THE LAST TIME I WAS in Cobden, I told my husband, I was photographing a burning building.
That was decades ago, when I worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer for The Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch. Thirty-plus years later, I can’t recall what burned, but I think a bar.
Apparently little has changed in Cobden since I raced, with camera and notebook, to this community of 36 residents just off U.S. Highway 14 between Sleepy Eye and Springfield. As I remember, I borrowed a pen (because mine ran out of ink and why didn’t I have a spare?) from a firefighter. Interesting how a detail like that sticks with me.
Downtown Cobden with Tubby’s to the left and Ridin’ High to the right and the grain bins a few blocks away.
Today, two bars and grain bins define this community in southwestern Minnesota, which boasts some of our state’s best farmland.
A few months ago while en route to Lamberton, my husband turned our van north off the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway to circle through Cobden, past the grain bins and then between the two bars—Minnesota Tubby’s Bar & Grill and Ridin’ High Saloon—which comprise the downtown.
Tubby’s, in the old bank building.
There was no time to stop and explore, only a quick roll down of the van window to shoot the building exteriors under grey and drizzly skies. I wished we had time to park and peek inside Tubby’s, housed in the stately 1915 corner brick State Bank building. I wished I could yank away the sheets of brown metal siding that cover the windows. I wished I could see the old bank interior.
Bikers get a hearty welcome at Ridin’ High Saloon.
Across the street, Ridin’ High Saloon, from the looks of the exterior signage, caters to bikers.
The Saloon connects to the Back Porch, right.
The outdoor Back Porch hang-out.
The machine shed style open air Back Porch gives that rough-and-tumble beer drinking impression, a great place to hang out with friends on a warm summer evening.
A close-up of Tubby’s signage.
Maybe next stop in Cobden will be the charm with no fire to cover, no schedule to keep. Just time for a beer.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Oh I love the Ridin’ High Saloon!!!! That looks like a great place with a lot of texture!!!!
Yeah, I think I could kick back there on a prairie summer evening and sip a cold one.
Charming Little Town! I explored the Sleepy Eye area as a child and do not remember much and I think there is still family in the area too. I wonder how some small towns make it while others just dry up. Happy Hump Day:)
That’s a good question, Renee.
Here I go with the questioning and thinking again – ha!
There is usually one bar in small towns to be an anchor of the downtown and on the other side of town a church. Now, in WI, I think there is a two bar minimum to be considered a town; more often than not there are more than two. It amazes me how these places make it and sometimes even thrive.
I believe you are spot on correct with your observations.
DH and I would fit in (I think) at the “Ridin’ High”! The sound of a cold beer on a warm sunny summer afternoon sounds pretty darn good right now (the forecast is ugly!!!). Hugs……
That’s right. You and DH would fit in. Randy once owned a Harley, until he was hit by a car and the bike was totaled.
Several of us have had that unfortunate experience but have either replaced or fixed the bike(s).
Oh, my husband would have loved a new bike. But at the time, we had a young family and the insurance money would not have covered the cost of a different Harley. And the smashed bike was not fixable. Plus, the wife (aka me) opposed purchase of a bike.
Totally “hear” ya on that! No bikes when we first moved here. We had sold the one we had…….the kids were toddlers then. Moved here and got……ponies! More costly than a bike for sure!!!!! But we made many memories!!! LOL!
I bet the kids were happy. Yeah, ponies.
They were!!! And even happier when Tom and I each bought horses…..smoother riding!!!!! LOL! They used the ponies’ backs to get on to the full size horse!!! That’s kids for ya!!!!
We begged for horses, but Dad never gave in to our wishes. Apparently he saw a did who had been kicked in the head by a horse and that was enough. Plus, he said, horses cost money to keep.
Amazing how in such a small town there was a bank! I too, wish the building could be restored and what a shame it’s not still operating as a bank xx
I expect at one time Cobden had more residents and businesses. Back in the day, most every town had a bank and it was often the most solid and substantial and lovely building along Main Street. Many of those old bank buildings have been torn down. But some remain, repurposed.
If I had a dollar for every small town bank that is now a bar… I’d have a lot of dollars. The other more disturbing trend I’ve seen is churches falling into advanced disrepair or being repurposed into homes, beauty salons, antique shops and so on.
So true, Ryan, about banks becoming bars.
As for churches, I had a really hard time when the church I grew up in was converted into apartments back in the early 1970s, after the congregation built a new church. I’d like to get inside St. John’s, but perhaps it’s better that I cling to memories.