Saturday, July 30, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 30

July 30, 1921 - An explosion in cable conduits on Nicollet Avenue caused damage estimated at $3,000 this evening. At least 50 persons were injured by the force of the explosion and falling glass. Only a few, however, were badly injured.

The first explosion came at 10:15 p.m. when two manholes near Liggett Drug Store, Sixth St. and Nicollet Ave., blew up with a crash resembling thunder.

Manhole covers were thrown 20 feet in the air followed by an immediate burst of flames. Crowds gathered to view the sight, and police tried to move them away.



Minneapolis Manhole Cover*



A second explosion came from across the street, wrecking the United Cigar Store and injuring a score of men and women.

One of the injured men was standing over a manhole when the top blew out. He was thrown several feet and severely bruised. Two other men standing nearby were thrown down by the force of the explosion. They fell into the manhole, from which flames were shooting as in the case of the earlier explosions. Firemen rushed to their rescue and they were pulled out before being seriously burned.


There were seven explosions in all. The actual cause of the explosion may never be known. The general theory was that the cross wires were shut off by sewage gas seeping into the cable conduits.

Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Fifty Are Injured in Minneapolis Explosion”; Aug. 1, 1921; p. 1.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Seven Explosions Rock Nicollet, Scores Hurt, Losses Huge. Six Seriously Injured, 3 Stores Wrecked as Manholes Are Blown Up.”; July 31, 1921; pp. 1 & 2.

Duluth News-Tribune; “28 Hurt in Minneapolis Sewer Gas Explosion Flames Shoot from Manholes for Two Blocks on Nicollet”; Duluth, Minn.; July 31, 1921; p.1.

*
https://sidewalkcity.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/photo.jpg
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 

Friday, July 29, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 29

July 29, 1912 – Ten people narrowly escaped death near Hackensack, Minn., on the M&I when they were riding on a track motor car and met an engine and caboose on a curve coming from the opposite direction. All jumped and sustained no injuries except the five-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. George Mellon, who was found on the pilot of the engine after the accident, with both knees badly cut and bruised. The boy was brought to Pine River, Minn., for medical attention; he will recover. When the crash came, the lad was thrown as high as the headlight and landed in a sitting position on the pilot. Mr. Mellon is the section boss at Hackensack and was making the daily trip over the section when the accident happened. The motor car was badly smashed.

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Section Car Wrecked”; July 30, 1912; p. 1.




http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6100/6279169931_af93e5de5a.jpg

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 


Thursday, July 28, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 28

July 28, 1911 – Fire that presumably originated from an overheated motor, resulted in an explosion of the flour dust in the sack room this evening, practically wiping out the Winona, Minn., plant of the Bay State Milling Company, entailing in a loss of fully half a million dollars. The industry was the most substantial one in Winona and employed a total force of 200 men. The company was the fourth largest producer of flour in the U.S. and its plant was one of the most modern in the Northwest.

The fire broke out just as the day shift was planning to cease its work and the night crew was coming to work. The defective motor was discovered and a small fire corralled when a terrific explosion took place in an adjoining room on the north side of the ground floor of the main mill building. The alarm was spread immediately and all men reached a place of safety before the flames cut off escape. The fire department was handicapped because of the lack of water pressure due to the low stage of the river and with every available piece of fire-fighting apparatus on the scene it became necessary to send a call for assistance to La Crosse and Eau Claire. Both fire departments responded quickly.

A few moments after the firemen arrived, the flames had spread through the east end of the mammoth mill and broke through the roof, where they were fanned by a high wind.

The fire swept through the entire structure and an hour after the alarm was sounded, the building was engulfed in flames that were licking the adjoining structures. Two partly filled elevators, having a combined storage capacity of 300,000 bushels of wheat were in danger and the smaller of the two caught when the conflagration was at its height.

The entire business section of the city was threatened for a time and numerous small fires broke out many blocks from the plant. The fire was under control at 9 p.m. with only one elevator and the office building remaining of the plant.


Bay State Milling Company*


The Bay State Milling Company represented capital of Boston men. B. J. Rothwell of Boston was president; L. S. Brown, Boston, vice president, and H. C. Garvin of Winona, secretary-treasurer. The mill was purchased in 1890 by the Bay State Company and it was enlarged and improved to an output of 3,500 barrels. The loss is covered by insurance.


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Big Winona Milling Plant Is Destroyed by Flames. One Elevator and Offices All That Remains of Bay State Works. Loss Is Estimated at Half a Million; Insured—Firemen Handicapped.”; July 29, 1911; p. 1.

*https://katieahoch.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_0027-e1414772219305.jpg
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com   


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 27

*July 27, 1921 – Nellie Haynes, a 19-year-old girl from Brandt, SD., told Minneapolis police this evening a story about how she had been abducted by two men she met at a carnival in Brookings, SD, two weeks ago, and had been held prisoner in a Minneapolis hotel for a week under close guard.

The girl appealed to the Central YWCA and then went to the police. She said she escaped from the Agate Hotel on Washington Ave. S. around 9 p.m.


Two detectives went to the hotel room number she had given them, and half an hour later arrested two men. They gave the names of Kenneth McCoy and Jay Gossett, admitted knowing the girl, but declined to comment on her story.

The girl, although in a highly nervous state, told police a coherent story. On July 17, she said she was attending a carnival at Brookings with a group of fellow students from the school she was attending. Two friendly young men, well-dressed and well-spoken, made friends with the group.

The young men enticed her away from the group, she said, and then threatened her with death. They hurried her to a train and began the journey to Minneapolis and the Agate Hotel.

They have kept her closely confined to her room under constant guard.

This evening she said her first opportunity came to escape. The two men both wanted to go out and decided to lock her in her room and leave her.

The two men are being held without charges.


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Girl Says She Was kidnapped, Held in Hotel. Police Arrest 2 Men After Hearing Tale of Alleged Carnival Abduction.”; July 28, 1921; p. 1.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain July 27, 2016, as long as acknowledgement included.  
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 26

July 26, 1906 – A baby girl was born early this morning to Mrs. Stella Brennan, who is serving a term in the Stillwater penitentiary for the murder of three of her four stepchildren in North Minneapolis last Nov.


Stella Brennan’s Baby*

Since Mrs. Brennan’s commitment last Jan., the birth has been expected and awaited, and the subject of the baby’s future has been discussed by the state board of control and prison authorities. But that is apparently settled. James Brennan, husband of Stella Brennan and father of the child born today, will provide the funds necessary for bringing up his child. Mrs. Brennan’s mother, Mrs. Owens of Pullman, Mich., will take charge of the baby after two or three months.

The Brennan child is the second born in the Stillwater penitentiary. The mother of the first child born in the prison was Nellie Frayer, sent there march 10, 1897, to serve a life sentence for murder in Crow Wing County. The child was born four months later and was sent to the state school at Owatonna. The Frayer woman died Aug. 4, 1905.


The Minneapolis Journal; “Daughter is Born to Mrs. Brennan. Baby Inmate of the State Prison at Stillwater. Mother is Serving Life Sentence for Murder of three Children in Minneapolis Last Fall—James Brennan, Father of Child, will Pay Mother-in-Law to Care for It.”; July 26, 1906; p. 6.*The San Francisco Call; August 12, 1906; Page 5.
Murder of three Brennan children while they slept; oldest son and stepmother shot; see Nov. 4, 2015 blog

Stella Brennan indicted by coroner’s jury for murder of stepdaughter; see Nov.9, 2015 blog


Stella Brennan indicted by Hennepin County grand jury for murder of her three stepchildren; see Nov. 21, 2015 blog

County Attorney outlines the state’s theory of the Stella Brennan murder case in his opening statement; see Dec. 19, 2015 blog

Stella Brennan spends Christmas in hospital room of the Hennepin County Jail; see Dec. 25, 2015 blog

Stella Brennan Found Guilty; sentenced to the State penitentiary for life; admits she is in a family way; see Dec. 30, 2015 blog
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 


Monday, July 25, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 25

July 25, 1862 – “A war meeting is held in Stillwater to raise volunteers in response to the Union’s desperate cry for reinforcements. Although scores of young men from Washington County had already enlisted in Union Forces, many more answer this call, and five new regiments, the Sixth through the Tenth, are formed.”

http://projects.wchsmn.org/reference/events/call-union-reinforcements/



Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain July 25, 2016,
as long as acknowledgement included.

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 


Sunday, July 24, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 24

July 24, 1910 – About 500 members of the Minneapolis and St. Paul branches of the Jewish order of B’nai B’rith were marooned on the shores of Grey Cloud Island in the Mississippi River below South St. Paul on their homeward journey from an excursion on the steamer Red Wing and barge this evening. The barge ran into the bank.

To make matters worse, the musicians, who had been hired to play until 10 p.m., refused to play beyond their contract, so there was no music to assuage the situation, which continued until after 11 p.m. Also, every bit of food had been consumed.

Then the rope securing the barge to the steamer parted, and there was more trouble.

All kinds of inquiries from anxious friends and relatives coming to the Twin City newspaper and police stations, but no one was the worse for the experience when the group finally reached St. Paul, barring a spoiled temper and an incipient cold.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “B’nai B’rith Excursion Comes to Grief When Barge Butts Bank; July 25, 1910; p. 2.




http://www.fromsitetostory.org/tcm/greycloudisland/images/greycloudislandbrowermap1000.jpg

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records.  Both short searches and family history reports.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com ®  click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com