Quarry Happenings

  Powder House  The powder house, south of the wagon bridge, was the storage building for black powder, used to blast massive rectangular blocks of sandstone away from the bluffs.  It also stored dynamite to break up rock for the stone crusher.  Andy Pajala was in charge of much of the blasting.  Victor Gjertson also worked with the volatile black powder. 

1910: Kettle River Company consolidated quarry, creosote, and stonecutting companies; Population- 1818; Sandstone soccer team was state champion; Sandstone Spring Water Companies requested creosote plant relocate to stop polluting water; Most productive year ever at quarry 1911: Moving pictures shown at Larson's Opera House twice a week; School fumigated due to scarlet fever; Sandstone Spring Water Company built reservoir; 453 enrolled in school; W.C.T.U. held annual district convention at Larson's Opera Hall; River Power Company added subsidiary companies - Kettle River Power Company, William Penn Cut Stone Company; and quarries in sandstone, Superior and Port Wing; Sandstone Spring Water Company was victim of campaign to make public believe remain "wet"  

 The First Diesel Engine passed through Sandstone around 1940

  1912: Adolf Larson became Minnesota State Represenative; Quarryman's State Bank sold 18 steamship tickets to quarrymen returning to England for winter; Sandstone Socialists local met with Hinkley Socialists; John Forstrom and J.M. Ingraham opened automobile repair shops; Sandstone Spring Water Company closed plant here because of contamination from creosote plant

Asklund's Tailor Shop was filled with samples of materials and posters of the latest fashions.  Moll ( later Peterson) operated the huge tailor iron and assisted Asklund's in the Tailor Shop.  

  The Myhree Brothers Blacksmith Shop was run by (left to right) Peter Myhree and Brady Myhree around 1915.  One of the two men on the right is Grant Ingram

1908: New wagon bridge completed; John Hawley opens grocery store in Northern Hotel building; Kettle River Company incorporated; Sandstone Telephone Company phone book listed 138 telephones; Village ordered   animals running loose to be put in village pound; Gus Moll narrowly  escaped being bitten in the face by a copperhead while working in the quarry; Kettle River Power Company completed new dam, capacity of 1000 horse power, downstream from old dam, Rotting train bridge repaired with steel 1909: Sandstone State Bank became the First National Bank of Sandstone; Englis Spring Water Company of Minneapolis purchased spring from Village of Sandstone, Later changed name to Sandstone Spring Water Company, Sandstone water bottled under copyright name of Minnepura Spring Water ; William Penn  Company purchased cut-stone operation in quarry ( Kettle River Quarries Company owned large share of Penn Company); New Larson Brothers Opera House opened; Voters made temperance group

  H.P. WEBB & CO. one of Sandstones successful businesses, entered this float in Sandstones Fourth of July Parade in 1904.  Webb established a grocery, hardware and furniture store in Sandstone in the late 1890s in Sandstone commercial building on the northeast corner of Main Street and Fourth Street and two adjacent buildings.   The Sandstone State Bank moved into the corner building in 1906 shortly after it was established by Webb and his partners.  H.P.  Webb & Co. operated the hardware and furniture store located just east of the bank until it burned in 1923.  He was also the undertaker and ran that business In connection with the furniture store located north of the bank

  Walter Scott (left) opened a general store at 406 Commercial Avenue shortly after the 1894 fire.  Before moving to Sandstone, Scott worked as a clerk at the Brennan Lumber Company in Hinckley.  Adolf Larson (center) was one of several young men who worked at Walter C. Scott & Co. and established a business of their own in Sandstone.  Street lamps, such as the one in this turn of the century photos, were lit by the village marshal every night.

1908: New wagon bridge completed; John Hawley opens grocery store in Northern Hotel Building; Kettle River Power Company incorporated; Sandstone Telephone Company phone book listed 138 telephones; Village ordered all animals running loose to be put in village pound; Gus Moll narrowly escaped being bitten in the face by a copperhead while working in the quarry; Kettle River Power Company completed new dam, capacity of 1000 horse power, downstream from old dam; Rotting train bridge repaired with steel 1909: Sandstone State Bank became the First National Bank of Sandstone; Englis Spring Water Company of Minneapolis purchased spring from Village of Sandstone, later changed name to Sandstone Spring Water Company, Sandstone water bottled under copyrighted name of Minnepura Spring Water; William Penn Company purchased cut-stone operation in quarry Kettle River Quaries Company owned large share of Penn Company; New Larson Brothers Opera House opened; Voters made Sandstone a dry town after stro

There will be a book sale during Quarry Days to support the friends of the Sandstone Library!  Funds raised go towards the library programs and needs.   Location: 106 Main St. Sandstone Hours For Book Sale: Friday August 9th from 12 pm 4 pm  and Saturday August 10th from 9 am to 1 pm. A wide variety of books plus our popular shopping bags await you!  NOTE:  BOOK DONATIONS ARE ACCEPTED YEAR ROUND AT THE LIBRARY.  Books should be gently used, free of dirt and oder.  No reference or text books Accepted. FRIENDS SILENT AUCTION: Celebrate Friends of the library week October 20-26 by participating in our annual auction.  Auction items are being accepted NOW.  Bidding begins September 1 and ends at 5pm on October 24.  Start your Christmas shopping early while supporting our local library programs.  It's a win-win!

1905: Quarry workers monument erected in cemetery; Creosote plant built by Kettle River Quarries Company; Hydropower used by Sandstone Land Co. for electric plant; School overcrowded with 400 students; Population-1589; Methodist Church built; Commercial Club organized 1906: Sandstone community donated $200 for San Francisco fire relief; Great Northern Railroad round trip fare to Twin Cities was $2.60, Also one-half fare rates to Minnesota State Fair; School truant officer appointed; Electric bell and chemistry lab added to school; Typhoid fever, diphtheria and cholera reported; School Sandstone and Finlayson; English Spring Water Company shipped 10,000 gallons of Sandstone spring water per week for drinking fountains; Sandstone State Bank established 1907: Anna Frulk opened millinery and dry goods shop; Engineer killed in quarry switch engines accident; Village passed ordinance requiring license for billiardnand pool rooms; Quarryman's State Bank installed burglar alarm; Wrestling

  1898: Two freight trains crashed head on in Eastern Railway yards in Sandstone, both engines badly damaged; Minnesota Sandstone Company turned out 75,000 paving blocks a month; Eastern Railway built 24x48 foot ice house near tracks between depot and boiler house; Quarry strike settled; Log drives delayed due to low river levels; Sandstone Fire Department organized; Lighting struck Presbyterian Church steeple. 1899:Alexander Bull, son of Ole Bull, played his father's violin at Opera Hall; Independent Order of Odd Fellow's building completed on corner of Third Street and Main Street with store below and hall upstairs; Village marshal salary set at $25 a month; Quarry employed 500 men; Catholic Church bazaar raised $1,100 for cunstruction of new church; 100 trees planted on west side of Main Street; 1000 telephone poles installed between villages of Sandstone, Pine City, Banning and Finlayson  1900: Diphtheria epidemic; New Catholic Church built on Commercial Avenue; Sandstone T

1896:Quarryman's Bank Opened; Walter in Kettle River rose 15 feet, flood washed away wagon bridge and damages dam, logs jammed up from Hells Gate to railroad bridge, village water supply bad; Settlers from abroad and other states flocked to Sandstone to find work in quarry, railroad and lumber industries; Business lots sold for $500 to $1000; James J Hill shipped water from Sandstone to his home in St Paul; 18 new business places built. 1897: School library has 100 books; Pine County Courier accepted wood as subscription payment; First threshing machine in area, owned by H.G. Tyler of Finlayson, passed through village ; Rising Kettle River threw quarry wheel out of plumb; Localquaries busier than any other in Midwest; Village orders businesses to built sidewalks; More tracks and switches laid in quarry; Citizens urged village council to regulate houses of ill repute and saloons.