'The man who was Santa Claus'
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Newspapers in Minneapolis, Duluth, New York and Cloquet, of course, ran stories about Cloquet's very own Santa Claus, Victor Swenson, after his death in 1947. Copyright 1947 Star Tribune. Republished with permission of Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the consent of Star Tribune.
They came in droves to Zion Lutheran Church in Cloquet. On this Wednesday in mid-September 1947, shops and factories closed, children eschewed school. There, at the church, flowers - some paid for by those children using coins from their piggy banks - were placed near the departed Victor Swenson.
They came from the reservation. They came from the far-flung rural areas in Carlton County and Duluth.
"The man who was Santa Claus" was dead, and the thousands of people whose lives he had touched mourned.
For nearly 50 years, children in Carlton County didn't have to merely "believe" in Santa Cl...
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