By Jack Puterbaugh
Isanti County resident, local historian

Today it is customary to head for the grocery store at least once a week—for the most part to a super market that stocks thousands of items.

As Americans we spend on food a lower percentage of our income  than almost any country in the world. When transportation was by horse and buggy, going to the store was done much closer to home.

There were grocery stores scattered throughout the county where groceries, and sometimes other commodities could be purchased.

Some of the places where groceries could be purchased included Dalbo, Day (today famous for lutefisk), Blomford, Bodum, Bradford, Stanchfield,  Grandy, Springvale, Elm Park, Oxlip, Weber and Crown.

Some of these places also had a creamery where farmers could bring their cream.

Dalbo, for example, once  had  a car dealership and a bank. Today you can still sip a beer at the Dusty Eagle and mail a letter at the post office, but you can’t buy groceries. Grandy still has the Brass Rail (best  coleslaw ever), but no groceries. Some of these former enterprises no longer exist as the buildings that housed them have been torn down. In other cases, the buildings are still standing, but have been converted to other uses.

I remember quite well the store at Oxlip. The store building at Oxlip was two stories. There was a meeting hall on the second floor, and I recall attending political meetings that were held there.

At one time there were a lot of navy beans grown in Isanti County. During the winter months there were a number of machines at the store that were pedal operated, and were used to remove foreign objects and material from the beans as they moved along a conveyor belt. 

The Oxlip store had another feature—an ice-house. During the winter chunks of ice would be harvested from a nearby lake. The ice would be sawed into rather large chunks, which would then be transported to the ice house, sawed into smaller chunks and then packed in saw dust where it would be available for later use. The ice was used to keep things cool in an ice box (the fore runner of the refrigerator).

In our case, Saturday evening was the time we went to get a chunk of ice for our ice-box. There was an honor system for the people who came to get ice (were people more honest at an earlier time?). 

Anyway, when you head out to buy groceries this week, remember you once went to a rather small place to restock the larder. Incidentally, don’t forget your discount coupons.

The column originally appeared in the Aug. 26, 2010 Isanti County News.

Did you know that Isanti County has its own counterpart of the Loch Ness monster called the Lory Monster? Using this local folk tale as the centerpiece for its Fall Fun Fest, the Historical Society is gearing up for an afternoon of motorcycle riding, food, music, fun & games on Saturday, October 9.

By Jack Puterbaugh
Isanti County resident, local historian

It’s sweet corn time. 

I just bought some that was grown locally. The price was $.40 an ear, which works out to $4.80 a dozen. I was reminded of how it was in the past.

My dad used to plant an acre of Yellow Bantam sweet corn that produced ears that were about two-thirds the size of the ears we see today.

Today, there are multiple varieties of sweet corn that have differing maturity dates that prolong the sweet corn season.

When our acre of sweet corn was ready to harvest, we supplied Olsens Store in Isanti, and Russ Elofsons Fairway Market in Cambridge with fresh sweet corn. We also sold the crop in another way.

My dad had a 1937 Chrysler Royal four-door sedan. If the back seat was removed, it was possible to load the back and trunk with some 100 dozen ears of corn. This was done late in the afternoon.

The next day after the morning chores had been attended to, my dad, my brother and I would head off to Minneapolis. The trip was much simpler then.

The so-called Metro Area didn’t start until you reached 40th and Central. Of course MN Hwy. 65 was only two lanes and the first stop and go light was at 40th and Central.

We would usually continue down to Central and Lowry, and then look for a residential area on either side of Central.

After parking the car my dad and I would load up shoulder packs with ears of corn—maybe four dozen. My dad would take one side of the street, while I took the other. We would then go door to door peddling our wares. The price was $.10 a dozen or three-dozen for a $.25.

While we were going door to door, my brother would keep watch over the car. We usually sold out in something like an hour and a half. For our efforts the total take was somewhat near $10.

After all of the corn had been sold, our reward was a visit to the Band Box on Central Avenue where hamburgers were three for a dime. Then it was back to the farm to wait for more of the ears to ripen.

Today when I buy sweet corn—I mutter, “three-dozen for a quarter.” Times do change don’t they?

This originally appeared in the Isanti County News on Aug. 4, 2010.