Robert "Bob" Wallace (1923-2007) presents the history of the foundry in Lake City, Minnesota including its many name changes from H. Gillett and Sons to Gillett & Eaton and eventually to AE Goetz.
Ellen (Carlson) Jackson (1900-1989) discusses living in a neighborhood of descendants of Swedish immigrants, and the early businesses downtown. She also discusses the first car in Lake City and her education, social life, and recreational activities.
Hattie (Gross) Brown (1900-2003) discusses clamming on Lake Pepin and in Lake City, Minnesota during the 1920s and 1930s. She also discusses immigrating from Austria, her early life, the Depression, and her family's homes. She also discusses competition among clammers, types of clams, the cultured pearl industry, pearl button factories, and selling pearls.
Mary Nihart (1893-1990) discusses businesses in downtown Lake City, Minnesota. She also discusses traveling across the ice from Stockholm, Wisconsin to Lake City, working in a chicken processing plant, using ice boxes, making homemade ice cream, and the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918.
Roy M. Nordine (1904-1989) discusses his career working at the Jewell Nursery Company in Lake City, Minnesota, the Davey Tree Expert Company in the eastern United States, and at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. He discusses his collaboration with the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum on cold-hardy plants, and the impact of tree pests such as Dutch elm disease.
Comprehensive account includes early history of the state, biographical sketches of noted families and individuals, the lumbering industry, the sugar beet industry, the brewing industry, theaters, The Minnesota Historical Society, commerce and various Minnesota cities.
Warren R. Peterson [1909-1991] discusses his family's businesses in Lake City, Minnesota including Peterson Grocery, Peterson-Sheehan Funeral Home, and the Lake City Opera House. He also discusses entertainment in Lake City, Prohibition, Zero King Coat Factory, B. W. Harris, and Munsingwear.
