The Oronoco Area History Center was pleased to find this gem, a copy of a 1935 newspaper containing many interesting advertisements and articles too numerous to mention. The paper itself is not in good condition and would be difficult to preserve if further investigation were to be made.

Oronoco Couple Observe Anniversary
(Excerpt from the Pine Island Record, March 14, 1935)

Several Guests Were Present That Attended Ceremony Fifty Years Ago; Open House Was Held At Their Home Tuesday Afternoon

At the home in Oronoco village where fifty years ago, Miss Carrie J. Fifield, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Fifield, pioneers of this section, became the wife of Lanteen Huntsinger, son of Mr. Arthur Huntsinger and wife, also pioneer residents of Pine Island township, over half a hundred relatives and friends gathered Sunday to do them honor. The bride was born in South Mazeppa, Wabasha County, and came to a farm a mile and a half east of this village in 1864, when but an infant. The groom’s birthplace was in Waushara County, Wisconsin, near Wautoma, when a small boy, his parents brought him to Pine Island township, Goodhue County, where his mother died a few years later. In 1874 the father having remarried, the family moved to the old homestead a mile east of Oronoco village now owned by E. A Huntsinger.

(more…)

Here’s a tidbit from our treasurer Kris Wiens for your enjoyment of a piece of history:

Brothers George, Edwin, and Agon Mohlke and their sister Esther were early settlers of the Oronoco and Rochester area.  Until 1922, the brothers and their wives produced only boys, but that year was different.  Myra was born in April to George and Mary in Oronoco; June arrived in June (of course!) to Agon and Mabel in Rochester; and Irene (Kris’ mother) was born in July to Edwin and Martha in rural Rochester. The Mohlke girls shown in the photo below are (from left to right) June Mohlke Hubmer (now lives in Mankato); Kris’ mother Irene Mohlke Peters (died in 1995); and Myra Mohlke Markham, who grew up in the Oronoco area and married a young man from her neighborhood.  The couple lived in Oronoco for many years until they both died in 2007.