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Article by William A. Eliason from the Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of, December, 1985, Vol. 3 No. 4.  1910 Temerance Corner Youth League Gymnastics Club. William Eliason is front row far right Having been invited to contribute something on the above subject I am glad to offer some reminiscences from my early teens (on the 23rd of November [1985] I was 89).
Our rather sudden interest in athletics may have been a result of the success of Finland's entrants in the 1912 Olympic Games, in several gold medals won by them in the long distance races. Be that as it may, about that time an athletic club was organized, which held its meetings at the Temperance Hall—a center of the Finnish community. The leader of the group was my neighbor Peter Thompson, who was a respected farmer and well qualified to be an athletic director, since he possessed an admirable physique.
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Article by Johanna Ellison from the Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of, September, 2018, Vol. 38 No. 4.  Dassel-Cokato Youth Hockey. Date unknown. In December of 1955, the skating rink moved from Peterson Park to Mooers Park. At first, the new skating rink, lined by snow banks, only saw scrimmages, shinnies, and rink ratting. In fact, an organized league did not touch the ice until Forrest (Butch) Amundsen, representing the Cokato Jaycees, approached the Cokato Village Council on July 12, 1971, about the city providing a youth hockey program. In addition, Amundsen proposed plans for enlarging the skating rink and building hockey boards. As a result to Amundson, the Cokato Businessmen Association, and the Jaycees efforts, that winter Cokato Hockey Association featured, in December of 1971, not only an improved hockey rink, but also a Squirts (under 10 years), and Bantams team (age 12-14). Eventually, the Cokato Hockey Association added Peewees, Mites, Midgets, and Juveniles teams. Although these teams were primarily comprised of boys, a couple of girls briefly entered the ranks in the early 1980s—Sara Keskey and Sonja Lund. Unfortunately, a girls’ team would not form until approximately a decade later.
From the Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of, July, 2020, Vol. 40 No. 2.  Dr. Theodore Greenfield administers the polio vaccination to Cokato first and second graders. Also pictured from left to right are Paul Constenius, Sandra Boltz, Karen Boltz, and Keith Barberg. From the 1920s-1950s, Cokato residents lived in fear of polio, a contagious disease that
particularly targeted Cokato’s youth. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, polio is a virus that attacks the nervous system, with symptoms ranging from asymptomatic, to paralysis, to death. Although most cases of polio were mild with little or temporary symptoms, the severe cases involved permanent paralysis, which was enough to cause panic when an outbreak occurred in the community. Adding to the anxiety, scientists at the time did not know how it spread and there was no known cure. In Minnesota, many severe polio cases were treated at the Sister Kenny Institute in Minneapolis. |
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