Brookdale Cemetery, and Soybeans

Sunday, August 18, 2013. #1 daughter and I went to Brookdale Cemetery this afternoon.


Brookdale Cemetery, northeast of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. August 18, 2013.

Fourteen folks or more are buried there: mostly babies and possibly a few young mothers from the old reform school. Grave markers were removed when the state abandoned Brookdale, years ago. Some members of the local Knights of Columbus started mowing the grass recently, and are trying to reconstruct burial records.

The Sauk Centre Herald wrote about Brookdale in June:

"...The reformatory school for girls opened in 1911. Pregnant girls were often brought in by train so they could give birth at the reformatory with the agreement that the baby would become property of the state and then put up for adoption...."
(Bryan Zollman, Sauk Centre Herald (June 19, 2013))

On a happier note, soybeans in the nearby field are lush and green: and a few have small purple flowers. I think they're soybeans, anyway.


Soybeans, I think. August 18, 2013.

Next week I'll either have more to say, and some photos: or not.