Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Burnvsville History group revisits 1939 - 5/2/2014939
� s
revis of
cha terO� group
dues-paying p _.e .sso
ci
u r n Sv the Dakota County
ety, Nachman said. But
Still
I the Burnsville group
Exhibit opens. h nor the an -
May 8
by John Gessner
SUN THISWEEK
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Rural electrification
came to Burnsville 95w in
ship, population -
1939. that,,,
CCI remember
said ]ifelong Burnsville
Eldon Kohls,
resident
who was born in 1933
and raised on the family »�
where Lunds
dairy farm --~
Woods �,..
and Byerly'The s, t - _
of Burnsville Apartments
and other buildings now
stand. "I can reme obe r
them guys setting p
electric poles. That was all
done by hand."
Kohls Is member
eal
the Burnsvilleresent-
Society, which is p
ing a 1939 -themed exhibit at
from May 8
the Ames Center lie Perfo mi
rly
the Burns ng
Arts Center). Attic:
"Burnsville's
1939" is a multimedia dtsis
of photos, rtifac
...—" F --
� �±Rr ,iaf t h
wanted to 0
niversary of the county
group, whose first year
was a doozy in history.
"It turned out that was
Nach-
man
year 1939,"
man said. "So we decided
that's a really important
year with how the world
from
changed. everything
electricity coming to
Burnsville to Hitler mov-
ing to start World War II.
We decided we were going
to do 1939 "
Kohls, e son of Hen -
K his,
ry and-uEleanor on a farm
was growingp
what f
that straddledAyewle stun o
„. 4
.� 1934 and still lives in Burns- Portlan Road 42. south
- Photo shows John Deshaw, who was born m
ri final p "Some of them trees on
o hof what is now the Minnesota Valley YMCA m County
he Woods)
An g Ju north
vine, on his family farm j the corner (by „
Submitted photo) which is celebrating are the original trees yet,
Burnsville. ( whiz, who masterminded ety, this Kohls said.
lays and audiovisuals. h the major displays on its 75th
said Len Nachman, His family raised milk
plays
you walk through and his 44 -inch year,
hibition, you'll have Photoshop president ofa b B dnmem cows, a few chickens an a
this ex printer. roup and few pigs.
a real feel for what it was col�rOriginally, local histo- ber with the county group.
like to live in Burnsville inlanned a joint ex- Since then, Burns- See 1939+ 14A
1939," said Jeff Jerde, the rians p
ical society's vice hibition with the Dakota
for County Historical Soci- ville has ceased to be a
his graphics Cou y
and grap .._..___
president h `.
14A May 2, 2014 SUN THISWEEK - Burnsville - Eagan
1939, from 1A
"And all the crops were
used to feed the animals,"
he said. "There was no
cash cropping in Burnsville
at all. Everybody had a few
cows and everything."
Pre -1939, his family got
around the electricity prob-
lem by rigging some batter-
ies and a generator to light
the house and barn.
"As far as having lan-
terns and stuff, I've never
been through that," said
Kohls, who sold the farm
in 1965, went to work for
the new village of Burns-
ville's Street Department in
1966, retired 29 years later
and still lives in his 1959
rambler on Susan Lane in
the area known as Burns-
ville Heights.
Leo Martin didn't arrive
in Burnsville until 1941,
when his father, William,
moved from Rosemount to
his father's farm on what is
now one corner of County
Road 11 and McAndrews
Road.
"We moved there in the
early fall, I think, around
September, and it maybe
took a month or so be-
fore we got electricity,"
said Martin, a Burnsville
Historical Society mem-
ber and retired bricklayer
who left Burnsville when
he married in 1957 and has
lived for decades in Bloom-
ington. "That was the first
electricity that we had, and
I was 10 years old at the
time. We never had none in
Rosemount. We milked the
cows. I started milking the
cows when I was 6 years
old."
Historical society mem-
ber Sivert Hedrickson,
Burnsville Historical Society Vice President Jeff Jerde showed the 1939 Crosley automobile replica that is featured
in the exhibit "Burnsville's Attic: 1939." (Photo by John Gessner)
who has lived in a ram-
bler on Sumac Lane in the
Orchard Gardens area of
southwest Burnsville since
1966, served as the village's
first building inspector,
from 1965 to 1972.
Hedrickson, 86, was
growing up in the Keween-
aw Peninsula of northern
Michigan in 1939.
"There was copper min-
ing there," he said. "When
the Depression hit back in
'32, all the mines closed. I
was born in '27, so from
my recollection, as I grew
up, the only work my fa-
ther had at that time was
on the WPA, Roosevelt's
program for jobs. Our fam-
ily lived on $44 a month
for several years. We were
poor, but we didn't know
it. And everybody else was
in the same boat."
Exhibit
The exhibit will feature a
simulated garage, kitchen,
living room, schoolroom,
movie theater and baseball
stadium (the old Nicollet
Park in Minneapolis).
The garage features a
life-size photo replica of a
1939 Crosley automobile,
a brand that made its U.S.
debut that year.
"I wanted to build one
in 3D out of foam, but we
just couldn't pull that off,"
said Jerde, a Burnsville res-
ident since 1978 who owns
an arts and office building
with his wife, Pat, that was
once the Minnesota River
School of Fine Art.
The settings will be ren-
dered with real-life touch-
es.
"We're putting in arti-
facts that we can find from
around town, everything
from a kids' train set to
an old apron to a butter
churn. The list goes on,"
said Nachman, 83, who
will add the pennant he
took home from the 1939
World's Fair in New York
to the mix.
Jerde said the exhibit
will include a "government
film" he dug up on the
wonders of rural electrifi-
cation.
"Everyone is just grin-
ning when they turn on the
water or turn on a lamp,"
he said.
The exhibit will include
a display of items supplied
by the city, which is plan-
ning events to mark Burns-
ville's 50th anniversary of
incorporation on the heels
of an annexation attempt
by Bloomington.
John Gessner can be reached
at 952-846-2031 or email
john.gessner@ecm-inc.com.