Ed Shannon, Between the Cornrows

Several communities in Freeborn County are still somewhat identified with their immigrant origins. Several examples are Clarks Grove with the Danes, Hollandale with the Dutch, the Mansfield and Conger area with Germans, and Myrtle with Czechs or Bohemians.

Thus, it was very logical for Dennis Rayman of Glenville to write a new book titled: “The History of Myrtle, MN and The Czech Community.” After all, he was born in 1935 on a farm two miles north of Myrtle, grew up in a home where Czech or Bohemian was the main language and had his first real encounter with English when he attended Benesh School (District 75). Also, he’s a descendant of one of the first of the immigrants to come to London Township in the late 1850s from what was then a part of central Europe known as Austria-Hungary. (In 1918, at the end of World War I, the Austria-Hungary province of Bohemia became a part of the new independent nation of Czechoslovakia and is now known as the Czech Republic.)

Rayman became interested in the history of the Czech/Bohemian part of Freeborn County when he acquired several old scrapbooks and photos from relatives and friends. Also, he has collected information about life in and around Myrtle.

General topics covered in this book are based on cemeteries, churches, early history, Myrtle, London, pioneer life and strife and the three Bohemian halls. An added feature are special chapters by Betty Thompson, Selma Vanek, J.T. Lukes, Jim McClusky, Mrs. Martin Rohne (of Deer Creek), John S., Moen and Joseph (Rayman) Raiman and Dennis’ great-grandfather.

On page 44 of Rayman’s book is a contribution from still another person. That’s me, folks. It’s an article I wrote for the Sept. 22, 1985, issue of the Tribune. Right at that time the late Bidney Bergie had been contacted by the Minnesota Historical Society to recommend possible sites in the county that could be placed on the National Register of Historical Places. One of the places he recommended for this status was the Brick Hall on County Road north of Myrtle in Hayward Township. My article was based on his tip plus a history of the place once designated as the Z.C.B.J. Hall. Incidentally, the official national historical status came in March 1986 for what I consider to be one of the last free standing lodge halls in this region.

There are several rather unusual bits of information in this book. One is the listing of 117 past and present Czech surnames for the Myrtle area. Somehow Dennis has compiled this collection of those last names from Biley to Zetek. He wrote “… names have disappeared as families may have deceased without children, had only girls, or just plain moved away. Some names I may have missed.”

Another unusual aspect of this book is the listing of all the businesses that once existed in the City of Myrtle.

Right about here some folks might want to question the use of the word city to be applied to a locality with a 2000 census population of just 57 people. (A Google listing says that population was 63 people. Google also called Myrtle a city.) Those folks might say this is a village, town, blip on the landscape or whatever. Yet, here in Minnesota an incorporated locality is legally and clearly classified as a city.

Now, with that digression out of the way, I’ll continue on with more commentary about the business activity of the past and present for the next column.

For those folks who would like to have a copy of this very interesting book, the place to purchase a copy is at Citizens State Bank of Glenville.

Ed Shannon’s column has appeared in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.