Lee Hutton (Excelsior book)7
neapolis Public Library, Miss Grata Countryman, Countryman who was in charge of appointinglisIgg
1: ' . •1:
N County Librarians, asked Mrs. Willard Dillman to suggest someone for the new local
1 library. The young lady Mrs. Dillman engaged, Isabel Bladon, would begin her duties
the following year when the room was ready. (MR)
3 October 30. When Harvey S. Phillips opened a Chevrolet agency on this date, he was
l 21 years old, the youngest Chevrolet dealer in the country, but he was well qualified.
He had been the first driver of the Excelsior Fire Department's first four- wheels. I,i drive truck when it arrived in April. While still in his teens, he had driven a delivery
f m truck for a local grocer and had driven automobiles from his father's auto liveryStit'to pick up traveling salesmen arriving on trains or streetcars. Harvey would continue
s- .
x '
in the automobile business for more than half a century. (MR)1 M.
r i 1922
April 4. Excelsior's free County Library opened officially in a small room of the
Community House (formerly the White House) with Isabel Bladon in charge. Since
Members of the Seamans family and their 1917 Reo truck in front of the "Bee Hive," converted the Woman's Club was having its annual meeting in an adjacent room, many of the
from the old school. "Grandma" Seamans holding Billy, Buss sitting on the wheel, Ade with members stopped by the new library and boosted the first day's circulation to someWrinklethedog, and Phil at the back, about 1920 fifty books.
Having known early of her appointment as the new librarian, young Isabel wasSeptember16. Lee Hutton and Ruth Wilson were married on this date. Their wedding able to use the months since her high school graduation in December to get acquaintedbroughttorealitythepartstheyhadportrayedinthe1919pageantwhentheyrepre-with methods used at the Minneapolis Public Library. When it was time, she helpedrentedJohnandMary, children of pioneers who fell in love, were married and, at the move shelves and books from Minneapolis to the new branch library,close of the pageant, re- appeared as a white- haired couple in front of a rose - covered p o prior to its
opening in April. In mid July she would make a second move into anotherher room of
cottage. The new bride and groom were on their way to making truth out of fiction.the White House that had been given by Professor Fred Bardwell in memory of his lateMR)wife. The library was open three afternoons and evenings each week, for which the
librarian received $30 a month.
October 15. The Woman's Club bought Frank Bardwell's White House Hotel at a cost In the fall Miss Bladon reluctantly left her pleasant job to attend classes at theof $15,000 and began preparing a room for a library. The head librarian of the Min-University. Mrs. W.C. (Mary) Bardwell was to take over the duties on September 14.
Note: The Record of January 14, 1916, reported that the Woman's Club was spon-
t °.Boring a free library in Mrs. A.T. Morse's Dry Goods Store, but Isabel Bladon Berens
does not recall it, nor any connection between the two libraries. At any rate, nine -
year -old Gordon Goodnow is said to have withdrawn the first book, White Otters,
1 by Elmer Gregor, from this library.)
g , 'w May 3. The Woman's Club of Minnetonka began hosting a two -day conference of the
Tenth District Federation of Women's Clubs in which sixty clubs were represented
by 200 delegates. This was the first time the conference was extended to two days,
i`.4"and the first time any hostess club had been able to entertain the delegates in its ownt ° 'ti "`community house. Local women were proud to show off the White House and the new
m_ s,,public library under its roof.
Mrs. O.W. Lundsten was the current, and fourth, chairman of the local Woman's
Club, and Mrs. R.H. Fairfield of Wayzata was president of the Tenth District Federa-
tion. Mrs. H.E. Crosby of Excelsior, who was music chairman for the state and the
r °'' 1
M-district, presented home talent in scenes from a musical comedy entitled "The
i Summer Resort Town." (MJ )
Bardwell Jewelry in the former Beers block, at the corner of Second and Water Streets, 1920s July. Among changes in local businesses this summer was the new Ford garage being
built by the Wistrand Motor Company on Third Street, opposite the depot. The
82
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1
third member of the firm, besides Harry and Ed Wistrand, was Henry Smith.Methodist ministers to have a car, and the first to live in the new parsonage. His
successor, Rev. E.C. Meade, had the misfortune to see the parsonage, as well as
August 4. The Excelsior Cafe, 229 Water Street, changed owners when Oscar Torkel-many valuable church records, destroyed by fire. (ACG)
son sold to Lee Hutton. King Hoo, who came to work for the Huttons, would eventu-
ally run the restaurant himself.September. The Excelsior Band, resplendent in new uniforms, gave the last open -air
concert of the season from its new bandstand at the corner of Second and Water
Streets. (The first outdoor concert of the year had taken place in May on a temporary
platform on the east side of Water Street.) The audience admired their new uniforms,
described as a "pleasant shade of band blue with neat caps of the same shade." (MR)
November 14. The Woman's Club presented Mme. Bailey - Apfelbeck, the "Woman
Paderewski," in a concert at the Happy Hour Theater. Newspapers touted the artist
as "the greatest living American pianist" and "most highly decorated in the world."
Po, •
e When she played a concerto on the program, she was assisted at the second piano by
her pupil, one of Excelsior's most promising young pianists, Miss Helen Grotte. After
studying briefly in Europe, Helen returned to teach piano in Excelsior and Minne-
4;,apolis. (MR)
1924
2 ., , f iit II 1711 ' fil'l 1, l ',... *: ,,„ot r I
it : -
Cast of "The Summer Resort Town," I -r: Mrs. Willard Dillman, Mrs. H.E. Crosby, Mrs. Harold E.
Lees, Mrs. Henry Crane, Mrs. E.W. Wichman, Mrs. A.J. Bisbee, Mrs. J.C. Goodnow, Arthur Ander-
son, Paul Johnson, Violet Fletcher,H.E. Crosby, Daniel Carmichael, Paul Struck, Stella
Nelson, _ , Harry E. Baltuff, J.E. Gilman, _ ,Helen Wilson, Fern
Michael, Helen Grotte. May 3, 1922
It / 1923
1 ,
4 .
1 February 6. The Council notified Elmer Carlson to clean up the nails and rubbish left'
after removal of the Casino at the corner of Water and Lake Streets. In April, the
South Shore Improvement League had to ask contractors again to clear debris from
the nearby street and the grounds where the old Casino had stood until this winter.s
3
i March. The Village, at the request of the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company,A good catch by the Knowlton children.
discontinued use of fire alarm boxes and had them removed from the streets. Fire
L -r: Burt, ab and Mark. (John was the
hired man), about 1914
Chief B.D. Wilson then supervised trials of fire sirens, until the Council accepted the,
bid, in September, of the Excelsior Electric Company to furnish a three - horsepower'
siren for $365.t
June 9. The Minnetonka Country Club, organized in 1916, opened this season with
the first of several monthly dinner dances for its 200 -plus members. (MP)Jack and Alice (Howard) Knowlton
1926
Summer. The spire of the Methodist church, having been struck by lightning, was
to be replaced by a square tower. The Johnson boys, living across the street, were February 22. J.E. Knowlton, C.J. Peterson, and F.O. Stout formed a committee to
credited with saving the building from going up in flames.study the feasibility and methods of numbering houses in the Village. (VC)
Rev. H.L. Maunder, located here from 1920 to 1925, was the first of the local
84 85