Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Update: The Dam Store is gone June 29, 2024

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:26 AM
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The Dam Store photographed in 2010. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2010)

A FIXTURE NEAR THE RAPIDAN DAM since 1910, The Dam Store is no more. On Friday, crews demolished the historic eatery along the Blue Earth River in southern Minnesota.

Its collapse into the water seemed inevitable after the flooded river carved a path around the west side of the dam, eroding the land, taking down trees, buildings and an electrical substation. The Dam Store appeared next in line.

Officials considered their options, including consulting a professional about moving the store, according to media reports. When that was deemed unsafe, the decision was made to demolish the building. If the river claimed the store, that would add more debris to float downstream, creating additional hazards and safety risks.

Before demolition, the Hruska family, which has owned The Dam Store for some 50 years, and friends removed items from the long-time business. The store opened in 1910 to serve workers constructing the Rapidan Dam.

The loss of The Dam Store is a major loss not only to the Hruska family and locals, but also to the region and to Minnesota. It’s more than a place to grab a burger and a slice of homemade pie. It’s an icon, a destination, one of those genuine slice of Americana spots that stands out for its quaintness, friendliness, uniqueness and great food. Did I mention the pies?

The Hruska family has already stated this is not the end of The Dam Store. I believe them. For now, though, they have much to deal with emotionally and otherwise. The family home, near the store, fell into the river earlier this week. It’s a lot. But the community has rallied to support them financially via donations through GoFundMe and an account at MinnStar banks in Mankato and Lake Crystal. I expect the outpouring of support for this family to continue.

TO READ about my visit to The Dam Store in 2010, click here for a post published on June 26.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Revisiting The Dam Store in Rapidan, now threatened by a raging river June 26, 2024

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:33 PM
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The Dam Store in Rapidan, photographed in 2010. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO, I wrote a magazine feature story on The Dam Store, a rural southern Minnesota business serving up food, bait and tackle. People travel for miles to buy a burger and a slice of homemade pie here. It’s the kind of place that appeals to me—unpretentious and welcoming. Cozy, homey and comfortable, with great food.

The calm Blue Earth River, photographed in 2010, looks nothing like this today. The raging river has taken out trees, a house, a county shed, and electrical substation as it cut a new path around the Rapidan Dam. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

The small eatery is located by the Rapidan Dam, a dam which has been in the news all week due to its possible imminent failure. Thus far, the dam has held. But the roaring, overflowing Blue Earth River carved a path around the dam to the west, eventually claiming the Hruska family’s riverside home. They run the nearby cafe.

This shows the short distance from the dam walkway to The Dam Store. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
The Hruska family, including Jenny Barnes, has run The Dam Store for some 50 years. Her nearby childhood home fell into the raging river Tuesday evening. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
The Dam Store has been written about often as shown in this wall of feature stories. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

The Dam Store sits a short distance away, close enough that it could possibly be overcome by floodwaters. At least that’s my non-professional opinion. And if that worries me, I can only imagine how the family feels.

Delicious burger and fries. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
Notebooks full of praise for The Dam Store. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
Homemade rhubarb pie. The Dam Store is known for its fruit and cream pies. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

This place is a treasure. A destination. A slice of Americana run by folks who care deeply about their customers. People rave about The Dam Store. I read that in comments filling a notebook when I was there back in 2010. I feel the same. To dine here is an experience, a step back in time to days when life seemed simpler.

Public officials are now concerned about the integrity of this bridge as the river is no longer flowing over the Rapidan Dam but cutting a path to the west. This 2010 photo shows a low, calm river. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
The Dam Store was packed with diners during my 2010 stop. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)
The dam, built in 1908-1910, is 475 feet wide and measures 87 feet from the top to the streambed. This 2010 image shows a section of the dam and the nearby bridge, now in jeopardy due to river bank erosion by floodwaters. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

The scene unfolding today in Rapidan is decidedly one of concern and watchfulness. And for many, one of hope. Hope that The Dam Store will remain standing, untouched by floodwaters. The building has been there since 1910, the eatery in the Hruska family for more than 50 years. This is their history, their life, their livelihood. Their home. Their place.

The main dining area of The Dam Store with booths and lunch counter. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

The Rapidan Heritage Society has established a relief fund for the Hruska family with donations accepted at MinnStar Bank offices in Mankato and Lake Crystal. Click here for more information.

These guys ordered burgers at the lunch counter. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2010)

Now, until The Dam Store reopens—and I’m being optimistic that this will all turn out OK—enjoy these photos taken in 2010. I think you’ll understand why this place is so popular, so loved.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Returning to my Minnesota prairie roots September 12, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:58 PM
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THIS AFTERNOON, my husband, son and I returned from a weekend trip to my beloved prairie, southwestern Minnesota. The journey brought stops along the way and back—one which stretched into a 2-hour lunch at The Dam Store, a food/live bait/tackle place just outside Rapidan near Mankato.

This homey joint, which sits next to the Rapidan Dam on the scenic Blue Earth River, advertises the “BEST DAM HAMBURGERS AND PIE BY A DAM SITE.” That’s no lie. But you won’t read about it here. I’m planning a magazine feature story on this kitschy 100-year-old café/store. That explains the lengthy lunch hour (or rather two), of a cheeseburger and fries and dam good homemade chocolate caramel pecan pie, that evolved into interviews and photo-taking.

You'll find great hamburgers and homemade pies at The Dam Store, an unassuming century old eatery.

As we traveled west toward our destination in rural Lamberton in Redwood County, I filled my camera with images from the road, setting a fast shutter speed and zooming down the passenger-side car window or aiming through the windshield whenever a photo op arose.

All along that drive, I gawked at the sky, the wide, wide prairie sky that I can never get enough of no matter how many times I view it.

Likewise, I cannot get enough of this land where I grew up. Here the soil and sky and wind taught me how to see and smell and feel and listen, and because of that, how to write with a detailed, grassroots style.

Returning to southwestern Minnesota renews my gratefulness for roots that reach deep into the earth. Even though I left this land 36 years ago, I remain forever connected to the prairie, “home” in my heart.

Driving U.S. Highway 71 in southwestern Minnesota, you can see a sky and land that stretches beyond forever.

Empty corn cribs on the prairie await another harvest. Or perhaps they are no longer used.

Even a collapsed barn possesses a certain beauty on the prairie. While I saw many barns in disrepair or falling apart, I also saw many that still stand, strong and proud in this wind-swept land.

Sheep and a horse graze in a roadside pasture.

A lone silo leaves me wondering, "What happened to the barn?"

(I shot the landscape photos while we were traveling along U.S. Highway 71 between Minnesota Highway 30 and U.S. Highway 14 in southwestern Minnesota on Saturday.)

UPON OUR RETURN to southeastern Minnesota, I grabbed today’s Faribault Daily News from the mailbox to find my photo, and a feature story about me, splashed across the front page. Several days ago reporter James Warden interviewed me about my blogging.

I’ll be honest and tell you that I’d been dodging the interview with James because I’m a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight. I much prefer the other side of the notebook and camera.

Even though I would have preferred my story tucked discreetly inside the pages of the newspaper, I cannot contain my enthusiasm for James’ reporting and writing. He captured the essence of me and my blogging style by using words and descriptions and details that would be fitting of a Minnesota Prairie Roots blog post.

If you’d like to check out journalist James’ take on me and my blogging, click here.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling