This blog post is an excerpt from As I Remember, a compilation of oral histories from Scott County’s senior citizens in the 1980s. The following are the memories of Grace Ploetz, who grew up in Belle Plaine. There is even a donut recipe at the end, so read on!
Some Good Memories of the Past
About the year 1900, my father came to this country from Goteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden, at the age of sixteen. His older brother, Oscar, was established in the confectionery business in Duluth at that time. He sent my father to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter to learn the English language and a short business course. My father spent a year in that area, then went back to Duluth. He had several different jobs as time went by. I remember him telling about being a salesman for a stationery company. He drove a horse and buggy rom Duluth to the Iron Range, taking orders from stores along the way. His largest sales were in valentines and school supplies. How he survived the cold weather, driving a horse and buggy in that part of the country, I never did know.
Mother came to Duluth about the same time, coming from a family of nine children, all living in a one room house on a farm near Valley City, North Dakota. She came to work for a relative who ran a boarding house. My father roomed and boarded at this place. My mother was a pretty gal, and a good cook. A romance started and soon they were married. Mother quit her job at the rooming house and went to work for a dressmaker, plus keeping house. There she learned the art of dressmaking. Making dresses for the elite in those days was an art and she never forgot the technique.
My father didn’t like being on the road, so he went into the confectionery business with his brother. In the meantime, I was born. My father stayed in business with his brother until I was about three years old. He then decided to open a confectionery business of his own. We lived in two rooms in back of the store. Mother and dad worked night and day, plus taking care of me. They made all of their own ice cream, cakes, pies, soup and sandwiches, seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Finally, they saved a little money and decided to get into a business that would at least give them a rest on Sunday.
In 1912 Dad took the train to the town of St. Peter to see if he could rent a building. There was no vacancy, so on the way back he stopped at Belle Plaine. Dad made plans to start a variety store. At that time, they called it a five-and-ten cent store. I was six years old and started school. I got along fine until some of the kids called me a “ten center,” and also reported that competition was “going to have that Swede out of business in six months.” To me, this was tragic at the time; now I can laugh about it. When I reported all this at home, dad was very calm and told me to pay no attention. He also told me something I never forgot – “Be nice to your competitors. Someday they may be your customers.”
Mother and Dad worked very hard at getting this store organized. I remember the first winter we lived upstairs in a three room apartment. It was cold at times, the stove would be red hot, but we had to keep our feet wrapped up in a blanket to keep warm. One incident happened that I will never forget. Mother used to clean her best dress and dad’s ties in gasoline, and she kept a can of it in the storeroom. She had a young girl come in and clean this day and she filled the lamp with oil, which she found in the storeroom. That night she lit the lamp. We were home alone. Lamps fascinated me. They were new to me as I was used to the gas jets in Duluth. I watched the flame and it seemed to jump up and down. I as frightened. I told the girl, and she too knew it wasn’t right. So she blew it out. I went next door and borrowed a lamp so we would have some light. The only thing that saved us from an explosion was that the wick was saturated with kerosene and it wasn’t lit long enough. The good Lord was watching over us that night. My folks were so upset after they arrived home when I told them why we had the neighbor’s lamp.
The store prospered, not very fast, but soon there was an opportunity to move into a larger building and more stock could be added. By that time Dad had established his credit with the wholesale houses and the local banks (Belle Plaine had two banks in those days). He installed a 12-foot candy case and had the best assortment of bulk candy in town. Mother had a millinery department and Dad always said that was a store saver. She re-trimmed old hats, made them look like new, and she also sold lovely new ones. She was a good saleslady. Those days most of the men came with their lady to select a new hat. When it came time to choose, mother would always try the hats on herself. She looked nice in them all, but most always she looked best in the most expensive one.
The year 1925, My brother Carl was born. A few months before, Mother’s friend, Nellie Irwin, gave her a baby shower. This was an exciting party. None of mother’s friends knew that she was going to have a baby. She had confided in me, Nellie, and Ida Moore, who worked at the store. We got together and thought it would be fun to have a surprise shower, a surprise for the guests! Ida and I wrote the invitations, sent them out to Mother’s friends with, “Guess Who is Having a Baby?” The town was buzzing with gossip. One lady told mother she wasn’t going to buy anything good because she didn’t know who it was for. When the ladies arrived at Nellie’s house, all the packages were put in a large basket with strings that looked like they were attached to the basket. The only one that was attached was Mother’s. When she pulled, it came to her. The lady who wasn’t going to buy anything good fainted!
By this time, I was out of school and worked full time at the store. When Carl was about two years old, Mother would come to help when we had special sales. Often on Saturdays of the sale, we would offer hot coffee to the customers. This was mother’s specialty, which she made right at the store. She mixed and rolled them, cut and fried them, in between the time she visited with the customers. Dad made the coffee and always took such great pride in handing out a good cup of coffee. What could be better for free on a cold day?
Mother’s Donut Recipe
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
5 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine
4 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
Beat eggs well. Add sugar, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk and add to egg mixture. Add flour, making a soft dough. Turn on to a lightly floured board, roll into a sheet, 1/3 inch thick. Cut with a floured cutter. Fry in deep fat at 365°, turning until brown. Cut with a floured cutter. Drain on absorbent paper, sprinkle with sugar. Always have a fryer cover handy in case the grease catches on fire. If so, place cover on fryer, and fire will be extinguished.
Coffee Recipe for an Old-Fashioned 45 or 50 Cup Coffee Pot
2 ½ cups coffee, regular grind
¼ tsp. salt
2 ½ gallons boiling water
1 egg white
2 cups cold water
Mix coffee, egg white, salt, and 1 cup cold water, and add to boiling water. When it starts to boil up, turn heat off and let stand 10 minutes. Add 1 cup cold water and coffee is ready to serve.