The Pursuit of Oddball Minnesota
Oddball Minnesota: A guide to some really strange places, by Jerome Pohlen was chosen as our periodic photo-op directory. We don't make 'em, we just photograph 'em.
Blue Earth, MN - September 18, 2005
Good Thunder, MN - September 18, 2005
A local told us to check out the dam down the road...
...and he told us to visit The Dam Store.
Darwin, MN - February 19, 2005
For info on the "by 1 man" fine print, visit: http://www.thom.org/gallery/set/twine.html
That's right. It's the Twine Ball Inn!
Cosmos, MN - February 19, 2005
Cosmos used to be called Nelsonville.
An enthusiastic resident felt that giving the town a loftier name...
might bring a University to town.
This is South Milky Way.
Dawson, MN - October 25, 2004
The Gnomes of Dawson
Olivia, MN - October 22, 2004
Granite Falls, MN - October 22, 2004
Oldest rock in the world.
It's 3,800,000,000 years old.
Brainerd, MN - August 25, 2004
Castle shaped water tower.
Paul Bunyan Land
Big Paul.
Garrison, MN - August 25, 2004
Big Walleye
Big Robin Hood at Sherwood Forest Mobile Home Park
Lake City and Wabasha - May 8, 2004
Monument to Waterskiing - Lake City, MN
Historic Anderson House - Wabasha (www.historicandersonhouse.com)
You can get a cat for your room at the Anderson house.
We opted out of the pimped cat program.
Arrowhead Bluffs Museum & Gift Shop - Wabasha
The proprietor and his son bagged all of these animals.
Every model of Winchester Rifle EVER made.
Suilmann's Grotto & Museum - Wabasha (now defunct)
Slippery's Tavern - Wabasha (Grumpy Old Men plays continuously)
April 24, 2003 - North St. Paul
World's Largest Snowman
Donna and Hannah with fellow oddballers Franci and Carter Rogers
White Bear Lake
World's Largest Polar Bear
Checkin' out the Monte Carlo
Buckle up!
April 18, 2003 - St. Paul
481 Laurel Avenue - F. Scott Fitzgerald Birthplace
825 Fairmount Avenue - Amelia Earhart lived here during her first years in High School, 1913 to 1915
April 10, 2003 - St. Paul
Summit Ave Haunted House
Summit Ave Undertaker's House
That's a casket on the roof!
Transit Workers' Rally at the Capitol
First Shot of WWII Fired from this Gun
John Dillinger stayed here...
and escaped from the cops.
Sarah Jane Olsen did not escape from the cops...
...she was arrested here.
April 4, 2003 - Minneapolis
Mary Richards' 1st apartment.
Mary Richards' 2nd apartment.
The Polka Dot House. The artist who lives here uses her home to draw attention to herself to promote her art.
Minnehaha Falls.
Why is this oddball?
Well, just upstream this statue of Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha commemorates Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha" a poem about two people who didn't exist written by a man who never visited the falls.
Watch out! That first step is a duesy!
November 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2003 - North Shore
Monument to the 418 people who died in the Great Hinkley fire
Four trench graves where the remains of 248 Hinkley residents are buried.
"The Historic Pit" where 100 Hinkley residents, along with pets, farm animals and wild animals survived the fire.
Statues at the Pit
Big Louie the Voyageur - Barnum
Pierre the Voyageur - Two Harbors
Can somebody get this guy a pair of pants?
The Lighthouse B&B. (www.lighthousebb.org)
Fiberglass rooster outside Weldon's Gift Shop - Two Harbors
SS William A. Irvin - Duluth (www.williamairvin.com)
Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum - Duluth (www.rain.org/~karpeles/index.html)
The Duluth Lynchings - Duluth (we don't understand why this is oddball)
Three black men, falsely accused of rape, were lynched on June 15, 1920.
Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie were circus workers.
Park Hill Cemetery - Duluth
Clayton, Jackson and McGhie are buried in this cemetery
Rocky Taconite - Silver Bay
Frank Lloyd Wright's two story gas station - Cloquet
Another giant voyageur - Cloquet
Still another giant voyageur, chainsaw-carved from a giant redwood (ironic!) - Pine City
October 27, 2003 - Anoka - Halloween Capital of the World
City Hall from across the river.
Closer to the neon jack-o-lantern
It winks!
October 12, 2003 - The Spam Museum in Austin
Itasca Rock Garden - Albert Lea
Little Mermaid - Albert Lea
The P-38s - Owatonna
