Northfield Bank Raid Gains International Attention

Two eighth grade students, Eric Chien and Grant Bemis from Breck School in MInneapolis won the National History Day Competition in Washington D.C. by creating a comprehensive and historically accurate display depicting the Northfield citizen's stand against the infamous James/Younger Gang.

As a result Northfield is in the international spotlight!

Following is their personal process paper describing how they came about the subject matter, the research and the display. Their project will be on display at the Northfield Historical Society in July. In the meantime photographs of the display and these talented historians will be posted on this site within the next week.

Initially, we were interested in finding a topic that involved taking a stand locally. We were considering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, when a documentary we were watching captured our attention. It was about the Northfield Raid, and how the brave residents stood up to Jesse James and the James/Younger Gang. We liked the fact that it was a local story, and Northfield was close enough for us to visit. The Northfield Raid became our main topic, and did not come from any larger theme. We were happy to find the topic ourselves, and since the event occurred in Minnesota, the information available to us was substantial.

We began our research on the Internet, and learned that our best resources were located at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, and the Northfield Historical Society in Northfield. We visited numerous Hennepin County Libraries where we collected several books on the subject. Robber And Hero, by George Huntington, was our most informative book source. Written just 19 years after the event, this fascinating and classic account of the raid includes several interviews of surviving locals. Jack Koblas, a local author and expert on Minnesota history, has published many books detailing the raid.

The highlight of our research was the personal interviews we had with Mark Fagerwick, Executive Director of the Northfield Historical Society, Mr. Koblas, and Earl Weinmann, another leading expert on the Northfield Raid. They provided important insights on the impact of Reconstruction and the historical climate in Northfield. While visiting the Minnesota Historical Society library and archives, we copied a series of newspaper articles from the time of the robbery and discovered several primary sources. Our enlightening visit to Northfield uncovered more primary sources, including photographs of the bank, the town, and gravesites of the heroes. In fact Mr. Fagerwick gave us an extensive tour of the entire facility and were shown a seldom viewed artifact, the ear of Charlie Pitts!

We chose to present our research as an exhibit. Both of us are kinesthetic learners, so actually going to the site of our topic, collecting props and artifacts, designing the layout, and building the project are right up our alley. Many of the photographs we collected are in sepia tones, which gave us the idea of using parchment-type paper and giving everything the antique look of the 1870’s. We laid out our text with supporting sketches and quotes so that the main event, the Northfield Raid, would be the centerpiece. On the base of our exhibit, we designed a scene of Northfield to display a replica of the bank, on loan from the Northfield museum. The greatest challenge was condensing our material, and fitting everything into the exhibit.

The townspeople of Northfield, Minnesota took an important stand against one of the most infamous gangs of the Old West: The James/Younger Gang. Proving that common citizens could have uncommon valor, the residents of Northfield decimated the gang, sending a message across America that robberies and violence would no longer go unchallenged. In an era of political unrest and lawlessness, their unprecedented heroics brought great relief to a war-torn nation. Some say the shots fired in Northfield were the “final shots” of the Civil War.

-- Grant Bemis and Eric Chien National Winners of the National History Day Competition.