By Lara Anderson

Southeast newspaper, March 1991

The fact-paced life of the twentieth century speeds by us like a greyhound chasing a rabbit. We usually don’t have time to really think about the past. Consequently, we often don’t remember our ancestors, the rich heritage they left us, or life before the technological advances we’ve become so dependent on.

But for Harvey Johnson, these memories are knocking at his back door. Harvey has lived here all his life, but he’s not the beginning of

the Johnson lineage in Southeast Minneapolis. His grandparents, Alexander Berg and Ida Magnuson Berg, came to the United States from Sweden in 1880 and set up residence at 1097 22^nd Ave SE in 1891. The house next door, 1101 22^nd, was also built the same year by Harvey’s great uncle, August Magnuson.

Harvey is organizing a family reunion in July to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the two homes. He has sent 57 invitations to relatives across the country and hopes everyone will come to reminisce about days gone by and catch up on more recent times. While the majority of Harvey’s family has moved elsewhere, he still resides in the neighborhood in which he was raised. Today he still lives in the house his father Nels Johnson built in 1923.

Nels, also a native Swede, changed his last name from Johannesson to Johnson upon his arrival in the United States in 1900. After marrying Selma Berg Johnson and having three children, they moved out of the upstairs duplex of Selma’s parents and into their own house next door at 1089 22^nd. Nels would be proud to see his house 67 years later and in good condition. After all, he built it with the help of only one other man besides the electrician and the plumber!

The Berg home was sold in 1940. Ida and her daughter Ethel moved in with Nels and his family and stayed there until their deaths. Alexander died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1925.

Harvey Johnson married in 1963. He and his wife Audrey moved into a nearby duplex. They weren’t gone long, however. A year and a half later they returned to Harvey’s mother’s home (Nels was deceased) and have lived there ever since. He later purchased the house from his mother and she lived there until she passed away in 1978.

Needless to say, the three houses on 22^nd Avenue and the Southeast neighborhood hold many fond memories for Harvey. He has seen exciting changes over the last 70 years and happily reminisces about the days when it was populated by a few single homes and business[es].

As a child Harvey played in the fields now occupied by University housing on 27^th and Talmage. And despite a few homes and small tarpaper shacks, the open land between 18^th and 24^th Avenue was perfect for baseball games on summer afternoons. Many winter days were spent sledding and skiing down snow-capped sand hills at the John Wunder Corporation on East Broadway. The icy, wooden slide his father assembled in the backyard each winter was also a favorite for Harvey and his siblings. Now, of course, we hear the buzzing of snowblowers instead of the clitter-clatter of hooves from the horse-drawn wooden snowplows. And buildings have replaced the open fields once used as playgrounds.

But changes happen and are often expected for the prosperity of a neighborhood. Alexander Berg and August Magnuson were some of the first to initiate this growth, and Harvey Johnson certainly won’t be the last. Today, Harvey and other natives of the Southeast neighborhood share knowledge, insight, and treasured memories with new Southeast residents.

Harvey Johnson can often be seen around the area helping neighbors care for their lawns and sidewalks. He is also associated with the Christian League for the Handicapped and is a charter season ticket holder of the Vikings. We acknowledge you, Harvey, for sharing your story, and we wish you luck with the effort you are putting towards your family reunion.