The Fremad Association

“Although the Fremad Association is one of the oldest business establishments in Glenwood, considerable ignorance of its history, methods and character have been manifested by numerous queries, which it is hoped a brief history of the Association will answer at least in part.” from the Glenwood Herald January 1^st, 1897. And, today, as this edifice of a once vibrant center of activity, business, economic stimulus and stability is about to be razed, we offer some answers to these “queries” and take you back to its origins in 1874.

As stated in last week’s article, the Wollan family were the primary founders and operators of the Fremad Association. Brothers Nels, Michael and Casper Wollan opened a mercantile store in Nel’s home in White Bear Lake Township near the Wadsworth Trail in 1870. Known as White Bear Center.  (The population of Pope County in 1870 was 2691.) In 1872 they moved the merchandise to Glenwood into a store on Franklin Street S. where the Village Inn garden area lies today. The new location was named Wollan Brothers Hardware Store. In 1874 they purchased the Sam Johnston Store on the opposite side of street and on the corner of Franklin and Green Streets (1^st Ave SW) where the present Fremad Building stands. Nels continued to run a grocery, general mercantile store in his home in White Bear Lake Township.

The Glenwood Fremad Association was primarily run by brothers, Casper and Michael, and nephew Ben from 1872 – 1922.

There was talk in the early 1870s of rural co-operatives. The brothers realized that they had already made the move to start a business of this type so they formalized a stock company and incorporated it under the name Fremad Association. “Fremad” is a Norwegian word meaning “onward” or “forward.” Shares of stock were sold at $25.00 each and every shareholder, no matter how many shares they held, had one vote. A stock of general merchandise was purchased and the Fremad Association was on its way. In the late 1870’s they reorganized and incorporated under new legislation. The capital stock was increased and a vote was given for each share owned. Though a controlling interest was retained by Wollan family members, most of the stock was owned by Pope County farmers. A seven member board of directors, mostly family members, oversaw company operations and set an annual dividend to shareholders. The company also owned city lots in the Prospect Park area of Glenwood, and several farms.

The store at the Nels Wollan home continued until 1882. When the Northern Pacific Railroad reached Starbuck, the Fremad Association moved his store into the new village. It was the first business in town. Nels continued to operate the store as part of the Fremad Association until 1887 when he exchanged his Fremad shares for sole ownership of the Starbuck store.

A lumber yard was added as a department of the Fremad Association in 1884. The Fremad’s Standard Lumber Co. was sold to Glenwood Lumber Co., Carl Ettesvold, in 1917. The Glenwood Lumber Company was razed in 2004 and the entire property paved for parking.

A banking business including savings and loans grew gradually.  In 1889 the banking office was separated into its own exclusive space within the Fremad building. One of the underlying reasons for the growth of the banking operation was the infamous 1876 James & Younger gang’s attempted bank heist in Northfield, Mn.  Fremad customers started bringing in their cash to be safely kept in the Fremad vault. The Fremad Bank had several names over the years: Wollan Bank, Glenwood Bank, the Fremad Bank and then officially after 1906, Pope County State Bank. (More about this next week.)

Let’s note a few other 1876 happenings: The United States was celebrating its 100^th birthday, Mark Twain published “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Alexander Graham Bell received the first patent for the telephone and made his first call, Rutherford B. Hayes became president (succeeding U.S. Grant.) Wyatt Earp became sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas. Wild Bill Hickok was killed during a poker game in Deadwood, South Dakota. And at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lt. Col. George A. Custer made his “Last Stand.” Yes, this was all going on as there were but a couple dozen buildings in Glenwood, and which was celebrating, along with Pope County, its 10^th birthday! Alexandria photographer, N.J. Trenham, took a wonderful series of photographs of Glenwood in July 1876 which can be seen at the Pope County Museum.

The Wollan Brothers had purchased the Sam Johnston Store in 1873. It was a two-story wood frame structure with a south entrance, and there the Wollans carried on their business until 1893. They gradually acquired adjacent businesses and contemplated a new building. In 1893 they constructed an elegant, brick veneered block which stands within the present building. It had a basement below, a vault on the first floor, and a hall with stage and fittings on the second floor, including three office rooms and three dressing rooms on the south end. These rooms by 1897 were being used for storage and for offices. A regional insurance company occupied one office, and an attorney and insurance agent occupied another. The wooden two-story “Johnston” building was moved to the lot west of the newly constructed brick building and served as a storehouse.

Fremad Block 1893

In 1897 the Fremad Board of Directors were Casper T. Wollan, president and general manager, Mike A. Wollan, treasurer and cashier, Ben O. Wollan, secretary, also J.M. Aal, P.P. Johnson, A.C. Schey and Ben Troen. Mr. Aal was an employee of the Fremad beginning in 1882. P.P. Johnson came to Glenwood in 1882 and was a respected photographer and shoe store owner. Mr. Schey came to White Bear Center with the 1867 wagon train and farmed until 1884 when he became manager of the Fremad lumber yard. Ben Troen came to the Wollan settlement with his parents, Peter and Martha (Wollan) Troen, walking from Benson in 1871. The Troen family lived in a hole in the ground during their first year in Pope County.

By 1900 the population of Glenwood had grown to 1,116, and Pope County to 12,577! This great increase was due to two railroads crossing the county – the Northern Pacific in 1882 and the Soo Line in 1886.

The Fremad Association was instrumental in financing the construction of the Minnewaska Hotel in 1883. The Fremad had complete ownership of the hotel from 1886- 1889 when they sold it to Frank Minton, who had been managing it for several years. His name remained on the Minton Hotel through successive owners until the hotel was razed in 1970.

From 1893-1932 the Opera Hall was in operation on the second floor. All sorts of entertainment and functions were held regularly: club dances, minstrels, leap year masquerades, trios, quartets, Swiss bell ringers, phonograph concerts, social dances, Old Setters’ Ball, benefits and on and on. And we do mean on and on! From the late 1890’s – Governors, Explorers and Civil War vets and other veterans’ groups filled the Opera Hall night after night. In 1932 it became the meeting hall for both the Valley Lodge of Masons and the Minnewaska Order of the Eastern Star.

Masonic Meeting in the Fremad Hall, 1938

The Fremad, from pioneer days and for over a half century, was the main store in Glenwood. It was a department store, a bank, a grocery, a lumber yard, a hardware store, an opera hall and more. It was Pope County’s “Wollan-Mart!”

In 1907, when the bank moved to its new building, the wall between bank and store was removed and that area fitted for a shoe department. The 1907 Bank building was sold to the Pope County State Bank to more clearly separate the two corporations. As for the banking business, we will cover the Pope County Bank’s evolution and growth in a future article. But the Fremad bank was not in total compliance with state standards and regulations. The Pope County State Bank was formed and it grew necessary to construct a new building which was completed in 1906. It received its charter in 1908. The new bank was on the lot next to the alley with the tin shop standing between it and the Fremad building until 1919. Fremad’s Pope County State Bank will also be demolished this summer.

A former clerk recollected how he started working at The Fremad in the grocery department in 1908 at the age of 18. He and two others typically worked 16 hour days, opening each morning at 7 am and often working until 10 or 11 o’clock at night. He was paid $25.00 per month. The going price for room rent in those days was $12.00 per month. ($25.00 ?? Well that would be around $835.00 today. Still not much per hour.) He also commented that the grocery business was very different in those days. Farmers came in with long lists of grocery and other items to be filled. There were no paper bags. When you bought sugar it was placed on a big sheet of paper spread out over the scale and the sugar was scooped into a pile. The ends of the paper were brought up and tied in a manner that the sugar would not leak out. Most groceries came in bulk barrels. Farmers delivered eggs to the store in pails with oats poured around them to keep them from “bursting” during the wagon ride to town. The eggs were purchased with Fremad store tokens rather than cash.

Fremad Token

Payment for goods purchased at the Fremad was unlike today! A cashier sat in a “cage” on the main floor. A clerk making a sale would put the sales slip and the currency (obviously no checks or credit cards) in a container operated on a wire, gave the carrier a little jerk and off it went to the central office cage. The cashier in the cage would document the sale, put the proper change in the container and send it back to the department that it came from. Wires ran all over to the various departments throughout the store.

The corporate minutes of March 1909 noted changes to the equivalent of a personnel policy: “Employees are allowed one week of paid vacation each year.” And also noted “Resolved that frequent visiting of saloons by employees of the Fremad Association shall be sufficient grounds for dismissal.”

A 1914 Glenwood Herald ad highlighted the full service store that was known as “Pope County’s Greatest Store.” It featured men’s summer hats: straw, tycoons, Nile side wheelers, all purpose and Fedoras, ranging from 10 to 75 cents. Also ties, bows, string and neckties from 5 to 50 cents. Shirts, socks, fancy hose, collars and women’s wear, such as three-tucked Chambray waists in pink and blue or black velvet ribbon with new elbow sleeve for just $2.00. A 1927 Easter ad offered men’s topcoats, spring ties, shirts, hats, footwear, and women’s coats and dresses. “Excellent quality and at a very reasonable price.”

In 1919 the building was extended and remodeled to its present appearance. The wood frame Tin Smith shop was removed and a two-story concrete and brick building filled the space between the 1893 Fremad Association store and the 1906 Pope County State Bank building.

Fremad Block and Franklin Street ca. 1925

Also in 1919 the store was divided into 4 departments; groceries, dry goods, men’s furnishings and shoes to keep separate accounts for each. By 1922 they leased out the upstairs offices to various tenants. (More about tenants in the next article.) The population of Glenwood in 1920 was 2,187.

As the founders Casper, Michael and Ben O. Wollan grew older, the Board of Directors saw name changes and a new variety of decisions – all necessary in a growing and diverse world. Land and outside investments were divested and as the founders passed on so too their stock holdings.  Ben O. died in 1922, Casper in 1924 and Michael in 1930. It was time for a new generation of management. A new direction was taking shape as the Fremad entered a whole new era.

As we stated earlier the offices upstairs were occupied by various insurance agents. In 1897 E.A. Taylor, the General Manager of the Park Region Mutual Hail Insurance Assoc. and Northwestern Mutual Fire Insurance Co. leased one office and L.E. Utley, attorney at law and general agent and manager of the Commercial Life Insurance Company another. From 1906-1911 the Southern Alberta & Minnesota Land Co.  had an office.

An 1898 Christmas advertisement in the Glenwood Herald touted, “The Fremad Corner…. The Busiest Corner in town!” Many other snapshots of the Fremad can be seen in the files at the Pope County Museum. Newspaper clippings and ads for well over a half century give a great sampling of the overall significance of this major treasure in our local history.

Now we must tell you that the Fremad was a conservative, seriously run business venture, more than a family store. It was the life blood of the entire area. Remember when the Wollans started in business, the closest railroad was in St. Cloud. When the legislature acted to promote rural co-operatives, the Wollan family secured their business and insured its future by forming a community owned company themselves. When the Northern Pacific railroad was surveyed on a route several miles south of the Wollan’s White Bear Center store, they moved the building and business to the new village of Starbuck.

Some family members had walked on foot to White Bear Lake Township from Sauk Centre. The Dakota Conflict had ended just five years before some of the family arrived in 1867. The trail they drove with their ox and horse drawn wagons was a military route, and before that a native trail that was little more than a deer, elk and buffalo trail. The Wollans brought the first threshing machine to the area. The county and city were organized in 1866. (Keep in mind, Minnesota had been granted Statehood in 1858). The Wollan family through their successful co-op business and other community work, brought Glenwood and Pope County into the 20^th Century.

In next week’s article we will highlight the evolution of the entire building as it opens to many rental tenants throughout the entire structure. Yes, times were a changing and the Great Depression was just around the corner.

We would like to thank the Steve Nestor for writing this series of articles about the history of the Fremad building, and the Pope County Tribune for initially publishing the articles.