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.