A Token of History
When it comes to the artifacts at the Meeker County Museum, among the smallest are tokens. More recent tokens are generally collectibles, souvenirs, or part of a business’ marketing strategy, but tokens used to be a valuable and important part of many businesses.
Bottom: J’s Bar, Johnny’s Place, Bert’s Place, and John T Mullen and Co.
One of the most common type of historic tokens are trade tokens. Merchants could use their branded tokens to pay their employees or to pay for products. For example, a farmer could trade some produce to the merchant in exchange for trade tokens. This was a huge benefit to the merchants because they weren’t using cash money. Plus, the tokens could only be spent in their store, gaining customer loyalty and keeping sales from other businesses.
Another type of token was the bar token, which customers would have purchased directly from their favorite drinking establishment. If a customer wanted to buy a round for his friends, but they already had a drink, they could get a bar token to use later. This could be a great advantage to the bar because not every token was immediately redeemed and sometimes forgotten, meaning it was free money for the bar.
The tokens were usually made out of inexpensive metal or even pressed paper or wood. Most were round, but some businesses decided on unusual shapes such as the triangle token good for 10¢ at Milt’s Place in Litchfield. Johnny’s Place, a grocery store in Cedar Mills owned by John and Ethel Mons, chose a unique flower token, valued at 5¢ in trade. The tokens would have been purchased from a manufacturer that could customize the text. Some businesses opted for different denominations. O.A. Jacobson’s general store in Crow River had 5¢, 10¢, and 25¢ tokens.
Besides trade and bar tokens, another popular type is the transportation token. Under this category, the Museum has a token good for one fare on the Brightwood Steamer and Bus Line. Brightwood was a short-lived resort on the south side of Lake Ripley that closed in 1893. Resort visitors could purchase a token in town which gave them a ride in the horse-drawn Brightwood “bus” to the northwest side of Lake Ripley, where Anderson Gardens are today. From there, the passengers boarded one of two steamboats to take them across the lake to the resort. While this might seem like a luxury today, it was a huge convenience as traveling by land around the lake was rustic at best.
In addition to the tokens already mentioned, the Museum’s archive includes tokens from The Royal Cash and John T Mullen store in Litchfield; Cedar Edge and Jack’s Tavern in Cedar Mills; Gene’s Liquor and TC’s Bar in Watkins; J’s Bar in Darwin; and Bert’s Place in Dassel. For most of these places, these tokens are the only piece of history the Museum has for the business, so if you have a story or photo for any of these establishments, we hope you will share them with the Museum.
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