So, town #1 on my list of interesting places in Goodhue County is Aspelund. A town consisting of only 3 homes, I feel blessed to know two men who have lived there all of their lives! But first, the history.
Aspelund was settled by mostly Norwegian immigrants in the 1850's. As more people migrated to the area, a group of men founded the Aspelund Society in 1859, more for religious reasons than anything else, but they made decisions and brought some organization to the growing settlement. In 1862,it was decided to lay the foundation for the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, which to this day has a viable congregation, and is used for many occasions and events.
On February 6th, 1872 the Aspelund Post Office was born, holding the title of the 4th post office in Wanamingo Township. Christion Hveem (1835-1908) was a veterinarian who became the first postmaster. It is believed that he had the postal service in his clinic. He later practiced medicine in Hader.
In 1875, 40 farmers organized a mercantile and built the Aspelund Store. The post office moved into the mercantile, and Osmund J Wing took his place as the 2nd postmaster on April 28th, 1875. The current Aspelund Society eventually dissolved, and in 1882, Peter A. Henning replaced Wing as postmaster on June 12th, 1882, and remained at his post until January 4th, 1894. Martin P. Heltne, who was operating the Aspelund Store, succeeded Henning as postmaster at that time. In 1897, Heltne auctioned off the store, and moved to Hayfield.
Henning again took over the store. He was reinstated as postmaster on October 19, 1897, and remained in that post until his death in 1931. In 1932, Hans Hjermstad bought the store through Henning's daughter for a tidy sum of $500.00. Hans and his wife and son lived above the mercantile for a number of years, during which Hans built a house next to the store for his family to reside in. Unfortunately, a huge tornado in 1952 hit the mercantile, and rendered it too dangerous to occupy. It sat empty for 10 years before being completely torn down. However, the home that Hans built is still in use today, and is one of the 3 homes left in Aspelund. It was purchased from Harlan Hjermstad, Hans' son, by Bob Flikke who now resides there with his son Andre Wrolstad.
After 15 years, Hjermstad sold the store to Lyle Hogstad in 1946. Lyle had it for a short time, and sold to C.C. Mattison. Mattison was the owner when the big tornado caused its demise.
Before we move on in our historical journey, I want to share an interesting fact about the store. P.A. Henning proved to be an excellent marketer while he owned and operated the mercantile. One of his ideas that I consider brilliant is "Due Bills". If someone came in with eggs to sell to Mr. Henning to sell at his store, and he owed her $1 for the eggs, and she needed 80 cents worth of flour, instead of giving her the 20 cents in change back, he would give her a 20 cent Due Bill. That way, she had a store credit, because the coins could only be spent in his store! Kind of like Menards rebates!
As the town grew, and more businesses were required, Henry Sands started a blacksmith shop on what is still property of the Sands family. Ray Sands, Henry's grandson, lives on the property now and told me he was born there and never moved out! Not many people can say they have lived in the home that they were born in all their life! Ray began his favorite chore of milking the family's cows by hand at age 5. He grew up there, got married, and raised his family in that home. At 93 years young, you will still find him doing the upkeep, and sharing stories of Aspelund, and also about his more than 70 years of entertaining folks with his well known band the Polka Dots. Ray played the accordion and sang in his band, but that's another story!
1882 also saw N. Norby open a flour and feed mill. Two years later, Nils Roland was operating the feed store and opened a second blacksmith shop just east of where the mercantile was located. B.O. Norby eventually bought the 1st blacksmith shop from Henry Sands.
In 1888, the Crescent Creamery Company was started and had a brief operation in Aspelund. The feed mill was in use until 1896.
As time marched on, the Rural Free Delivery, or RFD came into being, and most of the small post offices closed, including Aspelund. The post office officially closed on January 14, 1905. As will happen, many of the local businesses closed their doors, but a few remained.
Henry Sands went back to farming over 200 acres. One day, Henry was plowing his fields with a team of 4 horses. He had a colt tied to the wagon as well. He saw about 6 men riding toward him on his property. They were wearing white dusters and riding fine horses. They stopped when they came up to Henry, and one of them jokingly asked Henry why he didn't hook up the young colt and make him work for his food. Henry just looked at him, said "Shut up", and continued with his plowing. Those men were later found to be Jesse James and the Younger brothers, on their way to rob the bank in Northfield!
I learned of many remarkable stories while gathering information for this article. I want to thank my new friends Harlan and Dorothy Hjermstad and Ray Sands for giving me a lot of insight into the town of Aspelund, MN. Don't worry, there will be more stories from that neck of the woods in the future! I hope some of you recognize your relatives in the names in my story. Until the next town story, be well!
