Cobden Centennial today, Sunday

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

COBDEN -- Visitors may be surprised what they might find in this 54-person village on Highway 14 between Sleepy Eye and Springfield that is celebrating its centennial this weekend.

Besides the Iron Horse Saloon, Skinner's Bar & Grill Inc. and an elevator owned by Sleepy Eye Farmers Elevator Co., the city park has been improved.

The single-cell jail, where the city council meets, is set to be restored within a year. A fire hall, that includes an antique fire truck with a manual pump, is also on the restoration list.

An annual Labor Day celebration brings hundreds more people to town from nearby communities. Money raised at Labor Day celebrations has been used to build two shelters in the city park and maintain it.

"The park looks pretty nice now," Lenny Hillesheim said from Skinner's Bar & Grill Friday afternoon.

Hillesheim has been growing a beard since last Christmas. He will have it shaved off at 6 p.m. Sunday. Event proceeds will be given to Muscular Dystrophy Association.

An historical marker will be dedicated at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. A street dance with the Willow Creek Band will be held from 8:30 p.m. to midnight.

An antique tractor pull with more than 100 pulls starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Kraut dogs and barbecues will be served in the park where a flea market will also be held.

Cobden Mayor Don Utz was not available Friday. He was busy making sauerkraut for the Sunday Centennial meal, according to Hillesheim.

Residents, many of which are related to each other, say they enjoy life in Cobden because of its low taxes, peace and quiet and friendly atmosphere.

Centennial events begin Saturday with a pork chop feed, 5-8 p.m. in the park.

Originally named North Branch due to its location near Sleepy Eye Creek, the principal north branch of the Cottonwood River, Cobden was a railway village in Prairieville Township.

The name was changed to Cobden, for the English statesman Richard Cobden, in 1886. It was platted in 1901 and incorporated in 1905.

Cobden's first officers were Thomas Peterson, president; A. Newdall, A.C. Klein, and Herman Altermatt, councilmen; and J.F. Brodish, recorder. Christian Emmerich was the first postmaster.

The first businesses in town were a bank, creamery, flour mill, hardware store, lumber yard, two grain elevators, two grocery stores, a blacksmith and carriage shop and a livery stable.

There were also two churches, two schools and a town hall and fire hall.