Pictured is the Washington School in the spring of 1923, along with horse-drawn school buses and four motorized school vehicles. The students were transported by horse-drawn school buses, but motorized vehicles were beginning to come into use during this era.
This is a photograph of school transportation vehicles and the Washington School. The second truck from the right side is Matt Pykkonen's panel truck, which was one of three motorized vehicles used to bus students. The three trucks were privately owned. There are seven horse-drawn school buses and three motorized vehicles, several of which appear to have students in them. The horses were also privately owned, but the horse-drawn wagons were owned by the school district. The Washington School was quite new in this photo, having been built in 1921. It housed grades 1 through 6.
This photograph shows A.L. Winterquist, the first superintendent of the newly consolidated Thomson Township (Esko) School District, wearing his World War I (WWI) uniform. He's sitting on the seat of a vehicle on the Alex Esko farm.
At far right is teacher Aluise Knuti and her class at the Washington School in 1952. This was her first year of teaching, and she was only 21 years old. Some years later, the classroom pictured was named the Aluise Knuti Lounge in her honor, as well as being dedicated to Aluise as being one of the organizers of the active Esko Senior Citizen's group.
The top photo on this panel shows Waino Heikkinen, to the left, and Ed Tan, right, renovating the Palkie gristmill in the gristmill building at the museum in Esko, in 1963. The second photograph shows, from left to right, Andrew Maunu, Eli Juntti, Jack Holm, and Charles Anderson finishing landscaping work at the Palkie gristmill building and the Finnish memorial monument at the museum. The bottom three photos show the historical society members re-assembling the gristmill wheel in the gristmill building at the museum, again in 1963. The original spelling of the surname was Palkki, and the Americanized version is Palkie.
The proud staff of the Arrowhead Creamery are posed in front of their fairly new delivery truck. From left to right at Charles Marks (or Charles Markus, as his name is written on the back of the photo), the chairman; Charlie Stenman, Albert Olson, Evertt Mylymaa, Niila Seikula, Andrew Wolanen, Nels Johnson, Charlie Antilla, Oscar Johnson, A.L. Winterquist, and T. Larson, Manager.
Here is the proud graduating class of 1933 from the Esko High School, including Millard Olson, Henry Anadahl, Anne Nygren, Elvira Thompson, Albin Johnson, Iver Olson, Bill Stenman, Mr. A. L. Winterquist, Irene Lukkanen, Lila Frederickson, and Lillian Fredrickson.
This is a photograph showing the first storekeeper of the first general store in the area, Henry Ruikka, and his family on their farm located on the edge of the Village of Thomson.
The center figure in the photograph is Henry Ruikka standing in his general store that was located in the Village of Thomson, Minnesota. Located 3.5 miles from the town center of present day Esko, it was much easier to travel by horse-drawn wagon to buy supplies here than to make the arduous, day-long round trip to Duluth. This was one of the first stores in the area, and early Thomson Township and Esko residents traveled to the Village of Thomson by horse and wagon to buy their home and farm supplies. The Village post office was also located in this store. It was reportedly the first Finnish business establishment in Carlton County, having been established in 1891.
This photograph shows a young Superintendent A.L. Winterquist (Alfred L. Winterquist) and his secretary, L. Thompson, in his first office at the then newly built Lincoln School in Esko. The schools were consolidated shortly after his arrival in Esko in 1919.
The students in Miss Helia Branwall's class during the 1923-1924 school year are identified as the following; in the left row, Raymond Kemp, Matt Korby, Vieno Kotka, Frances Hiukka, Lila Fredrickson, George Kangas, and Arnie Nygren; in the second row, front to back, are Edwin Mattila, William Stenman, Fanny Marks, Carl Sariin, Laura Kangas, and George Kesty; the middle row, Elsie Nynas, Martha Korby, Uno Siltanen, Bernice Juntunen, Milo Current, Rudolph Murto, Arnie Manisto; the fourth row, Edgar Peterson, Ida Juntunen, Arnie Murto, Jennie Thompson, and Alma Laakso; and the right row, Walter Sarkela, Lila Mattson, Walter Polo, Millard Olson, and Toinie Raisanen. Note the cloakroom recessed area in the back left of the photo, and the three bars hanging on the wall for students to hang their coats.
Teacher Anna Swanson (top row, right) with her students in front of the Pantsar School in rural Thomson Township in 1905. Included in the photograph are Mary Marks, Mary Pantsar, Alice Carlson, Clara Moe, and teacher Anna Swanson in the top row. The second row of students are identified as Arthur Johnson, Robert Carlson, Emil Johnson, William Mattson, Edgar Olson, Hjalmer Mattson, Ed Kinnunen, Mayme Pantsar, Ida Sakrisson, Ida Point, Teena Sakrisson, Esther Olson, Anna Holm, and Mayme Point. In the third row are Olaf Moe, Arthur Point, Fanny Skarp, Oscar Pera, Thomas Holm, Ed Juntti, Charles Pykkonen, Emil Moe, Ray Palkki, Charles Point, Eino Poutinen, John Holm, Jacob Holm, Agnes Tweith, and Effie Holm. Sitting in the front row are Abel Palkki, Herman Skarp, William Perttula, and Eino Juntti. The Pantsar School was a one-room school in early Thomson Township, located northwest of the Church Road and Harney Road intersection. In the 1920s the building was moved by Ed Kinnunen and was converted into Mannila's Store.
Standing in front of the monument honoring the pioneers who founded Esko in 1872 is Finland's President Urho Kekkonen. He and his wife visited Esko and the museum site on their 1961 tour of the United States by invitation of President John F. Kennedy. Local bussinessman Emil E. Johnson is in the center of the photograph, with the Esko one-room school house in the background. At the far lower right corner of the photo is Minnesota Governor Elmer L. Andersen. The young man with the 1962 letterman's jacket, holding a camera, is the Esko School photographer, Glenn Nynas. Carlton County Sheriff Oscar Juntunen promoted the visit to Esko by the Kekkoknen party. Photographs and other items from the visit are displayed in the school house.
Finland's President Urho Kekkkonen shown with the main street crowd in the center of Esko. Note the businesses in the background: Moses' Chevrolet; the Esko Truck Stop and Coffee Shop; Esko Co-Op Store; and Otto Juntunen's Eggs and poultry business located in the old Arrowhead Creamery. The Phillip's 66 Gas Station is in the background.
This is the house of the first store keeper in Thomson Township in the very early days, Henry Ruikka, his wife, and their eight children, with two bicycles in front.
Depicted are several men inside the first Co-Op Store in Esko in the early 1930s. The larger man, second from the left, is Jalmer Hannula, and the eighth man from the left is Erick Raisanen. The store, built by the Cloquet Co-Op Store Society on property acquired in 1926, was on the north side of Highway 61 West. Although the framing mentions the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Canaletto View in Vence, it was mounted in a frame that had previously housed this Venetian scene, exemplifying the thriftiness of people during the Great Depression of the 1930s.