Renville Museum

05/10/2026

05/08/2026

The museum has many of these. Bottge's store flyers that were probably sent out with the Renville paper. I can only guess the date 1930's-1940s. A 98 # bag of flour on sale at a $3.65! , kind of tells you how important flour was to families then.

05/04/2026

I have posted these snapshots before, but I colorized them this time. This is the aftermath of the "Father's Day storm/flood of 1957". Western Minnesota received 10 plus inches of rain on what was already wet ground. These pictures were taken on the Delhi side of the bridge. The one picture shows the sweeping curve approach to the bridge where it is washed out (Renville county side).

05/01/2026

My great uncle John Wordes loved horses and dogs so the majority of his movies are horse operas of trail rides and parades. John and Marie were members of the Amigo Riders, a local riding club. In 1955 the group had their grand opening of the "rider's roost" southwest of Renville. This was an area where families would gather, with their horses, have a cookout, play games, and so forth. It looked to be very popular at that time. I do not know who this girl is, she'd be near 80 now? I have also posted a picture of the original frame from the movie to give you an idea of what I start with..

04/30/2026

Who are these people? This is the mid-1950s, about 3 miles north of town. It appears the neighbors had some kind of plowing bee, whether it was just for fun or helping a neighbor in need, I don't know. There were about 12 rigs plowing. What I find unique is they started plowing in the very center of what looks like a square 40-acre field, always turning on un-plowed ground. This way they would have no ends to plow and no dead furrows. Even the Renville farmers COOP fuel truck made a visit, Merlin-do you have any idea who these people are?

04/30/2026

What could be finer then lunch in the field? Men take a break from the oat harvest for afternoon lunch. That is Marie Wordes on the left and I don't know who the rest are. I believe we are looking northwest to the Jr. Allen farm as I can see the line of cottonwood trees along the driveway. That is highway 6 with the telephone lines and an electric pole on the other side. This is the mid-1950s and 3 miles north of Renville.
This is a frame from an 8MM movie, and I cleaned it up with AI.

04/28/2026

This is a still from my family's home movies. This was taken 3 miles north of Renville along highway 6 going south. This looks to be a brand-new John Deere 50 and a new baler (24T)? I think they were bought new from Lobnitz Imp. at Renville, which had their business in the Community Electric building. In the center is Junior Allen and the other 2 are unidentified, as is the owner of the machinery. This is about 1954.

04/28/2026

Bet brings ride, 1960.

04/28/2026

The Renville city council of 1960.

04/19/2026

This is from the Minneota "Mascot" paper. The Porter jail looks similar to Renville's.

04/15/2026

I colorized the picture of the jail, I don't know the year it was taken.