Dreams for a better community

There have been presidents and provosts; teachers and faculty; students and community supporters. People have dedicated their lives and careers to higher education in International Falls. And no doubt, they have impacted hundreds and even thousands of students and had an economic impact on the community.

But none of that would have been possible — there may be no college in International Falls at all — without the efforts of the Rainy Lake Women’s Club and one of its leaders, Lillian MacGregor Shaw.

Building a dream

A college in Borderland was a distant dream for students before the 1960s. They could travel 100 miles to Virginia, 115 miles to Bemidji, and similar distances to Ely, Hibbing, Eveleth, Grand Rapids and Coleraine. But students could not further their high school education without traveling away from Borderland, taking them away from their roots or facing 100-plus-mile commutes. Some would make the sacrifice and travel between home and school either during the week or each day. But it was a challenge.

Shaw saw this as a real problem for area businesses and families, which hoped to keep native sons and daughters living, working and playing in International Falls while still attaining a quality education beyond high school.

In petitions to site the college in Borderland, Shaw wrote that International Falls was the only populous area left in the state with a 100-plus mile distance to a college. There was a successful public library in the town. The college would have a major industry, Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company, as a willing employer for well-skilled graduates. A 77-acre site, the current location along Highway 71, was earmarked for donation. The natural recreation areas were attractive to students and visitors.

It was not an easy task for these women to site a college in International Falls. They had to gain community support, which was not always easy, said Shaw’s daughter, Jessie Laurion.

“In the beginning, she didn’t get any support at all, not even from her family,” Laurion said. She said even she and her siblings saw the project as too big for their mother.

But none of that would stop Lillian Shaw.

Already in her 70s, Shaw heard over the radio one morning while doing dishes that the college system was looking to expand. Shaw immediately thought of International Falls, and started brainstorming.

Shaw owned a floral shop in town for 35 years, and understood the business aspects of the project. She was also a former teacher and principal, and had seen her five children (Jessie, Paul, David, Robert and Susan) through college. She knew the value of a continued education.

“She knew the community and had a lot of perseverance,” Laurion said. “And she knew how to talk people into things, she was very convincing.”

After meeting with some hesitation from community leaders, Shaw turned to the tenacious RLWC because she knew they would not turn down a challenge.

“We met with very little opposition, but we did meet with apathy and defeatism, but we were so completely sold on the value of our project that we were able to sell it to others as a result,” Shaw wrote in a 1960s letter about the project.

She would write several variety shows in the early 1960s, which were performed in front of a packed house each time, Laurion said. These and other fundraising efforts would help the college become a reality.

Slowly but surely, Shaw and members of the RLWC would get other organizations and groups on board. By the time the petition went out, more than 40 other organizations had endorsed the project. These supporters included local chambers of commerce, numerous parent-teacher associations, alumni groups, other womens clubs and sororities, the International Falls Trades and Labor Assembly, the hospital auxiliary, garden clubs, Lion’s clubs, Rotary clubs and the Rural Fire Protective Association.

With growing support, Shaw, on behalf of the RLWC, would pen a petition to the Minnesota State Junior College Board asking it to consider International Falls for a community college.

Shaw had done her homework. The 1964 petition included the number of residents (Koochiching County population 18,180), the number of students in the area (6,288), housing, transportation, projected enrollments, post-education and summer employment opportunities, media and recreation.

“We do not know that we will succeed in our attempt but at least we will know that we did not let this opportunity pass without at least an effort to obtain a junior college for our community,” the RLWC members wrote in a 1964 letter to the editor in The Daily Journal.

With the continuing determination of the club, the college project would receive a gift of 77 acres of land, would have the junior college approved and would break ground late in the decade. For the first three years, Rainy River Junior College would hold its classes in an addition to the Falls High School while the new campus was under construction. Enrollments at the school exceeded projections and the college was off and running.

“It amazes me that they had a dream and stuck with it,” said member Agnes Henrickson.

Still to this day, the RLWC continues its efforts with the college through a scholarship presented each year to a deserving woman through the Rainy River Community College Foundation.

Rainy Lake Women’s Club

The junior college project was only one of many projects the RLWC tackled.

The club began in 1929 in Ranier, and although it had a social aspect, was almost always centered on community service and projects it could do to help area residents.

The club began at a time when: many women were just exercising their right to vote, the stock market crashed creating the Great Depression and the first Academy Awards was held. Herbert Hoover was elected president and the first color television demonstrations were held. The first World War had ended, and World War II was still on the horizon. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal would come in 1932, with the club still in its infancy.

The “roaring ‘20s” and the rebuilding decade of the ‘30s would influence the early days of the club and have these women trying to find a way to make an impact on their community.

Laurion said that the story goes that the women of Ranier wanted to add street lights in the city to see who was sneaking into speakeasies during prohibition. Several Ranier women gathered together to tackle community projects and enjoy each other’s company. After several years, club membership outgrew member’s living rooms, and the group moved to the Ranier Community Building.

The club became so popular that membership was restricted to women living in and east of Ranier, and they capped membership when the club got too large.

The Juniorettes was started for younger members who wanted to be involved in their community and meet other young women. The junior club only lasted several years, but some junior members joined the main club.

The RLWC became a member of the General Federation of Womens Clubs, which links their group to other womens organizations across the state and country.

Other projects the women have been involved in or funded have included a bike path, art exhibits, lowering the speed limit on County Road 20, worked with Friends Against Abuse and Rachel’s Challenge, Backus Community Center renovations, food shelf and Salvation Army donations. Club members sewed gowns and dolls for Operation Smile which helps rehabilitate impoverished children with cleft palates. They donated books to the local library in memory of club members who died. They supplied diabetes testing materials to local people for a number of years. They promoted Voyageurs National Park before it was made a reality.

Before the city of International Falls took on the revitalization of the strip of Highway 11 East between International Falls and Ranier where the new Border Patrol and Voyageurs National Park Headquarters are located, the RLWC brainstormed ways to use and beautify the valuable riverfront property.

“It did so much good community improvement, and it wasn’t zeroed in on one thing” said long-time member Helen Routier. “Our main concern was on local community improvement.” She explained that while the members have donated to causes outside the Borderland area through the federation of women’s clubs, the club emphasis was on local projects, especially at the beginning.

They held Swedish meatball suppers each fall to raise funds for their various projects along with other fundraising efforts. Membership dues also added to the funds available to complete their missions.

In recent years, membership has dwindled, as different and more specialized groups fill needs for the community’s women, Laurion explained. Today, six women remain as active members in the club.

Members Laurion, Routier, Henrickson, Barbara Kruskopf, Arlene Selsaas and Carole Johnson will officially disband the club after 81 years on Friday at a celebration at Rainy River Community College. Helen Trask is another long-time member who was in the club for most of its existence.

The club will host its final gathering, a public event, at the college library from 2-4 p.m. At that same time, Laurion will present the college with a gift.

In 1988, Laurion enlisted the talents of local artist Gene Ritchie Monahan to paint a portrait of Shaw at age 97, two years before her death. Laurion said Monahan was also a member of the RLWC.

She said that due to both women’s ages, Monahan was 80, the portrait took several months of visits to the Laurion home to finish. Some days, the women would visit over tea when they were not feeling up to the task. The painting is among Monahan’s last works.

Laurion has had the painting at her home since it was finished, “but I think it’s time to give it to the college,” Laurion said.

Friday, Laurion will donate the portrait to the college, where it is expected to be hung prominently.

“We didn’t want to fade away into oblivion,” Laurion said.

The Rainy Lake Women’s Club impact on the community, especially as it relates to the college, will last long beyond Friday’s meeting. The vision of the original club members and those who have come since have left an impressive mark on the community which can’t soon be forgotten.