Cities and Towns | Page 83

Street scene

Frank Wostrel's hardware store, left side of the image, where the first floor exploded during the cyclone, dropping the second level to the ground, 1904. Part of the first floor walls can be seen just to the left of the building.

Sherman House Hotel

The Sherman House Hotel after the storm, 1904. It is the building in the center, next to the large tree. The photo shows the entire front of the building laying in the street in the foreground. Witness accounts say nothing inside the building was moved.

Sherman House Hotel

Sherman House, Joseph and Albert Miller, Prop. Waconia, Minnesota, c.1890s.

Waconia Cyclone, August 20, 1904

On August 20, 1904, a large cyclone hit the City of Waconia, changing the face of the city forever.

Photograph shows children waiting to check out books at the Waconia Public Library

Children at the Waconia Public Library

Children checking books out with the librarian at the Waconia Public Library.

A black and white photograph showing CCHS President O.D. Sell in Mayer with a donated banner from the German Reading Society.

O. D. Sell with a banner from the German Reading Society

CCHS President O.D. Sell in Mayer with a donated banner from the German Reading Society, 1942.

Carver County Library System

Libraries have been a part of Carver County history since the county was started. The earliest library began in 1858, and many more followed. In the twenty-first century, there are five full libraries and three express library branches. Total circulation is over one million books per year and rising.