Gary Rue was in his 9th grade algebra class in Tracy, Minnesota, in September of 1964 and the fellow sitting behind him was beating

“You’re listening to the new sound in town, KYMN radio. Let’s boogie!” The uplifting strains of “Up, Up and Away,” sung by the Fifth

The March Madness of the high school and college basketball championships is now behind us, but it was April Madness at Sayles-Hill Gymnasium in

The Northfield Arts Guild will kick off celebrations of its 50th anniversary at the Aug. 15 performance of William Shakespeare’s classic popular play, “A

For 20 years the Lockwood Opera House on Division Street had been the primary place where early Northfielders gathered for entertainment. But by 1892

“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

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,

If you filled in the blank with the word “Monkees,” this story will resonate through the soundtrack of your mind for days to come.

“No matter where you go in the United States, it has been said, you will find someone who knows that Jesse James raided a

No one that I knew when I attended St. Olaf in the 1960s brought sleds with them to college. They found there was no

If you are living in Faribault, you probably have heard the name Bruce Smith. As in: Bruce Smith Memorial Field, the Bruce Smith Golf

In the latter part of the 19th century, Northfielders celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks, band concerts, flights of oratory, baseball games, races

Originally Published in the April 2014 Entertainment Guide Basket Ball. Yes, two separate words, so chosen because a janitor showed up with two peach

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

When Brian Sostek and Megan McClellan won the Ivey Award, which recognizes accomplishments of Twin Cities’ professional theaters and artists, on Sept. 21, 2015,

I never thought I would fall in love with a man named Hiram when I moved to Northfield in 2004. But I did. Just

This was the plaintive cry in the Carletonian newspaper on Oct. 22, 1932, from the so-called “Goatrophy” which had been awarded for the first

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.

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

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 headline of the Northfield News ran across the top of the entire front page on Oct. 30, 1936: “New Postoffice Building Completed.” There were

Sayles-Hill Gymnasium, now used as Carleton’s Campus Center, was dedicated on Jan. 26, 1910. As the “March Madness” of the collegiate basketball season is

“Robbery & Murder!” screamed the headline of the Rice County Journal of Sept. 7, 1876. “Desperate Attempt to Rob the Bank! J.L. Heywood Shot Dead at

“Speaker Ushers in Black History Month.” So read the headline of The Carletonian of Feb. 12, 1999. A picture with the story shows Barack Obama at

Originally Published in the June 2014 Entertainment Guide The late Dan Freeman (known as “Mr. Northfield”) had treasured memories from the times Doc Evans

“We’ve already started three colleges and have the logs cut for four more.” An early 19th century letter from an Ohio settler to a

From February 2007 to December 2016, I wrote 119 “Historic Happenings” columns for The Entertainment Guide. What have I been doing since my last column?