BESEMAN TOWNSHIP CELEBRATES FIRST 100 YEARS!

07/19/2005

By Jennie K. Hanson July 19, 2005

How can something be 100 years old and still be young, active and growing? Well, that’s how you can describe Beseman Township.  Way back in 1905, Beseman Township was organized.  There was nothing but dirt roads and a few logging camps in the area and maybe a few homesteads.  But, it has been growing and changing ever since then.

So on July 17th, 2005 over 80 people attended the Beseman Township Centennial Celebration held at the Big Top in Wright.  A wonderful meal was provided by the township including a pig roasted over an open fire all night.  The township elders were kept especially busy answering questions about the past from their younger and not so younger neighbors.  Jasper Beseman brought his scrapbooks from the 1930’s.  The board members had lots of old record books out on display and several others brought family photographs.

The Arnold Dahl family had the best representation by having all their children and some of their grand children in attendance.  Both Sandy and Pauline Radtke came as did Patty and Ed Lund.  Coming from the Redwood Falls area were Vernon and Leone Harp and their daughter Lorna and her husband. There were many 80 plus year olds in attendance.  They included Arnold and Marcella Dahl, Irene Iverson, Thelma Johnson, Art Jauss, Jasper Beseman, Ailie Costello, Jacob VonDeLinde, Vera Suhonen, Leone Harp, and the oldest man, Vernon Harp at age 93 and the oldest lady, Elizabeth Hanson at age 87. Also attending were several almost 80 year olds.  They were Curtis Borgland, Eleanor Lind and LaReta Lockling.  The youngest in attendance was Elisabeth Kachinski, daughter of Sara and Jake, at age 2 and a half.

Most of the time was spent eating, going over the many scrapbooks and township records while others just enjoyed catching up on the past and enjoying each other’s company.

The town board had made a big map and had the elders fill in some of the things on the map that used to be in the township such as schools, logging camps, and roads that are no longer in existence.

Many pictures were taken and it was sad to see this celebration come to an end.  Many people also mentioned that Paul Johnson sure was missed as he was one of the board members that really wanted this celebration to take place. In fact, he wanted it on his farm in Beseman Township, but since he died recently, it was moved into the Big Top.

The current board members are Doug Wise, Bud Lehti, Jasper Beseman, and Mark and Linda Dahlman.

It may be a long time before the Beseman Township has another get together, but that will be up the younger generation.  Let’s just hope that they will remember their “Good ol’ Days” as much as the folks at this celebration did!