As I returned from my 21st trip to Rio Grande Valley in Texas, I ran into a bit of history as I traveled on Highway 210 between Breckenridge and Fergus Falls and passed the community of Foxholm.
When the US voted to do away with the nationwide ban on hard liquor, Minnesota had a rule that any county that did not vote to eliminate the ban would not be allowed to have liquor stores. Otter Tail County was one of the dry counties with no liquor stores. However Wilkin County voted to eliminate the ban and was allowed even private liquor outlets.
Fergus Falls being considered a religious community was taken back some as so many Fergus people traveled the fifteen miles to Foxholm and another similar miles back to get their supply of liquor as it seemed that those who were addicted to this product didnt mind traveling those miles probably because of their addiction to the beverage.
So it appears that distance was not a problem and when the Perham City Council debates the moving of the liquor store from downtown to the new development on the highway, they should not hesitate a minute to make the move. They dont have to hire a consultant to make their decision, I give them the information free.
When I was 23 years of age, I was elected to the City Council in New York Mills and served from 1939 to 1942 when I enlisted the the Navy. The City did not have a liquor store and I think it was in 1940 when the state legislature passed a law that allowed Otter Tail County to vote again on the liquor question. This time it passed and municipal stores were allowed. I was on the committee of the council from Mills who went to the Twin Cities to buy our first supply to enable us to open the store which was on the ground floor of the City Hall. None of us knew anything about liquor so we took what the wholesale houses gave us and I guess we had some of every brand.
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Only municipal stores were first allowed but the Legislature approved private stores if the counties vote for this provision, I do not remember the date of this vote. So Otter Tail soon had both municipal and private liquor outlets, and it seemed that more and more people became addicted to this product and cities made money which they used in various ways instead of raising taxes.
Harley Karvonen
Perham, MN
