These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
February 2, 2025
In just 2 years, the Roseau County Historical Society will turn 100 years old. It was originally a temporary
society formed to preserve the history of Roseau County. The original officers were President E. E.
Billberg, Vice President J. W. Durham, Secretary G. I. Brandt, and Treasurer P. O. Fryklund.
Eddy Billberg was the County Superintendent of Schools. Jeremiah W. Durham had been the first Sheriff
of Roseau County after it split from Kittson County in 1895. Both of those men had written historical
accounts of the County. Per Olaf Fryklund was a taxidermist and collector of relics, curios, and articles
used by the local people. He had immigrated from Dalarna Sweden in 1882 with his parents when he
was just a boy. Before he filed on a homestead in 1894 in what was to become Roseau County, he had
been engaged in tailoring in Minneapolis. He continued to spend part of his time in Minneapolis and
part in Roseau County after filing on his homestead. Collecting curiosities had been his hobby since he
was only six or seven, and people knowing of his interest would bring unusual items to him for study and
explanation. Thus he became a sort of community custodian for odd and unusual discoveries. He had
been a storekeeper, a farmer, a postmaster, and then became Clerk of District Court in Roseau County,
retiring in 1944 after serving six terms in that position. He lived in Badger for a while and his collection
could be seen in his store there.
In 1937 the WPA built a large white municipal building to be used for City of Roseau offices and other
functions. In 1945, the Society acquired the Fryklund collection and used it as a basis for the Museum
which was incorporated that same year. It was housed upstairs in the Municipal Building. The collection
was a source of wonder for groups of school children from surrounding communities for many years and
has been visited by people from all over the world. Mr. Fryklund had been encouraged by his father to
find some books on taxidermy to preserve a fine deer head that he thought Per could work on. Per had
no formal training, only what he learned on his own from books. He preserved many birds and animals
which were stored at the Municipal Building.
He had a large collection of bird’s eggs, one of which was a passenger pigeon’s egg. They have been
extinct for many years. Per had found the egg as a boy, packing it in cotton with other birds’ eggs and
forgot about it. Years later he found it, marked “wild pigeon”. He took it with him to the Twin Cities and
showed it to Dr. Thomas S. Roberts, famous Minnesota “bird man” at the University of Minnesota. He
identified it for Per, telling him he had one like it himself.
Following a lot of planning and efforts by Roseau Mayor John Reese, about 2 months after his retirement,
a report from the office of Congressman Bob Bergland was announced by the Times-Region stating that
the Economic Development Agency had authorized a $326,400 grant for Roseau to build the Roseau
Museum-Library complex, with the village expected to add $81,000 for the project. At that time it was
expected that 23 jobs would be created by the project, hoping most of them would be local people.
When it was completed in 1976, it was used for about 25 years before falling victim to the flood in 2002.
Each move of the Roseau County Museum has been to an ever-growing space with better capabilities to
care for the collection. The Museum is now part of the Roseau City Center that houses City offices, the
City Library, Law Enforcement Center, college off-site classrooms, and event space. Even with a large
storage area besides the space for exhibits and family research, there’s very little room to expand. The
shelving in the storage area was beginning to sag under the weight of so many artifacts, and our
Director/Curator Britt Dahl wrote a grant through the Minnesota Historical Society to purchase mobile,
compactible shelving units that increased storage by 60%. The shelving project alone was mostly
covered by a grant of over $275,000, and a grant for a collection management program will create a
more thorough way to look up each item in the museum storage based on donor information and item
history. Each item is numbered and placed on shelves. They are entered into the collection program for
accessibility and knowledge of the collection.
We have been very fortunate to have generous support from the Roseau County Board, who allocate
funds to help the museum with the operations and payroll expenses. Those funds aren’t enough to fully
fund the museum, however. Britt also applies for grants to bring in special programming and sends out
fundraising letters to help fund specific projects each year. We rely on our Historical Society members to
help support the daily operations, office and archival supplies, and extra program expenses.
With a very small staff, Britt also seeks help from volunteers and has a variety of tasks to suggest if you
have some time to come in for a few hours now and then. Some volunteers have worked for many years
doing things like typing and transcribing, needlework, moving items for new exhibits, helping with
correspondence, and clipping newspapers and filing in the research area.
During the month of February, we hope to increase our membership numbers. You’ll be helping the
Museum care for the artifacts and documents that tell the story of Roseau County. Keep an eye out for
announcements of events open to the public. If you haven’t been into the museum in a while, come and
have a look. During the Pandemic, the museum was closed, and Britt oversaw a project during those
many months to replace the lighting fixtures, making them more efficient and less damaging to the
collection. That required moving a lot of things out of the way for the electricians to complete their
work, so it was a perfect time to change the layout of the museum gallery and create new exhibits.
Another recent change was to update the theatre with better acoustics and equipment. This was paid
for by private donations, grants, and fund drives. We’re always very grateful for the public’s interest and
financial help. Members get newsletters each year and can benefit from ten free photocopies and
access to all the Family Files, military files, and publications in the research area. Come in and see what
has been filed for your family and add to it if you can.
It’s been said that it only takes two generations for someone to be forgotten after they die. You can
keep those memories alive a lot longer by contributing to the Roseau County Historical Society, whose
goal is to preserve that history locally. We’re in the 29th year of sharing stories of our county’s people
and institutions every Sunday morning on local FM station WILD 102. We’d love to share your family’s
stories, too. Share your history with the museum where it will be filed for posterity.
Thank you to 
for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.