Town Days Tour 2013 Glencoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

  • The City of Glencoe was founded on May 16th, 1855 by a group of explorers and investors.
  • Glencoe is the county seat for McLeod County. It is located on Highways 212 and 22.
  • Buffalo Creek flows past Glencoe, and Lake Marion is only 7 miles to the west.
  • Glencoe is named after a county in Scotland. “Glen” means valley, “Coe” means small or little.
  • The founders of Glencoe were: Colonel John Stevens, Martin McLeod, AJ Bell, DW Fields, James Mayall, JV McKeen, John Johnson, and WS Chapman.
  • Glencoe was the last town on the edge of the big woods before the prairie started.
  • In 1895, wealthy businessman JJ Brechet promised his fiancé a castle if she moved to Glencoe. Today the castle is one of the only remaining original homes of Glencoe.
  • Some famous people from Glencoe: Joanne Benson, who served as Lieutenant Governor for Arne Carlson, and Gina Lorence-Konin, who was the head trainer for the US Women’s Basketball Team in the 1996 Olympics.
  • Glencoe celebrated its Sesquicentennial, or 150th Anniversary, in 2005.

 

Businesses

  • The Glencoe and Silver Lake School Districts merged in 1996 to form the GSL Panthers.
  • Glencoe’s businesses include: Telex, a maker of audio equipment; Seneca Foods, the world’s largest corn packing plant; Starkey Laboratories, a maker of hearing aids; Alliance Nutrition, a feed maker; and Miller Manufacturing, a maker of farm, ranch, and pet products.
  • Opened in February 2006 was a new 31,000 square foot building for Jungclaus Implement. The $2.6-million facility was built using JOB-Z tax incentives.
  • The Glencoe Police Department has an Explorers Post. Youth ages 14 to 21 can join to gain insight into a variety of programs with hands-on career activities. Participants are trained in law enforcement skills twice monthly, and compete in the annual Explorers Competition.

 

Festivals & Events

  • Glencoe’s annual summer festival is “Glencoe Days” and is held in June. Glencoe Days features sweet corn and pork chop feeds, bingo, a parade, a carnival, and plenty of other fun activities.
  • Always fun for the kids, the day before Easter every year Glencoe has an Easter Egg Hunt.
  • Glencoe celebrates its farming heritage in June with Dairy Day.
  • The 3rd week of October in Glencoe is Manufacturing and Technology Week.
  • In November, Glencoe area businesses hold a special Customer Appreciation event, where great deals are offered at businesses throughout town.
  • In the month of December, Glencoe has a variety of Christmas events to make the holidays more special.
  • A Business Expo is held every February in Glencoe. The 2-day event features around 50 different businesses and organizations from around the Glencoe area.
  • The City of Glencoe holds its annual “Holly Days” festivities in early December. The week-long festivities include one of the region’s largest lighted Christmas parades. There are also numerous kids activities, a Christmas Jubilee with Santa and his reindeer, guided tours of Glencoe’s holiday lights, a snow sculpture contest, a live nativity, and more.
 

People 

  • The City of Glencoe’s Mayor is Randy Wilson and the population is approximately 5,100.
  • The Glencoe City Center was completed in 2010. The nearly 4 million dollar project involved converting the former Henry Hill School building into a multi-use facility that includes a new library, city offices, chamber of commerce offices, a senior center, the event center, along with a class reunion and wedding center.
  • A Glencoe girl was named a McLeod County Dairy Princess in 2012. Haley Templin, the daughter of Shari Templin of Glencoe was crowned as part of the McLeod County Dairy Association Spring Banquet at the Pla-Mor Ballroom in Glencoe in March of 2012. Haley was also named Miss Congeniality.
  • A soldier from Glencoe was presented a special award in 2012. Sergeant Joseph Koktan was presented the 22nd Naval Construction Regiment “Warfighter of the Month” award. The Army Reservist was recognized for his service in Afghanistan as the public affairs officer for the 980th Engineer Battalion.
  • KNUJ became the “Sister Station” of Glencoe’s radio station in 2012. Iowa City Broadcasting, owners of KDUZ-KARP in Hutchinson entered into a Local Marketing Agreement with Northern Lites Broadcasting to operate, and eventually own KTWN AM-1310 based out of Glencoe. Iowa City Broadcasting and Ingstad Brothers Broadcasting, owners of KNUJ AM-FM, are both owned by Tor Ingstad of Minneapolis. The 2 corporations now operate a total of 18 stations in Minnesota, with markets in New Prague, New Ulm, Hutchinson, Glencoe, Willmar, Montevideo, Morris and Thief River Falls.
  • The students of Glencoe Silver Lake High School crowned new Homecoming Royalty in October of 2012. Named GSL Homecoming King was Kurtis Kunkel, and crowned Homecoming Queen was Brooke Kaczmarek.
  • The cast of the Fall Musical “Annie” at Glencoe Silver Lake High School helped raise money for hurricane victims on the East Coast in 2012. The combined effort by the cast and crew resulted in nearly $1,200 being raised. It was sent to the Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
  • The Glencoe Area Chamber of Commerce honored Miller Manufacturing as the community’s Manufacturer Of The Year in October of 2012. The company was founded in 1941 by Barney Miller, and originally made poultry feeding and watering products. They have since expanded into other products, and their facility was expanded in 2005 and 2011.

 

 

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