money received from the sale was donated to the Industrialisti newspaper in Duluth. 3

Association, established in 1919. As an independent businessman in Crosby, Adolf Ollila deserves mention for his participation in community affairs, and mention must also be made of Hanna and Väinö Ollila, who achieved fame as circus stars.

There have also been several Swedish-speaking Finns in Crosby, enough of them - 35 - to establish a local branch of the Runeberg Order in 1913. Its membership reached a peak of 44, and in 1917 a low of 9, when the society's cash assets were $5.00 and its other property was inventoried at $15.00.

Religion, however, also played a role, although it usually required assistance from the outside. Sometimes preachers came on a visit from Brainerd, or from New York Mills, and held services in Crosby's Swedish or German Lutheran churches. In 1920, there were 21 members in the Evangelical Lutheran congregation, and that was the first year when there seems to have been a record of such a congregation being in existence. But after that the figure was consistently smaller each time there was a count, with only 13 members left in 1945. The Apostolic Lutherans never numbered more than a few people, and their meetings were held in private homes. The National Lutherans tried to get a start, even to the point of buying land on two occasions for the building of a church, but beyond that their attempts never went.

Radicalism was more rewarding in Crosby, and it might be noted that it was here that the first Communist mayor in the United States, Emil Nygard, was elected in 1933.

Cuyuna, Ironton, etc.: Next door to Crosby is Cuyuna, which had a population of 112 in 1950. The first Finns arrived there in 1909, and there, too, they formed a Socialist organization, of which it was said (in 1916) that "it had to be poked in the ribs to keep it awake." Its membership in 1914 had been 23, so much could really not have been expected of the group under any circumstances, and it seems to have gone out of existence altogether in short order.

Ironton, too, is a close neighbor to Crosby. Its population in 1950 was 828, and two of them were listed as being Finns. Another two were listed in Manganese, out of a total population of 41. Similarly, Jenkins, with a population of 365, also had a few Finns.

3. Aakula, Gust. Data collected about Crosby. Archives of the Minnesota FinnishAmerican Historical Society

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