Austin's 1949 Million Dollar Investment

After writing about Klagge's Ice Cream, a reader asked me to check on an ice cream shop he remembered in the Sterling Shopping Center. Thanks to the crack research team at the Mower County Historical Society, I have some information.
From the Austin Daily Herald on April 5, 1954: "Sterling Shopping Center will observe its fifth anniversary this week with open house, free movies and a candidate for Miss Austin... Today, the center comprises 26 stores and service establishments, the largest retail development in Austin area's history. Investment has exceeded a million dollars...
Building boomed with the opening of the first store and by the end of 1950, the following 10 businesses were in operation:
Trowbridge Super Market, Enstad Nash Garage, Sterling Motel, Kenneth Rosenthal Painting and Decorating Store, Chuck Hall Cleaners, Sterling Barber Shop, Sterling Pastries, Warn's Shoe Store, Earl's Furniture and Sterling Ice Cream Store...
Announcement was made Saturday that Janice Plager is Sterling's candidate for Miss Austin."

1868 Courthouse Site of Lynching Trial

Four courthouses have served Mower County since it was founded in 1855. The first courthouse in Austin was built in 1868 on the corner of Maple and Main Streets. The building had three levels: jail in the basement, offices on the first floor and the Court Hall on the second floor. Old timers told tales of going past the old courthouse and looking down through the bars to the prisoners in the basement and getting a ‘thrill out of it.’
According to the Austin Daily Herald on March 17, 1934, “The new courthouse was the scene of a sensational murder trial in 1868, a crime growing out of lynching, the only one that ever occurred in this county. In 1868 John and Oliver Potter and William Kemp, and several others were arrested as having caused the death of Chauncey Knapp. It is interesting to know that the accused were defended by John Q. Farmer (pictured above), who was later to be judge of our district court and to deliver the dedicatory address on that occasion.
The lynching occurred near Grand Meadow. Knapp was accused by citizens of being intimate with a woman of the neighborhood. The indignation waxed warm and one night some fifteen men caught Knapp, rode him on a rail, took him to a pond where he was so roughly treated that he drowned. His body was taken to a corn filed and buried between the rows of the growing corn. Knapp was missed, search was made and his body found. There were disagreements of juries and in the end all the suspected parties were released and no one ever punished.”
More next week on courthouses.

Early Cola Wars in Austin

Austin Bottling Works, Inc. was founded in 1924 by George Wilson and his father-in-law Dr. Charles F. Lewis. Wilson was a Scottish immigrant who worked in sales for Geo. A Hormel & Co. in Texas and Alabama before coming to Austin. Wilson married Marjorie Lewis, daughter of one of the founders of the Austin Medical Clinic.
The first plant was located at 400 2nd St NE (near the current Austin Daily Herald). By 1930, the plant moved to 403 4th Ave NE (near the old downtown utility plant). The business focused on bottling and sales of soft drinks and the sales of fountain supplies such as extracts, cider, crushed fruit and cleaning supplies. In 1949,  a new plant was built at 1600 1st Ave NE (across from East Side Lake).
Back in the 1920s, Coca Cola was less popular and, according to Wilson family legend, George Wilson would slip a bottle into a case of more popular grape, cherry or orange flavored sodas to build exposure to the product. George's sons, James and  Charles took over the family business and it remained a a pillar of the community for decades. Changing with the times, the bottling company eventually became a distributor and dropped bottling several years before it was sold in 2002.

Dr. Vern Cullen: A Life of Service

A few months ago I was working on the names of places in Austin. A thoughtful reader sent me some information on the man that Cullen Park is named after. Cullen Park is on the east side of 12th Street SW, across from Sacred Heart Care Center.
From the May 31, 1969 Austin Daily Herald:
“Dr. Vern R. Cullen, 73, Austin dentist and former alderman, died Friday at St. Olaf Hospital.
Surviving are his widow, Augusta; a son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Vern (Joanne) Torrens, Bloomington, Minn.; four grandsons, Scott, Steven, Jay and Jeff; nieces and nephews.
Dr. Cullen was born in Austin. He served with the Army in World War I and with the Navy Dental Corps in World War II, discharged as a commander after serving in the Pacific theater. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Dental School in 1923 and came directly to Austin to practice. After World War II he did post-graduate work in orthodontics at the University of Minnesota and returned to Austin to open his practice in 1946...
Dr. Cullen was a city alderman 1933 until 1941 and Cullen Park was named after him. He was a charter member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and a life member of the University of Minnesota Alumni Club; a member of Austin Post 91, American Legion, the 40 and 8, Olaf B. Damm Post 1216, VFW, Eagles, Southeastern Minnesota Dental Society, American Association of Orthodontists, Osmond Temple Shrine, Legion of Honor, Austin Shrine Club, Unity Chapter 29, OES, Fidelity Lodge 39, AF & AM, from which he received his 50-pin in 1967, St. Bernard Commandry, Royal Arch Masons Ch. 14, National League of Masonic Clubs, Square and Compass Club. He was the first commander of Chapter 27, Disabled American Veterans...”

For more on Cullen Park: http://www.ci.austin.mn.us/Parkandrec/Parks/cullen.html

Some new information on Klagge’s Ice Cream: In the 1980s, there were two Klagge’s locations. One at Oak Park Mall was managed then owned by Phil Buck. Phil’s brother Paul owned and operated the 4th Ave NE location. In 1985, Paul took over ownership of the mall store again. During those years, the ice cream was made at the 4th Ave NE location for both restaurants.
Another reader let me know that Elmer Klagge opened the store in 1939. He had Austin’s first frosted malt machine in the mid-1940s. No one had heard of a frosted malt, which was soft serve chocolate ice cream served in a cone. At 5 cents, it was an affordable treat and as a result, some believe that Elmer Klagge knew every kid in Austin. 

Summer Memories: Klagge's Ice Cream

During our recent rash of hot weather, I was visiting with some folks out at the Mower County Historical Society. They told me that it used to be a summer tradition to cool off at Klagges Ice Cream Store. The original Klagges was a few blocks east of the Hormel Historic Home (then the YWCA) at 701 4th Ave NE,  just east of the bridge.
Established in 1939, an advertisement from 1963 says “When Mom’s Tired of Cooking Call Klagge’s for Hot Take-Out Dinners, Chicken Supreme Dinner $1, Jumbo Shrimp Dinner $1.25, Walleyed Pike Dinner $1.10.”
The 4th Ave building was destroyed by fire and reopened in 1971. In 1972, an Austin Daily Herald article stated: “Located at 701 4th Ave NE, Klagges new ice cream store re-opened in September, 1971, after a fire destroyed the building at the same location. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Wilkinson, Klagges sells homemade ice cream, meals to eat in the car and to take out.”
In 1988, Dave and Tam Christopherson purchased the Klagges business and offered a complete breakfast, lunch and dinner menu.
I also found an advertisement for Klagges in Oak Park Mall that ran in the Austin Daily Herald in 1982. That ad lists owner Phil Buck, a variety of menu choices and 20 flavors of ice cream. I’m sure someone will tell me if there were two competing Klagges ice cream shops in the 1980s—it’s sure looks that way to me.