the fact that the Brookston area saw at least the following of its Finns emigrate to Russia: Jack Anttila, Evert Honkala, Arhur R. Kettunen, John Koivisto, Wäinö Mattson, Andrew and Ida Mäki, and John Sundstrom.

The only temperance society was established in Brookston, but it had no more than 15 active members, and its existence was limited to a few years. The society's hall burned in the 1918 fire which destroyed the whole town. The Twin Lake Farmers Educational Club, of later birth, can be considered a successor to both the temperance and workers' society activities in the area.

Brookston was also the site of a Lutheran church, affiliated with the Suomi Synod. In the 1920s it had about 50 members, but in 1945 only 12 were left and the church closed its doors. Small as the congregation had been, it had owned a church of its own, with its adjacent cemetery. The Congregational church established in Stoney Brook in 1924 still had about 20 members in 1947, when its Sunday school could be called flourishing, for that still had 18 pupils.

The Brookston cooperative was established in 1914, although it did not join the Cooperative Central until ten years later. Its first board of directors was made up of seven men, all born in Finland; three decades later, five of the older generation were still left, with two second-generation Finns added to them. For a time, the Finnish farmers in the community also had their own cooperative enterprise.

Chairmen of the board of selectmen in Brookston have included several Finns : Gust F. Tuura, Lydia W. Tuura, D. Johnson.

Conclusion

In the year 1900, the total population of St. Louis County was 82,932. Of these, 5,617 were persons born in Finland. Ten years later, these figures stood at 163,274 and 16,381 respectively, revealing that the percentage of Finns had increased substantially. In 1920, the figures were 206,391 and 17,342. For the number of Finns included, this was the peak, to be followed by a steady decline - as far as the first generation was concerned. It was soon to be overtaken by the second generation : in 1930, the number of Finns of the first generation was 14,309, but the number of second generation Finns (that is, born in the United States of Finnish parents) was already 18,276. The scales have continued to show an increasing preponderance of the second and third generation Finns.

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