by Dennis Dalman
Once again, as it was last summer, the free-of-charge “Sartell History Walking Tours” will take place through the summer and into early fall.
Led by knowledgeable historian, long-time Sartell resident Dennis Molitor, the tour will occur every second and fourth Wednesday, with a tour at 10 a.m. and another at 6 p.m. Molitor is a member of the Sartell Historical Society.
The tours began in early May and will last through September. A maximum of eight people will be on each tour.
To register for a tour, call the Sartell Community Center at 320-258-7331 or email tina.engel@sartellmn.com.
Each of the tours will begin at Riverside Plaza, near the “old” Coborn’s grocery store, and proceed south on Riverside Avenue to Sartell Street. Each tour is about a one-mile loop in length and takes about an hour.
Along the way, Molitor will point out landmarks and interesting facts about how history developed by or near Riverside Avenue 100 years ago. Among the tour’s highlights are the 19th Century sawmill and lumber yard, the paper mill that flourished for a century, the white clapboard house where city founder Joseph B. Sartell lived later in his life, a much-used pedestrian bridge across the river used by residents and workers years ago, the dam on the river, the Sartell Store and the DeZurik Valve Co. on the river’s west side.
