Lindsborg Kansas

Biography of Frank Hageman

Frank Hageman, president of the National Bank of America at Salina, the largest bank in that city, and one of the strongest financial institutions in Central Kansas, is all but a native of Kansas and had been a resident of this state nearly continuously since the close of the territorial period. His name is one that had a very honorable and important connection with Kansas commercial life, his father, the late Miller Hageman, having been one of Leavenworth’s foremost wholesale merchants. The late Miller Hageman was born at Reedsburg, Ohio, in 1826. His was an example of the typical American … Read more

Biography of Fred Goodholm

Fred Goodholm. Having identified himself with the business community of Lindsborg in 1879 Fred Goodholm is a veteran merchant and citizen of that community and his life had been productive of good, had resulted in a satisfying prosperity for himself, and the influence he had exerted in his home city and the worthy family that surrounds him are tokens of a worthy and active career. Mr. Goodholm was born December 24, 1848, at Filipstad, Sweden, a son of Anders and Charlotte (Lind) Goodholm. His father, who was born in 1822 and died in 1878, spent his active career in Sweden … Read more

Biography of Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson. Business achievement far above the ordinary and the influences of a character founded on the bedrock of integrity, were the fruits of the long and active years spent by the late Daniel Johnson at Lindsborg. At the time of his death Mr. Johnson had been for thirty-nine years a merchant at Lindsborg, and was the oldest business man of the city. He built up a splendid mercantile establishment known all over that section of Kansas and still a flourishing enterprise. He gave himself with the wholesouled devotion characteristic of him to church and to all the progressive affairs … Read more

Biography of Carl Aaron Swensson, Rev. Dr.

Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson was the founder and chief upbuilder of Bethany College, the institution around which cluster the best and most noteworthy distinctions of Lindsborg as a community and from which have gone influences that now permeate and give character to many localities through the useful men and women educated there. In an important degree Bethany College is a monnment to the late Doctor Swensson, and to a nobler one few men could aspire. He was born at Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1857, a son of Jonas and Maria (Blixt) Swensson. His parents came to America in … Read more

Biography of Claes F. Norstrom

Claes F. Norstrom is among the pioneer claimtaking and homesteading element of the country around Lindsborg. In fact some of the early matters of historical interest are a part of his personal record and experience. McPherson County was a wild and untamed district when Mr. Norstrom arrived in 1868 and secured a tract of Government land adjoining the present town of Lindsborg. In that one community he had worked out his destiny and had resided there nearly half a century. Many acres were brought under cultivation and made to produce bountiful crops by his energy. His influence was not confined … Read more

Biography of William Harry Little, M. D.

William Harry Little, M. D. The community of Alta Vista in Wabaunsee County had had the capable services of Doctor Little as a physician for more than fifteen years. In connection with his large practice Doctor Little also conducts the leading drug store of the village. Doctor Little is a native of Ohio, but had spent most of his life in Kansas. He was born in Lucas County, near the City of Toledo, November 5, 1868. He is of colonial American stock, originally from Scotland. His people were early settlers in Pennsylvania and pioneers in the State of Ohio. His … Read more

Biography of Carl Otto Lincoln

Carl Otto Lincoln, a native of Lindsborg and son of one of the founders and developers of the city and community, is a highly educated gentleman and is now manager and editor of the Lindsborg News and Record. He is one of the stockholders and officials in the Bethany Publishing Company, which publishes the News and Record and also the Posten and various college magazines and papers. The News and Record is an independent journal, and was first founded in 1881 as the Smokey Valley News. In 1887 the name was changed to Lindsborg News, published by the Bethany Publishing … Read more

Biography of J. Walter Clark

J. Walter Clark. In no state in the Union, perhaps, have the public schools in recent years been given more careful consideration than in Kansas, and this is evidenced by the fact that school boards all over are insisting on higher qualifications and efficiency than ever before. They demand teachers not only of scholarship, but of high moral character, of equable temperament and conventional deportment, rightly contending that these instructors have lasting influence on the youth that is entrusted to them at the most impressionable age. Well qualified in every way is Prof. J. Walter Clark, who, for the past … Read more

Biography of Francis Johnson

Francis Johnson. What the Kansas pioneers went through in their efforts to establish homes and build up a commonwealth of material greatness and high ideals is a subject of knowledge known to Francis Johnson not from books or what other people have told him, but is part of his individual experience and recollection. He was one of the first settlers from Sweden who established homes in McPherson County in the years following the Civil war, and had always been one of the strong men of that community. His strength of body enabled him to conquer the forces of the wilderness … Read more

Biography of Bror G. Grondal

Bror G. Grondal. At the very head of the profession of photography in Kansas stands Bror G. Grondal, who for thirty consecutive years had conducted the leading studio at Lindsborg. Mr. Grondal both in his profession and in other lines of activity is a man of widely diversified experience. His career is an interesting one since he came to America in childhood years and had fought continuously a brave and unremitting struggle until he placed himself in a position where he is master of a congenial profession. Mr. Grondal is a former president of the Kansas State Photographers Association. He … Read more

Biography of Alfred Bergin B. D., Ph. D.

Alfred Bergin, B. D., Ph. D.The Bethany Church at Lindsborg ever since it was established on the prairies of Central Kansas nearly fifty years ago had been a powerful influence not only in the religious life of Kansas but to a remarkable degree in the social and intellectual advancement of the people of the state. It is the oldest and the parent church of the Swedish Lutheran people who did so much to colonize and develop these prairles from a wilderness into a smiling landscape of farms and towna. The church had a membership of over two thousand people. It … Read more

Biography of John A. Swenson

John A. Swenson. The clean civic and business record of Lindsborg owes not a little to the sterling integrity of John A. Swenson, a pioneer of the city and for many years its leading banker. Mr. Swenson was born at Falun, Sweden, April 16, 1850, a son of Nels P. and Anna Swenson. His father, who was born in April, 1823, was a blacksmith by trade. In 1865 he brought his family to America, located in Chicago, where he followed his trade two years. Another year was spent in Henry County, Iowa, and in 1868 he became one of the … Read more

Biography of Sven Birger Sandzen

Sven Birger Sandzen. A writer in the American Magazine of Art in February, 1917, paid a deserved compliment to Lindsborg as a city of art and culture better known and appreciated by the outside world than many industrial communities of greater population and wealth. This writer said: “Lindsborg had today the largest number of practicing artists in proportion to its population of any city in this country. By artists, however, is not meant merely painters, sculptors and architects, but also musicians. The musical festivals held in this city of the plains have become celebrated for their quality and musically are … Read more