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economy rebounded and flourished in the 1920s, agriculture remained in a deep funk, <br />suffering from the triple curse of low prices, agricultural surpluses, and declining per -acre <br />productivity, particularly in marginal farming areas such as Sherburne County. <br />The Staves were an elderly couple when they purchased this farm. They were retired Iowa <br />farmers, living with a daughter in the Park Rapids area. They probably assisted their son to <br />start farming by purchasing the land for their thirty -year -old son, Frederick, who married <br />Olive Gilbert on February 22, 1921. Frederick and Olive's first child was born in <br />Minneapolis, but their second child, Frederick Louis, was born in 1925 in Becker. <br />Tragedy struck this farm again in the late 1920s when the Staves' farmhouse burned down. <br />The dwelling on the Stave farm north of the village was destroyed by fire last <br />Wednesday afternoon. The Stave family lost practically all of their household <br />goods. A sewing bee was held at the Ray and Jay Johnson home Friday <br />afternoon to sew for the unfortunate family. (Sherburne County Star News, <br />March 10, 1927) <br />After seeking temporary refuge with Jake and Jeannie Clitty, a neighboring family, the <br />Staves moved to the Park Rapids area. Not long after, the Aetna Life Insurance Company <br />foreclosed on their land. (Kurt Kragness, "Uncovering the Past," Historically Speaking, <br />SCHS, 6; Bobbie Scott, "Abandoned Farmstead at the Heritage Center," SCHS, typescript) <br />(I recommend additional research about the Staves' farming operation. If the property tax <br />records are no longer available, check in the 1920 and 1925 manuscript agricultural census <br />records to find more information. The Clitty farming operation could also be documented in <br />the 1900 census and the James operation in the 1910 manuscript agricultural census. Did the <br />James family lose the land to foreclosure, as is suggested by an investment company's <br />ownership in 1913?) <br />Theme statement <br />Theme 1: People searching for opportunities have always recognized the unique resources of <br />Sherburne County. <br />Subtheme 1.1. People from all over the world chose to make Sherburne County their home; <br />their values shape our communities today. <br />Theme 2: Being on the edge where three ecological land types meet enabled easy <br />transportation and access to natural resources and economic resources. <br />Subtheme 2.3. Trails, roads, and rails developed in the corridor along the edge of the <br />Mississippi River, prairie, pine forest, and deciduous forest. <br />Subtheme 2.4. Sherburne County's edge landscape included plentiful lakes, wetlands, and <br />abundant wildlife that have been key to the areas' history and development. <br />Subtheme 2.5. Located on the edge of the Anoka Sandplain, the soils of Sherburne County <br />were generally sandy and drought -prone, with poor fertility and agricultural productivity. <br />Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 95 <br />