Jacobson Store of Crow River

Little remains of the hamlet of Crow River today, but there was once a creamery, blacksmith shop, church, and the Crow River Store, also known as the Jacobson Store, which served the area for over sixty years.

The store was built in 1902 by Ancil Staples. Ole Jacobson worked as a clerk for Staples from 1902 until 1904, when he purchased a share in the store. In 1910, he became sole owner. Jacobson would go on to own and operate the store until 1965.

In those early years, rural stores were often the local post office and Crow River Store was no different. Jacobson was the last Crow River postmaster, holding the position from 1905 to 1907, when the post office was closed.

Even without the post office, the building was much more than just a store. It was also a social hub where news was shared, rumors were spread, and politics debated. It was even once the scene of a fight! It started when Mrs. Stewart hit Mrs. Houk with her buggy whip while on the road. Later, Mrs. Stewart was in the store when Mrs. Houk came in. She “grabbed Mrs. Stewart by the hair, mauled and scratched her, and tore her clothes to ribbon.” Ole Jacobson broke up the fight.

Jacobson ordered most of his merchandise from Minneapolis, and every Tuesday he would collect his varied wares from Grove City.

O A Jacobson behind the counter in his store.

Ole Jacobson was married to Lillian Elizabeth Anderson, and they had two children, Clifford and Luella. A few years after Lillian died in 1942, Jacobson remarried Mable Bergstrom. One winter, Mable’s son and daughter-in-law, Oliver and Elizabeth Bergstrom, helped in the store. Elizabeth wrote of that time in Reflections in a Rearview Mirror in her article called “Helping Ole in the Store.” The smells she describes are the perfect summary of a day spent in the store. “My nose was greeted with the heavy scent of ripe bananas, apples and grapes, mingled with the peculiar smell of new rubber boots and galoshes. There were other store aromas which clamored to be observed, such as the matchless fragrance from the coffee mill. Of course, there were rows of wet woolen mittens and cowhide gloves drying on the wood burning stove” brought in by the men who gathered at the back of the store. As the men sat and talked, they ate peanuts, tossing the cracked shells into the wood stove, adding to the store’s smells.

In June 1965, Jacobson fell ill while tending the store. He spent sometime in the Litchfield Hospital before moving to a nursing home in Willmar. The store and its contents were auctioned off in October 1965 to a former customer of the store. It was later torn down. Jacobson died on January 3, 1966.

A replica of the Crow River Store, built by Ole Jacobson’s son, Clifford, can be seen at the Meeker County Museum as well as a large shadow box of items that were once used or sold in the store.