Above: Hector High School Hectorian 1961 yearbook. Hector is the 2024/2025 featured city for the Main Museum.
The Renville County Historical Society needs your help to add to the Research Library’s Yearbook Collection. The list below shows the current copies we have in the Research Library. If you have yearbooks to donate, please contact Nicole at the Museum [email protected] or 507-697-6147! Yearbooks, plat books, and phonebooks are key pieces of preserving the history of who lived in the area and when.
If you are not ready to part with your yearbook, that is okay. We can scan it and return it to you. For the past three years, we have been working on getting the yearbook collection scanned into PDFs. We plan to continue this project and send off another four boxes of yearbooks this month.
The following is an excerpt from the 1949 Hector Mirror:
Another step in modernizing the nation’s agricultural industry has been begun with the building of a four-row corn combine by J.R. Dvorak, owner of the Dvorak Machine Shop in Cosmos. Mr. Dvorak put his machine into operation for the first time last week on the Leonard and Lloyd Freberg farm, 13 miles southwest of Cosmos, and from all reports, it is living up to its expectations 100 percent. The hug machine weighs over 14 tons with a 225-bushel load of shelled corn in its tank and is self-propelled by 113 horsepower diesel engine. It is run by one man, who can easily pick and shell 30 acres of corn in a single day and having combined 2 1/2 carloads of white corn in 36 hours. This proves to be quite a contrast to the present single and two-row pickers which can only move through 7 and 14 acres, respectively, on a good day. Then after the corn is p8icked it must be hauled to the storage bins until a sheller can be obtained to finish the job. Dvorak’s machine combines all of this work in a single operation and leaves the cobs right in the field where the work is done. Reportedly, there is only one other corn combine in the United States. That one is owned by John Eyestone, an Ohio farmer, whom Dvorak contacted before beginning his work. Both Dvorak and Freberg were well pleased with the combine on its trial run. No breakdowns were encountered during the breaking-in period and Leonard Freberg stated that he expected the machine to be a “great time saver” for the farmer. Dvorak feels that it is the “coming way of harvesting corn” and may revolutionize the corn-raising industry. Over its trial period, the machine ran on 17 gallons of diesel oil daily or approximately two dollars per day. It had attracted many interested visitors during the entire building period, which covered a four-month span of time, and now that the machine is in operation still more inquirers are coming to the Freberg farm every day.
Editor’s Note: The Freberg 4-Row Corn Combine is on exhibit each year at the Renville County Fair. Stop by Building # 4 for more information.
Very, fortunately, we escaped the tornado of last Friday, although one of the hardest storms that we have ever had, accompanied by rain and hail struck this place on that day at about 3 o’clock P.M., lasting about one hour, during which the railroad stockyards were struck by lightning and somewhat damaged. The tornado traveling in a south-easternly direction passed through the townships of Bird Island, Palmyra, Wellington, and Cairo, in this county, and as far east as New Ulm, in Brown County. The full extent of damage done in the county has not, as yet, been ascertained, but will probably be known in a few days. In Palmyra, the farmhouses of Ole Times and Briagle Tulloform and a large amount of loose property was swept away. The new large barn of John Mork and Alexander Johnson were destroyed. The new frame house, barn, and granary of Solomon Bergman totally destroyed and a number of others whose name we have not learned, have met with losses amounting to from $100 to $1000. In Wellington the houses of James Tompkins, Ed. Rodgers, Mike Murphy, Patrick Lavelle, Jas Larkins, and others have been swept away together with a large amount of household effects and farm property, also the houses of John Patrick and William Fahey were totally demolished, and a young child of John Fahey’s killed and his wife’s arm broken. Martin Welch was badly injured but will probably recover. In Cairo, the large new two-story framed building of Matthew Finley was blown clear from its foundations and pieces carried for over a mile. The oldest son, aged 12 years, was killed while herding cattle. About 35 head of stock in the herd were also killed, and a number of head belonging to Mr. Finley and others. A family of Germans consisting of Joseph Hollorer, wife and four children, were all killed with the exception of the youngest, a two-month-old baby, which was afterward found some distance from the house, having an arm and leg broken. So terrible was the power of this storm that every tree on the fine large groove surround the house was as completely stripped of every particle of bark as could have been done with a knife. The bodies of Joseph Hollover and wife when found had not a vestige of clothing upon them but their shoes. Wagons, reapers, and all movable property were carried in many instances nearly half a mile. From the many reports of suffering and loss of life, it may well be said that this has been the most disastrous cyclone ever known in this state. Signed Pontax
Editor’s Note: Martin Frank, son of Matthew Finley, son of John Fahey, Mr. Eckert and his son, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Hollover and four of their children, Child of Loomis, Lena Reitz and her son, and son of Werner all perished during the July 15, 1881 tornado.
Funeral services were held at 2:30 o’clock this Thursday afternoon at the Methodist church in Olivia for Chas. A. Heins, 80, of St. Paul and a well known former resident of Olivia, who died at Ancker hospital Monday, July 5.
The service was conducted by Rev. Harry M. Peterson and burial was made in the Olivia Cemetery. A short service was conducted at the Fred Johnston Funeral home in St. Paul this morning by Rev. Ernest Lowe, a former Olivia pastor.
Mr. Heins suffered a stroke about three weeks before his death
and his condition was serious. He had suffered a slight stroke about two years
previous, but had recovered and was enjoying fairly good health.
Chas. A. Heins was born Oct. 22, 1873 at Beaver Falls and was the son of the late P.W. Heins and Margaret J. Heins. He was four years of age when his parents moved to Olivia, where he attended local schools. He later attended Hamline University and the Curtis Business College in Minneapolis.
In 1887 he entered his father’s bank as a bookkeeper and three years later became vice president, a position he held until 1904 when he became president. He was also connected with the Heins hardware here until 1915. In 1904 he organized and became the president of the Canning factory, and was active in other organizations and in promoting the interests of Olivia
He became a member of the state militia in 1897 and for 11 years from 1901 to 1912, served as the first lieutenant. He also served as a sergeant during the Spanish-American war. He served on the village council for three years and was a member of the Commanders of St. Paul. He was the trustee of the local Methodist church many years ago.
Mr. Heins was united in marriage to Verna Cole in St. Paul on April 22, 1901, since 1925 the family has lived in St. Paul and in recent years Mr. Heins has retired from active work.
He is survived by his wife and one son, Carl, who is now a
chief petty officer in the Navy and stationed at Brooklyn, N. Y. He is also
survived by one brother, Warren H. Heins of Olivia.
Pallbearers at the funeral today were R. A. Brown, Glander
Hoaglund, L. P. Mahler, Gilbert Heglund, Lloyd Mehlhouse, Olivia and Dr. D. R.
Miller of Bird Island.
Midale – There passed away at his home in Midale James Peckinpaugh, one of the oldest and best-loved residents of Midale.
James Marion Peckinpaugh was born Nov. 24, 1857, at
Leavenworth, Indiana. In 1878 he married Harriet E. Sawyer, who survives him.
The family moved to Canada in 1912 and for many years Mr. Peckinpaugh was
engaged in the restaurant business in Midale. Last November Mr. and Mrs.
Peckinpaugh observed their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Of their four
children, only one, James of Winnipeg, survives. Marion, Mrs. F. A. Salstrom
died in 1923 and two children died in infancy.
Mr. Peckinpaugh was a devoted husband and a kind father as well as being a man who took a great deal of interest in the welfare of the community. The past few years he was mayor of Midale, a position he held at the time of his death. He was also a J.P.; president of the Midale Co-op Creamery Association, and secretary of the local I.O.O.F. lodge. He had been a member of the Odd Fellows for 45 years and had occupied several offices in the provincial lodge. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. M. Lee of the Norwegian Lutheran church on May 1. Pallbearers were: J. Fiury, W. Shippam, M. Mose, R. Berg, H. Lindbom and A. Carlson. Burial was made in the Midale cemetery.
Editor’s note: James Peckinpaugh was postmaster of Olivia
from 12 May 1897 to 20 Jan 1906. With the reorganization of Company H in May
1899, Captain Peckinpaugh took the command until 1901.
Last Updated: December 17, 2024 by Renville County Historical Society Leave a Comment
We NEED Renville County School Yearbooks (Annuals)! UPDATED 12/17/2024
Above: Hector High School Hectorian 1961 yearbook. Hector is the 2024/2025 featured city for the Main Museum.
The Renville County Historical Society needs your help to add to the Research Library’s Yearbook Collection. The list below shows the current copies we have in the Research Library. If you have yearbooks to donate, please contact Nicole at the Museum [email protected] or 507-697-6147! Yearbooks, plat books, and phonebooks are key pieces of preserving the history of who lived in the area and when.
If you are not ready to part with your yearbook, that is okay. We can scan it and return it to you. For the past three years, we have been working on getting the yearbook collection scanned into PDFs. We plan to continue this project and send off another four boxes of yearbooks this month.
Visit our Facebook Page for featured yearbooks.
Yearbooks in Research Library
Bird Island – St. Mary’s: 1962-1963
Bird Island Panthers: 1955-1959, 1962, 1965-1968
Bird Island – Lake Lillian: 1978, 1981, 1983-1984, 1986-1989
BOLD High School: 1992-1995, 2000-2003
Buffalo Lake Breezette: 1948 – 1951, 1953, 1955 – 1956
Buffalo Lake The Laker: 1957-1959, 1961 – 1966, 1968 – 1973, 1977 – 1987
Buffalo Lake – Hector: 1988-1994, 1995 (2); 1996 – 2000, 2004 – 2005, 2007
Buffalo Lake – Hector Elementary: year unknown
Buffalo Lake – Hector – Stewart Hoof Prints (BLHS): 1988 – 1994, 1996 – 2008, 2010 – 2012, 2014 – 2015, 2019
Cedar Mountain: 1984, 2000 – 2003, 2016
Danube Falcons: 1951 – 1952, 1954 – 1955, 1957, 1977 – 1979
Fairfax Eagles: 1917, 1923, 1956 – 1957, 1959, 1962, 1965 (2), 1970, 1981-1983
Franklin Atoms: 1958-1960, 1963 – 1966, 1969 (2), 1970, 1971 (3); 1972 (3); 1973 (2); 1974 (3); 1975 (3); 1976 (4); 1977 (2); 1978 (2); 1979 (2); 1980-1982; 1983 (2)
Gibbon – Fairfax – Winthrop (GFW): No Yearbooks
Hector Hectorian: 1948, 1952 – 1959, 1961 – 1964, 1966, 1975, 1979 – 1987
Morton Tomahawk: 1907, 1915, 1917, 1938, 1940, 1944 (2), 1946 (2), 1948, 1954, 1958 (2), 1960-1961, 1963, 1964 (2), 1966-1967, 1968 (2), 1969 (3), 1970 (2), 1971 (2), 1972 (2), 1973 (2), 1974-1979, 1980 (3), 1981, 1982 (3), 1983-1985. 1985 was the last year Morton had a graduating class.
Morton Elementary School: 1995 (last year Morton had elementary school)
Olivia Crucible: 1912, 1916, 1917
Olivia High School: 1924, 1949-1951, 1957-1959, 1962 (O-HI-AN), 1964-1965, 1967 (Wildcats continues until school is consolidated)
Redwood Valley Cardinals: 1984-1985
Renville County West (RCW): No Yearbooks
Renville the Renvillon: 1939, 1941 – 1944, 1947, 1949, 1950 – 1954, 1964 – 1978, 1984
Sacred Heart Viking: 1967 – 1972
Saint Mary’s – Bird Island The Marion: 1961 – 1963, 1965
Saint Mary’s – Bird Island The Blue Mantle: 1958
Please contact Nicole at 507-697-6147 if you can add to the yearbook collection!
Last Updated: December 31, 2019 by Renville County Historical Society Leave a Comment
Freberg Four Row Corn Combine
The following is an excerpt from the 1949 Hector Mirror:
Another step in modernizing the nation’s agricultural industry has been begun with the building of a four-row corn combine by J.R. Dvorak, owner of the Dvorak Machine Shop in Cosmos.
Mr. Dvorak put his machine into operation for the first time last week on the Leonard and Lloyd Freberg farm, 13 miles southwest of Cosmos, and from all reports, it is living up to its expectations 100 percent.
The hug machine weighs over 14 tons with a 225-bushel load of shelled corn in its tank and is self-propelled by 113 horsepower diesel engine. It is run by one man, who can easily pick and shell 30 acres of corn in a single day and having combined 2 1/2 carloads of white corn in 36 hours.
This proves to be quite a contrast to the present single and two-row pickers which can only move through 7 and 14 acres, respectively, on a good day. Then after the corn is p8icked it must be hauled to the storage bins until a sheller can be obtained to finish the job. Dvorak’s machine combines all of this work in a single operation and leaves the cobs right in the field where the work is done.
Reportedly, there is only one other corn combine in the United States. That one is owned by John Eyestone, an Ohio farmer, whom Dvorak contacted before beginning his work.
Both Dvorak and Freberg were well pleased with the combine on its trial run. No breakdowns were encountered during the breaking-in period and Leonard Freberg stated that he expected the machine to be a “great time saver” for the farmer.
Dvorak feels that it is the “coming way of harvesting corn” and may revolutionize the corn-raising industry.
Over its trial period, the machine ran on 17 gallons of diesel oil daily or approximately two dollars per day.
It had attracted many interested visitors during the entire building period, which covered a four-month span of time, and now that the machine is in operation still more inquirers are coming to the Freberg farm every day.
Editor’s Note: The Freberg 4-Row Corn Combine is on exhibit each year at the Renville County Fair. Stop by Building # 4 for more information.
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Posted: December 18, 2019 by Renville County Historical Society Leave a Comment
Tornado published in the Bird Island Blizzard July 21, 1881
Very, fortunately, we escaped the tornado of last Friday, although one of the hardest storms that we have ever had, accompanied by rain and hail struck this place on that day at about 3 o’clock P.M., lasting about one hour, during which the railroad stockyards were struck by lightning and somewhat damaged. The tornado traveling in a south-easternly direction passed through the townships of Bird Island, Palmyra, Wellington, and Cairo, in this county, and as far east as New Ulm, in Brown County. The full extent of damage done in the county has not, as yet, been ascertained, but will probably be known in a few days. In Palmyra, the farmhouses of Ole Times and Briagle Tulloform and a large amount of loose property was swept away. The new large barn of John Mork and Alexander Johnson were destroyed. The new frame house, barn, and granary of Solomon Bergman totally destroyed and a number of others whose name we have not learned, have met with losses amounting to from $100 to $1000. In Wellington the houses of James Tompkins, Ed. Rodgers, Mike Murphy, Patrick Lavelle, Jas Larkins, and others have been swept away together with a large amount of household effects and farm property, also the houses of John Patrick and William Fahey were totally demolished, and a young child of John Fahey’s killed and his wife’s arm broken. Martin Welch was badly injured but will probably recover. In Cairo, the large new two-story framed building of Matthew Finley was blown clear from its foundations and pieces carried for over a mile. The oldest son, aged 12 years, was killed while herding cattle. About 35 head of stock in the herd were also killed, and a number of head belonging to Mr. Finley and others. A family of Germans consisting of Joseph Hollorer, wife and four children, were all killed with the exception of the youngest, a two-month-old baby, which was afterward found some distance from the house, having an arm and leg broken. So terrible was the power of this storm that every tree on the fine large groove surround the house was as completely stripped of every particle of bark as could have been done with a knife. The bodies of Joseph Hollover and wife when found had not a vestige of clothing upon them but their shoes. Wagons, reapers, and all movable property were carried in many instances nearly half a mile. From the many reports of suffering and loss of life, it may well be said that this has been the most disastrous cyclone ever known in this state. Signed Pontax
Editor’s Note: Martin Frank, son of Matthew Finley, son of John Fahey, Mr. Eckert and his son, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Hollover and four of their children, Child of Loomis, Lena Reitz and her son, and son of Werner all perished during the July 15, 1881 tornado.
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Posted: December 3, 2019 by Renville County Historical Society Leave a Comment
Charles A Heins, Olivia Times July 8, 1954
Funeral at Olivia Today For C. A. Heins
Funeral services were held at 2:30 o’clock this Thursday afternoon at the Methodist church in Olivia for Chas. A. Heins, 80, of St. Paul and a well known former resident of Olivia, who died at Ancker hospital Monday, July 5.
The service was conducted by Rev. Harry M. Peterson and burial was made in the Olivia Cemetery. A short service was conducted at the Fred Johnston Funeral home in St. Paul this morning by Rev. Ernest Lowe, a former Olivia pastor.
Mr. Heins suffered a stroke about three weeks before his death and his condition was serious. He had suffered a slight stroke about two years previous, but had recovered and was enjoying fairly good health.
Chas. A. Heins was born Oct. 22, 1873 at Beaver Falls and was the son of the late P.W. Heins and Margaret J. Heins. He was four years of age when his parents moved to Olivia, where he attended local schools. He later attended Hamline University and the Curtis Business College in Minneapolis.
In 1887 he entered his father’s bank as a bookkeeper and three years later became vice president, a position he held until 1904 when he became president. He was also connected with the Heins hardware here until 1915. In 1904 he organized and became the president of the Canning factory, and was active in other organizations and in promoting the interests of Olivia
He became a member of the state militia in 1897 and for 11 years from 1901 to 1912, served as the first lieutenant. He also served as a sergeant during the Spanish-American war. He served on the village council for three years and was a member of the Commanders of St. Paul. He was the trustee of the local Methodist church many years ago.
Mr. Heins was united in marriage to Verna Cole in St. Paul on April 22, 1901, since 1925 the family has lived in St. Paul and in recent years Mr. Heins has retired from active work.
He is survived by his wife and one son, Carl, who is now a chief petty officer in the Navy and stationed at Brooklyn, N. Y. He is also survived by one brother, Warren H. Heins of Olivia.
Pallbearers at the funeral today were R. A. Brown, Glander Hoaglund, L. P. Mahler, Gilbert Heglund, Lloyd Mehlhouse, Olivia and Dr. D. R. Miller of Bird Island.
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Posted: December 3, 2019 by Renville County Historical Society Leave a Comment
James Marion Peckinpaugh, The Leader Post, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada May 17, 1939
J. M. Peckinpaugh Dies at Midale
Midale – There passed away at his home in Midale James Peckinpaugh, one of the oldest and best-loved residents of Midale.
James Marion Peckinpaugh was born Nov. 24, 1857, at Leavenworth, Indiana. In 1878 he married Harriet E. Sawyer, who survives him. The family moved to Canada in 1912 and for many years Mr. Peckinpaugh was engaged in the restaurant business in Midale. Last November Mr. and Mrs. Peckinpaugh observed their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Of their four children, only one, James of Winnipeg, survives. Marion, Mrs. F. A. Salstrom died in 1923 and two children died in infancy.
Mr. Peckinpaugh was a devoted husband and a kind father as well as being a man who took a great deal of interest in the welfare of the community. The past few years he was mayor of Midale, a position he held at the time of his death. He was also a J.P.; president of the Midale Co-op Creamery Association, and secretary of the local I.O.O.F. lodge. He had been a member of the Odd Fellows for 45 years and had occupied several offices in the provincial lodge. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. M. Lee of the Norwegian Lutheran church on May 1. Pallbearers were: J. Fiury, W. Shippam, M. Mose, R. Berg, H. Lindbom and A. Carlson. Burial was made in the Midale cemetery.
Editor’s note: James Peckinpaugh was postmaster of Olivia from 12 May 1897 to 20 Jan 1906. With the reorganization of Company H in May 1899, Captain Peckinpaugh took the command until 1901.
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