By Jack Puterbaugh
Isanti County resident, local historian

In Cambridge in the south west corner of the intersection of Main Street and Hwy. 95 is the building that once housed the Lewis Department Store.

The founder and original owner of the store was Jack Lewis, one of the county’s more unique and colorful citizens.

He was born in Eastern Europe, and arrived in Cambridge in 1894 at the age of 19. Since he was Jewish he was indeed in a minority. However, this never stopped him doing what he chose to do.

Early on he was a farm to farm salesman, using a horse and buggy to peddle his merchandise in the mostly northern townships of the county.

Since most of the people in that part of the county were Swedes, the language of choice in almost all households was Swedish. Jack Lewis was wise—he learned to converse in Swedish, and in the process made lots of friends who would invite him in for a meal or to stay the night. In the early 1900s he opened a retail store in downtown Cambridge, and in 1910 he moved to the building on Main Street that became the Lewis Department Store. In its day this store may have been the largest department store between the Twin Cities and Duluth.

Jack Lewis was keenly attuned to his customers, and I remember him staying close to the entrance so that he could give a personal greeting to everyone who entered the store.

In addition to the store, Jack Lewis was active in the civic affairs of the city and community. Jack Lewis passed away suddenly in 1942, and the operation of the store was turned over to his daughter and son-in-law, Art and Evelyn Bornstein. The Bornsteins continued to operate the store until 1967.

At that time the store was sold to John Carlson of Braham. The name remained the same when John Carlson owned the store until 1976, when it was again sold and the new owner decided to change the name.

For over 75 years the Lewis Department Store was a most important part of Downtown Cambridge. Is it not somewhat ironic that Jack Lewis started out his career in Isanti County by using a horse and buggy, and that the current occupant of the building is a Tack Store?

This story originally appeared in the April 16, 2010 Isanti County News.

By Jack Puterbaugh
Isanti County resident, local historian

This used to be the time of year when farmers were eager to start getting the fields ready for the years crops.

Unlike today, the crops that were planted were not just corn and soy beans. Rather, it was corn, rye, oats, and in some cases potatoes or navy beans.

The machinery used to get the fields prepared for planting was equipment that was horse drawn. With four horses, a two bottom plow that included a seat for the operator was used. Along with the plow, there were horse drawn planters and disks.

Farm tractors had been around for a long time but they were not widely used by the county’s farmers.

There was one made by the Ford Motor Company, called the Fordson, but it was not very useful. In the late 1930s as agriculture became more mechanized, some farmers made their own tractors. These machines were called “Puddle-Jumpers.”

They were built on a truck chassis, and had two transmissions in line, that permitted  the machine to go at a very low speed. At about the same time, two brothers from Weber, Reuben and Carl Krueger, started a “revolution” in farming by selling the John Deere B tractor.

The “B” had a two cylinder engine that emitted a distinctive “put-put” sound as they chug-chugged their way pulling a two bottom plow. The same type of plow that required four horses.

There was also a two row corn planter, the John Deere 290, that worked well with the “B,” as well as disks and harrows.

The starter on the “B” was referred to as an Armstrong Type. That meant you had to spin the fly-wheel by hand to start it. I have no idea how many John Deere “B’s” the Kruegers sold, but it must have been in the hundreds.

However, they played a most important role in the mechanization of agriculture in Isanti county.

In 1946 the Krueger brothers moved into Cambridge, where the business was later known as Isanti County Equipment.

So today when you see a mammoth sized tractor pulling a twelve bottom plow, just remember it represents a more modest beginning.

This story originally appeared in the March 31, 2010 Isanti County News.