DOCKEN'S STORE

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Although not quite in St. Louis Park, Docken’s Community Store certainly served the Brookside Community from at least 1926. It was located in Edina on the northwest corner of Brookside Ave. and 44th Street, now the site of the Brookside Court condominiums. Its address was 4356/60 Brookside Ave.

The store was owned by Arthur H. and Lila A. Winter Docken, who lived on Brookside Ave. near Minnehaha Creek, inside the Edina line. Arthur died on September 7, 1944. Sister Betty Docken taught school and lived in a 1 room apartment above the store

The Dockens’ children include:

• Arthur William Docken was born on December 13, 1924.  He married Geraldine Wilkins in 1952 in Missouri.  He died on March 29, 2006 in Missouri.
   
• Thomas W. Docken was born in about 1919.  He entered the Army on December 3, 1950, and served in Korea. A picture of him on leave can be found in in the November 8, 1951 edition of the Dispatch.
• 
  Lila Agnes “Mickey” Docken was born on January 3, 1923. She was active in 4-H in Hopkins, but graduated from Park High. While a junior at the U of M, she was selected to become a stewardess for American Airlines. She died on January 10, 1945 in a plane crash five miles north of Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California. All 21 passengers were members of the armed forces; there were two other crew members.

Pictures show two houses side by side on the property.  It is unclear whether one of these is the store.  There were also two small cottages near the store, probably rented out. Some remember horses on the property, and places for people to have picnics.

Courtesy Rick Sewall

In the 1950s, the store was taken over by Jon and Eloise Garner.

The area around the store has been completely changed, mostly when the Brookside Court condos went in.

Neighbors: The Harvey Hanson family lived at 4400 Rutledge and ran a dairy farm. Hanson also took the streetcar to a job downtown. His house was burned in a firefighting exercise. 4424 Rutledge (age unknown) may have been the home of Hiram and Adeline Vandervoort, after whom Vandervork Ave. was named.

 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.