Edina Historical Society

It's hard to imagine a car lot at 50th and France these days. But Hartzell Motors occupied a good portion of the 4900 block of France Avenue for many years..

Hartzell operated businesses on both sides of the block, according to a map in the 1988 book From the Barber's Chair by Vern Swanson as told to Tom Clark. The map shows Hartzell's garage on the west side and Hartzell Motor Co. on the east side (Minneapolis).

Here are the 1959 photos from the city's tax records. The 1959 phone directory lists the Edina address as 4936 France Avenue.

The above ad from the 1959 Edina directory notes that Hartzell's has served the community for 38 years, or (if I have the math right) since 1921.

In his book, Swanson recalled that George Hartzell sold his business in 1965. "Down near Owatonna, Hartzell had a farm where he raised French cattle for beef. So he returned to the farm, but he got gored to death by one of his bulls. But I knew him real well - he was a really nice fella."

I never saw Hartzell's in operation, but many museum visitors have mentioned the 50th and France landmark business. Without further research and asking my long-time volunteers, I can't figure out the layout of these buildings. It looks like two buildings - one in the top photo and two sides of a second building in the bottom photo.

Help me out. Tell me what you remember about Hartzell's. Please comment here or send me an email.

It's almost 8 p.m. but it's still Friday and time enough for our weekly "Friday Photo." This week, the city's tax assessor files show part of the 4900 block of France Avenue. (Zipoy's grocery is at 4948 France Avenue, Edina Hardware is 4944 France.) The buildings are still the same, I think, judging from the roof line, but all the businesses have changed since this photo was taken in 1959.

What strikes me most is the size of the businesses. Instead of a warehouse food store, Zipoy's is just a little storefront. Instead of the megastore Home Depot or Lowe's, area residents had Edina Hardware. These are just small Mom and Pop businesses, where Mom and Pop lived in your neighborhood.

Can anyone tell me more about these businesses or the people who ran them? I'd love to hear from you.

Before we go any further, I just want to note the accidental alliteration, brought to you by Photo Friday and Fanny Farmer, with credit to 50th and France.

Anyway... on to this week's photo taken from our collection of City of Edina's tax assessor files.

Youngsters won't recognize the name Fanny Farmer candies, which later became Fanny Mae, which became bankrupt. But in 1959, there were three Fanny Farmer stores in Edina -- two in Southdale mall and one at the southwest corner of 50th and France (5000 France Avenue South).
The corner has been redeveloped: Sur La Table retail store occupies the corner now.

When I first started working for the Edina Historical Society, a man called to sell a carousel (if I remember correctly) that was displayed in the window. Since we don't have a budget to purchase artifacts, and he wasn't willing to donate the item, we missed out. What do you remember about Fanny Farmer candy store? I know many a hostess received a box of Fanny Farmer candies at Christmas time... what else can you tell me?

Lunds grocery store, at 50th and Halifax, has deep roots in Edina, dating back 70 years in the 50th and France business area.

The store, opening in 1941 at 3940 W. 50th Street (across the street from its current location), was then owned by the long-established Hove's chain and managed by an enterprising young man named Russell Lund.

Lund, who had worked for the Hoves since 1922, introduced “self service,” where customers selected their own groceries instead of relying on clerks to fetch them. It was a bold move (Lund worried about how customers would react to using a cart), but the manpower shortage brought on by World War II forced him to be creative.

Lund eventually bought out Hove's; see the Lunds & Byerly's web site for a brief company history.

In honor of the new season of "Dancing with the Stars," I bring you the long-time local spot to learn how to foxtrot and waltz: Arthur Murray Dance Studios. When this photo was taken in 1959, it was located at 3927 West 50th  The studio must have just opened its doors in Edina - the first time it shows up in the city phone directories is in 1959.

More than 50 years later, Arthur Murray (now at 5041 France Avenue South) is still teaching Edina residents how to dance, whether they're preparing for their wedding dance or are inspired by their favorite celebrities on DWTS.

I love that this photo also happened to document a man sweeping the streets, and an Edina Police squad car, a not-built-for-speed station wagon.

This distinctive Art Deco building graced 50th Street from 1939 to 1977. It first housed a clinic owned by Dr. Reuben Erickson, who sold it in the early forties to Dr. Harry Jensen, Dr. I.H. Moore and several others. Later, it was called the Edina Eye Clinic.

In 1977, the building was torn down to make way for a retail complex that today houses the Edina Municipal Liquor Store, among other businesses. The neighboring National Tea grocery store was also torn down, and replaced by Lund's.

My source for this information comes from the excellent book From the Barber's Chair: 50th and France Avenue, 1936-1988," by long-time barber Vern Swanson as told to Tom Clark. The front part of the book contains Vern's memoir of his life as a barber, and the back contains walking tours of the 50th and France neighborhood, with historic photos. In the 23 years since the book was published, even more has changed in Edina's downtown. We're currently sold out of the book, but it is available through the Hennepin County Library system.

This building was originally called Nolan's Cafe, which opened just across from the Edina Theater in the late 1930s with a similar building style and signage. It later became known as the Edina Cafeteria, and was remodeled. Some of the original architectural details of the Art Deco style -- curved lines at the entrance and curved glass block windows in the tower -- were obscured. I'd need to do more research to determine when the restaurant closed. The site, 3926 W. 50th Street, is now filled with women's clothing boutiques.

Nancy Wallace Wild drew this map of her world as she saw it in 1922 when she grew up on 50th and Halifax in Edina. Instead of boutiques at 50th and France, there was a blacksmith. Where movie-goers now line up to see art films at the Edina Theater, farmers came to drop off their milk at a creamery. Where the bank parking lot is today, the Wallace home graced an expansive lawn several feet from the dirt 50th Street. (Long-time residents may remember the Wallace home, which served as Edina's first standalone library in the 1950s and 60s.)

In a few short years, the rural village Wild describes would change dramatically when Henry Brown's cattle pasture would transform into upscale homes of the Country Club District, which was platted in 1924. The "new Edina School," (which residents now refer to as Wooddale School) would replace the much smaller 1888 brick school on the other side of the creek.The Grange, a meeting hall for a farm organization, would move to make way for St. Stephen's Episcopal Church at 50th and Wooddale.

I love this map because it shows in detail an Edina that no longer exists and as no properly surveyed map could. No other map would designate a "big hill for sliding" or a "bag swing," things that rank as significant landmarks for kids, but not so much for official mapmakers.

I did learn from her map that the area had a block factory, which appears to be on 49 1/2 Street, then just wheel tracks behind the Wallace home.  Wild describes it in Allie, her 1997 memoir about her sister, not because it was an important Edina industry but because it was a gathering spot for children.

"What normally would not be considered a playground was the block factory and its two sand pits, located a short distance from our house, accessible by way of the wheel tracks behind our property. Its main attraction was the huge, flat stacks of finished cement blocks of finished cement blocks. The stacks, three or four parallel to each other, must have been about 100 feet long, a fourth as wide and 10 or 12 feet high. They served as our play 'palaces.' To get on top we just had to find a place of unevenly stacked blocks, places also where secret inner stairways formed, and climb up, often scraping ourselves on the rough cement but not minding. Once up there we could walk and run along the flat, slightly uneven surface, always on the lookout for the 'holes' where the inner stairways were. The two nearby sand pits provided another kind of sport; we made running leaps into the sand, leaving many a shoe or sock behind. Even the factory itself had playtime possibilities, like climbing the conveyor belt and then sitting on the side of the square funnel at the top and peering down to where the  loose sand blended with the powdered cement. That was scary!"

Wild isn't the only one who drew a map of their childhood haunts. I will include more child's eye views of Edina in upcoming blog posts as well as in our upcoming exhibit, "Growing Up in Edina."

Assignment Edina: Draw a map of your own childhood landmarks. Who were your neighbors? Where did you play? How far did your world extend - could you bicycle miles away or did could you only go as far as you could hear your mother's whistle to come home? I'd love to see what you come up with.

I love opening the mail (both USPS and electronic) these days because I get to read all the great stories and photos submitted for our upcoming "Growing Up in Edina" exhibit. Here's a fun one from Sherry Ott Buffington, who went to elementary school in the 1950s. She and her family lived at three different Edina addresses over the years: 5524 Brookview Avenue, 5809 Kellogg Avenue and 4431 West 52nd Street.

The official deadline has passed for submissions to the exhibit, but I will continue to take stories and artifacts for loan or donation with the disclaimer that I can't promise I'll process everything by the Oct. 29 grand opening date (especially if it all comes in the week before.) I will get them in the exhibit as soon as I can, however. For the sake of my sanity and a successful exhibit, please contact me as soon as possible.

Perhaps this story will prompt some memories...

By Sherry (Ott) Buffington
Summers growing up in Edina were wonderfully - busy or lazy days, whatever you wanted them to be.

My friend Miriam Anderson and I would ride our bikes from 52nd and Wooddale to the hub of Edina, 50th and France, at least once a week and sometimes more often. First stop was the Edina Library, located in an old house on a hill. Both avid readers, Miriam and I turned in our books and checked out a new batch for the next few days of reading. (Later, in high school, we would both work at the Edina Library - our first jobs.)

Then on to Clancy Drugs for a cherry or lime coke at the counter. Clancy's Toyland in the basement was a fun place to browse. We occasionally bought paper doll books for about a quarter and later would spend hours on Miriam's breezeway cutting out the clothes - hours of fun for only a quarter.

After our stop at Clancy's we would walk through James Hager Women's Clothing store and Hove's/Lund's, stopping to drool at the pastries in the bakery. Occasionally we might stop at the Edina Cafeteria for a snack.

Our next destinations were the dime stores - Ben Franklin on one side of the street and another on the other side. Around the corner was Nelson's Dry Goods where we checked out Betty's latest doll fashions with her trademark ribbon and lace. Ginny (by Vogue) was a popular doll, and my Ginny doll had a pretty large wardrobe. I must have really liked the color pink as most of the doll clothes from Nelson's were that color. (See photo below.)

I remember walking past the Dance Studio and the Brown Derby bar (which we were told by our parents not ever to go in), catching a glimpse of grown-up activities.

When younger, I remember going with my dad to the freezer lockers at 44th and France. On hot days that cold freezer air was a real treat. The freezer compartment in our refrigerator was so small we had to store meat at the locker and make trips there to pick up our meat for dinner. Of course no trip to 44tha and France was complete without a stop at Carlson's Odd Shop - a child's delight with so many toys crammed in little spaces. You could hardly walk in the aisles.

I also remember when we lived on Kellogg Avenue, walking up to Valley View Road with my sister Bonnie and a group of neighbor kids. We would make the long hike (really only a few blocks!) for a treat of candy or ice cream at Emma's (Tedman's). We felt so grown up!

Later when when lived on West 52nd Street, Ray's Dairy Store on 54th and France had the best selection of penny candy in town. If you were lucky, you might hear the sounds of Ray's daughter, Suzanne, playing piano upstairs.

All in all, it was a great childhood - picnics and birthday parties in the backyard, swimming at the Edina pool, riding bikes all over, playing badminton at dusk under the street light, ice skating in the park, and sliding down  the hills at the Edina Country Club.

You should have no difficulties recognizing this building: Hooten's Cleaners is still at 3944 West 49 1/2 Street, more than 50 years later. Ownership has changed; the person who answered the phone said that Hootens left 17 years ago. Still, the building and name have been a 50th and France landmark for more than 50 years.