Esko's Corner
Esko’s Corner, An Illustrated History of Esko and Thomson Township
edited by Davis Helberg
Esko Historical Society • ISBN: 978-1-887317-61-0 • $25 Hardcover
This rich anthology about a small community 10 miles west of Duluth should be savored and appreciated one story at a time. Leave it by your favorite easy chair to read a little each day. No need to be a history buff or have a local connection to enjoy it. (Still, for residents or former residents of Esko and Thomson Township, this book is likely to stir plenty of memories and emotions.)
Esko’s Corner provides detailed sections about railroads, logging, farming, schools and key figures like Jay Cooke and J. Edgar Thomson, the township’s namesake. Readers will find interesting stories about horse-drawn school buses, the old fire tower and Jay Cooke State Park and how floodwaters brought down the iconic swinging bridge in 1950 and again in 2012.
Ultimately the personal stories are what make the book endearing and compelling, like the perspective of farm life from 10-year-old city boy Gerald Reponen. He moved with his mother and brother from Duluth’s inner city to a farm east of Esko in 1939 and described it as a place with “no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, no library two blocks away, no boys’ YMCA a half-block away and no other kids to play with.”
Readers will find vivid, riveting accounts of survival during the horrific 1918 Fire. And there are rich histories of many businesses. One of my favorites is about Hjalmer and Celia Mattinen’s general store that opened in 1921. After Hjalmer took a barbering course and opened the town’s first barbershop, the business turned into a place for conversation as well as haircuts. The Esko Post Office was added later, with Hjalmer serving as postmaster. Although he would die of a heart attack at 55 in 1950, the post office stayed open with Celia serving as postal clerk, then becoming postmaster until she retired.
Esko’s Corner, an ambitious project with many contributing writers, also features about 150 photos. There’s a great shot of Hjalmer and Celia Mattinen outside their store in the early 1920s with their children, Vera and Harvey. The historic photos are impressive for their detail, like one from 1900 showing the family of Alex and Eva Esko at their first house built just west of today’s Esko town center.
The website about the book says that it’s “first and foremost, a people’s history, a social history – recollections of folks who lived, worked and played here.” That’s a perfect way of putting it.
This book is full of heart. Its writers and researchers, the Esko Historical Society and the whole community can be proud.
Find more background, including where the book is sold, at www.eskohistory.com.