Summer The
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°1111111111111SHAILII1EGSVIEON THE GREAT RIVER ROAD INIV.
Vol. 14 JULY/AUGUST 2003 Newsletter of the City of Otsego
Otsego Festival will be packed with
1 ; - r r / ,,, activities
1,0GREAT RIVER ROAD l iii. Saturday, September 13th will be a day packed with fun, food
THEA , and activities at Otsego Prairie Park as the 2003 Otsego
ONFestival starts at 10:00 a.m.
The crowd pleasing Teddy Bear Band, sponsored by Wright
Satiil'''dag, Sept13 Hennepin Electric,will be back again.Added entertainment
this year includes The Resistors,sponsored by First National
Bank. There will also be old time medicine shows performed
1e am to 6 pm by an Ohio group dressed in period clothes. The University of
a Prairie Park Minnesota Raptor Center,sponsored by The Bank of Elk River,
will return with their beautiful birds.Annette the Clown,
$$99 Nashua Avenue NE sponsored by Riverview Bank,will be present to brighten
(right behind City Hall) everyone's day.
stastTo begin the day there will be a children's parade.Children
are invited to decorate their bikes,wagons,scooters or
O/it Ca III- whatever they have. Call Kathy Bandy at 241-0774 for more
k� information on the parade.
One of the added attractions this year is the talent contest
limp kit* In 1, tarolb with categories for all ages.Pick up a registration form at City
Hall or call Kathy Roberts at 295-5372 to enter.
F ,, There will be even more great food available from vendors.
4 Godfather's Pizza will be there and"The Godfather"will make
e lai less/Utile lihter ets, a visit to the festival.
dAlong with all the food and activities will be crafters and
No admission charge interesting displays by businesses,churches,and people with
old cars,tractors and trucks. The Otsego Heritage Preservation
Commission will have historical displays and children's
activities in the City Hall.
01000 j To volunteer or for more Otsego Festival information,call
Rose Cassady at 441-8769.
- Olson and Olson retiring
. Husband and wife Jerry Olson and Carol Olson will both
:• retire from Otsego's city staff this year.
,�: . . A Carol has served as the city's deputy clerk since 2001. She
�� 1 ° er worked as a receptionist for the city eight years before that.
,-, `+ _ - �i Carol will retire at the end of August.
14
' � Jerry started as the city's part-time building official in the
4 ''''''‘, '''lipt ' '''''' *- Aiii fall of 1991. He will continue working into September to
"r help Otsego's new building official, Tim Rochel, and a new
.,,, N.' ,,,,..., -""".."- ' 1---7, building inspector get established in the department.
Being a married couple working together has the
L: , -,.,, , ,,,,r, - ,- A advantages of always having a ready carpool and a friend to
i - have lunch with. They look forward to spending some time
i
Deputy Clerk Carol Olson and Building Official Jerry Olson will retire. at their lake place, traveling, and wintering in Arizona.
City of Otsego
8899 Nashua Avenue NE
Otsego,MN 55330 �,
(763)441-4414 Construction Projects update ' . a
Fax(763)441-8823
Email:cityhall@ci.Otsego.mn.us Summer in Otsego is construction time and this NOTE S
OFFICE HOURS summer is no exception. We have several road
Monday through Thursday P
8:00 a.m.to 6:00 p.m. projects this year. They are Page Avenue and 85th from the
Closed Fridays Street. Both projects are proceedingon schedule
COUNCIL P J MAYOR
Mayor and are going well. They should be completed by
Larry Fournier
Council Members the end of September. The city has two parks under limimmis
Vern Heidner construction. They are School Knoll Park, adjacent by Mayor Larry Fournier
Dan Scharber
Jerry Struthers to Otsego Elementary, and Prairie Park, behind -
Virginia Wendel City Hall. Parks are a real asset to our community and I am looking forward to
CITY STAFF
Mike Robertson,City Administrator their completion.
Judy Hudson,City Clerk/Zoning The west side of our city has much construction. Plans and specifications have
Administrator
Carol Olson,Deputy Clerk been ordered on Otsego West wastewater treatment plant and construction has
Dave Chase,Maintenance begun on Otsego West water tower and distribution system. These projects will beSupervisor
Rick Knutson,Maintenance completed in about a year and a half to two years. New subdivisions adjacent to
Don Mass,Maintenance Albertville have been approved which will payfor these projects. The goal is to
Kenny Shierts,Maintenance PP P J
Karee Rowell,Secretary attract businesses to the western portion of Otsego and expand our tax base.
Sandy Lindenfelser,kReceeeptionispr t Otsego's festival, "The Great Otsego Get Together"will be held on Saturday,
PLANNING&ZONING September 13 this year. It was a huge success last time and promises to be even
Richard Nichols,Chair
Pam Black better this year. I look forward to seeing all of you there.
Ken Fry Enjoy the remainder of our summer and lets make it our safest summer ever.
Jim Kolles
Steve Schuck
Carl Swenson Otsego Heritage Preservation Commission
David Thompson
Doug Hackman, 151 aitemate
Tammie Fallon,2^d alternate
PARKS&RECREATION
Jeff Bartheld,Chair ie : __.
Rose Cassady
Jim Gaikowski f 4' i
Terry Long )
Pauline Nelson ....,A ��
Jessica Stockamp �
Mark Thorstad
Peter Torresani
HERITAGE PRESERVATION
Ron Black,Chair
Sharon Carter,Vice Chair
Jeannine S.Christensen
K.Joel Coles
Jean Schneider,Secretary
Joy Swenson
Chris Wilson
POLICE COMMISSION . � i
Sandra Michaelson,Chair . < n
Jane M.Bartheld,Secretary ' .
Thomas Carter - `
Kathie DavisE
Tom Koerwitz • "
Alvin McClure
Rudy Thibodeau,Vice Chair _ • a
OT GO viEw
LEFT TO RIGHT:Jeannine S.Christensen, Chris Wilson,Jean Schneider, K.Joel Coles, Joy Swenson,
The Otsego View is the community Ron Black(Chair). NOT PICTURED:Sharon Carter.
newsletter for the city of Otsego. The Otsego Heritage Preservation Commission is composed of seven volunteer
Jacquie Rognli,Editor residents appointed by the City Council to identify historical sites in the city and
'•L espondence should be sent to gather historical information. The Heritage Preservation Commission meets on the
!�- Otsego City e y fourth Thursdayof the month at 7:00p.m.Thepublic is always welcome to attend.
Contains 50/o recycled pre- Y
consumer materials.
O
John McDonald and his house ■
B Jacquie Ro nli s to I' c a I
Y q 9
John McDonald was Wright County's first white settler. ighlights He was born June 5, 1806 in Standish, Cumberland
County, Maine. McDonald was a millwright by trade and
came to Minnesota September 25, 1847.
According to D. R. Farnham's 1880 History of Wright precinct name,Pleasant Grove, but the New Yorkers were in
County, McDonald, "in company with Caleb Dorr,Ard the majority and Otsego was the winning name—from
Godfrey, George Forbes, W. A. Cheever and others, laid Otsego in the State of New York."John McDonald was
the first stick of timber in the first dam built at St. Anthony elected to be the town assessor at that meeting.
Falls, during the fall of 1847. His first work after arrival in In May 1857,J. G. Smith,Z. M. Brown,J.N. Barbur and
Minnesota was to repair the old Government saw mill on John McDonald surveyed and platted about 400 acres to be
the west side of the falls so as to saw planks for a flat boat. the village of Otsego in sections 17 and 18 on the bank of
He went up the Rum River pineries that winter with a the Mississippi River. It was"nearly all prairie with oak
number of lumbermen to procure timber for the dam and openings and fine groves. It is a splendid townsite,but soon
mill, but failing to find the kind of timber they needed they after the town was laid out,townsite speculation and nearly
returned, and with a large party in the spring of 1848, went all speculative businesses came to an end, and Otsego never
up the Mississippi River to Swan River, where they got a fair start."
procured all the timber they wanted for the dam and mill. McDonald purchased a sawmill building at the mouth of
Mr. McDonald worked about a year at Willow River, in the creek in the townsite and put in a small engine and
Wisconsin, building a saw mill." sawmill that burned in 1878. The Otsego post office was
With his family arriving from Maine, McDonald established in 1856, John McDonald,postmaster. He
returned to Minnesota and worked at the millwright established a ferry to cross the river to Elk River in 1855.
business and lumbering. He taught school during the winter He still owned and operated it in the 1880s.
of 1850 and 1851. The abstract for the McDonald property shows it to be
"On the 31St day of July, 1852, he and his wife went up owned by John McDonald, Senior and his wife, Zilpah
the Mississippi River, and selected a claim on sec. 17, McDonald in 1857. They sold several parcels through the
township 121, range 23, now in the town of Otsego,where 1870s. His son,John McDonald paid back taxes in 1881
he now resides. Quite a number of settlers came into town for delinquent years 1879 and prior. John McDonald
during the succeeding two years, so that Otsego is the Junior's widowed wife,Melvina McDonald, sold the whole
oldest town in the county."The site McDonald chose to block to Gerald Peavey in 1934. Peavey's widow, Edna M.
build his family home was an open grove of trees on the Peavey,transferred the property to Florence Peavey and
south bank of the Mississippi River. Joseph E. Peavey after Gerald's death in 1966. In 1977 a
The Territorial Legislator passed an act organizing quitclaim deed on the property was filed for Florence
Wright County. The first meeting of the board of Peavey, Joseph E. Peavey, Sarah Connett, Laura Draper as
commissioners, appointed by the governor,was held April joint tenants. Draper died in 1978.
9, 1855 in Monticello.John McDonald was the chair. The After the death of Florence Peavey in 1990, Sarah
commission divided the county into three voting precincts: Connett and William Connet approached City Clerk
Big Bend, ,,,.
,, Jerome Perrault with an offer to sell the property to the
Monticello, and � " '. �-^y1 city, according to Otsego's first mayor Norman F.Freske
Pleasant(orf (mayor 1990-97,township supervisor 1983-89). Freske
Pheasant)Grove. said the City Council decided to purchase the Peavey
In Pleasant (McDonald)house because it was only one lot away from
Grove,they —.. _ the old City Hall and maintenance garage and the Council
designated the was looking for space to build a new hall.
place of holding : .- a a Otsego still owns the John McDonald house on Co. Rd.
elections to be :-:.=----.--------- ry ` 39 and rents it as a private residence.
the dwelling `
x
house of John x
McDonald.
Ilimit
The first town '�"�
meeting was held i �
at his house May
11, 1858. The John
According tow McDonald
Farnham's, "The House
question of
r 0 . ,
naming the town LEFT: 1917 with af
was submitted to baby Bob Holt.
the voters.A large RIGHT:2003 as
number were in a city-owned
favor of the old residence.
0
-; .; a�, Unique store opened in
'pI Market Place West
i
, y '. t r�. . °'" ,,, Dragonfly Hom Decor was the first
"" business to open in the Otsego Market
d e c O r `- Place West mall this spring. Owner Holli
� 0 -,i Schillewaert has created a unique business
tf „; carrying an eclectic assortment of items for
home decorating. The store has candles
lamps, furniture, rugs, framed prints,
; _„__ ., -"-. clocks, dishes,potpourri, and unique pieces
"�� r for accessorizing your home. She also
Anti 101 ape creates custom silk floral arrangements for
_ I+ her customers.
Schillewaert invites people to stop in to
,. `` ', " have a look. "Inventory is always
J. Tik ..,,,�, s changing. There is always new stuff
coming in."
ti The grand opening for Dragonfly Hom
i * • ' "^ Decor will be September 11 to 14 with an
, •
v ,.° , open house and good sale prices.
i�,., " , % t r � Dragonfly is open weekdays 10:00-7:00,
. � ,
1 , c. I Saturdays 10:00-5:00, and Sundays 12:00-
" T ' 4:00. 763-441-1122.
r * .
Remodeling at City Hall
Continued development growth in Otsego has prompted a
remodeling project at City Hall. Offices are being reconfigured to
accommodate the growing needs of the building department.
Space is being borrowed from the conference room and
combining it with the Historic Preservation Commission office to
create a larger office for the building official and inspector. The i
new space will include a service window so the building
department staff can more easily speak to and assist builders and
homeowners.
Reconfiguring walls will also enlarge the finance department f .
office. The kitchen has been reduced in size to provide storage �,
4�
space lost to that expansion. i''
i
The Historic Preservation Commission(HPC)has been a
temporarily moved to the south side of the large meeting room.
The HPC office will move to the old Town Hall next summer
when Wright County Head Start School will be moving. �,,.'
CITY MEETZNGI'8 City Building Official Tim Rochel(standing by what
will become the wall of the new building department
MEETING DAYS TIME offices)succeeds retiring building official Jerry Olson.
City Council 2nd&4th Mon. 6:30 pm Rochel has been contracted as a building inspector
Planning&Zoning 1St& 3`d Mon. 8:00 pm with the city since June 2000.
Parks&Recreation 2nd Wed. 7:00 pm
Heritage Preservation 4th Thurs. 6:30 pm Otsego water use policy
•Submit City Council agenda items seven working days All users of the Otsego municipal water system must
prior to meetings. remember that Otsego has an odd-even lawn sprinkling
•To be placed on the Planning Commission agenda,submit policy. If your address ends in an even number,you can
completed forms&information 15 working days prior to
meetings. water on the even numbered days. If your address ends in
•Official meeting notices are published in the Elk River Star an odd number,you can water on the odd numbered days.
News and posted at City Hall. The only exception is new sod, seed and trees, which
•Please call City Hall to confirm times if you plan to attend. can be watered daily in the year they are installed.