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Edina Historical Society Quarterly Newsletter
June 2019 | Volume 56

​Contents

Letter from the Executive Director
Heather Haeg, Executive Director

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Here at EHS we are looking forward to summer with our Camps for kids ages 6-12, fun and interesting programs for adults and the Annual Edina 4th of July parade.​

We still have availability in a few of our very popular Homestead and Tea and Manners Camps for children ages 6-12. Check out our website at  www.EdinaHistoricalSociety.org to book this unique summer experience before it fills up.

Mark your calendars for summer programming! We begin with Reel History; the Mann France Avenue Drive-In on Thursday June 6th at 7 pm in the EHS Terrace Room. The program offers a fun look into the Drive-In theater in American culture and a chance to view movie clips and vintage trailers “under the stars”. On Tuesday June 11th at Wooden Hill Brewery, join us from 7-8:30 pm to discover the story of Minnesota’s beer industry. On Saturday July 20th at 7 pm we have Apollo: Why America went to the Moon in the Terrace Room at EHS. This is the ACTUAL 50th anniversary of the moon landing so come join David Jones to learn about this historic event through the lens of 1969 Edina. Wrapping up our summer programming, we have two very popular Speakers -- Karen Melvin and Edina’s own Melinda Nelson -- discussing their book Boathouses of Lake Minnetonka on Saturday August 3rd at 7 pm in the EHS Terrace Room. Copies of the book will be available for purchase with time for signing. 

On August 15th from 5-8 pm, the Wooden Hill Brewery is hosting our first-ever give back night where 10% of the proceeds from the evening will go directly to EHS to support our wonderful events and exhibits. Please bring your family and friends for a fun night out and support EHS! 

We continue to build our team of volunteers at the Museum and at Historic Cahill School. Our intern, Kati Rue, has been helping with research, writing, communications and collections since January. Kati has a degree in American Studies from the University of Minnesota and is beginning her graduate studies this summer. During Edina High School’s May term, senior Sullivan Shubert worked at the Museum, researching an upcoming exhibit and boosting our social media. We have 3 high school students who will be camp helpers this summer. They have worked with us in the past and we are thrilled to have their experience and enthusiasm. We are in need of an administrative volunteer to help with membership renewal letters and Cahill School communications. If you have a few hours a week to help, please call me at 612.928.4577.

We will again be participating in the 4th of July Parade with our EHS banner and maybe even an interpreter in period costume. Look for us! Even better, walk with us and meet friends and neighbors along the way.

Happy Summer!

Curator's Corner:  "The Biggest Screen in the World"
Stephen Barrett

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 Heralded as the “world’s biggest screen,” the Mann France Avenue Drive-In was a towering structure that measured 92 feet high and 150 feet wide. Built by Ted Mann, the theater was located just off 494 and France Avenue, on the grounds of a former garbage dump. At its grand opening on June 15, 1966, movie-goers were treated to seeing James Coburn in “Our Man Flint” and Tom Adams in “The Second-Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World”.  The theater complex could accommodate 1700 vehicles at one time and would later include two additional screens.

The Edina Historical Society is fortunate to have two of the original projector lenses that were once part of that grand architectural masterpiece. Built in the 1970s, the lenses were made by the Bausch and Lomb Company and are 2 of several that were used on the large screen. The pair of lenses were donated to our museum in 2005 by Blake Hanson. Blake had noticed these items in storage at the Minneapolis Theater Supply. An Edina resident himself, Blake recalls the France Avenue Drive-In being a popular hangout in the 1970s -- a landmark destination where students from both Edina high schools would flock to meet friends and enjoy the movies “under the stars”. Recognizing the historical importance of the lenses, he scooped them up and later donated them to the museum where they would be safely maintained and appreciated by the public. 

A landmark of the times, the theater was a popular summertime spot until it closed in 1982. Ted Mann sold the company in 1970 to pursue his dream of producing films and writing television scripts. The France Avenue Drive-In dropped his name, but Ted went on to buy Hollywood’s famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater and changed the name to his own (Grauman’s Theater regained its original name in 2001). Ultimately demolished in 1986, the iconic France Avenue Drive-In certainly left its mark in the annals of our cinematic history. 
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Tickets are still available for our June 6th program, Reel History: Dawn of the Drive-In, A History of Movies Under the Stars.  Join filmmaker and historian Alex Weston for an exploration of the Drive-In in American culture, featuring local history, movie clips, vintage trailers and rare photographs from the golden age of movies under the stars.  This program will start at 7:00 pm at the Edina Historical Society – Terrace Room.

Golfing Summertime:  The Best Place to Enjoy Both is Braemar Golf Course
Bob Thompson

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Braemar has been ranked the #1 public golf course in Minnesota and is among the top 75 public courses in the country. Golf for Women magazine rated Braemar a Top-100 “Women Friendly Courses”.​

Braemar offers an 18-hole championship course and a 9-hole executive course plus a driving range, two putting greens, a pitching area with bunkers and an all-season golf dome. 

Planning for the course began in the 1950s. Like many suburbs in post-war America, Edina was in the middle of a population boom. The quiet village with a farming heritage was changing dramatically as the population grew from 9,700 residents in 1950 to 30,000 by 1960 and 44,000 by 1970. Today the City of Edina, (granted city status in 1974) is a developed suburb of almost 52,000 residents. 

Golfing was catching on in the 1950s. Professional golfers who competed in big stakes tournaments were celebrities. The US Open was first televised in 1954 and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was formed in 1950. Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Patty Berg, Sam Snead, Babe Zaharia and Arnold Palmer were drawing admiring crowds. Village leaders were confident that the residents of Edina were more than ready for an outstanding public golf course.

At the time, Edina’s southwest corner was mostly rural with a few farms still operating. The land was first settled by the Marth family, Dutch immigrants who acquired a deed to 1,300 acres from the US Government in 1858 — the same year US Army troops pushed remaining Lakota tribe members into western Minnesota. Land in Edina was quickly surveyed, platted and sold for a bargain $1.25 per acre to settlers like the Marth family.

In the mid-1940s, the Hays family bought a portion of the original Marth farm to graze their sheep. In 1955, the family acquired options on additional acres and sold a 444-acre parcel to the Village of Edina for the future Braemar Golf Course and Park. 

Looking across Braemar today, you see a landscape only slightly altered from the time glaciers covered Minnesota. The hills of Braemar are glacial moraines containing a mix of sediment, sand and rocks called glacial till. The peat bogs and wetlands that dotted Braemar in the 1950s formed when massive blocks of glacial ice broke off and were buried by fast-flowing streams choked with glacial till.
Like many other Village leaders, Warren Hyde, hired as Village manager in 1955, loved golf. In 1956 Mayor Art Bredesen, the Village Council and the Park Board supported Hyde’s proposal for an outstanding public course. Parks and Recreation staff, Ken Rosland and Bob Kojetin, were assigned to work with Warren Hyde to make the plan happen.

Financing was a critical step. After brainstorming options, the Village Board proposed issuing general obligation bonds. backed if needed by property tax revenues. Edina residents had already voted in favor of a bond in February 1957, leaving implementation details up to the Village Council.

Hyde and the Village Council were convinced that income from the golf course would easily cover bond payments but a backup plan was needed. The Council did not want to use property tax revenues to cover any financial shortfalls.

The solution was to pledge income from Edina’s municipal liquor store as added security. Following the end of Prohibition, states were permitted to operate municipal liquor stores and to tax liquor sales. Edina chose to operate municipal liquor stores. Here was the solution. The Council asked the Minnesota legislature for permission to issue bonds for recreational facilities backed by revenues from each project and, if needed, backed by liquor revenues. The legislature agreed and in 1959 Braemar was set to go. 

Village leaders wanted Braemar to be comparable to, but not compete with, the Edina and Interlachen Country Clubs. Braemar would have a well-appointed club house with a food service, locker rooms with showers, caddy service and caddy training program and practice grounds. 

Other recreational activities were included as part of the bonding bill. Swimming pools, tennis courts, skating and hockey rinks, baseball fields and bridal paths were part of the original master plan. Much of the plan was realized but mixing bridal paths with fairways was eventually judged a bad idea.

Peat bogs, swampy soil and steep hills had to be transformed into a first-class golf course. In February 1961 the estimate of costs came in at $850,00. In September 1962 the Park Board set the final budget at $825,000 with $100,000 reserved for construction of the clubhouse.

With the funding in place and an approved budget, Village leaders and contractors set to work. 800,000 cubic yards of earth were moved, steep hills graded and shaped, 130 acres of bog and muck were excavated, and 10 acres of ponds were created to collect runoff and keep the course dry. And then, 26 miles of irrigation pipes were laid to supply 1,000 sprinkler heads, 850,000 pounds of grass seed was sown along the fairways and tees, 700 trees were planted and another 80,000 seedlings were nurtured in the plant nursery for remaining landscaping.

Getting the land ready had been difficult work but picking the name turned out to be almost as tough. Everyone had their favorite name and long discussions ensued. Warren Hyde, the Village manager who had proposed the new golf course, grew impatient with the seemingly endless debate. 

Edina had been named for Edinborough by Andrew Craik, a proud Scotsman and long-time miller at the old grain mill along Minnehaha Creek. Scotland is the home of modern golf. Warren Hyde researched Scottish golf courses and found the ancient Braemar Golf Course. The Village Council approved the name Braemar just months before the grand opening on July 22, 1964. Edina now had the outstanding public golf course Village leaders had first set their sights on in 1956.

Braemar was a hit and more than met its financial targets. A few tweaks were made to the layout of what proved to be a challenging and satisfying course. The most notable was lowering first and tenth tees which had been set too high on Braemar’s notorious “Cardiac Hill”.

Today, Edina is engaged in a master plan for the evolution of Braemar. A plan approved in January 2018 envisions improving the golf course and facilities, adding walking, mountain bike and cross-country ski trails and upgrading parking and access to Braemar’s amenities.

Braemar: Celebrating the Forty Year History, by Roger Harrold, was the primary source for this article. Roger’s book is enjoyable, informative and packed with details, anecdotes and photos. Copies are available at the Braemar Club House.

Legendary Burma-Shave Campaign Developed by Edina Resident 
Nora Winther

As summer approaches, many of us remember the summer vacations of our childhoods. These vacations often took the form of long road trips across the country.  Without movies and video games to entertain us during the drive, we spent countless hours squabbling with our siblings, reading the roadside signs and looking for license plates from every state.​

Back in 1920, the concept of a “road trip” was still new to most Americans. But as the cost of automobiles fell and their reliability increased, government at all levels was investing in road construction and road improvements across the country. Before long, traveling vacations would become a popular option for many families. These changes would bring new business opportunities as well.

In 1924, a Minneapolis company began to sell a liniment that advertised life and vigor for its users. Because many of the ingredients came from Burma, the company was named Burma-Vita, meaning life from Burma. But sales of the liniment were slow, leading the company to introduce a new product that was designed to take the place of a wet shaving brush and mug. Early attempts to market Burma-Shave failed and the company was in serious financial trouble. 

But fate, and the growing popularity of automobile travel, intervened. While marketing Burma-Shave in Illinois, the owner’s son, Allen Odell, noticed a series of road signs advertising a gas station. Convinced that similar signs could be used to promote Burma-Shave, Odell persuaded his father to invest $200 in the concept. The rest, as they say, is history.

Allen Odell was born and raised in Minneapolis. He attended West High School and the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1925 with a degree in business. In 1935, he and his family moved to 4903 Bruce Avenue in Edina, where he would live for the remainder of his life. 

The first Burma-Shave signs were erected in 1925 along Route 61 near Red Wing and Route 65 near Albert Lea. By early 1926, the first repeat orders arrived for Burma-Shave. Odell’s father incorporated the company and quickly sold 49 percent of its stock. This allowed the company to open its first sign shop in 1926. The first signs were roughly twelve by thirty-six inches and contained jingles written by Allen Odell and his father, Clinton Odell. Each set consisted of six signs that were placed off the ground and spaced 100 feet apart along rural roads. This made it easy to read the signs while traveling at normal speeds of about thirty-five miles per hour. A typical rhyme was written on five sequential signs, and a sixth sign always said “Burma-Shave.” 

Travelers loved the clever roadside signs and the advertising campaign, which broke with traditional advertising methods, quickly became a commercial success. By 1930, Odell and his father were running out of new jingles and created an annual jingle contest. Some contests generated more than 50,000 entries, with the 25 winning entries receiving $100. The roadside signs had two major themes: Burma-Shave and public service. At its peak in the early 1950s, the sign campaign peaked with 7,000 sets appearing in forty-five states. 

In 1963, the company was sold to Philip Morris Incorporated. Allen Odell retired and his younger brother, Leonard, became president. Philip Morris replaced the iconic signs with more traditional advertisements and the last signs were removed from the roads in 1964. That same year, the Odell family donated Allen Odell’s favorite set of signs to the Smithsonian Institution.

Allen Odell died at his Edina home in 1994, leaving a legacy of Burma-Shave road signs that are an important part of our American culture and memory. Several movies and television shows have used Burma-Shave signs to help set the scene. Examples include Bonnie and Clyde, A River Runs Through It, Stand by Me and M*A*S*H*. The final episode of the television series M*A*S*H featured a series of road signs in Korea in the style of those familiar Burma-Shave advertisements: “Hawk was gone, now he’s here. Dance ‘til dawn, give a cheer. Burma-Shave”.

New, Renewed & Gifted Memberships

Phyllis & Dayton E. Amundson, Lee Anderson, Carole Arwidson, Molly & Kelly Bentz, Melissa Craig, Colleen Crew, Patty Daly & Matthew Williams, Thomas & Hoa Kim Delaney, Janet P. Dray, Joe Duggan, Rachel Duggan, Sean Duggan, William Durfee, Bonnie England, JoAnn Erickson, Laureen & Michael Fischer, Tom & Judy Forker, Lavonne Garoutte, Mark Granlund, George & Delpha Harris, Barb Hatch, Jamie Heidt , Erik Hendrikson, Orville Hognander, David & Jessica Holtum-Schwier, Malorie & Tyler Howells, Helen & Steven Hoyt, Rick Jeronimus, Ken Johnson, Chip Jones, Greg & Susan Keane, David C. Keegan, Michael Kelly & Michelle Herring, Mark Kinney, Jean A. Knowles, Barbara La Valleur & Arnie Bigbee, Philip & Susan Larson, Robert Jr. & Susan, Rigmor Levack, Diane Lindgren, Joan D. Lonsbury, Richard & Marie Rose Lundgren, Sarah & Colin Marnach, Dan & Jeanne McCarthy, Brad & Amy McNamera, Jeanne & Jim Meyers, Sue & Dan Mickelberg, Mike Lundberg, Lisa Moeller, Colleen & Kyle Moody, Douglas & Mary Olson, Mary & Nick Pernula, Teresa Popko Stewart, Jack & Ede Rice, John Riedlinger, Pat & Sharon Ruane, Maureen Rudd, Augusta Sedoff, Bob & Marty Sedoff, Jeanne Sedoff, Jim Sedoff, Maggie & Bill Sedoff, Carol & Frank Sidell, Cindy & William Smith Jr., Stanton Spear, Jan & Mary Tanghe, Gail Weber, Carol Wolfe, and Tim & Lois Young.

Help Wanted!

Calling all local historians, we are looking for volunteers who love Edina history to help us research and write articles about Edina’s rich history for our newsletter and Facebook posts.  To learn more, contact [email protected].