Marine General Store: Historic Commerce at Judd & Maple
The intersection of Judd and Maple Streets was the center of commerce in historic Marine Mills. Its economic significance began when the lumber company selected the northeast corner as the location for its first large general goods store in 1848. Competition followed, with stores and saloons being built on the other corners from 1860 to 1870. The last to appear was a new lumber company store built on the southeast corner. It is still here – the lone survivor of the historic buildings once at this intersection.
Marine General Store
You are standing in front of Marine General Store, the oldest continually operated general store in Minnesota. The building was constructed in 1870 by the Walker, Judd & Veazie lumber company for their general goods business. Eight successive owners have continued that business to now. At the height of the lumber business in Marine Mills, this store served the entire St. Croix Valley and many of the lumber camps in the northern pineries. As forests were logged out, competition and hardships after 1885 ended the lumber business in Marine, but its general store continued with independent owners, beginning with Charles H. Burris in 1895. When Burris owned the store, it was in competition with two other general stores on opposite corners of Judd & Maple. On the SW corner was Henry Olsen’s and on the NE corner was Charles Strand’s.
All three stores prospered until 1914, when Burris sold his store to Strand who moved his business across the street into the 1870 lumber company building. Charles Strand and his sons Roy and Wallace continued at the store until 1962, when Ralph Malmberg and his father took it over. By then, the Olsen store was gone, leaving Malmberg’s as Marine’s only remaining general store. In recent years, the store has been owned and operated by Dan & Sue Pruden (1982), Andrew & Karen Kramer (2005), and Gordon & Cheryl Arcand (2015).
— Andrew Kramer and the Marine Historic Signage Committee
For a more complete history of Marine General Store and the other historic businesses once at the four corners of Judd/Maple, follow these links:
