Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Samuel Pond and his brother, Gideon, arrived in 1834 in the area later called Minnesota. Samuel was a missionary, language translator, agricultural instructor, carpenter, farmer, and ongoing advocate for fair treatment of American Indians.

As Samuel got off the steamboat, he asked someone how to say, “What is this?” in Dakota. As he wrote this down, he walked over to a Dakota and said, “Ka taku he,” pointing to a horse that was near the steamboat landing. (This would sound like “gay-dah-koo-hey.”)

“Hé šúŋkawakȟaŋ héčha,” the man responded.

And Samuel quickly wrote down the word for horse, šúŋkawakȟaŋ. Samuel continued doing this for years, eventually creating the Pond-Dakota alphabet, which is still used today.

Shortly after, Samuel and his brother began teaching Euro-American farming to Dakota people near Bde Maka Ska in present-day Minneapolis. And the brothers continued to work on the Dakota dictionary. Samuel noted, “The language was a game I went to hunt, and I was as eager in the pursuit of that as the Indians were in pursuit of the deer.” The alphabet was used for the publication of hymnals, many books of the Bible, and the first dictionary of the Dakota to which later missionaries also contributed.

In 1847, Samuel and family accepted an invitation from Ṡakpe II to locate in Tínṫa Otuŋwe, which Samuel W. Pond called Prairieville. Samuel W. Pond, Cordelia Eggleston Pond, and their three children moved into their new home, along with Jane Lamont Titus. Samuel was called Ceta Wambli, meaning Red Eagle, by the Dakota. Jennette was five years old, Rebecca was three, and baby Elnathan was scarcely a month old when they moved in. (Samuel, Jr. was born a few years later.)

Elnathan remembered in 1925, “There were no white children excepting my brother, my two sisters, and myself … I recall that white men were a rare sight, and our childish eyes grew round with wonder when we saw one!”

The mission house was built in the middle of Ṡakpe II’s village of Tínṫa Otuŋwe, where approximately 600 Dakota lived in tipi tanka (bark lodges). It was a busy place, and Pond decided to surround the Mission House and front garden with a fence of tall stakes to prevent the Dakota from claiming a portion of the crops that Pond’s family planted.

Samuel W. Pond described the site: “The mission house at Shakopee was pleasantly located on gently rising ground, about half a mile south of the Minnesota River. At a distance of twenty rods or so to the West was the house of Oliver Faribault. Between these two dwellings was a ravine through which ran a never failing spring of clear cold water…” The mission house was “…sufficiently commodious, carefully and comfortably built, although inexpensive in all its appointments. The walls were carefully filled with moistened clay, making them probably bullet-proof and rendering the house very warm.”

According to Samuel, “…the young mother (Cordelia), never very strong, gradually failed in health from that time.”

In the fall of 1851, Samuel Pond obtained from the Board a year’s leave of absence and prepared to visit New England. The journey was a fatiguing one, as much of it was by stage. Samuel knew that Cordelia was failing.

The dying mother, Cordelia, expressed a desire to see all her children once more, knowing that it would be the last time in this world. “To the older ones she gave words of counsel which were carefully heeded and diligently followed. Jennette Clarissa never forgot her mother’s parting words. Mr. Edward Pond went over the icy hill and brought Elnathan to receive his mother’s last kiss and listen to her dying words. She told him to be a good boy and love God. To Judson from his aunt Jennette’s, to the youngest, she said, ‘Poor boy! He will not remember his mother!’ and kissed him farewell.”

Cordelia Eggleston Pond passed away at the age of 36 years, fourteen of them spent in continuous service of the Dakotas.

Samuel, widowed at age 43, was left with four young children.

He remarried an old school friend, Rebecca Susan Smith, about two months after Cordelia’s death. Samuel and Susan did not have any children. They returned to the mission at Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright and his brother, Wilbur, made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane.

Raymond and Herbert Strunk were school kids that year, but the idea of flying was in their blood.

They were sons of Arnold Strunk (1857-1938) and Lisette Entrup Strunk (1859-1927).

Ray and Herb read about the flights in the newspapers, and by 1906, the two started building a glider in their large, two-story red barn in the back of the family’s home.

Raymond Carrollous Charles Strunk was born on June 25, 1887. His brother, Herbert Julian, was born on April 8, 1891.

The first glider had a bamboo frame (fish poles) and was covered with light muslin stitched or tacked to the frame. The framework of subsequent models was made of hand-sawed light pine.

The first glider had skis, and when it took off from the bluffs north of the Minnesota River, it skidded down the bluffs.

The glider sometimes skied down the bluffs, and sometimes, during the summer, it was towed by a rope connected to Dr. H.O. Smith’s red Rambler touring car.

Young children from Shakopee and the surrounding area were thrilled as they watched the glider and they felt that Ray and Herb were heroes to the young fans.

Between 1906 through 1908, Ray and Herb built several gliders, some with wheels. One brother would ride on each flight, while the other one would tag along, along with many youths from Shakopee. “These crafts would rise to a height of 40 or 50 feet and then soar and float for about 600 feet before gliding to a jolting landing on a frozen lake or prairie.”

According to Julius Coller II in the book The Shakopee Story in 1960, the glider “bounced off the bluff and frozen lakes to soar in the air for several minutes, like a bird, in contraptions that resembled an over-sized box kite rather than a plane.”

After each flight, Herb and Ray would carry the glider back up the bluff, and then they would try once again. Usually, each glider lasted about five flights. Then the two brothers would salvage what was left from the glider and carted the rest of the demolished glider home for kindling wood.

According to Ray, the work took a lot of enthusiasm and no brains whatsoever! But this did take vision and daring, and Herb and Ray Strunk had it!

Raymond married Mary Scherkenbach on June 28, 1911. Raymond’s brother, Herbert, was the best man.

Raymond Carrollous Charles Strunk died in Minneapolis on September 26, 1957. His brother, Herbert Julius Strunk, died 11 years earlier, on August 18, 1946, in New York.

For young people of Shakopee, the two young men from Shakopee taught the children that the Strunk brothers worked together to finally fly!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Now, with Raymond and Herbert, it was a glider, and the two brothers took to the sky in 1906.

Bibliography

Coller, Julius A. II. The Shakopee Story. Shakopee Heritage Society, 2009.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

During the 1920s, Ralph Gibson Schroeder was an only child, born and raised in Shakopee by his parents and aunts. Ralph was born on August 25, 1915, in Shakopee.

His grandparents were Herman Frederick Schroeder and Mary Reinke and were part of the Schroeder Brick and Lime Manufacturing Company in Shakopee, according to Minnesota Bricks.

Ralph’s parents were Henry C. Schroeder and Nellie Mae Gibson. His parents were well-known, proper, and dignified citizens of Shakopee.

His father was a leader in civic and business affairs and was mayor of Shakopee from 1928-1935. He helped develop Riverside Park’s athletic field and was instrumental in the erection of the grandstand there.

His mother was a former teacher and a member of many local organizations.

So, Ralph was intent to be just the opposite.

Ralph lived at 519 East First Avenue then, just across the street from the old Methodist Church at First and Fillmore, according to Don Wagner of the Shakopee Heritage Society.

Before it was the Methodist Church, it was the First Presbyterian Church from 1900 to 1967. The First Presbyterian Church (the second in the valley) was built in the fall of 1856. It was a frame building with hewed logs, built mostly by Rev. Samuel Pond, on Second Street and Market Street. It was used by 180 people, and they later added a fence and horse sheds between Main and Market Street.

“I find recollections of the first service in the old church, then a miracle of newness and beauty in my eyes,” said Rev. Samuel W. Pond in the Scott County Argus, March 25, 1905. “It is true that the seats were rough boards on carpenter’s horses, and the pulpit and gallery had not yet been supplied; but it was the NEW church and had a tower and bell.”

In 1899, they built a new church on First Street and Fillmore Street for $2560. The lot was donated by Henry Hinds. It was dedicated on February 25, 1900. The bell was from the 1856 church. Two stained glass windows were dedicated. One was of Samuel Pond, the other of Cordelia Eggleston Pond.

The First Presbyterian Church congregation stayed in this building from 1900 to 1967. The First Presbyterian Church then moved to 909 Marschall Road in Shakopee.

For thirty years, the church building on First Avenue was used as the old Methodist Church at First and Fillmore, a bus terminal and an office building.

In 1997, the church became Igelsia del Dios Vivo, Columna y Adoyo de la Verdad, La Luz Del Mundo, or The Light of the World Church, at 502 First Ave East in Shakopee.

Before The Light if the World Church, before the office building, before the bus terminal, this place was used for a short time as the Methodist Church.

From his bedroom window on the second story, Ralph had a good view of the bell tower and the bell on the church steeple of the church. He set up his 22-caliber rifle in that upstairs bedroom window. He knew that the 22 rifle was silent enough that his parents wouldn’t hear it.

Ralph waited until midnight. Then he would aim and fire a single well-aimed round at the bell.

The bell rang a single tone that could be heard for blocks. The minister and members of the church would go to the church at midnight to find out who was ringing the bell. They could not see anybody in the church or the bell tower, but they did hear the bell ringing.

Ralph continued to do this, every night, at midnight.

And at midnight, the minister and church members continued to try to figure out who was ringing the bell. Soon the people about the town of Shakopee believed that a ghost was ringing the bell at church.

After a few months, Ralph got bored, and he told a few friends what he was up to. That kept the local gossipers going for months afterwards. Good old Ralph!

Ralph Gibson Schroeder died on September 18, 1972, in Eugene, Oregon. He was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

Bibliography

Minnesota Bricks. https://www.mnbricks.com/Schroeder-brick/.

Scott County Argus, March 25, 1905

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista was born on January 26, 1969, in in Morelos, Mexico to parents Martin and Isabel. He was the third of seven children.

In his youth, Policarpo enjoyed being outdoors – swimming in the river, climbing trees, and playing with his siblings.

According to Wikipedia, Morelos is one of the 32 states that comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities, and its capital city is Cuernavaca. Morelos is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is bordered by Mexico City to the north, and by the states of México to the northeast and northwest, Puebla to the east and Guerrero to the southwest. Morelos is the second-smallest state in the nation, just after Tlaxcala.

As it has been since Aztec times, the state has been a favorite retreat for those in Mexico City due to its warm year-round climate. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the major crime problem was kidnapping for ransom. The state broke the kidnapping rings in the early 2000s, mostly by arresting corrupt lawyers, police, and judges who were protecting kidnapping rings. One was run by Daniel Mocha Orejas Arizmendi, who received his nickname by cutting off his victims’ ears and sending them to family members!

So, it was time for Policarpo and his family to move to the United States. In his twenties, Policarpo moved to California where he lived for many years.

In the past few years, Policarpo moved to Shakopee, Minnesota to be closer to his family.

While living in Minnesota, Policarpo worked at My Pillow.

Policarpo was a caring, loving family man! Often, he took his children on outings. They attended movies, visited museums, amusement parks, swap meets, and took nature walks.

He was also an avid soccer fan.

On May 19, 2019, at age 50, Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista passed away.

A funeral service was held on Saturday, May 25, 2019, at Ballard Sunder Funeral Home in Shakopee. Pallbearers were his brothers, Thomas Sanchez, Francisco Sanchez, Ernesto Sanchez, Miguel Sanchez; his brothers-in-law, Zeferino Acosta, Manuel Gonzales; and his nephews, Giovanni Acosta, Eric Acosta, David Acosta, and Israel Pastor.

Policarpo was a joyful, funny man who could strike up a conversation with anyone. He will be missed by his children, Eduardo Sanchez, Cristian Sanchez, Vianca Sanchez; girlfriend, Esperanza Cruz; parents, Martin and Isabel; siblings, Thomas (Veronica) Sanchez, Isabel (Zeferino) Acosta, Francisco Sanchez, Ernesto (Ana) Sanchez, Eriberta (Manuel Gonzales) Sanchez, Miguel (Maribel) Sanchez; many other loving relatives and friends.

Policarpo Sanchez Evangelista was laid to rest in Mexico.

Bibliography

“Morelos.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morelos.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Philena Scott was born August 21, 1798, in Bernardston, Massachusetts. Bernardston, initially known as Falls Fight Township, was a settlement created by and for the families of soldiers who had fought in King Philip’s War.

King Philip’s War was an armed conflict in 1675-76 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England settler-colonists and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Wampanoag sachem Metacom, also known as Metacomet or King Philip, the name given to him by the English. Metacom was the Wampanoag leader who adopted the name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Mayflower Pilgrims. King Philip’s War was sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom’s War, Metacomet’s War, Pometacomet’s Rebellion, or Metacom’s Rebellion.

The underlying cause of the war was the settler-colonists’ unrelenting desire for more and more land.

“King Philip’s War has been called United States’ most devastating conflict. One in 10 soldiers on both sides was killed, 1,200 colonists’ homes were burned, and vast stores of foodstuffs destroyed. The effects of the carnage and property damage were felt for years by colonists. The war’s ramifications for Native populations of southern New England included not only loss of life and, for some, enslavement but the continued erosion of sovereignty, land rights, and communities as well,” said Mike Messina at CT History.

In the space of little more than a year, 12 of the region’s towns were destroyed and many more were damaged, the economy of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies was all but ruined and their population was decimated, losing one-tenth of all men available for military service. More than half of New England’s towns were attacked. Hundreds of Wampanoags and their allies were publicly executed or enslaved, and the Wampanoags were left effectively landless, according to David Silverman in the book, This Land Is Their Land.

Philena’s parents were Elihu Scott (1764-1840) and Hannah Andrus Andrews Scott (1761-1851). Her grandparents were Captain Moses Scott (1713-1799) and Elizabeth Henry Scott (1726-1815); and Nehemiah Andrews (1746-1813) and Hannah Elizabeth Fox Andrews (1754-1842).

Philena Scott married Charles Davis Newcomb on November 19, 1817, in Bernardston. Charles was born on April 30, 1790. His parents were Hezekiah Newcomb (1747-1821) and Lydia Hunt Newcomb (1750-1834). Charles’s relatives were on the Mayflower, and his great-great-great-great-great-grandparents, Rev. Thomas Hart Hooker V (1553-1635) and Susannah Pym Hooker (1588-1647). The four of their offspring were accused of being a witch during the witch trials of 1692.

Philena and Charles had five children: Charlotte Augusta (1818-1892); Emily Adelisa Newcomb Moore (1820-1884); Charles Goodrich (1823-1876); Henry Clay (1833-1905); and Henrietta Marina Newcomb Waller (1835-1875).

Philena and her family moved from Massachusetts to Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Charles Davis died, and was buried at the Trenton Cemetery in Barton, Wisconsin on November 3, 1857.

Philena and some of her children moved to Eureka, Dakota County in Minnesota. And then Philena and family moved to Shakopee.

On January 10, 1880, Philena Scott Newcomb died, and she was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee. In 1884, her daughter, Emily Adelisa Newcomb Moore and her husband, Jonathan Moore, were also buried at Valley Cemetery.

Bibliography

Messina, Mike. “America’s Most Devastating Conflict: King Philip’s War.” CT History, 12 Aug. 2014. https://connecticuthistory.org/americas-most-devastating-conflict-king-philips-war/.

Silverman, David. This Land Is Their Land. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019. p. 348-353.

In the second week of August in 1975, St. Mark’s Catholic Church welcomed Shakopee’s newest Vietnamese family. Duong Manh Hung and Pham Thi Hoa and their four children arrived: Duong Thi Hai-Van, eight years old; Duong Trung Duong, age seven; Duong Trung Viet, who was six years old; and Duong Chi Thanh, who was four years old.

Huế is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế Province in central Vietnam. The city served as the administrative capital for the Nguyễn dynasty. The city’s economy is primarily built around tourism, as it contains one of the few UNESCO-designated sites in Vietnam, the Complex of Huế Monuments being a tourist attraction, alongside its moat and thick stone walls. The complex encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home; and a replica of the Royal Theater.

The city was also the battleground for the Battle of Huế, which was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. During the Republic of Vietnam period, Huế, being very near the border between the North and South, was vulnerable in the Vietnam War.

In the Tet Offensive of 1968, during the Battle of Huế, the city suffered considerable damage not only to its physical features but to its reputation as well, due to a combination of American military bombing of historic buildings held by the North Vietnamese, and the massacre at Huế committed by the communist forces.

After the war’s conclusion in 1975, many of the historic features of Huế were neglected because they were seen by the victorious communist regime and some other Vietnamese as relics from the feudal regime; the Communist Party of Vietnam doctrine described the Nguyen Dynasty as feudal and reactionary.

There has since been a change of policy, however, and many historical areas of the city are being restored and the city is being developed as a center for tourism and transportation for central Vietnam.

Duong Manh Hung was born on December 25, 1926, in Hải Ninh. Hải Ninh is a rural commune of Bắc Bình District, Bình Thuận Province in South Central Coast Vietnam.

When the family arrived in Shakopee, they stayed at Third and Scott Street. Beginning in September 1975, the family resided at the Stans house on Second Avenue, according to an article in the Shakopee Valley News called “Vietnamese family welcomed” in August 1975.

In Vietnam, Duong Man Hung was a nurse’s aide with the United States Navy in Saigon. On September 12, 1970, he received an Army Commendation Medal of Valor from the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Once the communists took over at the Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975, the area marked the end of the Vietnam War. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, situated in the south.

After the Fall of Saigon, Duong Manh Hung was forced onto an evacuation plane without explanation. Luckily his wife, Pham Thi Hoa, and their four children were together on the plane. They were not told why he was leaving Vietnam or where he was headed, according to the Shakopee Valley News. The family also did not speak English and used interpreters when they arrived. Luckily, they ended up in Shakopee.

A couple of weeks later, Pham Thi Hoa and Duong Man Hung joined a group from St. John’s Lutheran Church and St. Mark’s Catholic Church at the Amtrak station in Minneapolis to meet the next family arriving from Vietnam. Jacob Le Van Sach and Diep Pham Ngoc Sach and family were happy to welcome to Shakopee and were happy to have other Vietnamese families in the area.

Duong Manh Hung was employed by Midland Glass Company of Shakopee. Eventually, the family moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where Duong Manh Hung died on July 14, 2002.

Pham Thi Hoa took care of their four children, who started school in Shakopee. In 1975, Pham Thi Hoa was reportedly looking forward to some snow! She was not worried about the amount. “My husband will lift it from the sidewalk!”

Bibliography

“Vietnamese family welcomed.” Shakopee Valley News, 13 Aug. 1975.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Edward James Herrgott, known as Jim, was born June 9, 1983, in Shakopee, Minnesota, the son of Edward Alvin and Marcia Kae Kewatt Herrgott. Jim was fun loving, adventurous, respectful, but not always someone who followed all the rules, according to Bob von Sternberg from the Minnesota Star Tribune. He enjoyed NASCAR racing and hanging out with friends.

Jim graduated from Shakopee High School in 2001. He was a quiet man. The following January, Jim joined the Army. He thought it would bring some discipline to what had occasionally been a wild life. He wanted to use the service as a financial springboard to college, where Jim wanted to study to become a police officer.

Army Pfc. Herrgott was assigned to the 1-36th Infantry Regiment, First Armored Division in Wiesbaden, Germany. Jim was outside the National Museum in Baghdad, Iraq, in his Bradley tank doing his watch as a guard duty on July 3, 2003. He had taken the place of a soldier who had been wounded.

Jim had slid up into the gunner’s seat – the gunner’s hatch – and a sniper shot him in the neck. He was rushed to the hospital, but they were unable to keep him alive.

Rev. Gerold Sevig of St. John’s Lutheran Church noted that Jim was “willing to put his life on the line for the well-being of others. He was killed while sharing his life, seeking peace for a troubled people.”

Jim knew the dangers. “Twenty-four hours before Jim was killed, we knew that the area he was going to was extremely bad,” said Mary Kewatt in an article by Mark Zdechlik from the Minnesota Public Radio. “They needed him, and he was going, and that’s what he told his mom. ‘They need me over there, there’s 12 other guys that got wounded, so this is what I am doing.’ And the last thing that was said just keep your head down and keep it in that tank so you’re safe,” said Jim’s aunt, Mary.

“We have some issues with the fact that President Bush declared combat over on May 1. Combat is not over. We don’t even know who’s firing at us right now and all of our soldiers’ great risk of being picked off as Jim was. And that’s a shame. And then President Bush made a comment a week ago and said, ‘bring it on.’ Well, they brought it on and now my nephew is dead,” said Mary Kewatt.

Jim was the first Minnesotan to die in Iraq. He was honored with full honors at Valley Cemetery, in the family plot, near the headstone belonging to his paternal grandparents. He posthumously was awarded a Bronze Star for “meritorious service in Iraq from 19 March to 2 July,” and a Purple Heart for his fatal wound. Herrgott was buried among the pine and ash trees twelve days after he was killed.

In May 2013 during a Memorial Day ceremony, Scott County Road 21 was renamed “Herrgott Memorial Drive” after PFC Edward James “Jim” Herrgott, the first Minnesota to die in the Iraq War. According to Mayor Brad Tabke, “I am very pleased that we are recognizing … all those who have given their lives to a cause much larger than themselves. When we honor one soldier, we honor them all.”

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Peter Rudolph Geyermann was born December 13, 1825, in Waldesh, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, son of Henrich and Christine Nell Geyermann. He and his mother arrived in the United States in early 1851, and in Shakopee in 1857. He married Emilia Berreau, daughter of Frederick and Antonette Hacke Berreau, in Shakopee. They had six children.

Peter and Emilia operated Geyermann’s General Store between First and Second Avenue and Lewis Street in downtown Shakopee, which included groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes, hats and caps, dress goods, clothing, and crockery. The store opened in 1857.

A board of trade was organized in March 1878, with Peter Geyermann as president, William Willson as vice-president, Eli Southworth as secretary, and H.H. Strunk as treasurer. An editorial in the Shakopee Argus noted that:

“Shakopee is now a metropolitan city. It has twelve street lamps, each with the illuminating power of ten lightning bugs. On a dark night the flickering rays of light are cast fully twenty feet around and on a clear night with a full moon, the city is brilliantly lighted up.”

Another editorial noted that, “There is not a licensed saloon in Shakopee; but we have one mayor, one chief, one city attorney, two justices and twenty-seven saloons selling liquor without a license and three hundred unlicensed dogs on our dogs.”

Peter also became mayor of Shakopee. He was mayor from 1873-1876, and again in 1878.

While he was mayor in 1878, Peter was involved in controversy. The town needed a bridge over the Minnesota River. After lots of discussion over several years, the legislature voted in favor of building a bridge in Shakopee. According to Shakopee Scrapbook by Michael, Patricia, and Joseph Huber, the controversy was over the location of the crossing. Two locations were proposed. One was on Fuller Street, and the other one was on Lewis Street. The surveyor, hired by the city, felt the Fuller Street site would be less expensive. It would only require one center pier. The bridge was to be built on Fuller Street.

The mayor, Peter Geyermann, owned a store on Lewis Street, so he vetoed the resolution for building the bridge on Fuller Street.

He wanted it on Lewis Street, so that people arriving over the bridge would go directly to his store.

Another resolution, putting the bridge on Holmes Street, was also vetoed by the mayor. They tried other sites, including one near Murphy’s Landing, and later the Shakopee Argus editor looked out from the third floor of his building, and saw a huge cottonwood tree across the river. He suggested that they could lasso the tree and build the river crossing at that part. Obviously, that did not win, either.

After many more meetings, the mayor won out, and the bridge was built on Lewis Street in 1880.

Many people were upset, though, and Geyermann’s General Store was boycotted by many of the residents, especially the people in the First Ward, who wanted the Fuller Street site.

So effective was the action that Peter and Emilia were forced out of business, and after 24 years in business, they left Shakopee.

Peter and Emelia moved to the little town of Hersey (now called Brewster) where they started a new general merchandise store.

After several years, the family established stores in Pipestone, Worthington, and Storm Lake, Iowa. In the 1920s, Peter and Emelia’s sons opened stores in Huron, Mitchell, Madison, and Brookings, South Dakota. In the 1940s they added stores in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, as well as Beatrice and Hastings, Nebraska.

Record books of the old Brewster, Minnesota store noted that a man’s suit cost $9.50, a boy’s boots cost $2.13, eight yards of printed goods cost 66 cents, a gallon of oil was $0.25, butter was just 20 cents a pound, and Rock and Rye was $1.00 a bottle.

Emilia Berreau Geyermann died on January 25, 1907, in Brewster, Minnesota.

Peter Rudolph Geyermann died at his home in Brewster from pneumonia on November 25, 1911. He arrived in America on July 7, 1851, and located in Milwaukee, where he stayed only a few weeks. For a short time, he worked for the Michigan Central Railway, in Indiana, and there secured a position chopping wood near Aurora, Illinois. He saved enough money to buy a tract of timber land in 1853, and during the next two years was in the mercantile business in Aurora.

His mother died in 1854, and Peter came to Minnesota Territory and took preemption claim in Carver County, which allowed squatters to purchase up to 160 acres. He became a settler-colonist, according to the November 30, 1911 Worthington Globe. Two years later he sold out and moved to Shakopee, where for twenty-five years he was in the mercantile business, before moving to Brewster.

Meanwhile, the Lewis Street Swing Bridge in Shakopee opened for river boat traffic heading further west in 1880.

On July 15, 1896, the boat the Daisy was heading up the Minnesota River when it hit the bridge and knocked over the smokestacks. It seems that the boat didn’t wait until the Lewis Street Swing Bridge was open before it crashed.

When the Holmes Street Bridge was built in 1927, the Lewis Street Swing Bridge was open for foot traffic.

In 1942, with the war effort, the scrap metal was requisitioned by the government, and the Lewis Street Swing Bridge supplied the metal.

It was estimated that it contained 100 tons of needed metal for bombs, jeeps, and ships.

Bibliography

Huber, Michael, Patricia, and Joseph. Shakopee Scrapbook.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Peter Pettee Clark Atwood was born May 12, 1796, in Weare, New Hampshire. His parents were Elijah Atwood and Polly Dustin.

Peter married Harriet Walter in Burke, Vermont, who was born October 25, 1798, daughter of Thomas Norris Walter and Elizabeth White. The couple had one child, Norris Walter Atwood.

Peter was a private in Captain Joseph Morrill’s Company of 31st U.S. Infantry. He enlisted at Barton, Vermont on April 26, 1813, and was discharged at Plattsburg, New York on April 27, 1814. His pension is filed in the National Archives.

He moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio. Peter and Harriet were related to the Holmes’s family. Catherine Ann Holmes was the sister of Thomas A. Holmes. She married Voney Atwood. The Atwoods and Holmes lived in Marion, Ohio before eventually moving west. Peter and his family arrived in Shakopee in 1852.

He was a carpenter by trade, and at once began the erection of a house behind the Philipps furniture store and nearly on a line with the alley. The frame house was on the north end of Lots 3 and 4 of Block Five. The middle place faced east, and was 16 x 24 feet, and 12 feet high. It also included one-story wings on each side, 14 x 16 feet, and one on the north and south side.

The building was completed in November 1852, and two or three months later became the first hotel in town. It was advertised as the “only first-class hotel in the city.” Robert Kennedy was the landlord, and it was known as the Shakopee House. It continued to be the only first-class hotel in the city until next summer. In 1853, the larger and conveniently located Wasson House (later called the American House) succeeded as the principal hotel.

It served a long time as a useful kitchen, and by 1891, the building became the home of a flock of domestic chickens.

The brick house was later the Orestus S. Brown and Eveyln Bortle Brown residence, and during the 1880s, they lived at this house (and the kitchen/coop) with their indentured servant, Alice Briggs, who was 15 years old and African American.

The limestone house (the left side of the current home) was built in 1856 by A.B. and Martha Jones, who sold it to J.J. Peck in 1879, and David and Julia Brown in 1880.

In 1905, Henry Schroeder, former mayor of Shakopee and president of the American Range Company, bought the home. By this time, the section that used to be the kitchen built by Peter Atwood was probably a chicken coop.

In 1949, Ralph Schroeder inherited the property. It then was sold to Harry and Gladys Lane. Don Wagner bought it in 1966. By this time, Peter Atwood’s kitchen and/or chicken coop was no longer there.

Peter and Harriet rented the house in Shakopee by 1853, and Peter and family moved to Sand Creek Township. Peter became a useful and esteemed citizen of Jordan. Harriet Walker Atwood died March 9, 1871, and was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Jordan.

Private Peter Percy Atwood died in Jordan on Saturday, August 10, 1872. He was 76 years old. He was suffering from gangrene, which is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies (necrosis).

Peter died from senile gangrene in the foot. Known as Pott gangrene, it is tissue death that usually occurs in the extremities of elderly people because of arterial blockages. The toes are most commonly affected, as happened to Peter.

All that remained in Shakopee is the name of the street, Atwood Street, in remembrance of Private Peter Pettee Clark Atwood and Harriet Walker Atwood.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Paul Edward Schwaesdall was born April 24, 1949, in San Diego, California. So how does a name like Schwaesdall run a Mexican restaurant? It was easy. Paul’s father was German American Edward Schwaesdall (1929-2014). But his mother was Brigida Vicky Florez Peréz Schwaesdall (1927-2001), a Mexican American who was born in Newton, Kansas, and grew up cooking Tex-Mex food.

Paul’s grandparents were Ambrose Schwaesdall (1888-1968) and Verna Mell Johnson Schwaesdall (1901-1981); and Jesús V. Peréz (1885-1967) and Amalia M. Florez (1894-1981). Paul’s great-grandparents were John N. Schwaesdall, Jr. (1853-1931) and Malissa C. Bryant Schwaesdall (1862-1918); Barney M. Johnson (1864-1942) and Alice Cordelia Carnie Satterfield Johnson (1875-1938); and Manuel Peréz (1837-1907) and Pascuala Venegas Peréz (1850-1908); and Cristobal Florez and Natividad Marquez Florez (1864-1904).

In San Diego, Paul married Ann Marie Menden on October 21, 1972. Ann was born July 25, 1947, in Marystown. Ann married Flavian Ronald Geis on December 30, 1967, but was divorced in December 1967. Ann’s parents were Ralph Mathew Menden (1924-1992) and Delores J. Geis Menden (1926-2006). Her grandparents were Jakob Menden (1901-1988) and Theresa Cecelia Klehr Menden (1902-1987); and Herbert Ambrose Geis (1891-1956) and Mary Mamie Kerber Geis (1897-1955).

Paul and Ann had three children: Edward, Therese, and Ron. Paul worked as a firefighter.

Paul, Ann, and children often visited Minnesota and spent their time in Marystown and Shakopee. Paul noted that there was no Mexican restaurant in Shakopee in the 1980s. So, when they returned to San Diego, Paul retired from firefighting and worked with other Mexican cooks to learn about the restaurant business. According to the Shakopee Valley News on October 1, 1986, in an article called “Pablo’s has real Mexican food,” Paul noted, “I feel Shakopee’s ready for a Mexican restaurant. The town’s grown so fast … I’m surprised that so many people like Mexican food in this area.”

Ann missed her family in Marystown, so in 1986, the family moved back to Shakopee and the family opened Pablo’s Mexican Restaurantat 230 Lewis Street South, located in the Huber building, across from the Shakopee Library. It was the last location for the Strunk Pharmacy, or the Old Drug Store, which was located there after moving from the north side of First Avenue, and was closed in June 1977 after 120 years of service. The place became the Sweet Treat Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, which opened January 3, 1978. Manager and owner Cindy Strand, at age 18, was the youngest business owner in Shakopee. In 1986, the place became Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant, and it has been in business for more than forty years and counting!

Two authentic Mexican chefs, Tony Ortiz and Ernesto Gutierrez, were Paul’s right-hand persons in the kitchen when Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant opened. Everything in the restaurant has authentic Mexican ambiance. “The pots were made in Mexico, the paintings on the walls were painted especially for Pablo’s by a man in Mexico,” said Beth Forkner Moe. “The draperies in the window are also real. They are made from sarapes which were brought here from Mexico.”

Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant serves over 700 patrons on any given night.

Ann Marie Menden Schwaesdall died April 19, 2011, in Shakopee, and was buried at St. Mary’s of Marystown Cemetery. Paul “Pablo” Schwaesdall retired in 2015, and his two sons, Ed and Ron, took over the business, according to a October 2, 2015 Shakopee Valley News article by Cristeta Boarini.

Ed, who was 12 when he started working in the restaurant, noted that “All the great recipes that our customers come for, those will stay the same.” His father’s Hispanic roots are where all the family recipes have come from.

“Family is a key component to the Schwaesdalls and their business,” said Boarini. “Not only do Ed and Ron work in the restaurant, but their wives and children participate as well. Ed and Ron’s sister, Therese Schwaesdall Ahlberecht, also works part time at Pablo’s.

“It’s nice to see. The kids, they serve the food, our wives take an active role. We really are family orientated,” Ed said. Ron, who has worked at Pablo’s since he was 18, added “It’s how we grew up!”

Today in Shakopee, many Mexican and Tex-Mex places have added to the restaurant scene, including El Toro, Don Ramon Street Tacos, El Huarache, Bravis Modern Street Food, as well as fast-food places like Taco Bell, Taco John’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Qdoba Mexican Eats. But Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant was the first Mexican restaurant in Shakopee and continues to be a popular place since 1986.

Bibliography

Forkner Moe, Beth. “Pablo’s has real Mexican food.” Shakopee Valley News, 1 Oct. 1986.

Boarini, Cristeta. Shakopee Valley News, 2 Oct. 2015.