Civics education!

Kids Voting: Kids turn out at the polls in large numbers, Story on page 7A Almost 40 Years Ago HASTINGS STAR November 26, 1980 WHAT’S HAPPENING?

No mail Thursday The Hastings Post Office and other area post offices will be closed Thursday, Nov. 27, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. There will be the regular residential or business mail delivery or lobby window service on that day. However, special delivery and express mail next day service will be provided.

Mail will be collected only from collection boxes bearing late pick-up decals. Collections will be made according to the holiday schedule posted on each

will resume on Friday.

56 Years Ago HASTINGS GAZETTE November 6, 1964 Student Mock Vote at Hastings High School goes to LBJ Write-In Vote Stirs Contest At Hampton (Ham’ton) Incumbent village clerk Ralph F. Becker was re-elected by Hampton voters Tuesday in a close vote resulting from a strong write-in campaign.

Becker polled 83 votes to 73 for write-in candidate Eugene Dohman.

Councilman Edwin Kuhn was unopposed in his bid for re-election, and received 142 votes.

No candidate had filed for constable, but Leo Becker received 19 writein votes for that office.

The turnout of 163 voters was one of the largest ever in Hampton.

Village officials whose terms were not up for election are mayor H. E. Latimer, treasurer J. A. Becker, councilmen A. T. Dalgiden and Ralph Ellen, and assessor A. J. Turek.

Warming House Skate Rink Needed A warming house, 12 by 12 feet or larger, is needed to replace the one wrecked by vandals last spring at the East 17th St. skating rink according to city councilman Clarence “Bud” Zeien, who is in charge of city parks and playgrounds.

Anyone having a suitable building which the city could use as a warming house is urged to contact Zeien at 437-**** or city clerk Wally Erickson at 437-****.

The building will be needed very soon, Zeien said, as preparations are already well underway for winter recreation facilities.

100 Years Ago THE MIRROR Edited and Published Weekly by the Inmates of the Minnesota State Prison (in Stillwater) Our Motto: “It is never too late to mend.”

November 4, 1920 FORT SNELLING AND ITS HISTORY By Gen. Richard W. Johnson THAT portion of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi river was acquired by the Louisiana purchase of December 20, 1803. Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States at that time and took steps to bring it under the authority of the general (meaning federal) government. To this end Lieut. Zebulon Pike was detailed to visit this region, drive out the British traders and make alliance with the Indians.

Pike ascended the Mississippi river in a batteau in the month of September 1805 and arrived on the 21st of September at the trading house of J. B. Fairbault, believed to have been under the bluff a short distance below the present site of Mendota. On September 23rd he held council with the Sioux (Dakota) and obtained from them a grant of land embracing 100,000 acres, which Pike valued at $200,000. This land was to be used for military purposes. There seems to have been nothing paid for this large tract of land except $200 worth of presents and 60 gallons of whiskey.

It was designed to establish a military post at the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter’s (Minnesota) rivers, but for various reasons it was delayed…The planting of Selkirk’s colony on the northern border of the United States called attention to it again, and resulted in an order issued by the Commanding General of the Army for the concentration at Detroit, Michigan, of the Fifth Infantry, preparatory to its transfer, under the command of Lieut. Col. Henry Leavenworth, to the junction of the two rivers, for the purpose of establishing a military post in the vicinity…Before the work on the fort was completed Col. Leavenworth was promoted to another regiment and Col. Snelling succeeded him. Gen. Winfield Scott visited the fort, and was so pleased with the energy and activity with which Col. Snelling pushed forward the work of construction that he recommended that the post be called “Fort Snelling,” in honor of its builder. Gen. Scott’s recommendation was approved and an order to that effect was issued in 1824.

WHAT I WOULD DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS By Mr. L. J. W.

SOMETIMES when things don’t go just right, and worry reigns supreme, and heartaches fill the eyes with mist and all things useless seem, that is just the thing, that could drive away those tears that scald and blind, so this is what I would do with a million, if the million were mine.

No one has ever told just why gold such comfort brings, or why the money makes our cares depart on hurried wings, yet troubles say a quick “good-bye.” I could leave them far behind, if I had a million dollars, and the million it were mine.

I would buy a cosy cottage,

one not far from the

sea, where I could have my mother, that dear old soul, with me. I would have many flowers all round the house, and up and down the walks; I would have roses, tulips, and daffodils, and the old fashioned four o’clocks. I would do the very best I could to fill her heart with joy, and bring back to her the years gone by when I was just a boy (continued onward). 120 Years Ago THE IRISH STANDARD Vol. XV, NO. 9, Minneapolis January 6, 1900 And the Outlook for Victory, State and National.

Reform Press Bureau St. Paul, Jan. 1, 1900.

Happy New Year to all! With a hope for the dawn of better things for the republic than foreign conquest and surrender to the money power, in the opening of another decade and another century… Now that it is conceded on all sides that the new century does not begin until Jan. 1, 1901, how glad we are that we have not mingled with the discussion and that on the 64th day of the new century (March 4, 1901) Bryan will be installed in the White House! (William Jennings Bryan would go on to lose, proving all bets off).

From Statehood 162 Years Ago THE STILLWATER MESSENGER June 8, 1858 Volume 2, Number 38, Van Vorhes & Easton, Publishers Motto: “Be Just and Fear Not.—Let al the ends thou aim’st at, be thy Country’s thy God’s, and Truth’s.”

ST. PAUL, June 3d, 1858 The machinery of our State Government is now in working order. The Lieutenant Governor is in his chair, presiding over the Senate and Mr. Sibley— it is not necessary to say by what means he got there—has been inaugurated as Governor, and the rest of the State officers are installed in their respective places. At 11 o’clock to-day the two Houses met in joint convention, when Mr. Sibley…held a “talk” with the council, which the reporters announce as his Inaugural Address.—The address was listened to by a large audience—the importance of the event, and the circumstances attending Mr. Sibley’s occupancy of the position, eliciting much curiosity and interest.

Governor Sibley’s Inaugural Address.

Fellow Citizens: Minnesota has, at length, been permitted to take her place in the Union “upon an equal footing with the original States.” Congress, by a solemn act of legislation, approved by the President, has organized her (as a State)…As a Territory, Minnesota has had a brief and prosperous career. Organized by Congress in 1849, with a population of less than six thousand souls, confined principally to a few settlements on the east of the Mississippi River…. Nine years only have elapsed, and she has taken her place in the Union, with nearly two hundred thousand people, who will compare favorably to those of any other state for enterprise, intelligence and virtue.