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VOL. 04, NO. 01
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FOREST LAKE — Records at the Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce show it was incorporated in 1964, spurring observance of its 50-year anniversary at its Oct. 13 meeting. A chamber scrapbook donated to the Washington County Historical Society years ago indicates the group is even older. Clippings from the Forest Lake Times glued onto its pages indicate the group was actually founded in 1956 as U.S. Chamber affiliate the Greater Forest Lake Association.* Either way, the nonprofit has been a continual advocate for local business through multiple community changes, including the
establishment of Forest Lake village as a city; the routing of I-35E; the growth of big-box stores along the I-35E corridor; the annexation of the township and the recent establishment of part of City Center as a retail center. “For a community the size of Forest Lake, to have had a chamber 50 years is quite an achievement,” said the group's Executive Director Ted Blank. “A lot of communities that size can't sustain one.” A 1956 article from The Times reported 47 Forest Lake “business and professional men” were founding members of the group, with a temporary board set up to plan 1957 programming. Last names on the board may still be familiar to locals
today: Chairman Ed Wegleitner, William Houle, H.L. Hennen, J.A. Hughes, Jerry Haselbauer, Mickey Jeans and Art Perrault, with Klein Johnson and Bob Walter drawing up the bylaws. Apparently a comparable organization called the Commercial Club had also been formed, but Wegleitner vowed to disband it to accommodate the new chamber. The stated goal of the group was to “be all-encompassing, replacing and absorbing other civic organizations in Forest Lake. We share a common interest in our home town — in what it is, and especially what it is to be.” GFLA letterhead of the time referred to Forest Lake as
“Cool vacationland of summer excitement.” Mayor O.R. Van Wirt called the new chamber “A means of strengthening Forest Lake's position in dealing with the Twin Cities and surrounding communities on various matters that may affect the community.” He pointed to the discontinuation of railroad passenger service to Forest Lake, which he said may have been avoided with chamber advocacy. The Times quoted Minnesota Commissioner of Business Development James Clark as saying “No municipality in the state is better located geographically to attract an industry payroll than Forest Lake.”
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