Cheers to 120 Years at Hamline Dining Hall!
Meals are no longer served on linen tablecloths, with vases of fresh flowers to enjoy. Nor do mischievous children, bored with kitchen chores, throw apples at fairgoers. The volunteers no longer arrive in a horse-drawn wagon. But the Hamline Church Dining Hall endures and is celebrating 120 years at the Minnesota State Fair in 2017. For its big anniversary, the dining hall is unveiling a new menu item, the Cranberry Wild Rice Meatball. It is described as “a Swedish-style meatball with wild rice and dried cranberries simmered in a rich allspice cream sauce, served with Lingonberry preserve.” Hamline Church also partners with Izzy’s Ice Cream to create a new flavor each year for the fair. The 2017 flavor is S’More Fun. It has a toasted marshmallow base with chocolate, chocolate chunks and a graham cracker swirl. The dining hall is largely run with volunteer labor, with about 63 volunteers each day. Many have worked there for decades. Many volunteers have received the state fair’s 50-year volunteer award. Generations of church families have worked there. The dining hall got its start in 1897. Hamline’s dining hall was started by the Ladies’ Aid Society, as a fundraiser for what was then Hamline Methodist Episcopal Church. It is the oldest continuously operating food establishment at the fair. It dates from a time when dozens of churches ran dining halls, food stands and even food tents. Today Hamline and Minneapolis’ Salem Lutheran Church are the only two church dining halls left out of many that operated over the years. The dining hall has been through two world wars, the Great Depression, the 1940s polio epidemic, building moves, shifts in dining tastes and many other changes. Want to learn some more Hamline Church Dining Hall history? Take our fun quiz and test your knowledge.
1) In the early days Bert Wallace would clean his horse-drawn wagon, put up sideboards and give women and children volunteers rides to and from the fairgrounds. What did he use the wagon for during the rest of the year?
a. He helped neighbors get to and from work.
b. He hauled wood and coal.
c. He delivered furniture for downtown stores.
d. He was the Hamline neighborhood ice man, bringing ice to homes to keep food cold.
2) Church-run dining halls at the Minnesota State Fair competed for prime locations in the early years. What was believed to be an undesirable location?
a.Machinery Hill, because farm families brought picnic lunches.
b.The Midway, because some attractions were seen as lurid and distasteful.
c. The livestock barns, because of strong odors.
d.The Grandstand, because a group of St. Paul restaurants operated there.
3) What food was never served at the Hamline Dining Hall?
a. Doughnuts
b.Chow Mein
c. Pizza
d.Peach shortcake
4) In 1962, pies had become an expensive dessert. What did women make at church and bring to the dining hall instead?
a. Cakes
b. Cookies
c. Apple strudel
d. Cheesecake
5) Which Twin Cities television personality was accidentally sprayed with water from the dish room?
a. M.A. Rosko
b. Dave Moore
c. Mel Jass
d. Cyndy Brucato
6) True or false. One long-ago dining hall job for children was to take customers’ meal orders.
7) The Hamburger Hut operated for several years in a separate building. Why was it torn down?
a. Too many other places sold hamburgers.
b. The dining hall committee wanted to focus on pizza sales.
c. The new dining hall was being built and the space was needed.
d. The “Love from Minnesota” store needed expansion space.
8) The Minnesota State Fair has been home to many church dining halls and food stands over the years. How many, including Hamline, survived the Great Depression of the 1930s?
a. 32
b. 16
c. 12
d. 6
9) Which was the first “paid” dining hall job?
a. Bread baker
b. Meat cook
c. Night watchman
d. Serving line supervisor
10) How much did a dining hall meal cost in 1929?
a. 10 cents
b. $2
c. 50 cents
d. Free will donation
11) What was never used as a dining hall tablecloth?
a. White linen
b. Rolls of white butcher paper
c. Oilcloth
d. Plastic cloths
12) Which church group was instrumental in starting the dining hall?
a. Ladies’ Aid
b. Methodist Youth Fellowship
c. Men’s Fortnightly Club
d. Trustees
13) True or false? One way to promote the dining hall was to send letters about it to every Methodist church in the state.
14) In the pre-coffee machine days, how was coffee made?
a. Tin percolator pots were used, on a hot plate.
b. Hot water was carefully poured over coffee grounds, with the coffee maker volunteer standing on a stepstool.
c. Coffee was made in large caldrons behind the dining hall, over an open flame.
d. Coffee was not served at the fair.
15) What nearby attraction caused problems for the Hamline Dining Hall?
a. The merry-go-round music was a noisy distraction.
b. A carnival dunk tank would flood and the grounds behind the dining hall would get muddy.
c. Auto races at the Grandstand would generate clouds of dust.
d. The 4-H livestock parade would block the main entrance.
16) What long-ago volunteer task involved butter?
a. Melted butter was drizzled onto waffles.
b. Butter was brushed onto ears of sweet corn.
c. The pastor would pose for a butter head carving.
d. Butter pats were cut and placed onto small squares of paper.
17) Here’s a shout-out to our fellow past church dining hall colleagues. Which church served turkey dinners?
a. Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, which later became Church of the Good Shepherd
b. Church of the Epiphany
c. Salem Lutheran Church
d. No one. The Minnesota Turkey Farmers Association served the dinners.
18) True or false? The dining hall’s potato peeling machine was purchased from Hamline Elementary School in 1928.
19) Which activity did not occur at the Hamline Dining Hall?
a. Church-on-a-stick fans were given away.
b. The 1980 UMW cookbook was sold, to reach a goal of selling 10,000 cookbooks.
c. The choir sang during breakfast.
d. Historic costumes were borrowed from Hamline University.
20) Izzy’s ice Cream and Hamline Dining Hall have developed ice cream flavors. Some are more popular than others. Which ice cream was only sold for one year?
a. Cookie Walk Sprinkles Swirl
b. Pastor’s Praline Pizzazz
c. Jello Salad
d. Oreo Organ Music Delight
| The answers! 1) b; 2) b; 3) c Pizza. In 1987-88 pizza was considered for the menu. Fair officials nixed the idea; 4) a; 5) c Mel Jass, WTCN-TV; 6) True! 7) c; 8) b; 9) c ; 10) c; 11) b; 12) a; 13) True! 14) b; 15) c; 16) d; 17) b; 18) False! The machine came from Hamline University; 19) c; 20) c. |