The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This is continued from last week’s edition of the Star Herald.
January 21, 1943
When Mrs. Jennie Savage came to Luverne in 1876, there was no town north of Main Street. There were but a few scattered trees in town, and on a clear day, one could look north and see the Mounds. From this typical frontier town, Mrs. Savage has watched Luverne grow to present size and watching transformation has proved to be very interesting.
Mrs. Savage was born Sept. 12, 1863, in Oshkosh, Wis., the daughter of Charles C. and Sarah Frances Ferson Drew. Her father was in the lumber business and owned a small mill at Oshkosh. Mrs. Savage states that she doesn’t know what led her father to decide to leave Oshkosh, but she was only a tiny girl when the family moved to Charles City, Ia.
They lived there until 1876 when they decided to move to Luverne. They made the trip in October of that year, coming the distance in an uncovered “Democrat” wagon, drawn by a team of horses, a bay and a gray.
Mrs. Savage recalls that when they arrived at Worthington, her sister, who later became Mrs. I.I. Smith, boarded the first train that came into Luverne. Immediately on her arrival, she reserved rooms in the hotel for the Drew family until Mr. Drew could build a place in which his family could live.
The building that he erected became the first furniture store in Luverne, and he became Luverne’s first furniture dealer. The structure had living quarters in the rear for the family, and this became their first home.
“I know there had been no building done north of Main Street,” Mrs. Savage recalls, “because we had our family cow tied on the vacant lots in the back of the store, and also had a garden there. Later, however, homes were erected on those lots and the town gradually grew northward.”
In speaking of the garden, Mrs. Savage said that during the grasshopper years, the residents in town would build smudges to keep the insects from destroying their garden products. Because vegetables were difficult to buy in stores in those days, virtually everyone raised a garden and had a cow to provide the family with milk. There was no creamery then, and they obtained dairy butter from the stores.
Mrs. Savage attended school in the “little white schoolhouse” in the southeast part of town. Will Donaldson was the teacher at that time, she recalls, and the enrollment was small. After finishing public school, she attended the normal training school at Winona, and upon finishing there, she returned to Rock county to teach. She taught first in the Mound school, receiving a salary of $25 per month. When a year or two later she was given a position teaching in the Magnolia school at $30 a month, she felt that she was really earning a lot of money. While teaching there, she “commuted,” travelling back and forth by train.
On Dec. 24, 1885, she was married to W. M. Savage at the home of her parents in Luverne. They moved to Watertown, S.D. where Mr. Savage was engaged in the hardware business. They became the parents of six children, four of whom are living at the present time. They are Merle Savage, New York City; Mrs. Sidney (Eloise) Burton, Grand Island, Neb.; Iral I. Savage, Penn Run, Pa.; and Charles C. Savage, Minneapolis.
After Mr. Savage’s death in 1910, Mrs. Savage continued to live in Watertown for several years, and then returned to Luverne to care for her parents. When her children became old enough so that it was time to think of their advanced education, Mrs. Savage moved to Minneapolis where they could attend the University of Minnesota. Two of them completed university courses.
A few years ago, she moved back to Luverne and this has been her home since. She has an apartment of her own, does her own work and raises numerous house plants as a hobby. She also enjoys reading, and she is now “catching up” on some of the reading she didn’t do when she was busy rearing her family.
Her social activities such as belonging to lodges and clubs are limited, she states. She is, however, one of the charter members of the Pioneer Girls, an organization founded in 1902 by a group of women who had been close friends during the early days of Luverne. The club was formed following a party held at the home of Mrs. Ruby Parker Ells., who lived in Luverne at that time. Since then they have been meeting annually.
She is a member of the Christian Science church.
Mrs. Savage, one of three girls born to the Drew family, has one living sister, Mrs. Zillah Wilson of Seattle, Wash.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.