Aerial view from the south village limits of New Brighton was taken by MacGillis & Gibbs Company, a pole yard company, which is seen in the lower half of the photo. Notable buildings include the First Congregational Church, New Brighton Elementary School, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, and the New Brighton Village Hall.
The stockyard industry was a million dollar operation at the turn of the century. The stockyards, completed in September, 1889, could accommodate 5000 cattle, 10,000 hogs, 20,000 sheep, and 500 horses on its 30 acres. Cattle pens are shown.
The Armistice Day Blizzard of November 11, 1940, hit New Brighton hard. On the day following the blizzard, Phil Hadock and Sid Weber stand behind a big drift next to Butch Schmalzbauer's Jack Sprat Food Store to talk about the weather. Many New Brightonites took stranded travelers into their homes overnight.
The Armistice Day Blizzard of November 11, 1940, found many residents of New Brighton providing food and shelter for storm victims. Many cars were stranded and travelers rescued by New Brighton residents during the fierce storm.
The Beisswenger and Johnson Grocery was located in the former Transit Hotel building. Lawrence Johnson, left, with his brother-in-law, Adoph Beisswenger, and their wives, Mable Beisswenger, center, and Rose Johnson, right, owned the store. Later the store moved across the street to the Treat Building, where it was in business until the 1960s.
Ed and Fred Beisswenger in the Beisswenger and Johnson Grocery Store in 1927. Later the store moved across the street to the Treat Building, where it was in business until the 1960s.
Bell Lumber and Pole Company was formed in 1919 to treat telephone poles and lumber. This machine is called a perforator which perforates the lumber and telephone poles to allow the preserving chemicals to penetrate.
Bell Lumber and Pole Company was formed in 1919 to treat telephone poles and lumber. The pole yards were very important to the employment and economy of New Brighton. All of the heavy work was done by horses and pole yard workers in the early years.
Bell Lumber and Pole Yards began business in 1919 treating telephone poles and lumber. The company hired many local men and is still in business today. In mid-1980s, after being declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bell began the process of cleaning up the hazardous chemicals on its property, spending over $10 million to do so and also to rebuild the plant to treat poles and lumber using environmentally clean processes. This panorama view shows the pole treating plant and the large telephone poles treated in the process.
Bell Lumber and Pole Yards began business in 1919, treating telephone poles and lumber. The company hired many local men and is still in business today. In mid-1980s, after being declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bell began the process of cleaning up the hazardous chemicals on its property, spending over $10 million to do so and also to rebuild the plant to treat poles and lumber using environmentally clean processes. This panorama photo shows the pole treating plant and the large telephone poles treated in the process.
Bell Lumber and Pole Yards began business in 1919, treating telephone poles and lumber. The company hired many local men and is still in business today. In mid-1980s, after being declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bell began the process of cleaning up the hazardous chemicals on its property, spending over $10 million to do so and also to rebuild the plant to treat poles and lumber using environmentally clean processes. This panorama photo shows the pole treating plant and the large telephone poles treated in the process.
Bell Lumber and Pole Company was formed in 1919 to treat telephone poles and lumber. The company hired many local men. A fire in 1923 is destroyed the complex, but the company rebuilt and is still in business today.
The Belt Line Brick Company began about 1910 and operated on a 24 hours-per-day basis employing many New Brighton men. It was located east of present-day Sunnyside School. Its operation slowed up in post-World War II years as the plant became outmoded. It was dismantled in 1962.
The Belt Line Brick Company operated a plant in New Brighton beginning in 1910. They ran the business on a 24 hours-per-day basis. Its operation slowed up in post-World War II years as the plant became outmoded. It was dismantled in 1961. The brick yard employed many New Brighton men.
The Belt Line Brick Company began about 1910 and operated on a 24 hours-per-day schedule. It employed many local men. Its operation slowed down in the post-World War II years as the plant became outmoded. It was razed in 1961. John Zellie and Joe Hillyard, employees, others unidentified.
Bison bones were unearthed from a boggy area near a creek at Hansen Park in New Brighton by three boys, Steven Sullivan, Joe McHale, and Joe Evangelist. A neighbor, who was a geologist, identified the bones as from a bison, which lived sometime after the last glacier melted in the area some ten thousand years ago.
The Bulwer Junction depot, located on the south village limits of New Brighton, was a Soo Line depot, which was built in 1887, and was in service for 95 years. It was donated to the New Brighton Area Historical Society in 1982, was moved to Long Lake Park in 1990, and opened as the New Brighton History Center in 1993.
Cardigan Junction Depot was located in the Shoreview, Minnesota area. It is now razed. It was part of a chain of three depots: Cardigan, Carnelian, and Bulwer Junction.
A 1949 Packard was the first ambulance for the City of New Brighton. A group of local men organized to provide the vital ambulance service at a time when there were no hospitals in the local community. The vehicle sits in front of the New Brighton Fire Station, built in 1947.
Alvena Cota's Beauty Shop opened in 1945 and operated into the 1980s. Her shop was located first on the south side of Tenth Street and later moved to Old Highway 8, behind the Skelley Station.
Undue influences by the railroad and sanitation problems forced the operation to close in 1901. After the packing industry left the New Brighton area, the pens were used for many years for feeding and watering livestock before they were shipped to Chicago, Illinois, or Sioux City, Iowa. Sheep pens are shown in this photo.
The Devine Hotel, also called Brighton Hotel and Long Lake House, in New Brighton was located along Front Street and Sixth Avenue in New Brighton during the stockyards heyday. It was built by William Devine I. There were five hotels in downtown New Brighton, all catering to the stockyard staff and workers. The hotel also contained a saloon. On the far right is the spire of the old Town Hall located on 5th Avenue.
Ernie Swanson and his horse-drawn wagon from the Swanson Dairy Farm on Silver Lake Road in New Brighton delivering milk on his northeast Minneapolis route.