“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

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

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

Early in the 20th century, Carleton College students eagerly awaited an ice cream party which celebrated the advent of spring after yet another long

Mike (“Doc”) Hildebrandt has a motto, taken from John Denver’s song Thank God, I’m a Country Boy. It is, “I fiddle when I can and

When Nancy Ringham (St. Olaf Class of 1977) and Sylvia Rhyne (Carleton Class of 1978) performed together in St. Paul’s Chimera Theater musical, “How

In July of 2011 an open house was held at the Archer House River Inn to show off a $1.1 million renovation of the

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, I wasn’t there, but I can imagine “Thwack!” was the sound of ball hitting bat in 19th century “base ball” (two words) which

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

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

“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

After the devastating fire ravaged Northfield’s Archer House in Northfield last year on November 12-13, a television reporter asked me as a Northfield historian

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 spring of 2015 the Northfield Historical Society and The Entertainment Guide teamed up to publish volumes 2 and 3 of selected Historic Happenings columns about St. Olaf and Carleton. (Volume

“It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s…Schiller!” On Nov. 10, 1962, a Carleton football game versus Lawrence was interrupted by a strange sight. A

Originally Published in the March 2014 Entertainment Guide Here in Northfield, insomniacs hear the freight train horns late at night, while during the day

No doubt fans of football at St. Olaf looked enviously across the Cannon River during the first two decades of the 20th century when

Need a suggestion for a stocking stuffer? Well, here it is: a compilation of kids’ letters to Santa from the Northfield News from 1902 to 1945. Dear

When I moved to Northfield from New York in 2004 and took an interest in researching and writing about the history of the town

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

In September of 1868, a mere 13 years after Northfield was founded by John W. North, the young town decided to put on an