Vining

Vining. Small Town, Big Talent. , This Towns Remarkable Roadside Sculptures are Impossible to Miss, History of Vining , The village of Vining is in the northeastern part of Nidaros township on the branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad running between Wadena junction and Fergus Falls. In the fall of 1882, Ole and Anna Johnson, John, Jr. and Johanna Gysler, and Andrew and Anna Lund, set out to have the townsite of Vining platted. The town was officially incorporated in 1909. The original name for the town was Lund, but it was soon learned that there was another Lund post office in Minnesota. The name was changed to Vining after Mark L. Vining, the station master at Wadena while the railroad was being built through the area., John Gysler, Sr. had taken a claim on land where Vining would be in 1874. Mr. Gysler, a Civil War veteran, established a store on his homestead to meet the needs of early settlers. Later he built and operated the first general store in Vining. John Gysler was born in Norway in 1819. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in Company A, 15th Wisconsin Regiment. During the war he suffered frostbite, and lost the front halves of both feet. He was discharged in 1864., Who is Ken Nyberg? , Ken Nyberg was born in January of 1938. He grew up with very little. No telephone, electricity or running water and sometimes, barely enough food to survive. Though he grew up without all the "things of today," life was much more interesting and in many cases downright fun. From a very early age Ken used his imagination to create things with his hands., Nyberg, a welder and former construction foreman, creates his unique sculptures from leftover scrap metal he hauls from job sites to his workshop. "I basically make my statues from leftovers, old lawnmower blades, whatever," Nyberg said. "I liken what I do to when a seamstress finishes a dress and from the remaining material makes another piece of clothing. It's the same for me. Our construction projects began with large sheets of steel, and when we finished, there would be many odd-shaped pieces left. That's what most of my statues are made of.", In 1989, Ken used his hands to fashion a 1,240-pound iron foot. Ken worked on the 18 foot tall Big Foot in secret for over two years. "My wife didn't even know," he said. "I was a little afraid to say anything to anybody. Building a big foot - you gotta be crazy." His neighbors loved Big Foot so much that they placed it in a permanent spot of honor next to the main road through town. Ken followed that up with many other large, and some smaller, iron sculptures that dot the Midwestern landscape today., Nyberg Sculpture Park , As time passed, Ken's sculptures in his hometown of Vining gradually became an outdoor gallery for his metal art. Ken's busy hands have created anything-goes pieces such as a dancing knife and spoon with arms and legs, a huge doorknob floating in mid-air, and a giant pair of pliers topped with an equally large cockroach., One of the sculptures in Nyberg Park is of Ken's daughter Karen, a NASA astronaut who's flown two missions to the International Space Station., Captions: , Andrew T. and Mrs. Andrew Lund, Nidaros Township [#10513 from the collections of the Otter Tail County Historical Society] , John Edvart Gysler, Jr., Charcoal Portrait [#36899 from the collections of the Otter Tail County Historical Society] , Vining, circa 1900 View taken from Andrews Grain Co. Buildings: (L to R): Vining Drug Co., Gysler Restaurant, Nyhus Hardware, Warehouse Trans Building, Froslee Store, Central Cafe, T. Nyhus Store, Warehouse, Vigen Building, Christ Berg Store, Old Bank Building, Herbert Christianson Cream Station, Sons of Norway Lodge, Lumber Yard. The white train car is traveling photographer, Andrew Wastvedt's photography car [#36888 from the collections of the Otter Tail County Historical Society] , "Who is Ken Nyberg," "Nyberg Sculpture Park" and Vining arial photos taken by Daniel Broten