PHILLIP, BLANCHE, and PERRY PETERSON

In 1926 Phillip Peterson moved to Orchard Gardens, having purchased and abandoned home which had been built a yew years earlier by Albin Swanson.

Typical of so many residents of Orchard Gardens, Phillip Peterson commuted to the cities to his regular job. Weekends the Peterson family did their farming, tended gardens and orchards, and raised poultry. The daily chores were done by his wife or family at night. Many days were 12 to 13 hours long and often longer if a stubborn "brooder-coop"stove needed constant watching in the winter.

After many years as a member of the Orchard Lake School Board and other community groups, Mr. Peterson and his family back to Minneapolis, while still retaining their land.

During the late 1920's a son, Perry, while working at the Jensen Printing Co. in Minneapolis, created the well-known Indian Girl motif for Land-o-Lakes Creamery Association. He took a correspondence course at Art Instruction School in Minneapolis and later became a became a member of the Board of Directors for the art school. Several years later, while in New York, he became an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and Colliers magazines. His agents proudly said of him that he was "one of the ten best magazine illustrators in the nation".

Perry Peterson always said he had two things he loved to do...farming and painting. There was never enough time to do both.