With COVID-19 and the lockdown, I have ended up watching television at some of the less viewed times as opposed to the prime times. A big difference is that there are a lot of advertisements for various charities probably because the stations have a certain quota of ads that they run on the ...

It’s been said that a nation that forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten. We tell the world who we are as a country by how we honor our fallen heroes on this sacred Memorial Day—and every day. This Memorial Day we honor the Minnesotans who have fought for our country going back to ...

Thank you for inviting me to help honor our fallen heroes.  Even though we aren’t able to gather in person, we still share a solemn responsibility to honor the sacrifice of all the men and women who’ve served our country in war and in peace.  Memorial Day is our moment to remember the ...

Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday in May, honors men and women who died while serving in the United States military. The holiday was originally known as Decoration Day, and it originated in the years following the Civil War. By the late 1860s, many communities had begun ...

Dan Markell was born in Minneapolis, but Dan’s father, Ralph John, had grown up in Green Valley. He returned with his young family to become one of Schwan Dairy’s first sales managers. So, Dan grew up in Green Valley during the 1950s and early ’60s. “I lived right in town. Green ...

Since before the first of the year the bright planet Venus has been dazzling the western Marshall sky, but we’re approaching Venus’ grand finale in our evening sky for 2020. Before saying goodbye, Venus and the planet Mercury will have a super close conjunction all this week during evening ...

The official organization of Grandview Township took place in August of 1873 at the first town meeting in the home of Jacob Thomas. The village of Grandview was founded in the spring of 1878 and the town site was plotted by the railroad on July 5, 1878. Grandview was the name chosen for the ...

We’ve been learning about Marian Pagel’s childhood on the Schroeder farm west of Marshall, how she and her siblings helped on the farm from an early age, and their experience attending the nearby District 9 country school. District 9 closed after Marian completed the sixh-grade, so she ...

One possible upside to a down market comes in the form of a long-recognized strategy called tax loss harvesting. The concept took a backseat in the midst of an 11-year bull market, but it has jumped back into discussion now. Given the dramatic drop in investment markets in 2020, many ...

It’s time for one of the things that makes us happy, WORK! We must re-open businesses on 1 June 2020! Work is therapeutic for human beings! We need work for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health. We need work to help us fight off disease. Our immune systems won’t fight if ...

There was precious little in the newscasts and in the newspapers about the 75th anniversary celebrated last Friday. For those who read “On This Date” on p. 2 of the Marshall Independent, the following was the hint of what had been originally celebrated on May 8, 1945: “President Harry S ...

Scientists and the medical professionals are still struggling to document exactly what the coronavirus (COVID-19) is doing to our bodies when we get it. There is a lot we just don’t know, there is uncertainty. This has led to the coronavirus pandemic affecting almost all of us at some ...

Sputnik 1 orbited around the Earth in 1957 and since that time over 8,300 satellites have been launched into orbit at various altitudes, with and without people aboard. Many of those satellites have long since burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere due to orbital decay. Others, mainly occupied ...

History repeats itself, and collectors who research their collections are often surprised by the findings. In 1892, a group of businessmen in Greentown, Indiana, invested in a company that was brought in by the newly found fuel -- natural gas -- that had been discovered there. Two years later, ...

I have had many discussions with my colleagues throughout the great State of Minnesota on what they are doing within their local business communities to “stop the bleeding” while maintaining stay at home restrictions.  Collectively, there are various responses. Many Chambers are ...

The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from The News Messenger on Lyon ...

We’ve been learning about Marian Pagel’s childhood on the Schroeder family farm west of Marshall, how she and her siblings helped on the farm from an early age; and how the Schroeders rallied after losing their farm home to a fire. But Marian’s childhood involved more than farm chores ...

In mid-March, a fear-induced global sell-off triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic ended the longest bull market in U.S. history ñ leading us into our first bear market in 11 years. Bear markets are commonly defined as a decline of at least 20% from the market’s high point to the low during the ...

The situation with the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic is unsettling and is a momentous time in our history. As preservationists and historians of Lyon County’s history, it is important for the Lyon County Historical Society to collect information and stories related to the pandemic. It is ...

Last week we met Marian Pagel and began learning about growing up on the Schroeder family farm just west of Marshall. They lived in a large house with an interesting history as a former stagecoach stop. Marian and her three oldest siblings were deeply involved in the farm operation from an ...