As more and more people from the younger generation moved from the farms and into town, a lot of new businesses began opening. The Trolley Car Diner opened next to the movie theater, and in 1920, a Miss Dixie Cahill rented the large room upstairs over the drugstore and opened the Dixie Cahill School of Tap and Twirl. And shortly thereafter, a lot of little girls and a few unhappy boys were immediately signed up.
Over at the picture show, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were making them laugh. And all the boys and girls in town had each fallen madly in love with their own special movie star. Mrs. Eggstrom even showed up at the box office and claimed that Greta Garbo was her second cousin on her father’s side by marriage. It was a long shot, but she did get a free ticket and a bag of popcorn.
— ELMWOOD SPRINGS CONTINUED TO miss Lordor Nordstrom. May 22, the date the town had been incorporated, had been officially named Founder’s Day. Every year on that date, the city council and the entire grammar school and high school came up to Still Meadows and placed a huge bouquet on Lordor Nordstrom’s grave. Later, everyone in town would gather at the outdoor stage in the park for the annual pageant.
Lucille Beemer wrote, directed, and produced a musical pageant:
* * *
FROM SWEDEN TO MISSOURI: THE SAGA OF LORDOR NORDSTROM
* * *
The inspiring story told in song and dance of how in 1880, the twenty-eight-year-old Swedish pioneer left his homeland, traveled to the area, and cleared the land now called Elmwood Springs.
* * *
The pageant depicted Lordor and all the other early pioneer families arriving in the area one by one, each bringing farm animals and farm tools with them. Men were dressed in overalls, ladies in long dresses and gingham bonnets.
The pageant, first staged and performed in 1920, went off very well, except that some of the farm animals that had been cast as farm animals had misbehaved. In later years, they used large cardboard cutouts of sheep, pigs, cows, and mules instead. Not nearly as authentic, but as Lucille Beemer said, “Better safe than sorry.”
Since Katrina’s younger brother, Olaf Olsen, had taken over the shoe department at the Morgan Brothers Department Store, it had become very busy. All the children in town loved to come in and have him measure their feet with the silver and black steel sliding measuring device. After he measured their feet, he would always act surprised and kid them about how big their feet were, tell them that they were going to grow up and be a ten-foot giant, and then give them a stick of peppermint candy. Besides being a friendly type of person, Olaf also had the kind of looks and manners that all the ladies and girls appreciated: hair slicked back, and always wearing a nice, neat white collar. Naturally, he had a lot of female customers who would come in at least once a week and spend an hour or so trying on shoes. He didn’t mind. He knew they would eventually buy a pair.
—
IT WAS A SATURDAY in May of 1921, and Olaf was, at present, waiting on three ladies who were busy discussing their favorite topic, Ingrid Nordstrom. As Olaf was removing the eighth pair of shoes from a box for Mrs. Bell to try on, she said, “Oh, and Olaf, how is that darling little daughter of yours…little Bertha?”
He smiled. “You mean Beatrice?”
“That’s right, Beatrice.”
“She is just fine, Mrs. Bell. She and her school friend Elner Knott are at the movies. They should be here any minute now.”
“How old is she now?”
“Ten, almost eleven.”
“Ah, well, you won’t have to worry about finding her a husband for a while, yet.”
When Olaf left to go into the back room and bring out more shoes, the ladies continued their conversation about Ingrid Nordstrom. “She was such a daddy’s girl. I don’t think she’ll ever find anybody who could live up to Lordor Nordstrom,” said Mrs. Bell.
“No, he was one of a kind. They just don’t make men like that anymore,” Mabel Whooten said, weighing in on the subject. “Well, even if she doesn’t find a man, Miss Beemer never married, and she seems happy enough.”
“Of course, she seems happy, Mabel,” said Mrs. Gumms, “but you know, no woman is really happy without a home and children.”
Mrs. Bell said, “I’m not so sure about that. Oh, not that I don’t love Lloyd and the children, but still…it might be nice to have a little time to myself every once in a while.” She sighed. “But even so, I just hope, for Ingrid’s sake, she finds somebody nice.”
Finally, after six more pairs of shoes were trotted out, Mrs. Bell tried on a pair that felt comfortable. But when she took them off and looked at the size, she was alarmed. “Olaf, I wear a size five. These are size seven!”
Olaf looked at the shoe and said, “Oh, Mrs. Bell, you’re right. This brand always runs exactly two sizes too small. It’s really a five.”
“Oh, I see….Well, in that case, I’ll take them.”
After the two ladies left and Olaf was gathering up all the boxes of rejects, he had to smile. They had forgotten that Ingrid Nordstrom was his niece. He’d known Ingrid all her life. He wasn’t worried about her one bit.
Just then, his daughter, Beatrice, came running through the store and back to the shoe department, dragging her friend Elner Knott by the hand. “Daddy, Elner wants you to measure her feet!”
He laughed. “Okay…come here, honey. Take off your shoes and put your foot right here.” Elner took off her shoes and placed her foot on the machine. “Stand up straight now, and don’t move.” Olaf pulled the lever back until it touched her toes and noted the size. Elner had rather large feet for a girl her age. But he didn’t tell her that. He feigned surprise and said, “Oh, my…look at that. Why, Elner, you have the exact same size feet as Princess Margaret of Sweden. You must have royal blood.” Then he looked at Beatrice with mock solemnness. “Beatrice, we have to do exactly what she tells us to do from now on.”
Beatrice giggled and said, “Now do my feet, Daddy.”
—
ELNER, AS SHE OFTEN DID, spent that night in town with Beatrice. Later, when they were in bed, as young girls do, they talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Beatrice was very specific. She said, “I want to marry a handsome man and have three children, two boys and one little girl, and I’m going to name her Hanna Marie, after my grandmother in Sweden. What about you, Elner? How many children do you want?”
Elner thought about it, then said, “Oh, I don’t know, Beatrice. Momma said having babies is awful painful. I think I’d just as soon have a litter of kittens myself.”
Beatrice laughed and said, “You can’t have kittens, silly!”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a person. You have to have babies.”
“I do?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s too bad. I’d rather have kittens.”
1922
To everyone’s surprise, Lordor and Katrina’s daughter, Ingrid, became the very first female to attend the famous Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine. But it had not been easy.