2. Early Partridge boasted several houses, a hotel, the depot, a section house, a telegraph station, and a water tank. Everything except the water tank burned in the great forest fire of September 1, 1894.
3. The Partridge hotel was rebuilt soon after the 1894 fire. Later owned by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rodenberger, the hotel featured sixteen rooms, each with a wash basin and water pitcher. Guests used the “outdoor facilities” and shivered during the winter because the hotel's wood stove only heated the main room.
4. On November 30, 1901, the Partridge Township Board unanimously voted to spend $300 to build a new town hall. Board chairman O.F. Degerstrom purchased the lumber for the 24 by 40 foot hall and supervised its construction. The board also approved $62 to buy a flag, an office chair, and sixty folding chairs. The new hall, located near the depot and hotel, was finished by February of 1902.
5. In 1905, the Dansk Folkesamfund (Danish Folk Society) purchased 20,000 acres in and around Partridge and sold lots to Danish settlers in hopes that Danish culture would flourish. It did. Partridge was renamed Askov in 1909 after one of Denmark's folk high schools. By 1920, 520 Danish immigrants lived in Pine County, mostly in Askov and the surrounding areas.
6. Ludvig Mosbaek, a Danish settler, came to Partridge in 1906. He purchased 240 acres for $2,480 and contracted for the hotel. He informed his wife, Kirstine, that they would be farmers and that she would be managing the hotel. The hotel, renamed “Hotel Dannevirke,” was the community's social center and site of meetings, dances, parties, games, and discussions. The warm and hospitable Mrs. Mosbaek soon became known as the “Mother of Askov.”
7. Shortly after Ludvig Mosbaek arrived in Askov, he noticed the abundant ferns and wildflowers growing in the area. He dug some up and brought them to Chicago where he found a ready market for them. In 1907, Mr. Mosbaek founded the Ferndale Nursery. The business, which became famous for its evergreens, operated until 1993.
8. Mr. Mosbaek is also known for introducing rutabaga farming to Askov when he planted seeds he had brought from Denmark. Askov soon became the “Rutabaga Capital of the World.” By the 1950s, Askov was shipping three hundred train car loads, twenty to forty tons each, every year. This was about one-fourth of the nation's rutabaga output!
9. The Dane Lumber Company began operations in the spring of 1907. Led by engineer Charlie Laursen, scaler Niels Bonde, trimmer Peter Hojrup, head sawyer Martin Sorensen, setter N. Degerman, and filer and millwright Hans Paulsen, the sawmill cut and planed thousands of board feet of lumber that were used to build local homes, businesses, and farms. The mill burned in 1916.
10. The Askov creamery was built in 1911. Opening day, June 26, was festive. People sang, listened to speeches, enjoyed coffee and lunch, and dedicated the new building with a traditional Danish wreath. The creamery's machinery was ready for business, but the first cream brought in by local farmers smelled horrible! Apparently, local farmers allowed their cows to forage in the woods. They quickly discovered that cows that eat wildflowers and weeds do not produce good cream.
Sources: A Northern Light: The Story of Askov, Minnesota by Victor Buck; Askov American newspaper, July 1, 1976; Celebrating a Century: Askov 1906-2006; Pine County...and its Memories by Jim Cordes
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