Our research center is open from May 1 – September 15, Tuesday – Friday to genealogists and researchers for a $10.00 fee. We offer an obituary file and microfilmed county newspapers from 1894 to present, hundreds of family and individual histories, numerous city and village histories, and thousands of photographs. We also have information on all of the eighty-nine cemeteries in Cass County and transcriptions of forty-four of them. We have recently compiled several new lists of county information we have such as past postmasters, early county divorces, box holders at Ah-Gwah-Ching and family histories in the Longville Centennial book. Newly available on this site are the first 15 pages of the history of Federal Dam book on our publications page, posted with the permission of the author.
Meet Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Walker!
The Cass County Historical
Society held its first Walking Tour of Walker on June
16th. Two more walks will take place this summer on July 21st
and August 11th. T. B. Walker had his home half-built at 703 Cleveland
before his wife Harriet came to view her prospective home in 1896.
After seeing the town, his wife didn’t like all the saloons and made
him move to Akeley, which was still a dry-town. Join us to visit
eighteen historic homes and sites along the shores of Leech Lake
including the home of Mary Welch Hemingway who
was born here on April
5, 1908. Her father operated a sawmill on
Moonlight Bay and had a
triple deck, 135-foot boat, the Northland, for hauling
logs. At age 5, the family moved to Bemidji but still spent
summers at Leech Lake. She was in London during
WWII as a reporter when
she met Ernest Hemingway. The Walking Tour also includes a stop near
the library as Walker was one of the smallest towns in the U.S. to have
a Carnegie Library.
Images
of America Cass County Now Available
In 1849, the Leech Lake Agency for the Ojibwa peoples was established southwest of Agency Bay on Leech Lake. A government trail wound its way north through the wilderness from Fort Ripley to the agency. The establishment of this trail encouraged exploration and settlement of the area that became Cass County. Fur traders, explorers, and missionaries were followed by the lumber industry. The Ojibwas ceded their lands, which went up for public auction in the 1870s, and the logging companies purchased thousands of acres of these lands. By 1895, the Minnesota Logging Company was in the northern part of the county and built the Brainerd, Northern and Minnesota Railroad, which was sold to the Minnesota and International, which was the first railroad in Cass County. Small towns were platted out by town site companies and quickly settled by immigrants and others seeking new opportunities. Cass County presently has 15 villages and 50 townships. Tourism was first introduced into the county when a trainload of 300 tourists from St. Cloud arrived for a weekend of fishing on Leech Lake. Tourism is the county's number one industry today. The Cass County Historical Society has selected the best images from its extensive photographic archives and called on its historians Renee Geving and Cecelia McKeig to share some of the historical facts. This new book can be purchased via the museum for $20.
Drive In and Visit Us!
For researchers who are unable to personally visit the research center, the staff will do research for a fee. For those who desire additional family research, we can refer you to a genealogist who specializes in Cass County research. Additional information is available by phone, mail, or email.
Meetings
The Cass County Historical
Society meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Cass
County Museum. We eagerly welcome new members!
2009 Summer Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Admission: Adults $4.00; Children $1.00; Family $9.00 (Group rates available with reservations)
Our newsletter, "Cass County Clippings" is available in PDF format on our Newsletter page.
Our focus for 2009 is on two areas: Teachers and Students of Cass County, and the activities and people of the Ah-Gwah-Ching Sanatorium, which served its patients from 1907-1961. The new antibiotic agent, Streptomycin, was introduced in April of 1947. The first tubercular patient to receive the antibiotic made a complete recovery. This new drug enabled patients to be treated closer to home. The death rate for tuberculosis showed a steady decline from then on. After treating nearly 14,000 patients over 55 years in the battle against tuberculosis, the facility closed on January 1, 1962. The complex was converted into a state nursing home for geriatric patients known as Ah-Gwah-Ching Nursing Home.
Several databases listed under Resources cover information gathered from our files on teachers and students in our schools before 1950. Other databases offer insight on the staff and residents of the world of Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives, renamed Ah-Gwah Ching by the U.S. government in 1922. Photos and articles will be added throughout the year from our museum collection.
The following local history book and additional publications are available at the museum or by mail.
Longville
Centennial History
1906-2006
This is a hardbound book is a collection of the facts and memories of this area from families, businesses, resorts, organizations, and other groups from the past 100 years of Longville and the surrounding townships. 456 pages. $35.00
A second printing is now available at the museum, at Little Apple Bookshop in Walker, Village Bookstore in Grand Rapids, and Lori's Luvs or the Pinecone Press in Longville. A list of the family surnames included in this volume is available here.