Alphonse Kubat, A Priest With a Past

By Charles Pederson

Father Alphonse Kubat, in retirement in St. Paul, MN. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

The path to priesthood is often preordained: go to school, enter seminary, become ordained, start serving as an ordinary priest. But even an ordinary priest may harbor hidden depths. Take Alphonse Kubat, priest of the Catholic Church and humble servant at churches in Scott County and surrounding areas. During his long life, Father Kubat was pressed into manual labor by the Nazi regime, struggled for religious freedom in Communist Czechoslovakia and finally found a new home in the United States, at Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague, Minnesota. Fellow priest Michael Miller said of his mentor, Fr. Kubat, “You’d never know he’d been through such terrible things in his life.” [1]

Growing Up Between the Wars

Born in August 1916 to Frank and Anna Kubat, Alphonse came of age during the period between world wars. He grew up in Frydlant, a town in northeast Czechoslovakia. The area had long been part of the double monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The monarchy controlled vast acreage throughout Europe. To maintain territorial integrity, the crown had kept its ethnic minorities under strict control. However, the assassination of the Austrian-Hungarian crown prince by an ethnic minority Serb lit the flame of world war. It also heralded the end of Austria-Hungary. And with the empire’s collapse after World War I, many new countries gained the freedom to emerge. Czechoslovakia, a new democracy, was one of these new countries.

One wonders what led Alphonse to the priesthood. Perhaps he was affected by people’s stories of the war or the presence of hundreds of thousands of Czech war wounded. In the devastation of World War I, as many as 150,000 Czechs had fought and died for the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef. [2] This was about 10% of the entire Czech military contingent. Perhaps Alphonse was influenced by the example of his uncle Alphonse Kotouc, an ordained priest who served in Minnesota. Whatever the reason, young Alphonse determined to become a priest himself and enrolled in the regional seminary in the town of Hradec Kralove.

The Insanity of World War II

In Czechoslovakia, the insanity of the next war began in 1938. That year the German Nazi military annexed the Sudetenland. This border region of Czechoslovakia contained a majority of ethnic Germans. Adolf Hitler argued they were endangered and needed protection. Negotiating the Munich Pact with Britain, France, and Italy, Germany was allowed to occupy the Sudetenland unopposed. [3]

Only months later, in March 1939, Nazi armies invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia to “restore order”[4] and make it part of so-called greater Germany. Czechoslovakia as a separate country ceased to exist.

Catholics became a special target of the Nazis. Many Catholic institutions were shuttered. Between 350 and 500 priests were arrested, of whom numerous were executed or died in prison or concentration camps.

New anti-Catholic laws forced Alphonse to end his theological studies. The Nazis instead pressed him into manual labor. When injured in a woodworking accident, he was released from the work gang. Despite Nazi oppression, Alphonse completed his religious training. He was ordained in June 1942, at age 25. The newly minted Father Kubat was installed as assistant pastor in a town an hour southeast of Prague. The war ended in two years later.

Postwar Religious Oppression

The vagaries of war left Czechoslovakia in the Soviet zone of influence. By the late 1940s, Soviet-supported communists controlled the Czech government. Official relations with the Vatican broke off in 1950, and the persecution of Catholics that had already begun accelerated.

Fr. Kubat was one of the many priests who suffered directly under the communist regime. Along with many other religious persons—both male and female—Fr. Kubat in 1953 received a prison sentence. He was housed  for two years in a “concentration monastery” in Valdice, Czechoslovakia. [5] Ironically the prison was in a former monastery that had been established in 1627. In 1857, the grounds had been converted into a prison for convicts with terms of 10 years to life. [6]

Catholic practice was officially allowed only by “licensed” priests, [7] who were considered state employees. Any other practice of the religion had to be conducted secretly. During the time of Fr. Kubat’s incarceration, communion (or the Eucharist) was secretly offered only five times because of the difficulty of obtaining the elements. Raisins picked from bread were soaked in water to create a “wine,” and a spoon was used as the “chalice.” [8] Bread serving as a communion wafer might be wrapped in cigarette paper for concealment. If a fellow prisoner informed on the priests, or if guards discovered that religious rites were being performed, their belongings might be taken away. Fr. Kubat himself was punished once with six weeks of solitary confinement. Fortunately, not all guards were equally zealous in their duties. Through lingering loyalty to the church or perhaps through bribery or sheer laziness, they might look the other way. [9]

Fr. Kubat was freed from prison in 1955. Because the government considered him unreliable at best—and certainly not a good communist—he still could not publicly perform his priestly duties. Instead, he was assigned to a construction crew and worked in a steel factory for nearly 15 years. [10] Any religious activities had to remain secret. As he already knew, priests performing their duties risked potentially severe punishment.

Prague Spring and What Followed

Early 1968 was a time of social ferment in Europe. In Czechoslovakia, widespread public demonstrations led to the fall of a hardline communist government. This left room for the reformer-socialist Alexander Dubcek. He took leadership of the government in April. Dubcek advocated for “socialism with a human face”: an opening of the tightly controlled economy and expansion of freedom of speech. Initially, Czechs feared that the Soviet Union would react angrily to a reform government. The worst did not happen, and  the Soviets remained on the sidelines. The period was optimistically known as Prague Spring.

Finally, the Dubcek government crossed a line. It expressed interest in possibly leaving the Soviet-controlled military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. This was unacceptable to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. In August, Brezhnev ordered 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia. Dubcek was arrested, and his brief experiment in a less repressive socialism ended. [11]

Leaving an Old Home, Finding a New One

Seeing a lack of world reaction to the Soviet crackdown in his homeland, Fr. Kubat believed that things would not improve for the Czech religious community. In the chaos of the end of Prague Spring, he, along with several hundred thousand others, left Czechoslovakia. Fr. Kubat landed in neutral Vienna, Austria.

Fr. Kubat’s new religious home was a beautiful neoclassical church, Saint Nicholas. The building was located in Inzersdorf, on the southwest edge of Vienna. The bright white exterior of the compact building was beautiful. The celestial architecture echoed the inscription above the church’s entry: “Domus Dei Porta Coeli” (“God’s House, Gate of Heaven”). [12] Fr. Kubat must have felt inspired. Inspiration alone, however, was not enough to bind him to Europe.

About a year later, Fr. Kubat applied to emigrate from Austria into the United States. His application was approved, and Fr. Kubat arrived in New York City in mid-1969. After serving briefly at a church in North Dakota and for 15 years in Veseli, Minnesota, he was sent to the nearby Saint Wenceslaus parish in New Prague, Minnesota.

Aerial view of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, New Prague, circa 1935. Image in the SCHS Collection.

Czechs had settled parts of LeSueur, Scott, and Rice Counties, in southern Minnesota, in the 1850s. New Prague, the oldest Czech colony in Minnesota (founded 1856), [13] was the approximate center of the area. [14] Fr. Kubat’s uncle Alphonse Kotouc had overseen the erection of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Veseli. [15] That family connection, along with the area’s strong Czech background, must have helped Fr. Kubat settle in to his position.

The final step in Fr. Kubat’s Europe-to-Minnesota odyssey occurred in July 1974. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, proudly displaying the certificate on his wall.

A Humble Servant’s Life

Having served in several other parishes, Fr. Kubat retired to Saint Paul in 1991 and died of cancer in January 2006. It had been a long journey from the upheaval and destruction of the first half of his life. But he was so happy to be able to be a priest.

Fr. Kubat showed real heroism and unshakable optimism in overcoming so many barriers to practice his faith. Fr. Michael Miller, however, quoted his friend’s modesty: “‘Do not say that I was a saint or a great priest.’ . . . His greatest joy was finally being able to act as a priest freely and without fear. . . . Having been deprived of exercising his priesthood for most of his life gave him an appreciation of it from which we can all learn.  Perhaps that is why he was so joyful.” [16] Fr. Kubat is buried at Saint Scholastica Cemetery in Heidelberg, Minnesota.

Fr. Kubat celebrates Mass. Photo provided by Fr. Michael Miller.

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End Notes

[1] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[2] Many Czech WWI Graves Neglected, Says Member of History Buffs’ Group. (2014, June 21). Radio Prague International. https://english.radio.cz/many-czech-wwi-graves-neglected-says-member-history-buffs-group-8292384

[3] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “Key Events,: para. 6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[4] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). Hitler’s Foreign Policy, “The Final Destruction of Czechoslovakia—1939,” para. 3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/4

[5] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[6] Correctional Facility Valdice (Kartouzy). (2009). Wikimapia. http://wikimapia.org/11412690/Correctional-facility-Valdice-Kartouzy

[7] Fiala, M. (Ed.). (n.d.). Czech Republic, the Catholic Church in the, “The Church Since 1945,” para. 7. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/czech-republic-catholic-church.

[8] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf

[9] Valdice Prison. (n.d.). A Communion Wafer Was a Piece of a Bun Wrapped in Cigarette Paper (Hostie, to byl kousek housky v cigaretovém papírku), para. 1. https://www.mistapametinaroda.cz/?lc=en&id=413

[10] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf.

[11] BBC Bitesize. (n.d.) The Cold War, 1961-1972, “Events of the Prague Spring,” paras. 1-3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsfwhv4/revision/5 

[12] Pfarre St. Nikolaus. (n.d.) Kirchengebaeude, para. 1. https://www.pfarresanktnikolaus.at/wp/?page_id=26

[13] Landsberger, J. D. (n.d.). Gateway to a New World: Building Czech and Slovak Communities in the West End, p. 19. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjmg975ibjxAhUBVc0KHRVFBH4QFjAQegQICxAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.josfland.com%2Fgardens%2Fgateway%2520small.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2KgbGOo32e53XOd8iRKWAL

[14] U.S. Department of the Interior. (1997, October). Church of the Most Holy Trinity (Catholic) [National Register of Historic Places Application Form]. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiK14m-krjxAhXVU80KHf5GB5QQFjACegQIBBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FGetAsset%2F9aac0eb3-afc6-4804-a109-1ae4c9e578f7&usg=AOvVaw1YVGi_tbOdFndEZD9JIiLq

[15] Scott, S. (2006, January 4). Priest Endured Europe’s Worst: Czech Nazi, Communist Imprisonments Preceded His Flight to Freedom in America. St. Paul Pioneer Press, n.p., para. 2.

[16] Miller, M. (2006, January 7). Funeral Homily for Father Alphonse M. Kubat (August 3, 1916 – January 2, 2006) St. Wenceslaus Church, New Prague, Minnesota. January 7, 2006, para. 3. https://www.stpandc.mn.org/Kubat.pdf

Camp Savage, WW II Asset for Victory in the Pacific

by Charles Pederson

Every day, thousands of cars pass through the Minnesota city of Savage on state Highway 13. Drivers and passengers are intent on the traffic or on making good time. Not one in a thousand glances at the south frontage road at Xenwood Avenue. Why would they? They’d see only some scrubland, neat commercial buildings, a modest park, a historical marker. They might never suspect that those few humdrum acres had been a vital cog in the Pacific Theater war effort during World War II.

Wanted: Speakers of Japanese

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Japan had steadily expanded its empire in southeast Asia. It needed raw materials for its industry. As punishment, the United States began to refuse to export especially oil to Japan. As pressure mounted, Japan decided it had to attack the United States before it declared war.

Negotiations were attempted, but by 1941, they broke off. The U.S. military began a search for qualified speakers of Japanese who could clarify enemy intentions. Surprisingly, a survey of 3,700 second-generation Japanese Americans (known as Nisei) found that only 3% were fluent, 4% proficient, and 3% could be made proficient with enough training. A further barrier was military leadership’s deep distrust about where the loyalty of ethnic Japanese lay.

Despite these handicaps, far-sighted officers in early November 1941 established an intensive Japanese language school on the Presidio military base in San Francisco. It came to be known as the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS). To fill the ranks, MISLS recruited Nisei, Issei (immigrants from Japan), and Kibei (American-born Japanese who had been educated in Japan).

A scant $2,000 budget for the school was used to gather 60 students (58 Nisei Americans and two European Americans), along with 18 instructors in an unused hangar. English was the first language for many, but they volunteered anyway. Clearly, these patriots loved their country.

Panic Leads to Internment

A month later, on December 7, 1941, airplanes of the empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The anticipated war had begun.

Panic swept the nation as worries mounted about the loyalty of ethnic Japanese in America. In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. It initiated the evacuation of all Japanese Americans and resident aliens of Japanese descent from the West Coast. About 120,000 U.S. citizens or resident aliens were abruptly imprisoned in 10 concentration camps in seven Western states.

Clearly, the government had overreacted. A 1982 U.S. government report noted: “Not a single documented act of [Japanese] espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity was committed” on the West Coast. Despite their treatment, many MISLS volunteers came from the camps and Hawaii.

Because of the ethnic makeup of students and instructors at the MISLS camp, Roosevelt’s evacuation order applied to them. The school had to move from the so-called exclusion zone. A new school was needed.

Minnesota or Bust

Several Midwest states refused to host the new camp, because of anti-Japanese feelings. Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, however, offered a plot of land in Savage to house the school. The school commandant, Colonel Kai Rasmussen, believed that Minnesota would be more accepting of this ethnic group than some of its neighbors. He agreed to the move. In June 1942, Camp Savage was established.

Built in the 1930s, several buildings stood on 132 acres just west of downtown Savage. It had originally been constructed during the Great Depression to house workers in Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Later, the campus had been converted to use for men who were poor and elderly.

Now, the buildings were repurposed to train the men whom President Harry Truman later called “our human secret weapons.”

Camp and Coursework

The first class at Camp Savage had 200 students and 18 instructors. Students occupied about 15 to 20 barracks, each with cots and three coal-fired potbelly stoves for winter heating. Administration and other buildings also stood on the site. From the beginning, the wooden camp buildings seemed destined to be temporary. Larger buildings for social events were particularly scarce. In fact, an early camp dance took place in a dairy barn after the cows had been milked and sent out to pasture. Continually increasing numbers of students and instructors ratcheted the pressure on facilities.

Coursework was rigorous, with classes from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and again from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. Students learned not only conversational Japanese but also Japanese military codes and terminology, army slang, and battle tactics and techniques. They learned to listen in on communications, interrogate prisoners, and understand several literary and handwriting styles. It was intensive work with only a few months to master it all.

Most students had to study hard not to wash out of the program. As diligent learners who wanted to serve the United States, they took sometimes extraordinary measures to pass the language course. Student Saburo Watanabe said that, after lights out, “you hardly saw anybody in their cots because they were all out in the toilet [where there was light]. They were seated in the toilet seats,” studying for Saturday exams. Those in their cots often studied by flashlight. This was such a common occurrence that officers had to keep an eye on students and make sure lights out meant lights out.

Still, there were simple pleasures. One student, Takejiro Higa, learning his brother’s military experiences in Mississippi, appreciated the fresh food, including milk and eggs. His brother got powdered eggs. In Minnesota, “summer months were nice and green,” added Higa. “You can roll around in the grass. Whereas Mississippi, hell, it’s sandy, it’s a dusty place.” On weekends, students might visit Fort Snelling, in Saint Paul, or downtown Minneapolis. One student remembered enjoying food at a Chinese restaurant near the Minneapolis bus station.

End of Camp Savage

Each new class of students was larger than the previous. For the final class, 100 instructors graduated 1,100 students. Finally, Camp Savage exceeded capacity. In August 1944, MISLS was moved to quarters on the military base at Fort Snelling. Two years after that, the school returned to California, with additional languages taught. A total of more than 6,000 students had graduated from MISLS.

MISLS linguists helped translate more than 20 million pages of documents and assisted at postwar war crimes trials. U.S. military officers stated that the students’ efforts shortened the Asian war by at least two years. The military’s tune had certainly changed from the mistrust and suspicion of the early years and Executive Order 9066.

The remains of Camp Savage are sparse—a small park with a historical marker commemorating the little-known history of WWII’s human secret weapons. A single camp building used by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT). A city dog park, where visitors may have no idea of the history beneath their feet. But this unassuming landscape bore abundant fruit throughout WW II and beyond.

Spring Lake Village

Construction on the Spring Lake Township Hall, 2007. From the SCHS Collections.

On June 10th, 1857, the Shakopee Valley Herald printed a small article under the headline “Another Town”. The article noted that “Thomas Holmes, A Holmes and Company have purchased property on Spring Lake and will immediately have the same surveyed off into lots,” It continued “We predict that, in a very short time, this will be a flourishing town, being 7 miles from Shakopee over a good road, will, we have no doubt, induce many of our citizens who want to spend the day fishing, gunning or having a sail on the lakes, to visit this pretty place”.

Ten years later, the area had become well known for its natural beauty. In 1867 the Shakopee Spectator ran an article outlining the attractions of the area. “It is not generally known that Scott County can boast some of the most desirable summer resorts, in point of scenery, surroundings, healthfulness and grandeur, that adorns any locality in the country”. It mentioned the village of Spring Lake, then goes on to describe the excellent fishing in the lakes themselves in detail, declaring that Spring Lake is “nearly round but with an occasional bay jutting out from the main body of water with a beautiful gravel beach the whole way around it”, and Long lake is ““quite appropriately named, being some four or five miles long, with several beautifully wooded islands rising from its bosom. Its shores are uneven, rendered indescribably romantic by numerous bays and coves”

As more European American settlers came to the area, the farmland became more important. On Sept 17, 1877, the Shakopee Courier described farming conditions in Spring Lake: “This section is composed of heavily timbered land, so as a result farms are not as large as is the case in open or brushland towns. The farmers, however, raise good crops, particularly as far as wheat is concerned…the corn is not as good, there being so little rainfall” 

The village of Spring Lake was expanding as well. An early store was owned by Patrick Thorton, who is described as “an old resident with 22 years standing”. Thornton’s store also served meals.  Another store was owned by postmaster Cates. The article notes Notes “The exact population of Spring Lake town we do not know, but votes cast at last fall’s election reached the round number of 300”.

Spring Lake Today 

The emphasis on farming in the area continued for almost a hundred years, into the 1960s. At that point, the need for housing began to expand, and almost 40% of the housing stock in the area was built during the ‘60s and ‘70s. The village of Spring Lake never grew to the size of surrounding towns, and although there are many amenities nearby, Spring Lake Township continues to be an overwhelmingly rural area. Today the township boasts a few bars, and many recreation opportunities, including Fish Lake Park, South Shore Park, and Raymond Park, camping, fishing and hiking. The Fish Lake shoreline is also undergoing a prairie restoration project.

Fish Lake Immanuel Lutheran Church

Print of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1971. From the SCHS Collections.

Early European American settlers in Spring Lake Township township included a group of Lutherans of German descent who came by way of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. For their first ten years in Scott County, this group met for religious services in a log cabin in Bellefontaine - a settlement in the southeast corner of section five near Spring Lake. Lots were platted in Bellafontaine, and a few were sold, but it never grew into a town. These services were conducted by pastors riding circuit. 

Eventually the congregation outgrew the cabin. On December 17th, 1870, 2.5 acres on the north bank of Fish Lake were purchased for a new church. They were sold by Henry and Ann McCartney for $37.50. The first pastor of the new church was Henry Raedeke from Carver who served for 15 years. Soon after his arrival, the first church was built on the site for appx. $1000.00

Over time, this structure became cramped as well, and in 1926 money was raised by the congregation for a new building which still serves today. The present church was built under Rev. Karl Schroeder and dedicated on May 9 1926. The dedication program included a supper cooked by the ladies of the congregation, and a performance by “a male quartet of fine male singers” iin German and English

A January 1926 article in the Jordan Independent describes Rev. Schroeder as an “energetic and popular pastor”, and the new church thusly” “Located on a south frontage, giving a fascinating view of the pretty sheet of water known as Fish Lake. It is of an architectural style very pleasing to the eye of the beholder.” The building site for the new church was The site was part of the homestead of Civil War Veteran David Maloney.

Fish Lake Immanuel Lutheran still welcomes worshipers Saturdays and Sundays in the historic 1926 church.

History of Lydia- Part 1: Lydia Businesses

Downtown Lydia around 1970. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

We have a great deal of information about life in early Lydia thanks to the dedicated work of the Lydia Area Historical Society. The group started in 2001 as an opportunity for older Lydia residents to gather together and share stories of the town. Over time, the Lydia Area Historical Society has scoured historic newspapers for items pertaining to Lydia’s history and invited long-time residents to join meetings and share their stories. This has resulted in the publication of a book on Lydia History and a public monument dedicated to Lydia. The Lydia Area Historical Society will also be creating an exhibit about Lydia for the Scott County Historical Society which should be opening in 2022. 

Lyia History

According to the Lydia Area Historical Society, the first European American residents of the area were a group of Irish immigrants who relocated to the ara in the 1850s. They were followed closely by a wave of immigrants from England. 

The Lydia Post Office opened in 1861, and ran until 1903, when the community became part of Jordan’s rural mail route. The first postmaster was named Calendar Pewthere. Perhaps more known in the community was Calendar’s wife, Lydia. She ran the first general store, and was on hand to help residents collect and send mail. The community still bears her name today. 

Miller’s Store

In the late 1870s, an entrepreneur named William Miller came to the area. He opened a sawmill, feedmill, and sorghum press . In 1880, at the suggestion of one of his customers, Miller took some of the excess wood from his mill and used it to build “Miller’s General Store”. 

William Miller’s enterprises proved to be successful. The sorghum press suffered a setback when a 17 year old worker, Ed Dorn, lost one of his hands in the press. This temporarily closed the business, but soon William Miller’s sons, George and Edward, opened a new press just south of Lydia.

Alvin Ebel, a lifetime Lydia resident, recalled his childhood memories of the Lydia Sorghum Mill for the Prior Lake American in 1976. He stated “...steel wringers like those of an old washing machine would press juice from sticks of sugar cane. The liquid was boiled in a vat until a sweet molasses was produced. Farmers would put this on pancakes or bread or whatever else pleased them. On the way home from school we would always pass by the sorghum press and put our fingers into the mixture. It was delicious”

 Eventually William Miller’s sons also took over operation of the store. One of George and Edward Miller’s trademarks was the acceptance of goods in trade. Instead of only taking money, the brothers allowed farmers to pay in chickens, ducks, calves, hogs, eggs and produce. They would then take these agricultural items to St. Paul for resale. 

In 1920, George and Edward Miller sold the store to William Bussman. William unfortunately died of tuberculosis soon after, and his brother Freddie and Freddie’s wife Martha took over operation. The couple continued the tradition of accepting goods as payment from local farmers, and ran the store until they retired in 1974. Eventually they expanded inventory, even selling tractors and other large pieces of farm equipment. 

Vogel’s Store

By the late 1880s, demand was high enough in Lydia that a second general store opened. F. J. Vogel’s Store was located directly across the street from Miller’s store on Lydia Road. 

In spite of his entrepreneurial enterprises, F. J. Vogel’s true passion was for politics. He was elected to the state legislature on the Republican ticket, and held office until he died from tuberculosis in 1898. After his death the store was sold to the Luedke family of Prior Like who owned the business until it burned down in 1901. 

Lydia Blacksmith 

Calendar from Wandschneider Blacksmith, 1908. From the SCHS Collections

The first blacksmith shop in Lydia was built by the Hornke family. They ran the enterprise until 1890 when they sold it to Adolph Wanderschnieder. Wanderschneider was known for being excited about using the latest technology. He first ran the shop on horsepower using a treadmill, and was one of the first in the are to transition to operating on a gas engine. 

Wanderschnieder owned the blacksmith shop until 1920 Igraitz Ratoski. Ratoski was a World War 1 veteran who fought on the side of Germany, but relocated to the United States soon after the war ended. He settled in Lydia and married Vilo Pierre who was, at the time, the teacher for the Lydia school. 

Ratoski’s tenure as blacksmith lasted until World War II, when he and his family relocated to Seattle so Ratoski could aid in the US war effort by by lending his mechanical skills to the west coast shipyards. 

Lydia Creamery 

The first creamery in Lydia was operated by John Diedrich, and opened in 1890. In 1899, area farmers decided to open a cooperative creamery, and soon bought out Diedrich’s enterprise. The creamery was a success, and soon 30-40 farmers were regularly bringing their dairy in to be turned into butter. By 1910, the creamery was enough of a community cornerstone that they sponsored the local Independence Day celebration which included a dairy-themed float and fireworks. By 1921, the creamery had 77 stakeholders. Until electric cooling systems came to Lydia, farmer members would meet each winter on Fish Lake to harvest ice used to chill the butter throughout the year. 

Lydia Creamery, like several other area creameries, suffered a setback during the prohibition years due to a rash of butter robberies in the area. In 1926, thieves made away with 8 tubs of butter valued at $200. The next year there was another robbery attempt, but this time the thieves were foiled by the Floyd Andrews Inc Detective Agency which had been hired by the Land O Lakes company to protect area creameries. 

In 1930 the cooperative ended, and the creamery was purchased by Richard Boettcher,  who used the facility to make butter under the name American Beauty. Facing competition from creameries that specialized in milk, and the rising popularity of oleo (margarine), the business closed in 1940. 

The building continued to stay in use, first as a hardware store, and then as a candy and ice cream shop. It burned down in 1954 and was not rebuilt. 

Gierlich Hall and Harness Shop

In 1890, Frank Gierlich built a harness shop, and added a dance hall upstairs. The hall hosted dances every Saturday. Long time Lydia residents remembered that admittance could be had for a quarter- except for a special week in 1917 where the charge was seventy-five cents, but a motorcycle was given away as a door prize. 

The hall was also a home for community gatherings. The Methodist Church held their chicken suppers at Gierlich Hall, and it also hosted the Lydia Cremery’s annual co-op meetings. Additionally, a local group known as the Lydia Farmer’s Club would put on regular one and three act plays for the community. Every Christmas, Gierlich Hall hosted the Lydia School’s annual holiday program. 

The Gierlich Hall and Harness shop remained a community staple until it burned down in 1933. 

Lydia Feed Mill around 1965. Photo from the SCHS collections.

Lydia Feed Mill 

William Miller owned an early feed mill in Lydia, but the business best remembered as the Lydia Feed Mill was opened by Richard Boettcher in 1926. Richard ran the mill until he passed away in 1940, and ownership passed to his sons Marvin and Eitel. The mill stayed in the family until it closed in 1989. 

The Lydia Feed Mill had one brief closure. During World War II both Marvin and Eitel were drafted. The town of Lydia took up a petition to cancel the draft so that the brothers could continue to run the mill, but the request was denied. Both brothers served, and the Lydia Feed Mill was closed until they returned from their service. 

In 1958 the mill expanded,  Over time, storage bins, a truck hoist, feed mixers and an electric corn sheller were added. In 1985 the Prior Lake American profiled the Feed Mill, at the time run by Eitel Boettcher and his sister-in-law Beatrice. The paper noted that, in spite of modernization, the Feed Mill still had an old-fashioned feel. Farmers continued to leave bags of feed on the doorstep when the mill was closed over the weekend, and “Inside the office, a quarter still buys a bottle of pop, and the weather and the economy are frequent topics of conversation. ” 

Beatrice Boettcher noted that the Feed Mill had become a center of community life “Everyone used to gather at the Country Store, but when that closed last year people started coming here to visit. Later in the day, some of them go to the County Seat Restaurant.”

After the Lydia Feed Mill closed, the building remained empty for several years. It was finally demolished in 1993.