There are three stories you need to know in order to piece together this year’s hunt puzzle. I could go on in detail about each but will try to summarize. Two of the stories are about blunders. One is of a great civil servant to Northfield. I hope you’ll find this write-up interesting and educational.
I must preface this with my great respect for the Northfield News and their decades of continued support of Northfield and documenting our stories one week at a time. This is proof-positive right here as I am going to use their archives to best tell the stories.
In 2006 the Horseshoe Hunt was 9 years old. At this time I was just about to join the DJJD committee and I was hunting for this horseshoe myself. I had put in many hours walking the parks in town, seeing new things, and getting some fresh air. I would ponder just what Northfield history the writers might be drawing upon and trying to outthink them only to find myself cursing their names. Franklin and Bette Lee were the clue writers and would give all 6 clues to the media outlets in town up front, each day having its own envelope for that clue to be unsealed each morning. When I was a hunter I always wished they had planted “something” out there for us to find, even if it wasn’t the big winner. This is why I tried the mini $100 shoes this year. For people who might be close but not right on.
Suddenly it was announced that the hunt was over and someone had located the shoe. But…. an ineligible person claimed the prize after finding it in Babcock in the right field area behind the fence where horseshoe sand pits used to be. You could still see remnants of the old sand pits at that time. The horseshoe had been placed in one of the low-hanging branches of a tree nearby.
An editorial employee from the newspaper had opened a clue a day early when preparing the next publication, sending a relative to retrieve the shoe. The hunt was canceled, money donated to charity, that employee was let go and many locals were not too happy. The then editor Devlyn Brooks laid out the situation in an article which can be read here. 2006 Horseshoe Hunt Hits Snag.
The next year the Northfield News would donate $500 towards the hunt. The Committee matched that and would be the largest purse at the time. $1000 for the 10-year anniversary.
On September 7th 1876 after the attempted band robbery, men from around the area joined the manhunt for these James-Younger gang fugitives. A group of 5 (later cited as more than 5) took a wagon from Faribault to Sheildsville where they stopped at a saloon, leaving their guns in the wagon outside, unloaded. The bandits came upon the scene, realizing the wagon full of guns must belong to a posse group. The wagon owners quickly emerged from the bar, only to encounter bandits with guns drawn in their direction. The gang would leave without harming anyone. Here’s an article on this. Dead end for the James Gang.
Now, onto Dr. Fager M. Babcock. In the 1920s a local doctor spent almost all of his free time building and tending to a beautiful “Tourist Park”. See, back then there were no hotel chains, and people getting out in their vehicles driving across the country would need a place to stay. Dr. Babcock had been in the military stationed in France and saw how they had these nice parks for travelers where small cabins were available for overnight stays. He replicated this along the Cannon River on the west side just north of the 2nd street bridge. He would spend his time caring for the site, planting flowers, and built a pergola over a natural water spring that was on site just along the stone walls that lined the Cannon. This is about where the new Hampton Hotel is today and used to be where the City kept the plows, and street maintenance equipment. This land was also known as “behind Godfathers” back in the day. And before that a grocery store. “Doctor B’s Baby”, as they called it, was in that location until the 40’s when floods hampered “Northfield’s Park” (the first park in town) and the cabins were dismantled. After his death, the City would name a park after him. A twenty-nine-acre park along the Cannon. Babcock Park also incorporates the dog park and the grounds where the DJJD Rodeo is held.
Northfield once had a much-used tourist park
