Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum facts for kids

Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum

Building exterior
Established	2006 (2006)
Location	901 1st St, Dassel, Minnesota 55325
Type	Local history

The Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum is a cool place to visit in Dassel, Minnesota, USA. It opened in 2006 inside an old building called the Universal Laboratories building. This building is special because it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was once very important for making a substance called ergot from the 1930s to the 1960s. The museum tells the story of Dassel's past and the interesting history of ergot.

Discover the Dassel History Center

The Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum is run by the Dassel Area Historical Society. They opened the museum in 2006 in the historic Universal Laboratories building. The museum has many exhibits that show the history of Dassel, Minnesota. It also tells the story of ergot, a type of fungus that has had a big impact on people.

Main Exhibits to Explore

The museum has several permanent exhibits you can see:

• Ergot: From Blight to Blessing: This exhibit teaches you about ergot. It explains how it can be a dangerous disease for rye plants. But it also shows how it became a surprising source for important medicines.
• Dassel Seed Corn Story: Planting the Seed: This exhibit highlights how important Dassel was in the seed corn industry. It shows the area's history in farming.
• Magnus Johnson: No Yokel and No Man’s Echo: Learn about Magnus Johnson, a politician from the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party. He was the only person born in Sweden to serve in the U.S. Senate. Johnson worked hard to support farmers' rights when he was in Congress.

The museum also often has new exhibits that change. These might explore local businesses, important people, or historical events in Dassel. Besides exhibits, the museum holds events all year. These include talks, workshops, and demonstrations about local history and culture.

FungusAmongus Players Theatre

The Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum has its own theater group called the FungusAmongus Players Theatre. This community group puts on plays that are connected to the museum's themes. They also explore local history through their performances. It's a fun way to learn about the past while being entertained!

Researching Dassel's Past

The Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum has a large collection of information. This collection helps people research the history of Dassel, Kingston, Darwin, and nearby towns. You can find old Dassel newspapers going back to 1893. They have them on microfilm and as original copies.

The collection also includes:

• Census records
• Maps of land ownership
• Obituaries (death notices)
• Photographs
• Published history books
• Church and school records
• Family histories
• An index of community groups

The museum staff can help you with your research. You can ask questions by phone, mail, email, or by visiting in person.

Universal Laboratories Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Universal Laboratories Building from the southeast
Location in Minnesota Show map of Minnesota Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	901 First St. N., Dassel, Minnesota
Built	1937
Architect	H.E. Swanson
NRHP reference No.	96000191
Added to NRHP	March 1, 1996

The Universal Laboratories Building is an important building in Dassel, Minnesota. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It earned this special listing because of its role in making ergot from the mid-1930s through the late 1960s.

History of the Universal Laboratories Building

The business started in 1935 as Rice Laboratories. It first made yeast for livestock feed. Yeast was used to help animals digest their food better. In 1937, the company built this new building on the edge of town. That same year, the manager, Lester R. Peel, began making ergot.

The Story of Ergot Production

Farmers used to throw away rye that had sclerotia growths, which is a form of ergot. This was because ergot could cause serious poisoning. But Lester R. Peel, who used to be a school teacher, knew that ergot also had medical uses. It could help control bleeding after childbirth. It also helped treat certain types of headaches, like migraines.

Peel named his ergot business Universal Laboratories. At first, they bought rye infected with ergot from local farmers. Workers at Universal Laboratories would put the rye through small mills. These mills would break up the rye kernels. Then, they would pick the grain from a conveyor belt. The ergot would fall into a bag. The company also hired people to work from their homes in Dassel, picking and bagging ergot.

Later, new machines made the process better. These machines could automatically separate the ergot from the rye. The grain went through mills and then into special separators. These separators had spiraling chutes that would separate the lighter ergot kernels from the heavier rye kernels.

Ergot's Importance During Wartime

Peel started his ergot business at a good time. Supplies of ergot in the United States were often interrupted. Russia was the main supplier of ergot until 1917. Then Spain became the top producer. But supplies were disrupted again during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

To make sure he had enough raw materials, Peel started teaching farmers about how important ergot was. Eli Lilly and Company, a big customer of Peel's, also helped spread the word. Universal Laboratories began getting a lot of ergot-infected rye. They stored it in a grain elevator in downtown Dassel.

The company supplied most of the ergot made in the United States during World War II. In 1940, they produced about 60,000 pounds. In 1941, production reached 100,000 pounds!

The End of an Era

Eli Lilly continued to work with Universal Laboratories even after World War II ended. Foreign supplies of ergot became more stable then. Lester Peel passed away in 1959. Around that time, the company stopped making yeast. In the late 1960s, Eli Lilly started buying ergot from European suppliers instead of Universal Laboratories.

The company continued for a while, selling ergot to Burroughs Wellcome. But it finally closed down in 1975. The building was empty until the late 1990s. Then, people from the local community fixed it up. Today, it is home to the Dassel Area Historical Society and its museum.