1863: The Minnesota Homestead Act became a law effective on Jan. 1, 1863, meaning future Litchfield residents could buy land here for $1.25 per acre for homesteading.
1871: Next to the corner lot at Marshall North and Depot Street East, heading north, was a building where Henry G. Rising published the Litchfield Republican newspaper starting on Jan. 24, 1871. He discontinued the paper in the following autumn.
1898: The Litchfield Saturday Review newspaper was bought by John T. Mullen, who sold it to Charles W. “Hans” Wagner on Jan. 1, 1898. It was later combined with the Litchfield Independent to form the Independent Review. Wagner was the guy for whom Wagner Elementary School — now the Wagner Education Building, or WEB — was named. Vernon Madson bought Raymond Lenhard’s interest in the Independent Review in January of 1971. Stan Roeser bought an interest in January of 1973. John Harmon sold his interest to Madson and Roeser in January of 1979.
1900: In January, Litchfield’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union installed a ladies’ “Rest Room” in the building at 134 N. Sibley (Sandgren’s Shoes) where women could come and “rest,” have conversation, and probably use the facilities, while shopping in downtown Litchfield. Ironically, Kellgren’s saloon was right around the corner in the building to the rear.
1902: The old Litchfield wooden depot was replaced by the grand brick Great Northern station that we all knew and loved in August of 1901. It was built with sandstone and dedicated on Jan. 9, 1902. It was 32 feet wide by 187 feet long. Sadly, that depot was torn down in October of 1985.
1918: The movie theater at 104-106 North Sibley owned by United Theatres was sold to David T. Hobson in January of 1918. Hobson changed the name to the Hobson Theatre, but it later became The Unique.
1922: The city of Litchfield bought land from Bengt Hanson by Lake Ripley for a Memorial Park in January of 1922. That following summer, WPA workers built mounds in the park in the shapes of things like ships and hearts. Some people remember playing as kids on the “ship” mound at the north end of the park.
1923: Minar Ford was Litchfield’s oldest lasting dealership. It was first called Larson-Minar Ford. In January of 1923, Horace and his brother Cushman K. Davis Minar bought out Larson. Minar was west of the hotel on Depot Street when I was growing up. John H. Miller bought the business in January of 1959, and it became Miller Motor, but lots of people continued calling it Minar for years. It became Bernie’s Fairway in January of 1970. Robert L. and A.K. McDonald got a car dealership business in January of 1927 and called it Litchfield Motors, Inc. They mostly sold Chevrolets. They started on Depot Street, moved to the Kopplin garage on the northwest corner of Second Street and Ramsey Avenue in January of 1928 and opened their new garage, where Fenton’s and Brock’s ended up at 627 Sibley Avenue North in November of 1930. The Chevy business was sold to Karl Augustus Danielson Jr., son of Dr. Karl Augustus Danielson, in January of 1932.
1946: Fifty-six-year-old Carl Wilhelm Wickstrom and his 13-year-old daughter, Lilah Mae, left church early on the south side of town on Jan. 20, 1946, because they had to get to the drugstore in time to pick up a prescription before the store closed at noon. This closing time was common back then on Sundays. The drug stores took turns being open on Sunday mornings. Anyway, the church service had run long that cold January morning. As fate would have it, when they got to the now-closed Miller Avenue crossing, a westbound mail train was coming. Carl gunned his ’38 Chevy, trying to beat the train and still make it to the drugstore in time. Maybe there was ice on the approach, because he didn’t move as fast as he anticipated and both he and his daughter were killed instantly.
1949: Across from the Produce at 104 Second St. W. was a café named the Lunch Time Inn, which was owned by Catherine “Kate” Pierce. Kate sold the cafe to her son-in-law and daughter, Kenneth and Laura Mae Welsand, in January of 1949. Initially, their cafe was called Kenny’s Café, but after Kenny died, it became Laura’s Café. Then it was called the Lunch Time Inn again.
1952: Wilfred Felix Baril’s Paint and Wallpaper Store at 23-25 Second S. W. began business in January of 1952. That’s where my mother got the free green plastic yardstick she used to paddle our behinds when we were misbehaving … like always.
1958: As I walked my paper route delivering the Minneapolis Star newspaper, I would sing to myself, making up songs, fantasizing movie plots, or TV shows, with myself as the star, or even draw pictures. Occasionally I would hear a sonic boom or a loud roar overhead and I’d look up to the skies to see a jet flying westward over Litchfield, seemingly so low that I could reach up and touch it. That was thrilling. In January of 1958, the Air Force announced, in the Independent Review newspaper, that they were going to start doing some low-level training flights over Litchfield with Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers flying out of a base in Lincoln, Nebraska. There was also an Air Force base 30 miles away in Willmar, and their pilots would also practice their low-level flights over Litchfield with smaller jets. The base became Ridgewater College.
1959: Frank Endersbee and Lee Favreau started Litchfield’s KLFD radio station and Frank went on the air for the first time in January of 1959. KLFD was a small, 500-watt, daytime-only AM radio station at that time. It went off the air at sundown. The joke was that the call letters meant “Keep Litchfield From Dying.” Frank used to air organ music at the end of the broadcast day, and announcer Jim “Jimbo” Harrison referred to that show as “Music For People Who Died Today.” On a Friday afternoon in January of 1986, the station suddenly went off the air. The owner at that time, Herb Gross, simply pulled the plug.
1962: Wayne Rayppy’s New Bakery had a fire at the location by the First State Bank in January of 1962, so it was moved next door to Janousek’s.
1971: Litchfield’s bestselling author and physician, William “Bill” Nolan started doing the talk show circuit when his first couple of books came out. What a thrill it was to see a friend of mine (a Shaw-Allen-Shaw fan) on NBC’s Today show, Mike Douglas’ afternoon show, Merv Griffin’s late night TV talk show, David Frost’s show on Jan. 25, 1971, and on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show on Jan. 21, 1971, and in December of 1972. He was so impressive on the TV shows, looking so relaxed and commanding attention away from the other stars on the panel. He handled himself like a pro and made Litchfield proud.
1979: Litchfield’s new and latest of several different libraries opened in January of 1979 in its new building at the corner of Third Street West and Ramsey Avenue North where Becker Shoes had been.
2008: The Opera House building on Marshall was purchased by the Greater Litchfield Opera House Association Inc. on Jan. 4, 2008, and now continues to serve the community of Litchfield, and the Greater Litchfield Area. It is run by a dedicated group of volunteers.
