Monday is Presidents' Day, which officially celebrates George Washington's birthday, although it generally honors Abraham Lincoln, as well. Some regard it as applying to all American presidents.
To mark the occasion, we asked Todd Mahon, executive director of the Anoka County Historical Society, what links there might be between the county and our nation's chief executives.
He offered a couple of nuggets, one connected to a tragedy. The funeral train car that brought Abraham Lincoln's body from Washington to his home state of Illinois later went through several owners, Mahon said. It eventually was bought by Thomas Lowry, the famous Twin Cities attorney, developer and entrepreneur, who had the car in a lot in Columbia Heights.
Ultimately, it was lost in a grass fire. The Historical Society has a salvaged piece of it.
As for visits, Mahon said President George W. Bush appears to be the only president to have paid a call on the county. He made a stop at the old post office building in Anoka during his 2004 re-election campaign.
