Scott County Memories: Hairdressing

These recollections were dictated by Ione Theis of Shakopee in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

We have read of some of the great women in history and their attempts to beautify by dressing their hair - Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette and others. But what did our mothers and grandmothers do to beautify their hair? If she was a prairie wife or a village matron at the turn of the century, she caught rainwater from the drain spout so she had soft water to use in washing her hair. She may have used homemade soap, or perhaps a product purchased from a traveling peddler, a bar of Castile Soap or Tar Soap. Many preferred to finish with a vinegar rinse. She probably braided her hair in long plaits and wound it around her head as she worked. Many young girls wore their hair in braided pony tails, but on special occasions mothers put their daughters hair up in rags to make long tight bouncing curls.

Women also saved combings form their hair brushing and kept them in celluloid hair receivers to shape into buns or rats which they used to fill out their hair arrangement. They used an assortment of pins to hold this all in place, including common wire hairpins, celluloid hairpins and combs, ranging from plain to jeweled ornaments.

During the years of World War 1, it became fashionable to cut the hair short, and women had to find a new method of dressing the hair. They first attempted to curl the ends using a curling iron with wooden candles bent over the glass chimney of a kerosene lamp. They tested it on a piece of paper for heat and to remove soot, but I suspect many burnt and singed ends resulted.

In the late 1920s and 1930s we were introduced to a professional hairdresser in the area. She had taking training in the Twin Cities and was trained in marcelling, cosmetology and permanent waving. Marcelling gave a rigid wave that was both popular and enduring.

One of the early hairdressers of Scott County was Rosella Dressen Ries who distinguished herself and Shakopee by being chosen “Miss Minnesota” of 1929. She was a contestant at Atlantic City. Rosella operated and managed the “Modern Beauty Shop” on first avenue from the 1930’s through many years.

Ione Theis and Rosella Dressen Ries "Rosie" standing in front of the Modern Beauty Shop, 1944.

As a recent graduate of the Brady and Rogers School of Beauty, I arrived at the Modern Beauty Shop in the late 1930’s and trained in the methods of the time. Marcelling the hair was giving away to the ore popular spiral wave. The hair was wound on long slender rods, then with a lotion saturated pad was baked on an electrical machine that could be described as a torture device! Somewhat later, and even more popular, was the invention of the Frenchman, Monsieur Crogonle. It gave a tighter curl to the ends of the hair, but still used the heating machine that resulted in many casualties of the scalp. Later, Mr Willette invented the “cold wave”, the forerunner of the permanent wave we enjoy today.

Hairstyles and hairdressing today, for both men and women vary according to individual choice but are far removed from grandmother’s rain water and vinegar rinse.

Scott County Memories: Experiences Traveling with a Band

These recollections were dictated by Mayme Dvorak Borak of New Prague in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

Chaska Sodality band around 1920. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

I was a freshman in high school in 1919 when I was asked to play the piano with a seven piece band by the name of Borak and Boudin. It was the best modern and old time band around New Prague. We would rehearse at the Frank Borak house once a week. Then we were hired two or three times a week to play for wedding dances. K.C. dances and Fireman’s dances- as far away as the Iowa border.

It really wasn’t much fun to travel 64 years ago in summer or winter. The roads were narrow and when it rained it was very muddy because there was no gravel or blacktop at that time. In winter we would travel with horses and a sleigh which had hay in it for us to sit on to keep warm. Many times, if it was stormy, the horses went into the ditch and topped over the sled and all the instruments were scattered on the field. It took us many hours to get home. I would sleep maybe two to three hours and then go to school.

In 1926 we got uniforms, and I believe I was the first woman to wear slacks. We has tan slacks and brown corduroy jackets.

At some dance halls they had very poor pianos. St. Patrick had a small piano and I had to chew gum to past the black key on in order to play it. Then at St. Thomas, they had an organ which I had to pump with my feet all night to keep up with the band.

I played with different bands for over twenty years and enjoyed every bit of it.

Scott County Memories: German, Baseball, Church Bells and Slot Machines

These recollections were dictated by Richard Mertz of Shakopee in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

Shakopee has been most fortunate in the type of people it has attracted over these many years. It has an interesting and colorful past so it us pure fun to remember and relate some of the most pleasant memories.

Today we have many nationalities and most of our families are such a mixture that we can only say we are Americans. Not so forty or fifty years ago when most of our families were first or second generation German - or a European nation of close proximity. All of our people are hardworking and completely honest, but English sentence structure was absolutely foreign and vocabulary was not unlike Archie Bunker’s

In one of the early grades, we had a kid who would say “I’m going the hall across”, which was much to the amusement of those who had moved to Shakopee from some town that had an English speaking background.

I recall the evening when five or six of us, all teenagers, were chatting at home not far from where we live today when a lady from out of state, visiting our friend’s mother, mentioned that there was a great deal of activity around the house.

“Ach Ja” she said, “This coming and this wenting and this wenting and this coming this is me something” . Many times she would call her husband George from the garden with “George, come once from the outside in the telephone is calling you”/

Another time a picnic was being planned when our neighbor lady said “Ach Ja No, we have to insulate our new minister that day”.

Over these many years I have enjoyed telling a story that occurred in about 1939 when Shakopee was hosting the State Baseball Tournament and Superintendent of Schools, John Metcalf (later a distinguished state senator) was the announcer. In those days we didn’t have a lighted ball field, so many of the games were played in the morning. John found it necessary to leave the press box which also served as the announcer’s office. He left just as there was an argument on the field that turned the microphone over to one of our leading fans who soon announced “Owatonna is playing this game under protest, claiming that the Beardsly left fielder is illegitimate”. It brought the house down, and I doubt if anyone an remember to this day who won the ball game

I wonder how many people remember the time that the Presbyterian Church bell was ringing every night at midnight? The town was rife with rumors and guards took up posts around the church - all to no avail. The bell kept ringing at the appointed hour. Eventually, some brave soul climbed to the tower in daylight. There he found numerous chunks of lead from 22 rifle shots fired by one of the town characters.

Or the days when Scott County ha slot machines in almost every bar (Shakopee had over 30 bars at the time), barbershop, and gas station. Liquor was served in the 3.2 beer bars. Every time the state liquor control officers came into the county, phones rang at all those 3.2 bars warning the bartenders of a possible raid. On one such occasion a feisty Irishman had hardly hung up the phone when two men in suits arrived and sat in a booths. Now most people didn’t wear a suit until Saturday, so this was a dead giveaway. Then, sitting in a booth confirmed the worst because no one ever sat in a booth unless he had a wife or girlfriend along - or unless he was a liquor control agent. One order charged water, the other ginger ale, Mac, the Irishman, went behind the bar, returned with the drinks, and rang up the register. The agents announced that there was no liquor in their drinks. Mac just said that it was policy of the house not to serve liquor to liquor control agents. The other patrons howled with laughter, and the agents left hurriedly without drinking their soft drinks.

Scott County Memories: Tales of a Mail Carrier in the Early 1900s

These recollections were dictated by Joan Muehlbauer and Corrine Meierbachtol of Belle Plaine in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

Tom O’Connor delivering mail in Belle Plaine, 1905. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

Our dad, John McDevitt started hs mail carrier job in 1903. He had three horses. In the summer he had a two wheel buggy. When the water was high in the spring, he would have to leave his horses at the last patron’s hows, that of Adam Brandl. He would also sometimes have to spend the night there. When I was a little girl, I can remember how unhappy it made me when e couldn’t come home. When we had a phone he would call up and talk to me and it would be ok. If the current in the river was not too swift, the mail could be brought over in a bot to him,

Belle Plaine mail carriers, 1913. Photo from the SCHS Coilections.

In the winter he would travel in a cutter drawn by one horse. A large stone was placed in the oven of the cookstove overnight, and in the morning the stone was wrapped in burlap. That was kept near his feet. He wore a heavy, sheeplined coat. A nice warm horse hair blanket covered him. All was fine, unless he had to go over high snow drifts, which many times tipped over the sleigh. He had to be at the post office at 8:30 in the morning to sort the mail. Then he came home and had a hot bowl of soup. The only lunch he took was a thermos of coffee. He left for the route at ten o’clock. The route was 30 miles long, In good weather he was home around three. In the winter, it was later.

He bought the first car in 1925. It was a Model T Ford. When we were old enough, we were taken with him on the route to keep him company. He was a mail carrier from 1903 until 1932.

Scott County Memories: Wash Day

These recollections were dictated by Frances Brandl of Belle Plaine in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

Monday was wash day. Anyone who didn’t wash on Monday was not considered a good housekeeper. Sunday evening the old copper wash boiler was brought in from back porch and filled with water from the cistern. We were very fortunate to have a large cistern with plenty of water and a pump in the kitchen. Then two large tubs and the wash bench were brought in, one tub for washing clothes and one tub for rinsing clothes. The rinsing water was put in the tub to which was added Mrs. Edwards Liquid Bluing. One had to be very careful not to add too much or one had blue clothes.

In the morning, the first boiler of water was poured into the washing tub and then filled again for boiling the white clothes. Clothes were scrubbed on a washboard- a board with corrugated metal on which one rubbed the clothes up and down and lathered them with good homemade lye soap. All white clothes were boiled in the boiler - again with lots of homemade soap added to the boiling water. Usually the two front lids were removed so the boiler set right on the flame for a good fast boil, especially in the summertime when one didn’t want any more heat in the house then necessary.

Ann and Clara Albrecht on a train platform, 1913. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

After a few minutes of boiling, the clothes were removed with a wooden stick and put in rinse water. Now it was time to hang them out to dry. Clothes were hung out winter or summer, especially all white clothes. The outdoors helped to bleach and keep them white. One big problem in wintertime was to make sure the wind was not from the north, because of the trains going by. In those days there were many trains and loots of coal soot. This stuff would fall down on the clothes and that was really bad. Also, one would have to remember to shut down the rain spout going into the cistern in the fall of the year and leave it turned off until after a good rain in the spring had washed all the soot from the roof. Way back then we had a pollution problem, but of course it was not thought of as such. One just had to be alert and keep and eye on the wash line when trains were going by.

All aprons, dresses, men’s shirt collars, cuffs and petticoats were starched. This starch wa made with flour and water mixed to a milky consistency, then boiling water was added until it became pudding-like. Sometimes if articles needed a heavier starch, sugar was added. This often was used on petticoats and lace doilies. Some folks even put a bit if butter in the starch- they claimed it ironed smoother.