129th Kandiyohi County Historical Society Annual Meeting & Program
Thursday, April 10 from 5:30-8pm

A pork roast, baby potatoes, vegetable, salad and dessert will be served starting at 5:30 pm.
The cost of the meal is $20 per person for KCHS members and $25 per person for non-members.
Following the meal, the annual meeting will be conducted. After the short annual meeting, Carolyn Sowinski will present on Gabriel Stene.

Historian Carolyn Sowinski will give a presentation at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society about her latest book, a biography of Gabriel Stene and his wife Wilda Quam, both children of Norwegian immigrants.Attendees will hear stories about the immigration of the Stene and Quam families to Milwaukee in the 1850s, including a year-long separation of a toddler from her parents. Born in Columbia County, Wisconsin, Gabriel (1856-1945) spent most of his life in Lake Andrew Township in northwestern Kandiyohi County, having arrived in 1867 with his parents and siblings, as part of a years’ long quest for farmland with accessible water. Stene lived and worked in Willmar in the 1880s, took a work-related trip to Dakota Territory where he met Sitting Bull, homesteaded in Bowman County ND with his family in the 1910s, returned to Lake Andrew Township, and wrote human interest stories for the Willmar Tribune. Stene was a past president of the Old Settlers’ Association which later became the Kandiyohi County Historical Society. The presentation will include stories about Stene’s adventures as a youth and activities as an adult.

Please RSVP by Thursday, April 3rd!
Please call 235-1881, go to our website or email us at
director@kandiyohicountyhistory.com to reserve your spot! We have limited spots available and prepayment is required.