COKATO MUSEUM
  • History
    • Akerlund Studio
    • Cokato History
    • The Museum
    • Blog
    • Videos
  • Events & Exhibits
    • Events >
      • Featured Events
      • Annual Events
    • Exhibits >
      • Current Exhibits
      • Online Exhibits
  • Research
    • Genealogy
    • Archives
    • Resources
    • Educators
  • Support
    • Cokato Historical Society
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Donations >
      • How to Donate
      • Wish List
  • Contact/Hours

In the Midst

Use the Categories menu on the right to search through our many exciting articles on Cokato History.

LOST COKATO: STANDARD OIL STATIONS

9/15/2020

 
Article by Michael Worcester from the Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of, October, 2005, Vol. 25 No. 4. ​
Picture
Standard Oil Station, Broadway and Third.
It is known that the first car seen in Cokato appeared in late August 1900. As written in Cokato’s First Century:

“the occupants were a man and wife reported to be en route to Mille Lacs Lake to hunt and fish. The Enterprise editor wrote that the vehicle ‘speeded” along at a rate of 12 miles per hour when on a good road, and the horseless carriage was quite a sight for those who had never seen one before, which probably meant almost everyone in Cokato.”

It would be another three years before car ownership arrived in Cokato, when businessman Emil Erickson and farmer John Ojanpera each purchased a new Oldsmobile. Gust Akerlund joined the ranks of car owners two years later, when he purchased a 1905 Oldsmobile from a stranger who drove into town.

​
In that day, there were no service stations to supply the essentials needed for auto ownership. Oil and gas were bought in bulk from hardware dealers. It would be another thirteen years until an actual service station opened in Cokato. And when it did, it was under the ownership of the largest corporate conglomerate in the world, Standard Oil.


Read More

THE 1918 SPANISH FLU IN COKATO

9/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of,  July, 2020, Vol. 40 No. 2. ​
Picture
Spanish Influenza, so named because Spain was the first to publicize the crisis, came from unknown origins. In a war torn world brought on by World War I, soldiers carried the disease from one camp to another. By the spring of 1918, the Spanish flu reached the United States with the first case appearing in Kansas. In September of 1918, the virus reached Minnesota and spread at analarming rate. What was so terrifying about the malady is that victims could be healthy one moment then near death after only a few hours. Symptoms included cough, chills, fever, congestion, body aches, exhaustion and bleeding. On top of all of this, the flu was often followed by a bout of pneumonia, that proved deadly to many. By the time the influenza epidemic waned in Minnesota during the spring of 1919, over 10,000 people were dead. Even small rural communities like Cokato did not escape the reaper. 1

Read More
0 Comments

    Cokato Museum

    Blog articles are subject to copyright.

    Categories

    All
    Akerlund
    Amusements
    Businesses
    Downtown
    Hwy 12
    Lost Cokato
    Medical
    Men
    Military
    Organizations
    Parks
    Politics
    Religion
    Schools
    Sports
    Surrounding Communities
    Technology
    Transportation
    Weather
    Women

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

E-mail:
info@cokatomuseum.org

Telephone:
320-286-2427

Address:
175 Fourth Street SW, Cokato, MN 55321

Hours:
Tues-Sat: 8:30-4:30
Sun-Mon: Closed


​Closed Most Holidays

FREE Admission


© 2023 Cokato Historical Society
Picture
  • History
    • Akerlund Studio
    • Cokato History
    • The Museum
    • Blog
    • Videos
  • Events & Exhibits
    • Events >
      • Featured Events
      • Annual Events
    • Exhibits >
      • Current Exhibits
      • Online Exhibits
  • Research
    • Genealogy
    • Archives
    • Resources
    • Educators
  • Support
    • Cokato Historical Society
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Donations >
      • How to Donate
      • Wish List
  • Contact/Hours