Clarks Grove Historical Society hosts speaker Dale Peterson

The Clarks Grove Historical Society’s annual meeting took place the evening of Thursday, May 15 at the organization’s heritage museum. Special guest for the evening was Dale Peterson, the Freeborn County “Fuller Brush Man.”

Inside the doors of the Clarks Grove Area Heritage Museum was an antique gumball machine that gave out gumballs for just a penny. Tom Mattson said, “It might be a little old, but that machine still works just fine.” His wife Mel is the president of the historical society. She headed up the meeting for the night. After the formalities, Mel said, “Kathy has a story for you guys.” Kathy Jensen, the Secretary/Treasurer, said, “It was Tuesday afternoon, a man showed up and said some of his relatives had grown up here and he wanted to know about them. He looked around and when he was done, he handed me a $100 bill. His dad grew up here.” Someone asked, “What was his last name?” To which Jensen replied, “Christenson.” One of the elders in attendance named Everett asked, “Was it Hannah Christenson? I remember where the farm was and that there was a doctor out there.” To which Jensen replied, “Yes, and what a wonderful memory Everett has.”

Also in attendance was Dale R. Peterson, manager for the Fuller Brush Company, known as the Fuller Brush Man for Freeborn County since 1970–a total of 55 years. Born in 1936, Peterson had been selling new and used cars for Olson Motors when he answered a help wanted ad in the paper. After the 9 a.m. Interview, he asked, “When would you like me to start?” To which his interviewer replied, “About 10 a.m. this morning.” He said at the peak of the “traveling salesman” times, there were about 10,000 salesmen crisscrossing America for the Fuller Brush Company. Peterson said he went through 15 Dodge Caravans during that time, and when he kept track of his mileage for a while, he found he had put on over two million miles just driving in Freeborn County alone.

Peterson is still active with the Fuller company. He distributed catalogs to those in attendance, saying he wanted to acquaint them with products the Fuller company offers today.  

He said when he started having people work as salespeople under him, he was encouraged to hire women: “Back then we referred to the Fuller gals as ‘Fullerette’s.’” He said at some point he got tired of waiting for the brushes and other products to arrive in the mail, “So I started refitting my van to hold on to some stock and keep it with me at all times. After I started doing that, I would have a brush or two to pass out and that sped things up a lot.” He ended his speech by handing out plastic, black, Fuller Brush Company letter openers to everyone present.

There will be a full lineup of things going on at the Clarks Grove Area Heritage Museum over the summer. June 12 will have a visit from Sorenson’s Appliance. On July 10 they will have “The Singing Cowgirl” and more. To close the informative night, snacks of open-faced, egg and ham salad sandwiches were served alongside chocolate chip cookies and coffee.