Morristown resident writes about Faribault Woolen Mills

Jeff Jarvis has been interested in history all of his life. His love of local history has spun into a book about the Faribault Woolen Mills.

Jarvis, who grew up between the King Mill and Woolen Mill, always had a fascination with these structures.

The rural Morristown resident took his fascination to another level and wrote the book “YARNS,” Homespun Tales from Faribault Woolen Mills.

Jarvis was shopping at the Woolen Mill Store in 2010 and he spotted an employee photograph from 1925 which was hanging on the wall.

“I asked a clerk to take it home and scan it. They let me,” Jarvis said. “A day later I brought the yard-long printout of the photo to Conrad Stearns to identify the people in the photo.”

Two years earlier Jarvis had met Conrad and his wife Helen, who lived near the Woolen Mill.

Conrad was a 37-year employee of the Woolen Mill and Jarvis spent many hours trading stories with him. So he was the perfect person to brainstorm with.

The Stearns identified almost everyone in the picture, which included more than 60 employees.

“For hours I heard stories about these people, and they came alive,” Jarvis said.

It was then when Jarvis decided to have a formal “coffee hour” for Woolen Mill workers.

“In terms of numbers, the....

To see more on this story pick up the May 2, 2019 print edition of the Life/Enterprise papers.