Volume 2, Issue 2, May 2021

Chaska, A Minnesota River City 1950 tp 2000

Chaska: A Minnesota River City, 1950 - 2000 Book Update

By Neil Wingert

Since 2018, when the first volume of “Chaska, A Minnesota River City” was published, many of the readers of this newsletter and members of the Society have enjoyed the facts and stories it contained. The optimists among those that finished the book probably sat back afterwards with a smile, like after a great Thanksgiving meal and thought “That was very good! When can I have another?”

That question was shared by Lisa Oberski, the Chaska Historical Society president, shortly after that first box of new books was opened three years ago. Lisa sighed with relief when the History Center was filled with that “new book smell”, and immediately became the project manager for its companion piece “Chaska – A Minnesota River City, 1950 – 2000”. Laurel Means, a professor of literature, author and Volunteer is the Senior Editor for this volume. Like Lisa and a score of others, Laurel will also be writing and assisting with several of the ten sections planned for the book.

Tracy D. Swanson will continue her role as a solid line of DNA connecting the decades and volumes while she performs as a primary content editor. Here are others involved in this documentation of life in the area we call Chaska:

Content Section Primary Contributor(s)

Introduction                        Mark Olson
Jonathan                            Nate Bostrom
City Government                Bob Roepke, Laurel Means
Industry                              Laurel Means, Mollee Francisco
Public Education                Lisa Oberski
Small Business                  Laurel Means
Spiritual Life + Education Laurel Means
Significant Events              Doug Munson
Sports                                Rick Engelhardt
Arts + Leisure                    Dan O’Brien, Laurel Means
Epilogue                             Lisa Oberski

Besides researching, fact-checking, imagining, authoring and editing what else happens before we get to turn the pages of a new book, or look at it on a computer screen? Jeanette McGillicuddy, another Volunteer, will be searching for grants and donations to pay for the detailed layout required for a book full of photographs, illustrations and text. (This will cost $15 – 20,000). Delving in our archives to find the media that will complement the text will be the work of Doris Coghill and Tracy Swanson. Designing that layout will be the work of Deb Frymet, who keeps her hands and computer in motion producing flyers and publications for the History Center. Finally, Marilyn Savelkoul Gahm will be the Volunteer proofreader and indexing magician, so that we readers can find our way in and out of this forest of facts, names and places.

Doesn’t it make you a little tired just thinking about all the work these folks are doing? Well, you can help! Please send an email to Chaska Historical Society if:

You are interested in purchasing the book when it’s finished.
You can contribute funds to help finance the book’s completion.
You want to provide moral support to the Volunteers while they work in COVID isolation!
Email: historical@chaskahistory.org

Chaska: A Minnesota River City Quiz #1

As the Chaska Historical Society puts the finishing touches on the 2nd volume of its Chaska history book (see the related article in this newsletter), perhaps you would enjoy delving deeper into the well-researched pages of Volume 1.

Here are 7 questions from the first 170 pages. The answers and reference pages will be included in the next newsletter.

What year did Jonathan Carver first explore parts of Minnesota?
What year does Chaska claim as its starting point?
The Faber house, built in 1858, is one of the oldest buildings in Chaska. What funded George Faber’s investment?
In what year did the Valley / Chaska Herald move into its present location?
Were sections of the Herald ever published in Swedish?
Where is the Civil War monument for Chaska’s soldiers?
What family started the Chaska Foundry + Machine Shop?

Chaska Cubs Baseball Team

History Center Volunteers: Another Story of Helping Someone

John Rekow, Vice-Chairman on the Chaska Cubs Board of Directors contacted Rick Engelhardt in January 2021. He was looking for some help to complete roster information for the Chaska Cubs amateur baseball team in the late 1920’s and early ‘30’s. John also hoped to find roster names in 1951, mid 1980s and early 1990’s.

John is updating the historical records of the Chaska Cubs for display at Athletic Park and needed to have an accurate record of those who wore the Cubs uniform throughout their long history.

Rick Engelhardt went through issues of the Chaska Herald archived at the Chaska History Center looking at relevant articles and box scores to provide as much information as possible. John Rekow also asked for help identifying people in team pictures from the late 1930-40s. Rick, along with fellow volunteers Tracy Swanson and Jerry Lubansky were able to help him out.

John was very glad to know he has a resource at the History Center. Rick’s response – “Glad I can help out!”

Chaska History Center

City of Chaska

Matt Podhradsky

Supporter Profile: City of Chaska

By Sarah Carlson

A little over twenty years ago, a newly hired Assistant City Manager began his work for the City of Chaska. Matt Podhradsky stepped into the role and soon faced a challenge. He was tasked with the making the Klein mansion safer for Historical Society volunteers and visitors and improving the area around City Square. New to the job, he applied some out-of-the-box thinking and recommended moving the recently displaced Chamber of Commerce office and History Center to a new shared location. Visitors and residents of Chaska would connect in a new space together!

Learn how the History Center came to its current location.

Volunteer Spotlight: Rick Engelhardt

By Julie Wiese

Rick Engelhardt, one of our volunteers at the Chaska History Center, is the researcher of the popular Herald Reports in the Chaska Herald published by Southwest Media. If you are not familiar with it, the format is like ‘’This Day in History,’’ included in other publications.

Rick spends hours each week reliving life in Chaska, at times going all the way back to 1862. He sifts through the tiny print of the old newspapers, looking for interesting tidbits of history, neighborhood newsiness, social observations, business practices, and the culture and education of the times. Rick’s favorite quips come from the late 1800s to around 1910. Chaska was an upstart hamlet back then and everyone knew everyone else’s business - and it was frequently reported in the Herald. Rick loves the old-fashioned language of those times - the archaic vocabulary and sentences written with a different lilt and rhythm than we find in the modern era.

Rick retired in 2014 and was looking for a pastime. His mother had volunteered at the Chaska History Center and his family has deep roots in the community, so he was naturally drawn to the preserving and promoting the character of his hometown. He began researching Chaska history for the Herald Reports almost right away. After seven years of looking deeply into these old newspapers, Rick Engelhardt is undoubtedly a valued historian of Chaska.