local lore

Local Lore: Spooky stories for Halloween

Oct 28, 2026

During my time at the Graphic, I’ve had the pleasure of coming across many entertaining articles printed in papers past while researching local history. As I’ve found particularly interesting ones, I’ve saved them to share in future lore articles, such as this one. The first three stories came...

Local Lore: Frontenac School’s time in the spotlight

Oct 28, 2026

After some extra digging, I was able to conjure up a famous photo of Frontenac School originally printed in the May 4, 1957, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. The image appeared over a two-page color spread and was taken by photographer Herman Landshoff. A copy of it now hangs in Florence Town...

Local Lore: Country Schools, Part III

Oct 21, 2026

The Frontenac School, District 24 of Goodhue County, consolidated with Lake City in 1954 and still stands today, although in an extremely dilapidated state. Thanks to Lorry Wendland, author of “19th Century Frontenac, Minnesota: The Rest of the Story,” an extremely thorough history of this country...

Local lore: Sugar Loaf bell tower and Villa Maria photos

Oct 21, 2026

Over the weekend, I received several delightful messages from locals regarding Sugar Loaf, the Villa Maria, and other country schools. Susie Berke shared photos of the Sugar Loaf School bell tower, located in her backyard at 1004 South Lakeshore Dr.; the plaque on it states it was “constructed...

Local Lore: Country Schools, Part II

Oct 14, 2026

At one point in time, there were well over 250 individual school districts between Goodhue and Wabasha counties. In the early days, most of these schools were held in private homes, barns, or abandoned claim shanties, which were temporary, rudimentary structures built by pioneers to legally prove...

Local Lore: Country schools - Part I

Oct 7, 2026

To say there have been a lot of rural schools in this area is an understatement (there were around 100 school districts in Wabasha County alone at one time), and trying to cover them all would be impossible, especially given that information on many has been lost. However, through the help of Dr....

Local Lore: St. John’s Lutheran School

Sep 30, 2026

St. John’s Lutheran School, located at 502 W. Chestnut St., is the last of Lake City’s parochial academies. The church, itself, notes that “formal Christian educational training of its young has been an important part of St. John’s life almost from its founding.” According to a few sources, “...

Local Lore: Memories of the Villa Maria

Sep 23, 2026

The majestic Villa Maria, a Catholic school for girls, will forever live on in the minds of the many students who attended the establishment for the 78 years it was open. Just this past weekend, Villa alumnae, also referred to as “Villans,” gathered for their annual reunion to relive those...

Girls school rules

Sep 16, 2026

Here are some entertaining rules from the “Rules and Regulations for Students” booklet provided to students at the Villa Maria: • “If boys wish to visit juniors and seniors, they must limit their visits to twice a month.” • “Hair may be worn in curlers only on Saturdays.” • “Lipstick may be worn...

Local Lore: The Villa Maria fire and its aftermath