By Julie Huebel, PCHA
ELMWOOD, WI – Growing up in a small town, your classmates are like your family, for better or worse. I had a real love/hate relationship with one of my classmates, he hated that that I was so chatty and bubbly and I loved how upset he would get about it. LOL! When I came across a cool photo of a policeman in the Pierce County Historical Association (PCHA) archives a few years back that looked like it was pulled right from a scene in an old movie, I was immediately curious as it was labeled with a familiar name to me. The same name as an old classmate of mine, Glenn Young.
I was compelled to find out what the connection between the two Glenn Youngs could be. Now, you will learn too, because Y is for Young… The man in the photo was Glenn Earl Young who was born in Cashton, Wisconsin on May 28, 1911, to Truman and Belle (Chapman) Young.
Betty Olson contributed her memories of the Young family for the Elmwood centennial book:
“In 1918, Truman Young, his wife Belle, and two sons, Gary and Glenn were living in Cashton, WI. They became acquainted with Floyd Thompson, who was employed in the local bank. He told them about Elmwood and suggested they move to Elmwood where there was a need of a dray line to meet the train and make deliveries. (Clarification: a “dray line” is a business that used to haul goods a short distance from the train to local businesses via horse-drawn carts, called drays.) The Young family made the move and Truman met the train daily with his dray wagon. They lived in various houses before building the red brick home at the south end of Main Street. Eventually, they realized other opportunities to serve the public. Mrs. Young worked with Mike Zimmer and put up ice in Spring Valley to be delivered in the Elmwood area. Glenn drove the truck to Spring Valley to pick up the ice that was then stored in a small shed in Elmwood. He carried water with him while making deliveries and while weighing the ice for the customers he washed off the sawdust. He then put the ice in the customers’ icebox. Of course, as more housewives purchased refrigerators the need for the “ice man” diminished. In fact, the business ended following the flood of 1941 (Correction: flood was 1942). Truman had two or three milk cows and started supplying his neighbors with milk. There was the start of the Young Dairy. The cow barn was in Elmwood. He increased his herd and the cows were milked twice a day. The milk bottles were washed in the kitchen and milk bottled for delivery morning and night. At the time milk was delivered to the customer for $.05 a pint and $.09 a quart. Later, Young’s built a milk house that had room for washing bottles and bottling the milk. It also housed a large refrigerator. Mr. Young took the farm milk to the Elmwood Creamery and pushed for pasteurized milk to be bottled and delivered. Guy Young helped in his father’s business. Truman passed away in 1947; Henry Peterson was hired to help with the milk delivery. Arnie McKemon also helped during summer vacation from his teaching.”
Glenn had an older brother Guy born in 1904 and two sisters, Annie and Orla who died in childhood. Guy graduated from Elmwood High School and attended the Stout Institute in Menomonie. He died at age 42. His jobs in town were documented by “Lars” Kirby in a section he contributed to the book done on Elmwood’s history, Life in the Valley: Elmwood’s First 100 Years. Lars wrote: “While you were at the depot, you might go over where Guy Young was loading ice into the refrigerator cars. The ice had to be pulled up to the top of the car and dumped down the opening on the top of the car. The ice was made in Elmwood not far from the depot. They used to make ice in the Eau Galle River and put it in storage packed in sawdust. Guy was also the railway express delivery person for Elmwood.”
He also wrote: “The railroad did cause some employment in Elmwood. Guy Young was the local dray man. He would deliver railway express, and freight coming in on the train. He also cut ice out of the river in winter and used it for loading cars that would be loaded with butter. Glenn Young used to also have the ice route in town, delivering ice to taverns and also residences for their iceboxes. Many kids would trail along behind the ice truck and get chunks of ice to suck on in hot, summer days. All you had to do was rinse the sawdust off it. The Eau Galle River must have been clean in those days as we never got sick, I don’t think we did.”
On August 9, 1933, Glenn married Mabel Leona Larson. They had two sons, Douglas and Roger. Glenn’s career in law enforcement began when he was appointed marshal of the Village of Elmwood in 1948. In 1949, he moved to Ellsworth after being appointed village marshal there. He began his duties as Chief of Police for the City of River Falls May 1, 1951. Jim Sacia in his book Not In My Wildest Dreams: Memoirs of a Veteran FBI Agent recalls a story told to him by Glenn while Jim was an officer in the River Falls Police Department.
“In 1953, the department got a new Chevrolet squad car, equipped with the department’s first automatic transmission. Being proud of his new squad Glenn backed the car beside Moody Chevrolet Garage which was at that time located on Main Street. He was watching for speeders but also allowing the customers at Moody’s to view the new squad. Glenn observed a dark colored large Buick traveling at a high rate of speed. Glenn, thinking of the safety of his citizens, thought “you can’t drive through my town like that!” He pulled it into first the same way he had over all those years of driving stick. However, the result of his forgetting the new automatic transmission was to launch the car backwards into the Kinnickinnic River. No one was hurt and you guessed it…the Buick got away. Glenn swore that Moody’s never charged the city for the wrecker that pulled the squad from the river. They even gave the city back their old squad to use a loaner until the new squad dried out.”
Glenn served as Chief of Police until 1957 when he accepted a position with the Campus Security at the University of River Falls. Glenn died April 27, 1973, and Mabel died on March 30, 2007. Both are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, WI.
Glenn the elder’s daughter-in-law (and mother of my classmate), Robyn (Larson) Young, tragically died in the big 1980 storm that hit the area that fateful day in July at only age 25. She had married Roger Young in 1975 and had lost a two-year-old daughter in 1979 and had their son, Glenn, who was just a baby at the time his mother passed away.
