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<br />P.O. Hawes built a store at Orono in 1856 so it is possible that Godfrey's store was closed <br />by then.l34 <br /> <br />(17)Orono Cooper Shop <br />Featherstone and Pollard, a cooper shop for manufacturing barrels, existed in Upper <br />Town Elk River as early as 1875.135 It was located on lots 8 and 9, block 10 of the original <br />Orono plat, on the south side of Main Street just west of the Main Street-York Avenue <br />intersection,l36 In 1880 the cooper shop was being operated as Featherstone and Company, <br />employing three people, and operating full time ten months out of the year.137 The barrels <br />made at the cooper shop were mostly used for flour by the Elk River flour mill.138 The last <br />reference to the cooper shop is in 1903. The burning of the flour mill and the loss of their <br />major client likely caused them to go out of business. 139 <br /> <br />(18)Elk River Starch Factory <br />A starch factory was started in Elk River in 1889 and was located on the south side of the <br />Jackson Avenue and Main Street intersection, where there is now an open lot, The factory <br />was incorporated by Thomas S. Nickerson, J.Q.A. Nickerson, H.O. Nickerson, W.F. <br />Chadbourne, J.F. Lewis, C.F. Stimson, Amos Houlton, E. Thomas, and H.H. Wheaton. The <br />factory used potatoes purchased from Elk River area farmers to make starch. 140 The factory <br />manufactured its first carload of starch, about eighteen tons, in September 1889, which was <br />shipped to Boston. 141 The factory burned down in 1898 after a fire got started in the livery <br />stable, which stood immediately west of the starch factory. By that time, Thomas Nickerson <br />had become the majority stock holder of the company and William H. Houlton had owned <br />the livery stab1e,142 <br /> <br />(19)OId Sherburne County Fairgrounds <br />The Sherburne County fair was held in Elk River on the piece of land that is bordered by <br />the Elk River to the west and the Mississippi River to the east, south of what is now Morton <br />and Norfolk Avenues. Although the first fair in Elk River was held at another location in <br />August 1915, the first fair at this location was held in 1916. In 1917 a pavilion was built at <br />this location that was 60 feet by 120 feet Barns for hogs, cattle, and horses were also built. <br />The fair was held here into the 1950s when it was moved to its present location. The <br /> <br />36 <br />