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In the Midst

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

Cokato Through Audrey's Eyes

10/24/2024

 
The following article uses parts of interviews with Cokato historian Audrey Tack (age 92) during the early spring of 2024. 
Picture
Ryti family getting their photograph taken by Gust Akerlund around Thanksgiving, 1941. Back Row: Carl Lloyd, Harold. Middle Row: Annamae, Marion, Alice. Front Row: Audrey, Carl Henry, Wendla, and Caroline.
​​Audrey Ryti Tack grew up in Cokato primarily in the house that was next to the Green Giant Canning plant (today it sits between Dollar General and ProCare along Highways 12). The Ryti family moved into the house around 1930.  Audrey stated that most families in the area had boys, with only the Bergstrom girls that were nearby for her to play with. Audrey remembered having to cross the  railroad tracks on her walk to and from school.  At lunchtime, she would have to return home because there were no lunches served at school. Girls at that time wore saddle shoes, skirts, and occasionally slacks. They also did not wear T-shirts, mainly blouses and sweaters with dickie collars.  Jeans did not come into fashion until after World War II.

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Cokato's Hoopsters

1/6/2024

 
Museum Staff. "Cokato's Hoopsters." In The Midst Of. Cokato Historical Society. (December, 2023) vol. 43, no. 5.
Picture
Cokato High School Boys' Basketball team, 1922. Philip Wagner, Gustaf Bongfeldt, Simon Anderson, Willard Holmquist, Earl Berg, Raymond Halvorson, Walter Hasti, Lloyd Johnson, Clifford Hedberg, Mr. S. Carroll Simonson, Coach. Photograph by Gust Akerlund.
​​Cokato High School boys basketball team was formed when the girls team disbanded in 1904, and the sole basketball was now up for grabs. Their first game was played outdoors against Howard Lake, resulting in Cokato losing 13 to 19. The next few years were developing years, with varying amounts of interest from the Cokato boys. Eventually, in 1907, Cokato basketball became an official varsity sport. The first game was played in Stevenson Hall, and resulted in a loss to the Acme Athletic Club.

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Winter in a Country School

1/27/2023

 
Edrie Swanson, "Winter in a Country School,"​​ In The Midst Of, Cokato Historical Society (Winter, 1984) vol. 2 no. 2.
Picture
Myrback School, circa 1940s.
This is the way it was the winter of 1943 in Myrback, a one-room school located nine miles northeast of Cokato, at the
crossroads and on the hill. With the excitement of the Christmas program and its auction of donated articles to raise funds for library books, and the two-week vacation over it was back to school routine. Bundled in mittens, scarves, and four buckle overshoes, the eleven students enrolled in grades one through eight reluctantly trudged through the snow which covered the field (sometimes used as shortcuts) and the seldom traveled roads to the chilly classroom.
The teacher had arrived in her Model A, which was equipped not with snow tires, but with chains.

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