- [Announcer] Funding for "Off 90" is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(loon call) (upbeat music) (lively music) - [Host] Crusin' you way next "Off 90."

Memories of a legendary Austin teen hangout.

The Cre8tive Place in Planview.

And, a 150 year old manufacturing company in Winona.

It's all coming up on your next stop "Off 90."

(50s rock and rock guitar fades) (upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Barbara Keith.

Thanks for joining me on this trip "Off 90."

Some called it Austin's version of "American Bandstand."

It was known as "The Tower."

And 50 years ago, it was a teen hot spot.

People still talk about it with reverence.

The Tower featured a wholesome environment with food, dancing, and live music.

Our story remembers the unforgettable.

- We'd walk up those stairways on a fall winter day, after a football game, or a basketball game.

Or whatever was happening, and then all of a sudden, it would be all of our friends.

And play ping-pong, or pinball, or have a Coke and fries.

I ended up calling Linda Nybo, one of Clarence's daughters.

She told me a story.

One night she heard her parents talking.

- I was laying in bed, and the kitchen was right next to the bedroom.

In fact, there was door between the two.

My parents were in the kitchen.

And I could tell this is a serious discussion.

And my dad was telling my mom about this idea he had.

He was going to start a youth center in town, for a safe place for kids to go.

And I could tell my mom was not going with it at all.

She was not enthusiastic about the idea.

- And his wife said, "Well, Clarence, how are you gonna do this?"

And he said, "Honey, you know that money we've been saving "to build a house?

We're gonna use that money."

And she said, "What?!"

And so they ended up going to Gar Nash, and they asked him if he'd kick in, and Gar's wife said no.

So they went to Dale Modine, another utility, and Dale Modine kicked in some money.

So the three of the guys from the utilities got all the machines, the dance floor, and they opened it up on August 31st.

- 1957.

And in October, we moved into a two-bedroom house.

So he managed to do both things.

Where the youth center came from?

My parents loved to dance.

I think that's what brought them together.

They loved music, the loved dancing, and they were good.

We'd go down to Terp.

And they would, people would stop and watch them, because they were good.

They loved music, they loved dancing.

So why not have a place where the kids could dance, have fun, and stay out of trouble.

We had kind of three stages in The Tower.

The first, they began, they were open all the time.

They had hamburgers and malts, and an occasional band.

And then, the middle part, which I was a part of, was pretty much juke box.

We just went up there, paid a quarter, and we danced to the juke box.

Then it seemed like they went more and more to bands.

Where they'd have one or two bands every week.

- The reason we had a lot of garage bands in Austin was because a lot of the kids where interested in playing music.

Instead of dancing, they were standing in front of the band.

- And they would come up and watch the bands from Minneapolis play.

And then afterwards, I guess, Gar Nash would sit with the bands, and they would critique the Minneapolis bands and say, "Okay, what were they doing?

"And, what could you do differently?"

- They were watching the bass guitar player, the lead guitar player, the drummer, whoever.

Because they wanted to learn those tricks that that guy had.

It was like, man, I wanna do that.

I wanna learn how to do that.

- Especially the young bands, started up in town, because they would see these other bands come.

That he even paid their dues, or fees, that they had to pay, because, again, a lot of them were high school bands.

They didn't have the money.

Tower, when it opened, did not have a name.

And so, they had a contest.

And the kids voted, and they overwhelmingly chose The Tower.

And with all the steps to get up there, it was an appropriate name to have for The Tower.

Because people talk about that all the time, how they would go up steps, hit the landing, go up more steps, finally get to the door.

And then, once at the door, they would pay money.

But then again, when you were at the door, you would have to, if there was any doubt that you had consumed alcohol, they said Gar Nash, usually it was Gar, that would stick his nose in your face, and say "Blow."

And a lot of guys, that was a happy memory for them, 'cause they got in, or didn't get in.

- There were 10 rules you had to follow to be a member of The Tower.

And if you broke any of those rules, you were potentially suspended, or you were kicked out.

And nobody would want to lose the privilege of going to be with your friends.

And that was the only place to go.

But, that was part of the deal.

And if you lost that privilege, then you're out.

And so when you went to The Tower, your parents might of told you something.

But I never went up to a girl and said, "Would you like to dance?

What church do you go to?"

I never asked that one.

(chuckling) I would just ask, "Do you wanna dance?"

And said yes, and I go "Good."

- Oh, dancing.

Dancing.

And we're talking about the second floor of a brick building in the summer.

So, no air conditioning.

They would have big fans in the window, blowing in air, blowing it out, I don't know if it worked.

And you would dance until you couldn't stand it any more.

And then go stand in front of the fans.

- The memory of The Tower is so strong.

That one of the things was always, you went to the basketball game, you went to the football game.

You went to whatever activity.

And then, you went to The Tower.

And you may of stopped at George's before, or after.

- One The Tower was opened, the Pacelli kids came up, the Austin High School kids came up.

And they mixed, and got to know each other.

- [Bruce] Clarence did, and Gar and Dale, they unknowingly allowed the city to unite.

- And one thing dad did, was he kept inviting parents up.

Please come up, see what it's like up here.

And from one parent, he got a note from saying that, he hadn't let his daughter go.

And he thought, "Well, I should go and check it out."

So he went up, talked to my dad, looked around, saw what was going on, and came back down and said, "Okay, you can go."

And that was really important for him that it was a safe place for kids to go.

As he was bringing more bands from the cities, he started getting groups of people following the bands down to The Tower.

And so, he thought "Well, this is a private club."

And so he said, "What I'll do is I'll have a dress code "that would keep these people from Minneapolis "from coming into the club."

So basically he put a description of a dress code, like no grunge clothing, or beards.

- You know, there was a dress code for girls.

There was no open midriffs.

- And he published it in the paper.

Well, it did not go well with the local kids.

Like, you can't tell us we can't be able to do this.

But in his effort to keep the place safe, it kind of turned around, and then it was shortly after that, then he sold it.

- It really became to all of us that passed through from 1957 to 1971, it because our stairway to heaven.

And on Friday and Saturday nights, they had some of the best bands going.

And it just so happens that the first band to play was The Saints.

And lo and behold, the opening act that happened, was The Tower tribute last year, was Barry Rush.

And Barry Rush happened to be there, the first act for that.

And 2022 was "Tribute to The Tower" tribute.

We're hoping in 2023, that it's "Back to The Tower."

And then in 2024, we want it to be "The Power of The Tower."

(50s rock and roll) - Probably 10,000 youths were effected by The Tower in some way.

- No other towns around had a place that they could go to and meet and cross over.

It was a special place to grow up.

And The Tower was emblematic of that place and time.

- I think we were worried that people might forget that this was a special time, special place, special person.

And we don't want it to be forgotten.

We want people to still remember it after we're gone.

(lively music) - Don't have a place in your home to be creative?

Plainview's "Cre8tive Place" might be the answer.

Whether you need hot glue, yarn, or art classes, The Cre8tive Place offers a space to do any kind of painting or craft.

And will help you push your boundaries.

(upbeat music) - The Cre8tive Place is a DYI art studio for artists and makers, and people to be able to come and create.

A fantastic place for people to come and connect.

Moms, daughters, friends get to come here and create fun art pieces.

That they can create and take home and decorate with, or give as gift.

And I just think it creates a sense of community.

I think people are looking for that these days.

And can't have a party without art.

It is a place where people can leave their home behind.

Settle into a space where they can connect with friends, family, new friends, and create something that they don't have to get all the ingredients, all the supplies.

And just let go.

At the Cre8tive Place, I do offer open studio hours, where the studio's just open, and you can come in, and you can make and create your own designs, your own project, finish something you've been working on.

You can bring in your own stuff, bring in your own supplies.

If you need a little extra, I've got it, most likely.

They can also be instructed by an art teacher, step-by-step, how to do painting and crafting, and watercolor and oil painting.

We can paint on canvas, on wood.

We can do five foot porch signs here.

We can do resin classes, pore painting.

(gentle music) - Trying a different craft, art, it pushes our boundaries.

And when you have a space like this, you really get the opportunity to try something different that you don't have to get all the supplies for.

- We wanna create a space where artists can come, show their work, sell their work, be profitable in doing what they love.

'Cause if you're not living your passion in this world, what else is there?

And it fulfills me, too.

Because I get to have my art side, which I gave up for the busy life of having a job, and oh, I don't have enough time to do art, or I don't have a space in my house.

That's usually a lot of people's reason.

Well, here's your space!

Right?

Come to the Cre8tive Place, be creative.

- I was doing art on the go for eight years.

And I loved being able to bring all of my art stuff to a place, but it was all getting kind of packed into my storage shed, and I couldn't access a lot of things, because I didn't have the space to spread it all out.

And so here at the Cre8tive Place, I'm able to have those options of, "Hey, do you need a button?

I have a button here."

I have hot glue here, I have scissors, I've got yarn.

I've got string, I've got paint, I've got it all here.

Which is kind of unique in a small town.

I hired out my first artist, Denise Steinberg, and she is now part of my team, when she is going out doing art-on-the-go parties.

She's the one now that gets to go out and do the traveling art parties, so that I can stay here at the Cre8tive Place, and I can help spread the love of art even further.

- So, when Nicki decided to have a storefront, it was like, "Well, how are you gonna still do "art-on-the-go and a storefront?"

Because usually weekends are gonna be your busy time.

And I was like, "Well, you're gonna need some teachers."

So we take all the art supplies, you provide the tables and the people.

And we teach you a painting.

It's so cool to see everybody's interpretation of the one thing that we're all trying to replicate.

- [Nicki] So Diane Gray is one of my makers, and she ran and hosted a sugar scrub class, where we got together, and we created our own unique sugar scrubs.

- I met Nicki through BNI.

And I actually met her a little over four years ago.

She's like, "You're so creative, "you really need to share your creative spirit, "and your energy."

She's like, "People don't know how to make sugar scrubs.

"People don't know how to macrame."

And what people said when they were thinking about joining, they were like, "I always wanted to know how to make sugar scrubs."

And people are always a little bit curious about essential oils, and how much do I use?

And it's so much fun to just teach a little bit of how you put one oil together, why you use a little bit less of this one, and a little bit more of this oil.

And how they combine with different sugars, or coconut oils, or anything that you put together.

- [Nicki] Yeah, I just want people to take a chance and experience something that they haven't done before.

And with some knowledge from an experienced artist that can show you how to do it the proper way.

- [Diane] I guess my biggest thing is that I love Nicki's passion for helping others.

It was, the Cre8tive Place was stemmed not for her to benefit from, but for other artists to find a way for them to compensate themselves in, with their passion.

So, she supports so many different artists with this space.

And not just her interests.

So, I think that's one of the most valuable things about the Cre8tive Place.

It's about other people.

(upbeat music) - Winona was a lumber and milling town back when the Watkins Company launched its business.

One early product was called Vegetable Anodyne Liniment.

Now, 150 years later, the best-seller is vanilla.

Watkins sells hundreds of products.

Mostly things that come in small bottles.

Let's learn more from the company's historian.

(jazzy music) - The Watkins Company is a very unique company, from the standpoint that we have a long history of coming right into people's homes.

(jazzy music) We've done just about everything there is to make and sell, including car tires and spark plugs at one point.

(jazzy music) If you wanna be successful, it still matters that you have a quality product, you have good customer service, and you're honest and fair.

(jazzy music) I'm John Goplen.

(jazzy music) I am the archivist for the Watkins Company.

The Watkins Company was founded in 1868, right after the Civil War.

We traveled West with the pioneers, as they settled the Western United States.

We have grown with the country, as we've gone from a rural population to an urban population.

We have seen numerous world wars, great depressions.

We've seen technical marvels from airplanes, to landing on the moon.

We have made that journey along with our countrymen.

(jazzy music) We have been in the food industry, we trace our roots back to the 1870s.

But we really took off in around 1895, when we introduced our world-famous vanilla, and cinnamon, black pepper, and assorted spices and extracts.

(jazzy music) Today we have approximately 200 to 300 different products that we manufacturer.

But the company's probably best known for our vanilla, cinnamon and pepper.

(jazzy music) Vanilla has been our number one best seller since the 1940s.

And has remained our number one seller since then.

(jazzy music) We offer a wide variety of vanillas.

We have our number one seller, the Baking Vanilla.

Which is a fairly unique formula.

You don't usually see that in grocery stores outside of the Watkins brand.

It's formulated to be double-strength, or double-force, which means it won't bake out, or freeze out.

We still offer a pure vanilla, which is best-suited for whipped creams, ice cream, puddings, mousses, that sort of of thing.

We offer an imitation vanilla that's clear, in order for people to bake white cakes and white frostings.

We offer vanilla powder, which is unique here in the United States.

A vanilla bean paste, and a no-alcohol version of vanilla for those who may have gluten issues.

(jazzy music) We also follow trends.

As everybody knows, things come in and out of favor.

Recently, for example, we have launched a series of bitters, of orange bitters, and aromatic bitters.

As that, as the popularity of mixed drinks has come back.

(jazzy music) - Today on the express line, we are running our organic pure orange extract.

The process is that the bottles are loaded onto the line.

They go through a filler, are filled up.

There's a labeler, a cartoner, and at the end of the line, they will be put into shippers, palletized, and then will be shipped out across the country.

(jazzy music) (jazzy music continues) - J.R. Watkins was born in 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He moved with his family to Minnesota in 1862.

And initially, he planned to be a farmer.

When those plans did not work out, he decided to become a businessman, and that's when he founded his company.

(jazzy music) When J.R. started in 1868, he was not a very wealthy man, he lived in a pretty humble five, six room house out on the prairie.

But over the decades of hard work, he grew his business.

And by the early 1900s, he was a multi-millionaire, very wealthy.

And as his company grew, he wanted people to know how successful he was.

And part of that was building what he considered the finest private office building in the world.

(jazzy music) By the 1890s, we were covering most of the lower 48 states.

And then, we were making our way up to Canada by that point.

By 1910, we had manufacturing facilities in Memphis, Tennessee, Winona, and Winnipeg, Canada.

At one point, we had large manufacturing facilities also in Newark, New Jersey.

Light manufacturing in California.

And as the company continued to grow, we expanded overseas.

In the 1930s, we expanded into Australia, later into South Africa.

We were in Great Britain and Sweden.

we were in Britain until the Germans bombed our facility.

And so, by the 1940s and 50s, we were an international company.

We were not just in the United States.

But we were also in Australia, South Africa, and other regions.

(lively music) The Watkins Company at one point, or another, has made just about everything from animal feed, to remedies, food products, chicken feed, all sorts of products.

And we had a lot of premium items, too.

It could be a candy dish, it could be a mop.

We sold cleaning supplies.

So, we've done just about everything there is to make and sell, including car tires and spark plugs at one point.

(gentle piano music) The reason we have survived when most of our competitors have disappeared, is the fact that we continue to focus on the quality, and customer service.

We have a long history of coming right into people's homes.

And that is one of the reasons that we are still here today, and still so well-known.

It's said a lot of people grew up with a Watkins salesperson coming to their door.

(gentle piano music) The Watkins man, or woman, brought a lot of neighborhood information, because they stopped at all the local homes.

And could keep people updated, what was going on with their neighbors, in the age before cell phones, and texting, and all of that.

(gentle music) Bill Porter was a salesman for Watkins for over 50 years.

Born with cerebral palsy, and was unable to find traditional work.

Bill was such a remarkable person, that in 2002, they made a movie about his life called "Door to Door."

- Yeah?

- Good morning.

My name is Bill Porter.

And I would like to take a moment of your time to tell you about some of the many fine Watkins products available.

And of course, they all come with 100% money-back guarantee.

(birds chirping) - I don't think so.

(door slams) - [Woman in House] Who is it?

- It's a very uplifting movie about the triumph of the human spirit, about someone who overcame the hardships of life to be very successful.

(upbeat music) In today's world, we don't necessarily knock on your door and come in, in a physical sense.

But we still come into your home through the internet, through online sales.

We still do direct marketing.

We have social media, we are reaching millions and millions of more people than we did 30 or 40 years ago.

(jazzy upbeat music) Today, we are able to compete with a number of brands because we are now in retail stores.

You'll find our products in companies such as Menards, or Walmart, your local grocery store.

We do sometimes have opportunities to partner with other international companies.

But the main focus of the Watkins Company is North America.

(jazzy music) - We've reached the end of this tour.

Thanks for riding along!

See you next time "Off 90".

(upbeat music) (lively music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Off 90" is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(loon call)