Minnesota Prairie Roots

I FELT LIKE A BIT OF A SMARTIE, you know, that kid who raises his/her hand to answer the teacher’s questions. But Doug Ohman told me later, when I apologized to him for my overzealous class participation, that he actually appreciates enthusiastic interaction with audience members. And that I was on Monday evening while attending Ohman’s presentation on Minnesota town names at the Owatonna Public Library. I couldn’t help myself. This presenter is incredibly engaging, energetic, interesting and really good at what he does.

Ohman is a prolific presenter, Minnesota author and photographer—he’s written 16 photo-rich books—who travels the state giving talks on 36 subjects. Those range from churches to schoolhouses, courthouses to libraries, state parks to cabins, and, oh, so much more. If you want to learn more about Minnesota, especially its small towns and rural areas, and appreciate history, then Ohman is your guy. I’ve seen him present twice previously, both times on churches.

But Monday evening, it was all about “Name That Town.” Ohman began by telling a room packed with people that he would be doing an interactive game show style presentation. Oh, oh, I thought, when he asked for help from an audience member. Eventually Steve volunteered and the game was on.

It didn’t take long before Ohman put the audience at ease with his humor and questions. A lot of questions. About towns. And that’s where I proved my smarts. Like Ohman, I enjoy visiting small towns, stopping to explore and photograph them. He feels like a kindred spirit in that we are both writers and photographers who value rural Minnesota.

For 1 ½ hours, Ohman talked about Minnesota towns, going through the alphabet from A-Z, showing selected photos of communities he’s visited. He invited audience members to shout out town names for each letter, often pausing to ask why they named that particular town and occasionally awarding prizes for correctly answered questions.

There were familiar town names like Duluth, Hastings, Red Wing and Stillwater. But then Ohman threw out towns like Dorothy (south of Thief River Falls), Johnson (the “most Minnesotan name,” he said, and located near Chokio) and Quamba (between Mora and Hinckley). All three were unfamiliar even to me.

Only the letter X lacks a Minnesota town name. Two towns share the name Oslo. No surprise given Minnesota’s rich Scandinavian heritage. Oh, and Osakis is the self-proclaimed “Lefse Capital of Minnesota,” Ohman said, recommending Jacobs Lefse.

Ohman asked how towns are named and got lots of audience response. The Old Country (New Ulm, New Germany, Fulda…), Native American people and language (Owatonna, Wabasha, Sleepy Eye, Wabasso), animals (Badger and Fox), geographic features (Redwood Falls, International Falls, Thief River Falls, Fergus Falls, but not Hanley Falls, which has no falls), famous (Henry Hastings Sibley) and not so famous people…

My hometown is named after the postmaster’s daughter, Vesta. I nearly stumped Ohman when I shouted out “Vesta.” But, with some clues and thought, he remembered its location in Redwood County. He’s been to neighboring Belview, Seaforth, Wabasso. Even several audience members were familiar with southwestern Minnesota towns, something I don’t often encounter in southeastern Minnesota.

Towns survive based on location, Ohman said. That makes sense. Towns once located along railroad tracks, later abandoned, have declined. Towns built on lumbering have dwindled in population. Towns located today in resort areas, close to larger cities or along major roadways (like Owatonna on Interstate 35) are growing, thriving. The smallest of Minnesota’s 905 towns, according to Ohman, is Funkley, population five. That’s northeast of Blackduck which is northeast of Bemidji in Beltrami County. I love how that name, Funkley, rolls off the tongue.

Plenty of answers rolled off my tongue Monday evening in Owatonna as Ohman asked endless questions during his Minnesota town themed game show. Who knows the county in which Ivanhoe, named after the book by Sir Walter Scott, is located? “Lincoln,” I shouted. I revealed my book smarts a second time by naming the fictional town in Sinclair Lewis’ novel, Main Street. That would be Gopher Prairie, really Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre. That earned me a prize—a pack of feline photo cards by Ohman.

I could write a whole lot more about all the towns and related information Ohman covered in his talk. But that’s his job, while mine is to highlight a few here. And also to reveal that I did incredibly well on the Ohman game show. I’ll close with one more important revelation. His favorite town name, Ohman shared, is Faith…because it takes a little faith to live (and survive) in Minnesota.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling