Scandia Mercantile with Lake Family in front_credit Holly Kaufhold_see list of names on photo back.jpg

The Lake Family in front of the Scandia Mercantile.

 Photo submitted by Holly Kaufhold

Frank Lake’s Farmers Store was a center of community life in Scandia in the 1890s and early 1900s. Located just across the road from Elim Lutheran Church, it offered the latest fashions as well as shiny new farm equipment. When Lake built a barn just behind his store, it was not simply to stable his delivery horses. He added the windmill to pull water from deep underground and the elevated tankhouse. Wooden pipes supplied his business, home and neighbors with fresh water. A horse-drawn wagon delivered water to outlying homes and farms, and Scandia businesses flourished.

Few people today realize how important windmills were before electrification came to rural homes. When choosing a homestead, early settlers preferred a site near a lake, pond, or creek to provide for their immediate needs – water for drinking and cleaning, as well as fish for food. Once the farm had domestic animals, a well was needed for clean water because the natural water source was no longer safe for humans. But wells were expensive and difficult to drill.

  

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