In the fall of 1956, four men from Cushing, Bill Jensen, Ed Olson, Ron Skone and Loren Nelson, formed a quartet calling themselves the Chordaliers.  From this nucleus the Polk-Burnett County Chapter and Indianhead Chorus were formed. The quartet was a member of the Duluth Mn. Chapter before our own chapter was formed.

During the spring of 1957 an organizational meeting for prospective singers was called in Cushing at the Grade School. A total of twelve men showed up for the first meeting. The first meetings were held every two weeks but the men found it so enjoyable that they decided to meet every week. Word of mouth increased the numbers and soon there were nearly thirty men attending-mainly from Cushing, Luck and Milltown areas.

As more men were attracted from the Luck and Milltown areas it was decided to move the rehearsal and meeting sites around. We then met at the Cushing School, West Denmark Parish Hall and Milltown Lutheran Church basement. However, after a short period this was found unsatisfactory as it was hard to remember where the next meeting was to be held if you missed a week. Also by this time we had men coming from all over the County.

A member at that time was the Elementary School supervisor of Unity Schools, Sam Jensen. He suggested that we meet in the old Balsam Lake School as it was centrally located in the County and he had access to the school.  It was decided that this was a good idea. So in late 1957 we made the move. We have met in Balsam Lake ever since then having moved in recent years to the Polk County Court House.

During the time we were still in the round robin manner of meeting sites we had determined to join the SPEBSQSA and we needed a name for the chorus. One night at West Denmark part of the meeting was used to decide on a name. Many names were submitted-among them the Vikings and Norsemen-because of the Scandinavian heritage of so many of the members. However, it was decided that Indianhead was more suitable because of our location in the Indianhead area of Wisconsin.

We began to make applications and preparations for our charter from the International Office in Kenosha Wisconsin. One thing we needed was a sponsoring chorus and we chose St. Croix Valley of Hudson at that time. Even though the original quartet had been members of the Duluth Chapter in an inactive status, Hudson was closer and there were acquaintances in that Chapter. We then received our charter in 1958 and began making preparations for our Charter Show which was held in the fall of 1958. 

Our first show was held on a Sunday afternoon in the old Luck High School gym. Our chorus and quartets were joined by the St. Croix Valley chorus and quartets and the show headliner quartet was the Hut Four. They are no longer in existence but were ranked quite high in International competition at that time. They were from Minneapolis. 

We had a Sunday afternoon show for a couple of years but changed to Saturday nights when it seemed like people were more in the mood for entertainment on Saturday than Sunday. All of our shows have been successful financially and the quality has increased attendance. They haven't all been packed houses but never an embarrassment as far as a small crowd or poor singing are concerned.

Our shows have been moved around also. We started in Luck and moved to Frederic when we outgrew the facilities in Luck. Then on to Unity when the same thing happened. A few years we put on a show in Frederic and Amery - Friday and Saturday nights and then Saturdays a week apart. However, this was a tremendous amount of work, setting up staging in two gyms and also getting a double slate of quartets. Now since Unity has built their new facilities, the two shows on a Saturday seem to work out the best.

Over the period of twenty nine years of our existence, we have sung over a wide area. In one short period we appeared at the old Hotel Leamington, for the Northwest Bankers Association, Eau Claire for the Norbest Turkey Growers Association and the Schraeder Hotel in Milwaukee for the Wisconsin Bankers Association.

We have presented many package shows in the area. That is where we are the sole entertainment for an organization or fund raiser for a town.  Each year we have a couple of those. We put on a package show at Hazelden each January for the patients. We have done this for twelve years on a no charge basis. Each year we sing in the various nursing homes. The first few years we appeared during Christmas but found that the Homes get more singing than they need at that time so for the last few years we've gone to them in February, and given them a "mini" show of about forty minutes, at a slower time of year. Then each summer we take two Sunday mornings and sing in seven to twelve churches each Sunday for their services.  This covers a two county area.

We also compete in our division and district chorus contests. These are held each spring. The winners in the spring go to the finals in the fall. We have been district small chorus champions three times. The small chorus membership is forty four or less. We  belong to the Land O' Lakes district which covers Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, North Dakota and 2½ provinces of Canada, so there are many chapters represented.

Our chorus was just outfitted in new grey tuxes. This is our seventh uniform we have used in addition to a couple of summer outfits. These are furnished the members by the chorus. Our organization is non-profit. No member is paid for any time or mileage and lodging. We have donated in excess of $22,000 over the years to the International Service Fund (Institute of Logopedics) and various local charities such as Cancer Funds, Nurses Departments and the old Polk County Health Council.

The Indianhead Chorus is unique in it's twenty nine year history with having the same Music Director for nearly all of it's existence with only short periods served by Norman Osero of Amery and Jerry Severson of Cameron. Loren Nelson of Cushing began as Director and still serves where he will direct the Chorus on their thirtieth anniversary. In recent years Rodney Pagh has been the assistant director. No contract is made with the director insofar as payment is concerned. Usually gifts of appreciation have been presented by the Chapter members.

Each year we have a couple of social events with our wives or girl friends. We always have a "Ladies Night" when we reserve a supper club where a dinner and awards presentations are highlights of the evening. Some years we've taken the boat trip on the St. Croix River, gone to a Twins game, had a camp-out and picnic or other such activities involving the families. Most of the costs for these events are covered by members previous donations.

At the present time we have a membership of forty four friendly, congenial men. We have had an enjoyable thirty years of singing and look forward to the start of our next thirty years.