Shown here is early resident and artist, Edgar F. Olson, and an unnamed man, pitching loose hay in the field. Edgar F. Olson, the son of Nels O. Olson, was born on the Nels O. Olson farm on July 25, 1896, and died as a life-long bachelor on August 18, 1974.
Depicted here are Kaisa Maria Sarkela and Erick Sarkela standing in front of their farm house, with a barn and outbuildings in the background. The boy's name is Jalmari Sarkela, and Jenni Sarkela is the girl in the photograph.
Depicted here are the members of the 1947 Esko boys basketball team. In the front row, from left to right, are manager Gerald Reponen, Stanley Gustafson, Curtis Guss, John Manisto, Dick Lovestrand, Armand Johnson, and Coach Les Knuti. In the back row are Merton Pykkonen, Leo Seikkula, Ray Barney, Roy Joki, Ernest McKibbon, and Bob Bergstedt.
The Esko Co-Op Store, depicted in this photograph, was located at the intersection of Highway 61 and the Canosia Road. Note the cars parked around the store, from 1948 to 1955 models. The two men are not identified.
This photograph shows the 1940-1941 school year Esko FFA basketball team. The first row has A.L. Winterquist; ? Davidson; ? Koivisto; Reynold Mattson; Bernard Koivisto; In the second row are Lauri Kortesmaki; Les Knuti; J. Joki; Walt Maunu; Ray Maunu; ? Juntti; and Seth Fisher.
This shows an Esko one-room school, during the 1907-1908 school year, showing a teacher and the students. The far left person is identified as "Esko Boy - Janitor." The teacher is identified as Hilder Swenson (Archer). All the youngsters were Finnish except one, it was noted. On the back of the photo it was written that this was ""a one-room school near Esko Corners where I taught Sept. 1907 to May 1908. All were Finnish but one family, the Johnsons, with whom I stayed. I am the one in the doorway with the funny hat that must have been home made. One of the Esko boys was janitor."" The back of the photo has a small cut-out photograph of Hildur Archer and Olga Johnson to her right, who was the oldest daughter of the Johnson family with whom she stayed.
This shows the John Marks' family farm that was located in section 14 on the Marks Road and bordering the Midway River. Pioneer John Marks brought the first steel plow into the area. Notice the hay rake and hay mower, as well as the plow behind the family and their horse. The family settled on the Midway River farm in 1874. Possibly what looks like a flag pole in the background is a Finnish type of well. It was photographed by a Moose Lake Photographer, Adry Carlson.
The family is taking a break in the field with their dog and puppies, as well as a small wagon and buggy. The woman holding the puppies is "Liisa of Kalajoki." In his "History of the Thomson Farming Area," written in Finnish in 1935, John A. Mattinen wrote that the Fred Johnson farm was also known as Liisa of Kalajoki's farm and that Liisa (who died in 1924) was Fred's mother.
This scene shows the pioneer home of Mr. and Mrs. John Niemi, located on the Stenman Road, as well as their large dog sitting in the chair next to Mrs. Niemi. Their surname had been Vanhaniemi and was shortened and simplified to Niemi.
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 painting by W. Gillette depicts the First Pera family home that was built in 1900 but destroyed by the 1918 Forest Fire. Also in the frame is the Pera family's home built after the 1918 Forest Fire. W. Gillette was a relative through marriage to John Pera's wife, Mabel Kaanta.
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.
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 postcard shows a team of horses hauling loose hay, two men on top pitching the hay, and a woman watching them. The card has written on it in the lower left, "In the Good Old Summer time." The back of the postcard shows that it is number 492 of a series entitled, "Vacation Series Postcards." It was sent to Mrs. A.L. Winterquist from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This photograph depicts a hay shed, with a brush-lined wagon road. It is thought to be the Victor Sariin farm. The Victor Sariin farm was probably located north of Highway 61, about a half mile east of the Erickson Road.
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.
Henry Sunnarborg, at left, stands beside his first car, a Model-T Ford, along with Mrs. Elizabeth Mattinen, who is holding her granddaughter, Vera Mattinen Moll. Standing to the far right is Mrs. Mattinen's son, Emil Mattinen. The Mattinen farm was an 80-acre tract located on the easterly edge of Esko. The north 40 acres was bounded on the west by the Juntunen Road and on the south by Highway 61. The St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and the former Kinnunen Lumber Company (in 2011, the Moosebrew Internet Gallery and Cafe) are both located on what was once a part of the Mattinen farm. The property and two story log portion of the house were purchased in 1887 by Elizabeth and her husband, John Erick Mattinen, known as Erick, from Henry Sunnarborg. Erick Mattinen built the one story part of the house, which became the kitchen. Henry Sunnarborg was the foster father of noted Esko resident, Julia Sunnarborg. The house in the photo, which was dismantled in 1956, was located just west of St. Matthew's Church on the property now identified as 5 Elizabeth Avenue, Esko.
This photograph depicts the Henry Sunnarborg farm, for which the land located on a hill above the Midway River in Thomson Township was purchased in 1889. Their team of horses and hay rake are in the foreground, with Mrs. Henry Sunnarborg and their adopted daughter, Julia (Mattinen) Sunnarborg, in between.
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.
The farm house of J. Alfred Kusicko was built after the 1918 Forest Fire, since his previous house burned in the fire. His name is listed as J. Alfred Kusicko as well as Alfred Kusicko, with his surname being spelled Kuusikko and Kuusiko also.
Alfred Kuusiko's farm home in Thomson Township, before the 1918 Fire, in 1909. Daughter Esther Kusicko was 14 years old in 1909. The surname originally in Finnish would have been Kuusikko, but the Americanized spelling is Kusicko.