This is the week of the post-July 4th sales at all neighborhood stores. Let’s harness up the team and take the buggy to the Maine Prairie General Store. It has such a friendly family atmosphere, and we know they stock everything we could possibly want. We’ll take along some eggs and butter to trade for calico for mom and kerosene for dad. Well, the date is right, but the time is not. And few people other than Ada Phillips remember when it WAS right. For Ada and her family were the owners of the store, and it was her responsibility to drive the team and wagon to Kimball to deliver produce and pick up freight from the depot. Since they lived right above the store, Ada could often be found assisting customers by measuring goods out of large barrels and packing butter into others. However, much of her time was spent caring for the animals the family kept behind the store, milking the cow, or carrying wood upstairs. That may have been your lifestyle, too, if you had been born in 1891 and grown up around Maine Prairie. Unfortunately, not many of us were able to experience the “good old days” which made up much of Ada Phillips’ life but, fortunately, Ada remembers them well and is willing to share those memories … like the stage which traveled through Maine Prairie once or twice a week. Even in the winter? Certainly, and why not! Its passengers were kept warm by the stage’s stove. She remembers it delivering the mail and the weekly paper (and is amazed at today’s modern to-the-minute news coverage). She herself does not remember the Maine Prairie Fort, but relates tales of her mother’s time. When news of Indians’ approach came to the settlement, the people gathered all their supplies, family, and animals and took shelter inside the fort. Fortunately, the Indians never bothered them. And if anyone wanted to visit St. Cloud, it meant a full day’s trip by horse and buggy. But one needn’t go to St. Cloud for excitement, for it was found even in Maine Prairie. The Medicine Shows were always fun, especially when one entered some of its contests, as did Ada’s mother who won a beautiful glass bowl in the Pounding Bee. There were also many house and barn dances, singing and piano playing sessions. One item of excitement was the occasional appearance of Doc. Sherwood who DROVE into town in the area’s only car – a 1903 Olds. The Maine Prairie of Ada’s day consisted of a church, cheese factory, cemetery, lodge hall, three general stores (Guptil’s, Stanley’s and Loudon’s) and a post office. Ada walked 2 1/2 miles to school up through the eighth grade. Then she continued her education at the business college in St. Cloud. Upon completing that training, she was employed by A.T. Thayer Realty in St. Cloud. “Then I was foolish and got married,” says Ada who married Vene Phillips. They moved to the Fogarty place, farmed, bought the Drey Trucking Line, and had four children before Vene passed away in 1950. Ada continued to farm for several years after that as well as to drive a school bus. Besides assuming the usual tasks of a mother and housewife, Ada fed many hired men, constantly solicited for various drives, worked for the Red Cross and Heart Association, presided over the methodist Ladies’ Aide Society, participated in the Order of Eastern Star and Royal Neighbors (in both she earned 50-year pins) and even looked for occasional airplanes as a card-carrying member of the Airplane Spotting Service. If you’re looking for Ada today, she is possibly in the house (down by the high school) which has been her home for 57 years, or maybe driving around town in her ’58 pink Chevy which “works like a top,” or eating lunch with the senior citizens, or visiting friends or shut-ins, or making rugs or quilting, or …. “When I’m not talking, I’m just sitting in my rocking chair half asleep.” Ada began serving people in a small general store in Maine Prairie. She continued to serve people through volunteer associations. She spent many years nursing invalid relatives in her home. And still today, she serves not only in deeds, but by words and enthusiasm and a heritage which we should all envy when we behold the product of its years – Ada Phillips. oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo “Snapshots in Time” will feature Bill Morgan, renowned historian of Stearns County, who has a gift of interpreting photographs. He will share with us at the June 22 Kimball Area Historical Society meeting at 7 p.m. in our historic city hall. Often in demand as a keynote speaker, Morgan has developed a unique program with old photographs which he will present to our society. Not only is he a professor of Minnesota and American history at St. Cloud State University, but he has authored Salt Lantern, a family history, and Light From the Hearth, Central Minnesota Pioneers and Early Architecture. Morgan is also well known for his monthly history column in the St. Cloud Times. His passion for detail is only exceeded by his knowledge of his subject matter. You won’t want to miss this golden opportunity to meet and learn from charismatic speaker, Bill Morgan. Come join the fun, make new friends, create new memories. Everyone is welcome! Thank you for your new and renewed memberships. We are honored to count you as a part of this society, protecting the irreplaceable for generations to come. Our non-profit status means that all gifts and memberships are tax-deductible. Watch this column for coming events including the history events during Kimball Days. For more information, membership, cookbooks, or stories and photos for this column, please contact the Kimball Area Historical Society at P.O. Box 100, Kimball MN 55353, or call (320) 398-5743, 398-5250, or toll-free at (800) 252-2521 from out of the area.
