Finding Minnesota: How Cokato became "Sauna City"
COKATO, Minn. -- When it's cold outside, there's at least one place you can go to get warm -- a sauna. In this week's Finding Minnesota, John Lauritsen shows us how Cokato became "Sauna City."
Officially, "SAUW-na" is how they say it in Finland. That is where Sauna 360 is partially based out of. Here in the U.S., the company builds and sells saunas in Cokato, a town where Finnish settlers once put down their roots because the climate was similar to their native country.
"Right here you're in sauna central for probably the whole U.S., really," said Sauna 360's Matt Bergstrom.
They've sold thousands of saunas over the years. But a few miles away, there's another one that's a tad older and not quite as luxurious.
"This one was the first one that was built in this area," said Harvey Barberg.
Barberg also believes the sauna at Temperance Corner may be the oldest standing sauna in the country. He's president of the Cokato Finnish-American Historical Society, and a proud Finn through and through.
"They would come in and they would start a fire but they would open all the little outlets," Barberg said. "They would keep heating it. It would take all Saturday to heat the thing."
The families that shared it, including Harvey's great grandparents, would heat the 10-by-12-foot sauna to 180 degrees. Then they'd put out the fire, remove the ash, add a little water to the stone, and use it for a variety of different things.
"They'd do the laundry in here, then on Saturday, this was the meeting place," Barberg said.
The settlers would also use it as a place to bathe, which became a problem in 1885 because many would go outside, in their birthday suits, to cool off. Picture heading by on a horse and buggy and suddenly you see a bunch of nude Finns.
Because of that, the township sued the Selvala family to tear it down, but they countersued to keep it standing.
"And he took them to court, and it was the first lawsuit in Cokato Township, and he won," Barberg said.
Thirty dollars was the reward. The township also paid the settlers to move the sauna. To be neighborly, they added a dressing room for good measure.
"You have lower benches if you want it cooler because there's a big temperature radiant within a sauna, and the higher you go, the hotter it is," Barberg said.
It was also custom to use birch sticks with leaves on your skin as a sort of self-care ritual.
"It releases the resins within the leaf and it also increases circulation," Barberg said. "Believe it or not it feels wonderful."
Dovetail corners on the outside allow water to filter out so the wood doesn't rot. Which is a big reason why this Finnish relic is still standing 155 years later.
The sauna is located at Temperance Corner, three miles north of Cokato on County Road 3.
Barberg also wants people to know that the presidential buildings in Finland all have saunas.