Month: March 2023

125 Years Ago: From the March 31, 1898 Scott County Argus

Doctor C. W. Malchow has fitted up a suite of rooms in the Kohls & Berens block over H. P. Marx’s and John Mertz’s places of business, and moved in yesterday. Freshly painted woodwork and floors, a new coat of wallpaper, new full sash windows, and other improvements have served to make as comfortable a reception room and work room on one side, and sleeping room across the hall, as one could wish.

100 Years Ago: From the March 29, 1923 Shakopee Tribune

Defunct Security Bank Pays Partial Dividends

The defunct Security State Bank of Shakopee made its first partial payment last Saturday. Depositors received checks for twenty per cent of the total amount due them.

Further dividends are to follow, when the banking department, in whose charge the affairs of the defunct bank have been placed for liquidation, will be successful in collecting the notes and securities of the bank. The amount to be paid to depositors will also depend upon the success of these collections.

The Security State Bank closed its doors nearly a year ago and depositors and all others concerned, have been anxiously waiting for some settlement of affairs since that time. It is hoped that before long the affair can be entirely settled, however, it may require considerable more time before this can be accomplished.

75 Years Ago: From the March 25, 1948 Shakopee Argus-Tribune

City, State Plan Improving Street

Plans for the improvement of eight blocks of East First street by the laying of full-width blacktop surfacing and the construction of parking with the state bearing 15 per cent of the total cost of the improvement were presented to the city council last Thursday night by H. E. Chard, district engineer, at the State Highway department.

According to the proposal the highway department would let the contract for the entire job and provide all supervision of the project. Instead of surfacing the normal width of 24 feet through the city, the state would carry the surfacing in the curbs and bear a portion of the extra cost. Property holders along the street would be assessed for their proportionate share of the improvement…

50 Years Ago: From the March 28, 1973 Shakopee Valley News

Council Okays Park Transfer to MVRP; Referendum Possible

An ordinance conveying Memorial Park to the Scott County Historical Society was passed by the Shakopee City Council Tuesday night after a lengthy and impassioned discussion.

The action capped several months of consideration, but is not the final word on the issue. The Society must now decide if it will accept the terms of the transfer set down by the council…

25 Years Ago: From the March 26, 1998 Shakopee Valley News

Inland giving SHS $25,000 grant

Inland Paperboard and Packaging Inc. last week announced that the Inland Foundation will award a $25,000 Leadership Grant to Shakopee High School.

The grant, dispersed over two years, will help the high school establish a manufacturing industry career-training and awareness program. The program’s goal is to server 100 at-risk high school youths and 50 lower-income adults, providing them with a hands-on lab experience to acquire fundamental manufacturing technology skills such as robotics and hydraulics. Additionally, instruction will include workplace skills such as good work behaviors, team building and problem-solving…

125 Years Ago: From the March 24, 1898 Scott County Argus

Jacob Ries has determined not to again advertise for bids for the erection of the new addition to the Bottling Works, but will put up the building himself, buying the material and contracting for the labor. The cost of the improvement as indicated by the bids submitted will be nearly $2,000.

100 Years Ago: From the March 22, 1923 Shakopee Tribune

Bert Kingsley of the office of the State Fire Marshal of St. Paul was in the city Monday and inspected the buildings at the State Reformatory for Women and pronounced them absolutely safe.

75 Years Ago: From the March 18, 1948 Shakopee Argus-Tribune

Park Light Fund Drive Continues

Type of lights (sealed beam or open flood) to be installed to provide night use of Shakopee’s baseball diamond depends upon the result of the stock selling campaign now in progress here, officers of the Shakopee Recreation Association, Inc., said this week.

On the basis of funds already made available through stock purchases the corporation’s officers and directors are confident the diamond will be lighted for the coming ball season.

There was general accord among those interested in the project that the sealed beam type of lighting unit, although more costly at the initial installation, would be the most desirable from a maintenance point of view over a period of years. The open reflector units are less costly to purchase but require greater maintenance and more frequent attention, engineers point out.

Steel towers and transformers for the project have been ordered, officers said, but placing of the order for the light units must await the tabulation of stock sales made this week…

125 Years Ago: From the March 10, 1898 Scott County Argus

C. L. Wilcox and B. J. Gentgen are at work papering the ceiling and walls of the county commissioners’ room and register of deed’s office at the court house. Both are papered in decidedly green tints, that in the registrar’s office being very naturally as bright a hue as the Emerald Isle itself, while the darker walls of the commissioners’ room should find favor in the sight of Commissioners Mahoney and Hyland. It need hardly be added that the rooms are both attractively neat in their “new rolls.”

100 Years Ago: From the March 8, 1923 Shakopee Tribune

Fire Causes Heavy Loss

Minnesota Stove Co. Sustains Huge Loss from Fire in Local Plant.

A destructive fire broke out last Thursday evening in the local plant of the Minnesota Stove Co., causing a heavy loss to the company.

The fire started about nine o’clock Thursday evening from an unknown cause, in the crating and shipping room. Men at work in the building at the time, tried their utmost to extinguish the flames, before they could gain any headway, however their efforts proved futile and in a short time the fire reached a barrel of paint and an explosion followed. Flames then spread rapidly and the fire had gained considerable headway before the arrival of the fire department, which was on the scene in a very short time…

Three buildings, including the crating and shipping room, where the fire originated, the mounting room on the east and the large warehouse on the west of it, were totally destroyed with all their contents, before the fire was under control…

The molding room and the enameling plant remained intact and work in these departments was resumed Monday morning. A temporary mounting room was improvised in a section of the molding room to be used at present until other arrangements are completed…

75 Years Ago: From the March 4, 1948 Shakopee Argus-Tribune

To Open New Car Agency, Garage in Shakopee April 1

L. M. Miklethun, Minneapolis, completed negotiations Monday in preparation for the opening of new automotive business in Shakopee, it was learned.

Mr. Miklethun disclosed that he had leased from Captain L. A. Ketterer the former Walter Wermerskirchen property on East First street where he will conduct a Pontiac car agency and garage.

Plans provide for the erection of a building on the vacant portion of the property, west of the Shakopee bakery, early in spring. Launching of the new business, however, is scheduled for April 1.

Present buildings on the site will be used as the office, display room and garage until the new structure is erected, Miklethun said.

50 Years Ago: From the March 7, 1973 Shakopee Valley News

Shopping Center May Be In Jackson, But Several ‘Ifs’ Need More Study

A proposal to construct a shopping center immediately west of Shakopee in Jackson Township was met with tentative approval by Jackson Township officials at a special meeting Monday evening, as engineers prepare to undertake studies to determine the feasibility of supplying the proposed complex with sewer and water services from Shakopee.

The studies will be undertaken upon the recommendation of Shakopee City Engineer Leo Olson, whose preliminary study of the existing sewer system on Shakopee’s west side has raised the question of whether the shopping center could best be served by an extension of the present system or by a direct connection with the system…

25 Years Ago: From the March 5, 1998 Shakopee Valley News

Board approves new school land purchase

A new elementary school in Shakopee is a step closer to becoming reality after the School Board approved the purchase of land for the facility on Monday.

The district will finalize a purchase agreement with property owners Greg and Gary Kerkow for a 21.7-acre parcel east of St. Francis Regional Medical Center…

The city of Shakopee will need approximately three acres of the school site to extend 17^th Avenue, Ostlund said. The grade school lot will border on a city park, as a result of an agreement between the city and the school district…