the Sleepy Eye Medical Center.

11/01/2025

Wishing you a Happy Halloween!

10/29/2025

Hardships on Our Own Frontier Brown County

There are times in our lives that we may feel sorry for ourselves, or for the poor of foreign lands, however give a thought to the following story of hardship on our frontier in Brown County.

Trimming a Christmas tree or hanging up stockings were not for them; the Jaros family. About the only festive touch at Christmas time was a little candy and a few nuts; not enough of both together to make one sick. Too far from Sleepy Eye to be able to walk to church, the Jaros family had to do without the candlelit altar and the Sunday school bags of goodies.

Because so many immigrants were stopping on the Atlantic seaboard the newcomers were advised to travel inland; they were in Ohio when their funds ran out. It was then when their 33-year-old son of the family learned to speak English, enough to beg; “Please give me a piece of bread.” Sometimes the family had soup made from bread stewed in a little water.

When the family arrived in Minnesota they found themselves one of the three Czech families in this area. The son married and farmed southwest of Sleepy Eye in the Leavenworth area.

This growing family occupied a tiny dwelling. They worked hard and possessed very little. They were however, an affectionate family, good to one another, Miss Julia Jaros, recalls of her childhood memories. They were also a happy family, never resenting their lack of the world’s goods.

Mary (Kerpsova) Jaros, wife to John died in childbirth, after giving several children. In deep winter the older boys walked to town to ask the doctor to come. He hitched his horse quickly. The little sleigh had no room on the seat for the boys so they sat on the floor, dangling their feet over the edge. They nearly froze their feet. Time or complications were too much for Mary. She died soon after the doctor reached their home.

The grandmother came to keep house and look after the children. The father continued to farm, helped by his mother and by the children. The grandmother sang as she fed the chickens and weeded the garden.

Game was plentiful along the river and the John had a talent for approaching rabbits so silently that some say he could catch them in his hands. The river provided fish, as well. Although in poor health for 25 years so that he had to rely on his sons for the farm work, John lived to the age of 96 and was active all but the last three years. Even when bedfast he liked to whistle and he wore out three mouth organs playing familiar tunes to pass the time.

Imagine, the children of today – who sniff fussily as the good meals are served in school dining rooms in their school lunch rooms, or the meals they receive at home. For the Jaros Family in their lunch pails only had a boiled potato and a molasses sandwich with no butter.

Once again imagine children so passionate for learning that they would resort to anything in order to reach their school. These children lived on the opposite side of the river from the school; there was no bridge. They could only attend school in the winder when they could cross on the ice. Often a plank laid from the riverbank to the middle ice was the only means of extending the school season for the Jaros children. In the middle of the ice they pushed the plank across to the opposite shore where they could climb the bank and reach the school. And yet today we have many kids complaining they dislike school and couldn’t care less if they went and don’t take advantage of the opportunities they have in learning or in advancements in education.

What sort of toys did these children have? One of the girls owned a single toy, a very small doll. When, a few years later, she was given another slightly larger doll it was so precious that she never even played with it. It laid always in its little box from which she would remove the cover and gaze at the doll with pride and love, until one day her sister handed it to a visitor’s child to keep (in those days this was often done); And yet how many toys do our own children have today?

One would ask if the members of the Jaros family was bitter about the hardships of their life….Nothing could be less true. Religion, contentment, and kindness were the words they lived by. John and Mary were happily married in 1872, though Mary died young at the age of 44. They had 6 children; John Jr. Frank, Miss Julia, Joseph, Mary (Mrs. Jack. Youngman), and Anna (Mrs. Fred. Johnson). These were the frontier immigrants of Brown County.

Photo:

John Jaros Family Farm Home - May 8th, 1910

Front: Frank Jaros, Mary Jaros Youngman with daughter, Lucy, Matt Youngman, (unidentified), John Jaros

Back: Frances Nenno Youngman, (unidentified), (unidentified), Mathilda Youngman[Whelan], Clara Youngman, (unidentified), Julia Jaros, Fred Youngman, (unidentified), Mary Youngman [Ahle]

10/25/2025

Jensen and Durbahn Employees

One of Sleepy Eye’s pioneer firms was the Jensen and Durbahn store. From the number of employees, the store did a big amount of business.

In the picture, left to right, back row - Charlie Peterson, delivery boy; Sam Olson, who worked as a shoemaker; Miss Obrennen, milliner; Hans Jensen, Libby Black, George Jensen, Lena Jensen and Gus Hager.

Sitting , left to right, second row - Nis Ruenitz, Gus Remmele, L.P. Jensen and Albert Durbahn, co-owners; and George Glotzbach.

First row, left to right - Minnie Jensen and Lillian Koehne.

10/16/2025

ADDED NEWS ARTICLE ~ See pictures

Sleepy Eye Has Model Creamery

The Farmers Co-operative Creamery at Sleepy Eye is one of the best in the state. You really don’t have to prove that, the farmers of the Sleepy Eye territory, as well as the townsmen, are willing to admit it without further proof. The creamery building was built new around 1915, at the cost of $14,000 and
couldn’t be duplicated for less than twice that amount, probably. The building is modern in every respect and is sanitary all the way through.

Consolidation

When the Sleepy Eye creamery was built, it was a consolidation of the Home and Cobden creameries, the company having bought out those two plants. The Sleepy Eye creamery had 211 patrons and the increased in butter production over last year (1921) is claimed to be about 80%, which is much larger than the average increase for the county, which is 53 %. The creamery paid 39 cents a pound for butterfat for the month of July this year. Patrons are paid once a month.

Gets Sweet Cream

The cream is delivered to the creamery by the producer and butter is made from the fresh, wholesome cream from well kept cows. Milk and cream on the farm is milked and handled in a sanitary manner, separated in sterilized equipment and kept in a cool, sanitary place for delivery, the same as in all
other places in Brown county. The creamery accepts only fresh cream. Cream that is over four days old is refused at the creamery. The cream, as it comes to the creamery, is weighed first and a sample taken for testing. The cream then goes into the pasteurizer, where it is heated gradually to a specified temperature and then gradually cooled. All germ life is destroyed by this process and the pasteurized cream is ready for the churn. The cream is pumped by a sanitary pump through sanitary piping to the churn, where it is made into butter. This process is the same in practically all co-operative creameries all over the country.

The product of the Sleepy Eye creamery is known as “Gilt Edge” butter. No alkalies are used in the making, and therefore it retains the pure butter flavor. George Berkner is president of the company, George Dreher is vice president and John Cutting is secretary and treasurer. Ed Moll is the buttermaker of the of the Sleepy Eye creamery and has been with it since the beginning. He was buttermaker for the Home creamery 12 years prior to the consolidation.

10/05/2025

What About Golden Gate?

There seems to be no reason for the name Golden Gate except that the post office located there bore that name. The postal department gave names in much the same way that the railroad game names to a station. It could be a whim of someone in authority, or it could be a suggestion of persons living at the location. Apparently Golden Gate post office was of the whim variety. Home Township post office opened on April 30, 1868, in the home of Joseph Libert, according to postal records. Golden Gate post office was established on June 8, 1868, with Ebenezer Fuller as postmaster. He was followed by Nels P. Nelson on December 13, 1870, by John S. Letford on October 13, 1873, and Horatio Werring on November 2, 1877. A source says that Werring operated a store in Golden Gate. He was the postmaster until succeeded by William Dey on October 19, 1887. Alonzo Pickle was appointed postmaster February 14, 1891, although he had been acting postmaster for several months. Dey seems to have become postmaster again about May 2, 1895. Transfer of the Golden Gate post office to Sleepy Eye took place on July 31m 1900. Home Township post office was moved to Sleepy eye on August 15, 1900.

In addition to the Werring store there was a store run by R.B. Simmons who had come west by wagon train with his English wife and her two small sons. One of those sons, Thomas Talbot Sr. became a merchant in Sleepy Eye, later dealt in real estate and insurance. His daughter was the first child born after Sleepy Eye became an established town. Out at Golden Gate there were a few houses clustered along the road until possibly 1920, but then there were not more business places. In the early days of Golden Gate was a center for a scattered community. John Pickle had a blacksmith shop a quarter mile east of Golden Gate, and the Heimerdinger & Sons had been operating a mill since 1869, then built a new mill in 1872. The Golden Gate town hall was rather busy. It was a social center, dances, public meetings, debates. The last were very popular in the area. Possibly the Golden Gate baseball team stored their equipment in the hall, or maybe they kept it at home.

Residents of the area were as avid baseball fans as they were debaters. There were no settlers at Golden Gate at the time of the 1862 Uprising. In the Andreas Atlas of Minnesota for 1874 Golden Gate is shown as a small squarish area. A few farms are shown with the owners names. They include W. Burghart, D. Bell, M. Russell, E. Fuller, F. Herman and J.C. McGiven.

—- Source Elizabeth Scobie

Sleepy Eye History

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