TOWER- Sisters Lynn Olson and Debbie Olson Shields drew a big crowd to Pike River Products, which once housed the Olson Grocery and Hardware Store, with people eager to hear the story of their father, Bob Olson, and grandfather, Herman T. Olson, both of whom were business owners and prominent civic leaders in the Tower-Soudan community. The presentation hosted by the Tower-Soudan Historical Society (TSHS) on Aug. 16 was its final Main Street History Talk of the 2022 season.
Dianna Sunsdahl, whose new business Pike River Products is located in the building that originally housed the Olson family business, said her research into the history of the building led her to find out more about the Olson family.
The Olson sisters began telling the story of their family’s history, including many family connections in Tower. Lynn immediately introduced her aunt Arlene sitting in the front row. She is one of three remaining members of her father’s generation of the Olson family. Her mother, Fanny, served as Breitung Town Clerk (the position now held by the day’s host, Dianna Sunsdahl) for many years after Arlene’s father, Swan, died while working in the Soudan mine.
Much of the story told by Lynn and Debbie came from the diaries and notes kept by their grandfather Herman T. Olson, whose family moved to the “booming town” of Tower in 1903 in order for Herman and his brothers to get a good education. In 1914, Herman T. Olson bought the general store where he worked along with his friend, Axel Loffgren. Loffgren was then drafted during World War I, and the store became known as Olson’s Store; the official beginning of the long history of the Olson name as a mainstay on Tower’s Main Street. After the death of Herman T.’s first wife, Ethel, in 1920, he became even more involved in various business, religious and political organizations around the Tower community, including serving on the school board and city council. He also operated the Idlewild Hotel on Isle of Pines and started a branch store on Birch Point in 1921. That same year he was also elected mayor of Tower. Linda explained, “During his tenure as mayor, the town got electricity and water and sewer, and that’s when they became the city form of government.”
In 1926, Herman T. Olson was remarried to Lila Towley, a nurse from the Twin Cities. The couple had three sons, and Towley adopted the first three children from Olson’s first marriage. During the 1930s, Olson, along with his brother Oscar, ran Marshall Wells Hardware, Groceries and Dry Goods, all in one building and the Olson family lived upstairs. In February 1940, the store burned to the ground.
“There was nothing left,” Linda said, adding, “Fortunately, everyone escaped, both customers and family escaped the fire.”
Within five days after the fire, Herman T. had a makeshift store up and running. The building that is now the home of Pike River Products was built in June of 1940.
Debbie and Linda’s father, Bob, joined the Army in 1940. At that same time, their grandfather, Herman T. served on the draft board. Linda pointed out that this was a very tough job.
“Even though everyone wanted to go to war, there was still the knowledge that you were sending someone’s kid off to war,” she said.
In 1945, Herman T. became ill, and Bob was able to get a hardship discharge from the Army to come home and run the store with his brother John, who was then still in high school. Bob arrived home from overseas in April 1945, just before VE day, “and from then on Bob was a critical part of the store’s operation,” Linda said. He continued running the store until he retired.
Linda moved on to talk about the 1950s.
“These were the good years. I think they were for everybody in Tower – for Tower and Soudan both,” she said. “They were just really good years. The mine was going well, people were being paid well, business was good. It was just a wonderful decade in which to grow up in Tower-Soudan.”
In 1953, Herman T. became grandmaster of the Masonic Lodge in Minnesota.
“What that meant was there were 70,000 Masons and 287 Masonic lodges, and he had to travel to all of them, so he wrote (in his diary) ‘What I would do is travel to all of them and tell them how they needed to come to Lake Vermilion (as tourists)’.”
In 1956, Herman T. sold the business to Linda and Debbie’s father, Bob, and mother Olive, also known as “Ollie.” In the 1960s, Bob and Ollie expanded the grocery business to include a hardware store, “Olson’s Our Own Hardware,” which was managed by longtime employee Etsy Swanson. This is where Linda first got her start in the business at 16 years old as a summer employee.
Linda said, “My dad inherited the public service gene from my grandfather, so he was president of the chamber of commerce and the development council. He was on the board of Vermilion housing and Old Settlers, and he was also involved in regional affairs. They were both public service oriented.”
In 1962, the Soudan mine closed, and Linda pointed out what a blow this was to the Tower and Soudan communities.
“Within three days of the mine closing, the Tower-Soudan Development Council met, my grandfather (as secretary) wrote a letter to U.S. Steel with a copy to the governor and congressman Blatnik, ‘We need to turn the mine into a state park.’ It was his idea and the development council supported it, and that’s how it came about.”
In 1963, Bob and a friend, “Wally,” opened an A&W “root beer stand” where Benchwarmers is now located. Bob sold the A&W business in 1969 and their house, which was purchased after the fire in 1940 left them in need of a new home. In a return to their history of living right where they worked, the family bought a trailer and lived behind the store until they sold the store in 1977.
Linda and Debbie said their father and grandfather worked hard and had a love of the outdoors and the community. The sisters shared additional stories of their memories growing up in Tower and all the many people who worked for the family business over the years.
TSHS President Nancy Larson explained that the history talks are part of an effort to restore Tower’s Historic Fire Hall to be an active community building that honors Tower’s history and to “help bring history alive in the Tower community.” Larson said that TSHS also has brochures available that feature 30 places around the Tower-Soudan area that are historically significant, along with a map and links to learn more about the history of various things and places around the area.