On June 16, 1899, more than 6,000 visitors streamed into Northfield on a dozen regular and special trains and marched in a mile-long parade.

When I last wrote about Laura MacKenzie for our annual music issue of June 2013, I said, “You cannot be much more of a

I have occasionally been asked, “When will there be a book of your columns?” Now I have an answer: A book with the catchy

“Masquerade Ball! Easter Monday, April 7, 1890, at the Opera House. Tickets $1, gallery 50¢ with the privilege of dancing after 11 o’clock. Everybody

If you are a visitor to Northfield for this year’s Defeat of Jesse James Days, Sept. 9-13, you can perhaps be forgiven if you

Last month Carleton College published A Beacon So Bright: The Life of Laurence McKinley Gould, a long-awaited biography of Carleton’s fourth president by Carleton archivist

Question: Who Are Northfield’s Quiz Show Aces? This year the Academy Award for Best Picture went to “Slumdog Millionaire,” the story of a teen

As I drove into the driveway of the hilltop home of Bryan Moon outside of Cannon Falls, I saw the first whimsical touch of

“Rising Waters Cause Concern” was the headline. “Recent heavy rains have pushed Cannon River levels to a near-critical stage.” Northfielders turned up in droves

“Northfielders Have Forever Found Fun, Even in the Frigid Days of February.” That was the title of my first column for the Northfield Entertainment Guide in

Way back in the historic mid-1960s, when I was attending St. Olaf, my friends and I would head down to Sayles-Hill Gym at Carleton

On Aug. 19, 1915, the Northfield Independent newspaper announced, “Carnival Shows Draw Big Crowds. Many Clever and Interesting Performances to Be Seen with Patterson Carnival Company,

I wrote two paragraphs about Henry Talford Budd, known as “Tal,” in my third Historic Happenings column in April of 2007. I was writing about events

Dad, why doesn’t Carleton play metric football?” That question, from Carleton chemistry professor Jerry Mohrig’s teenage son David, sparked a very special and unique

I guess I am easily entertained, because my idea of a good time is to look at microfilm of old newspapers at the Northfield

With a menacing stare and a big ax, Smoke Shop proprietor Stanley “Tiny” Johnson stood beside two men locked into the “Jesse James Days

The last thing I expected during the Defeat of Jesse James Days in September of 2005 was to be singing karaoke with a descendant

Northfield could hardly have been more welcoming. It was front page news when the Northfield News announced on June 18, 1898, that “Miss Baker’s boarding

“We were built and now stand on the shoulders of Giants.” This was the shared sentiment of the St. Olaf College Department of Art

Carleton College archivist Eric Hillemann has a colorful poster from the 1930s on his office wall which announces a lecture: “James B. Pond presents

What memories do you have of the Tilt-A-Whirl? I think almost everyone has a memory of the first spinning, dipping, dizzying, dazzling ride on

“Old Bill” Schilling would have loved this August Historic Happenings column. That is because I am going to tell you a lot about his contributions to

What would have been on the covers of the February Entertainment Guides had they been around in the 19th century? In 1892, we may have

Plans were made in December of 1855 for the family of John North to move south from St. Anthony to the Cannon River where

Dundas residents got an early glimpse of the precocious talent of 3-year-old Marilyn Sellars when, in the middle of a Sunday sermon at the

Northfielders reading Reed Whittemore’s memoir Against the Grain: The Literary Life of a Poet (Dryad Press, 2007) may have an irresistible urge to start with Chapter

In 1856, only a year after the founding of Northfield, a Lyceum Association was established “to create a taste for literature and a thirst

It all started with an extraordinary invitation by Minnesota Twins’ owner Cal Griffith 45 years ago. Sid Freeman, owner of a Northfield men’s store

It isn’t often that Minneapolis’ major newspaper, the Associated Press and the CBS Morning News carry the results of a campaign for a college

In 1855, at the age of 40,  John Wesley North was ready for new challenges. A New Yorker by birth, he had moved to St.

On April 26, 2015, Betty White received a lifetime achievement award at the 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The 93-year-old actress has a career

Today’s Carleton College students know the names Fred B. and Deborah Sayles Hill. That is to say, they know the names Sayles and Hill