Alsen

The Beginning...Nine miles southwest of Beresford, on the county line between Clay and Union Counties, was the village called "Alsen".  Older than the City of Beresford, it was important to the territory in early days.

Olaf Erickson was the key figure in the founding of Alsen.  Coming from Jamptland, Sweden, he took out a homestead in 1868 on a quarter section of land that was later Alsen.  He worked as a blacksmith and wagon maker in Dakota City, Nebraska for two years to finance his farming activities.  Although wagon repairing was his specialty, the demand for repair work even led to wagon making as a sideline.  Olaf manufactured the light two-seater spring wagon called the "Democrat Wagon".  In order to hold his homestead, he often was forced to walk from Dakota City to Alsen to spend a day or so on his homestead. 

In 1871, he moved to his farm and started a blacksmith shop.  He called this "Alsen", in memory of the parish in Sweden in which he had been born.  He established the Alsen post office in 1874 and became the first postmaster.  Because this site was on the Star mail route between Sioux Falls, Canton and Vermillion, it was a stopping place for mail and stagecoaches.  The Alsen post office was closed in 1900.

Alsen flourished before the automotive era.  It boasted a creamery, a large general store, a telephone exchange, a blacksmith shop, a harness shop and Model T garage.  The Annual Labor Day picnic, sponsored by the Alsen Modern Woodman Lodge, began in 1908 in a maple grove on the south edge of Alsen.  The picnic was held there for twelve years and in later years, was held south of Beresford where the Ritz dance pavilion was located.  The members of the lodge built a dance floor and also made a baseball diamond for the day's entertainment.  Attendance was estimated at over 10,000 in some occasions.  One year a barnstorming pilot crashed  into the grove and was injured.

  General Store..."On April 9, 1888, Olaf Erickson, of the County of Union, Territory of Dakota, leased to Hansen and Jacobson of the said County of Union and Territory of Dakota, the land to have and to hold for the purpose of conducting a general store.  It is understood that when they or their successors shall fail to use the premises for a store, this lease shall become void and land reverts to original owner".  The consideration in this lease was ten dollars and expiring in 99 years.

C. H. Jacobson managed the store for many years and Harold W. Peterson was first employed by him in 1898.  In later years, Jacobson and Peterson became partners in the store and were also partners in the Jacobson and Peterson store in Beresford. In 1909, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Jacobson moved to Beresford and Harold became manager of the Alsen store.

On May 2, 1938, Harold Peterson purchased the store and other buildings.  After the Alsen Creamery closed in 1933, he built an adjoining room to the north side of the store and bought cream for his customers.  In later years, poultry was also purchased.  In 1942 he sold the merchandise to Miner and Mabel Peterson and leased them the store building.  They remodeled part of the store for living quarters and in 1948 they purchased all the buildings from him.  Harold Peterson was either employed, in partnership, or owner of the Alsen Store for over 40 years.

Cooperative Creamery...In 1888, a cooperative creamery was built on land provided by Solomon Anderson, equipped with the necessary steam boiler to heat the water that was used in pasteurizing the cream in two vats.  A 10-horsepower engine, burning kerosene, furnished the power to run the churn, water pumps, the disc coil vats, and a cream pump.  There was no refrigeration equipment to cool the butter room and cream to the proper temperature for churning.  Ice was the cooling agent, and  it was obtained from the Brule Creek, some three miles southeast of the plant, cut in block form and hauled to the creamery.  The plant had two storage buildings, one with ice for cooling the cream which was covered with sawdust to preserve it for summer use.  The other building was insulated to store butter for shipment to a butter firm in Chicago.  A Model T Ford Roadster was used to gather the cream from the member producers.  The buttermilk was sold to a producer of hogs for feed.  The Alsen Creamery ceased operation in 1933.

  The Blacksmith Shop... In 1901, Frederick Christian Nissen came to America at the age of 25 from Schleswig, Holstein, Denmark, locating first at Lead, South Dakota.  He moved to Alsen in 1905 where he was engaged in blacksmithing for almost 50 years. 

  Harness Shop...Gust A. Johnson established a harness shop in Alsen in 1904.  He came to this country in 1898 from Sweden, the first five years living in Vermillion.  He learned how to work with leather and in later years added light hardware to his shop.  He built the large two-story house in 1913 at the south edge of Alsen.  In 1922, Mr. Johnson met a tragic death from a dynamite explosion and his son, Lester, took over managing the store for two years.

  Garage/Gas Station/
Beer Parlor...Erick Messler opened an automobile repair garage, called the Model T Garage, in about 1922 and operated that until the advent of rural electrification in 1937.  He sold the garage to Miner Peterson in 1938 and opened the Messler Electrical Repair Shop. 

Source
Beresford, South Dakota Centennial Book 1884-1984

Original Midi Composition by Bruce DeBoer
Compositions are copyright 1999 by Bruce DeBoer
 "Papillon (the butterfly)" from Earth Tones