The Luck of the Irish; The Story of Maple Lake

Maple Lake is a town with a population of 2,159 located in northern Wright County in Central Minnesota.  Highway 55 and County Road 8 are the main access points to the city.  To help tell the story of Maple Lake I was joined by volunteer archivist Sue Sylvester from the Maple Lake Library and former Wright County Archivist Betty Dircks.

The earliest settlement in the area was called Geneva and was located just east of what is now Maple Lake.  Geneva was settled in 1856 but when it was time for the area to get a post office the town name "Geneva" was already taken in Minnesota.  The Post Office was named Maple Lake because it was in Maple Lake township.  Dircks says the Irish came to Geneva in 1856 and founded St. Timothy's Catholic Church.  The first church was built in 1866, in what was Geneva and when the settlement moved Maple Lake, the new St. Timothy's Catholic Church was built in 1893.  Dircks says there is evidence of early Czech settlers along with the Irish in the 1860s.

The early Irish settlers were primarily farmers according to Sylvester and much of the area was wooded.  She says it was a challenge for the early farmers because they needed to remove the trees to get to the farm land.  Sylvester says farmer James Madigan drew up a plat for the town of Maple Lake in 1886.  She says Madigan was negotiating with the railroad at the time.  If the railroad agreed to come through his town he was willing to give up 50% of his lots to the railroad plus he wanted a depot in Maple Lake. The railroad arrived in Maple Lake in 1886 and led to more industry which included the growth of logging, hotels, grocery stores, hardware stores, a farm implement store and saloon/bars.  Sylvester says once the railroad came through Maple Lake, Geneva died.  Geneva was located off of what is now County Road 37. Dircks says only trees are where Geneva once was.

Maple Avenue was the first main street and was referred to as "Easy Street".  In 1890 numerous fires burned down the buildings on Easy Street.  The current city hall is located on what was Easy Street.  Birch Avenue is now where downtown Maple Lake is primarily located.  In the 1920s the city underwent numerous changes which included the addition of car dealerships and gas stations.  Sylvester says with cars, more and more people went fishing, and resorts in the area popped up on area lakes.

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Maple Lake is known for successful baseball teams and still is.  Sylvester says baseball has been a great tradition in the community for many years and the baseball stadium is great.  The Maple Lake Lakers amateur baseball team has won four state titles in 1931, 1939, 2012 and 2023.

Sylvester offered some ways Maple Lake is unique.  Maple Lake has an airport. It has been in Maple Lake since 1964.  It is a non-towered airport with an estimated 25 to 50 planes landing each day.  It is currently home to the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 878.  They are making all sorts of improvements.  It provides Legacy Pilot training Flight School run by Jim Shadduck.

Bernatello's Pizza came to Maple Lake in 1985.  They offer a variety of frozen pizzas for sale in grocery stores that are made right in Maple Lake.  Jude Candy and Tabacco started in Maple Lake in 1935.  This eventually became Jude Vending and Advantage Paper.  The majority of the company was sold to Bernicks in St. Cloud in 2010.  However, the library is still getting its paper products from Jude vending located  in Maple Lake.

The Costume Shoppe and Pricilla Mooseburger Originals are in Maple Lake.  Sylvester says she doesn't know too many towns who claim to have a professional clown doing business in their town.  Tricia Manuel worked as a professional clown for Barnum and Bailey Circus and Disneyland.  In 1989 she brought to Maple Lake a new business called Pricilla Mooseburger Originals.  Tricia designs professional clown costumes and then makes the costumes.  She has a huge mail order business.  Also, Tricia every summer puts on a clown camp where people come from all over the United States to attend.  The culmination of their camp is for the participants to perform in a clown show for the community.

The Maple Lake Library which is downtown is going on its 16^th year.  This library is a public library run completely by volunteers.  It is financially supported by the patrons, business owners, Maple Lake City Hall, surrounding township governments and community organizations.  The library also holds fundraisers.  The next one is October 12 at the Legion.  The library also has a large archival area which has collected Maple Lake and surrounding township's histories.  They currently have all of James R. Judes 1946 photographs on display at the library for the public's enjoyment.  Check the library's website, maplelakelibrary.org to see all the news and events happening at our library.

Famous people from Maple Lake include James Jude.  He supplied the Maple Lake Library with photos of Maple Lake from 1946.  Jude is also known for being 1 of 3 people who was instrumental for the development of CPR.

The biggest city celebration is on St. Patrick's Day and they now have Gear Head Days.  Dircks says on Gear Head Days everyone who wishes brings old cars, motorcycles, tractors, and lawn mowers to town for everyone to see.

If you'd like to listen to my 2-part conversation with Sue and Betty, it is available below.