Sandburg's Hometown

September 12, 2016


Oscar F. "Husky" Larson, member of Carl Sandburg's Dirty Dozen.

The "Dirty Dozen" with Carl Sandburg (Row 2, far right)
Seated from the left: 
Charles Bloomgren, Robert G. Samuelson, Lyle Tapp, George W. Erickson. Standing: Charles Juneau, Fred Cook, Martin Sandburg, Willis Calkins, Oscar F. Larson, Lawrence Futhey, Victor Thurine, Carl Sandburg. 

[The boys are identified on p. 31 of George Swank's CARL SANDBURG: GALESBURG AND BEYOND, c1983.]

Oscar F. "Husky" Larson

by Barbara Schock

Oscar Larson was born November 1, 1877, to Victor and Caroline Tapper Larson in Galesburg. His parents had been married in Sweden in 1869 and emigrated to Galesburg in May, 1871. The following year they united with the First Lutheran Church and remained members the rest of their lives. They had two daughters and three sons.

 

Victor Larson was a pattern maker. He worked for the Brown Cornplanter Works, Frost Manufacturing Company and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad coach department. He also established his own contracting company. He died October 19, 1927, and Mrs. Larson died July 23,, 1934. They were buried in Linwood Cemetery.

 

Oscar was about two months older than Carl Sandburg and lived a short distance from the Sandburg home on Berrien Street. The boys walked to school together. They called one another by their nicknames “Husky” and “Cully.” They walked the dusty road to Knoxville to attend the Knox County Fair. They swam together in the old brickyard pond on that hot Sunday afternoon, rode in the paddy wagon to the city jail and appeared before Justice B.F. Holcomb the next morning.

 

In 1902, Oscar became a charter member of the lather's union and served as the treasurer for a number of years. He worked for the C.B.&Q. as a pipefitter during World War I. In 1927 he became manager of the Chicago Motor Club office in Galesburg and also served on the County Board of Supervisors. In 1931, Mayor Joe E. Anderson appointed Larson superintendent of the city streets. He was appointed zoning commissioner in 1941. He served as a Republican precinct committeeman for twenty-five years in the Fourth Ward. He was a member of the East Main Congregational Church. Larson was also active in the Modern Woodmen of America for many years

 

Oscar married Nellie V. Russell of Oneida on June 15, 1904. They had one daughter and three sons.

 

In the fall of 1951, Carl Sandburg returned to Galesburg seeking information for his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers. The poet had no public engagements. He spent most of his time with Husky Larson. They visited in the commissioner's office at City Hall.

 

It happened to be Larson's seventy-fourth birthday so Sandburg was invited to the Larson home for dinner in the evening. Mrs. Larson was in Ohio visiting their daughter, so Oscar's sister-in-law, Mrs. Ernest Larson, prepared a traditional Swedish dinner, including lutefisk.The two men spent the time looking at old photographs and recalling their boyhood days, especially the skinny dip on East Fifth Street more than sixty years before.

 

Oscar Larson had a stroke which affected his ability to speak. He was mute for the last eighteen years of his life. When the Memorial Service for Carl Sandburg was held on September 1, 1967, at the Sandburg Historic Site, Jack Larson took his father to the ceremony.

 

Oscar Larson died February 2, 1971, at the age of ninety-three. He was the last surviving member of the Dirty Dozen, the group of boys who grew up together and had their group photograph taken on a Sunday afternoon in the 1890s.

 

Jack Larson followed in the tradition of his father, serving on the Galesburg Election Commission for thirty years, ensuring the city had the most up-to-date election equipment and technology. He also provided a musical life for Galesburg residents via popular music played on the local radio station. He helped establish The Shoe Project which provided shoes for school children whose parents could not afford to buy them. He is best remembered for another project. Jack and two sons, both musicians, collaborated with the Orpheum Theater to bring big band programs to the city. The ticket sale receipts were used to buy band instruments for boys and girls who couldn't afford to rent them.

 

Sandburg's Hometown
Date Title
September 12, 2016

Oscar F. “Husky” Larson

September 5, 2016 Obituaries
August 29, 2016 Aaron Boyer, Broommaker
August 22, 2016 The Panic of 1873
August 15, 2016 The Swan Prize
August 8, 2016 Chautauqua
July 18, 2016 Street Lighting
July 11, 2016 Cedar Fork
July 4, 2016 Shelden W. Allen
June 20, 2016 Conrad Byloff
June 13, 2016 Edward W. Rosenberg
June 6, 2016 Lawrence Futhey
May 30, 2016 Memory
May 23, 2016 Decoration Day, 1881
May 16, 2016 William Cullen Bryant
May 9, 2016 College Days
May 2, 2016  A Military Career Thwarted 
April 25, 2016  How to Sweep a Room
April 18, 2016 The Marsh Horse and Mule Market
April 11, 2016 Horses Everywhere
April 4, 2016 Victor A. Thoureen
March 28, 2016 Nicknames
March 21, 2016 Corporal Edward P. Peckenpaugh
March 14, 2016 Hold Still!
March 7, 2016 Capt. T. L. McGirr
February 29, 2016 Sparrow Season
February 22, 2016 George W. Erickson
February 15, 2016 George Helgeson Fitch
February 8, 2016  Anna Charlotte Goldquist
February 1, 2016 "Little Boy Blue"
January 25, 2016 Always the Young Strangers
January 18, 2016 George R. Longbrake
January 11, 2016 Fred Cook
January 4, 2016 Domestic Help
December 14, 2015 Justice of the Peace B.F. Holcomb
November 30, 2015 Standardized Time
November 23, 2015 Joseph H. Knutson
November 16, 2015 Wells and Cisterns 
November 2, 2015 Willis E. Calkins
October 26, 2015 Galesburg Pottery
October 19, 2015 Private Lewis H. Kay
October 12, 2015 The Klondike Gold Rush
September 28, 2015 Charles L. Bloomgren
September 21, 2015 The Gilded Age
September 14, 2015 Oliver Optic
August 31, 2015 The "Spanish" Cannon
August 24, 2015 The Company C Men
August 17, 2015 Jacob A. Riis
August 10, 2015 Mason Jars
August 3, 2015  October 7, 1896
July 27, 2015 The Soldier's Monument
July 20, 2015 Ice
July 13, 2015 Moses O. Williamson
July 6, 2015 Sweet Little Alix
June 29, 2015 Sharlie's Shickens
June 22, 2015 Anna Held & John Drew
June 15, 2015 Hartel & Secker Meat Market
June 8, 2015 Girls
June 1, 2015 Old First Church - Part II
May 25, 2015 Old First Church - Part I
May 18, 2015 Marbles
May 11, 2015 Pawnee County, Kansas
May 4, 2015 Detective Stories and the Real Thing
April 27, 2015 Professor Isaac A. Parker
April 20, 2015 Celluloid Collars
April 13, 2015 Asparagus
April 6, 2015  Mayor John C. Stewart 
March 30, 2015 Basket Ball
March 23, 2015 The Courthouse of Knox County, IL
March 16, 2015

“Trifles make perfection...”

March 9, 2015 Uncle Tom's Cabin
March 2, 2015 Martha Sandburg Goldstone
February 23, 2015 Devotion
February 16, 2015  Gumbiner's Pawn Shop 
February 9, 2015 White Bread
February 2, 2015 The Monarch Club
January 26, 2015 The Silver Dollar
January 19, 2015 The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
January 12, 2015 The Four Corners
December 22, 2014 Swedish Christmas
December 8, 2014 Christmas 1878
December 1, 2014 Bunker Boots & Shoes
November 24, 2014 Galesburg, Illinois
November 17, 2014 It was Buffalo Bill's Day
November 10, 2014 The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story)
November 3, 2014 The Election of 1896 (continued)
October 27, 2014 The Election of 1896
October  24, 2014 The Rissywarn
October 20, 2014 The Parlor Stove
October 13, 2014 Ashes to Ashes
October 6, 2014 Jesse James
Sept. 29, 2014 Lester T. Stone, Public Servant
Sept. 22, 2014 It's Who You Know
Sept 15, 2014 Mother of the Illinois Flag
Sept 8, 2014 The Scissors Grinder
Sept 1, 2014 Baseball
August 25, 2014 Howard K. Knowles, Capitalist
August 18, 2014  Alcoholic Beverages
August 11, 2014 Soda Water
August 4, 2014 Sweet Corn
July 28, 2014 Marching Through Georgia
July 21, 2014 The Knox County Fair
July 14, 2014 The Panic of 1893
July 7, 2014 The Rev. T. N. Hasselquist
June 30, 2014 The Knox County Courthouse
June 23, 2014 The Family Photograph Album
June 16, 2014 Parades
June 9, 2014 Lingonberries
June 2, 2014 Where We Live
May 26, 2014 Old Main
May 19, 2014 Rhythms of the Railroad
May 12, 2014 Spring Tonic
May 5, 2014 The Milkmen
April 28, 2014 Gray's "Elegy..."
April 21, 2014 Off to War
April 14, 2014 Swedish Easter
April 7, 2014 A Father's Face
March 31, 2014 Secret Societies
March 24, 2014 George A. Murdock, Merchant
March 10, 2014 Trade Cards
March 3, 2014 The Demorest Medal
February 24, 2014 Rip Van Winkle
February 17, 2014 Cabbage Soup
February 10, 2014 Lincoln's Birthday
February 3, 2014 4  The Colonel
January 27, 2014 The Lincoln Penny - A Little History
January 20, 2014 Walking to Work
January 13, 2014  A Small Abode
January 6, 2014 Birth of a Poet
December 30, 2013 Christmas 1880
December 23, 2013 Swedish Christmas
December 16, 2013 The Reporter Sees Santa
December 9, 2013 The Coming of Christmas
December 2, 2013 The Fire Boys Talk
November 25, 2013 Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries - Thanksgiving 1893
November 18, 2013 Mary Sandburg Johnson
November 11, 2013 Carl Sandburg's Bicycle
November 4, 2013 Lace Curtains
October 28, 2013 The Front Room
October 21, 2013 A Warm Breakfast
October 14, 2013 Marion D. Shutter
October 7, 2013 Cigars and Consumption
September 30, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg
September 16, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke, Mayor
September 9, 2013 Dusty Streets
September 2, 2013 Typhoid Fever
August 26, 2013 Coffee and Water
August 19, 2013 A Horse! A Horse!
August 12, 2013 Gaddial Scott
August 5, 2013 The Racetrack
July 29, 2013 John Peter Algeld - Part II
July 22, 2013 John Peter Altgeld - Part I
July 15, 2013 Tramps, Tramps, Tramps
July 8, 2013 Lady Liberty
July 1, 2013 Galesburg's Fourth
June 24, 2013 John H. Finley
June 17, 2013 The World's Columbian Exhibition
June 10, 2013 Fruit Short-Cake
June 3, 2013 Horatio Alger, Author
May 27, 2013 Memorial Day, 1887
May 20, 2013 Professor Jon W. Grubb
May 13, 2013 Beginnings of Lombard University
May 6, 2013 Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College
April 29, 2013 Thinking
April 22, 2013 Robert Colville, Master Mechanic
April 15, 2013 The Galesburg Opera House
April 8, 2013 Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms
April 1, 2013  A Hearty  Breakfast 
March 25, 2013  The Lost Wallpaper Legend 
March 18, 2013 Martin G. Sandburg
March 4, 2013 The Edison Talking Machine
February 25, 2013 Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran
February 18, 2013 Remember the Maine...
February 11, 2013 Lincoln's Birthday
February 4, 2013 Curiosity
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