10/10/2025
History of the Morris Rifle Club
By Steve Burks, based on prior work by Darek Romberger and Raymond Stork
The Morris Rifle Club was officially created in December 1925 as a civilian organization operating with the support from the war department to encourage marksmanship with the use of military rifles and pistols. The first meeting in the history of the club was held at Dr. B.F. Eberer's office on a Friday evening; there were 38 initial members. The club’s first elected officers were: Dr. B.F. Eberer - President
L.R. Woolridge - Vice President
Axel Sidenblad - Secretary
Dr. H.O. Watzke – Treasurer
In 1929 the club purchased 40 acres of land just a few miles southeast of Morris which became our outdoor range on Hwy 9. It was a very active club from the start with many of the members competing nationally at big bore matches.
The early years saw many big bore matches here in Morris as there was a bunker with three 6x6 target carriers with 6 frames each so we could be shooting almost continuously. Men behind the bunkers would be removing, scoring, and replacing targets while shooting continued, as some of you may have seen in the service.
In the early 1930's times were tough and the range was almost sold off to one of the members to start a chicken ranch. But even in the throes of the great depression the members banded together and scraped up the money to pay the property taxes.
On January 4, 1938, the Morris Rifle Club, Incorporated was registered with the Morris, MN Register of Deeds, giving the purpose of the corporation to “maintain a club for social, educational and scientific purposes, and to maintain (a) rifle and pistol shooting ranges, trap and s***t shooting ranges, and to conduct competitive meets with other clubs, and to teach and train members in the proper use, care, and handling of fi****ms.”
Officers at this point in time:
Axel Sidenblad, President
Albert Skrien, Vice President
Reuben Wenberg, Secretary
Faye Hall, Secretary
E.J. Lundquist, Executive Officer
For many years the Club received ammo from the military through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) at no cost to educate the members on the use of military arms. Unfortunately, due to changes in government policy over the years this ceased quite some time ago. The club is still affiliated with the CMP though, which does allow us to purchase select fi****ms and ammo at a discounted rate. We are still able to hold CMP qualification shoots, as well as fun shoots, with the several M1-Garand rifles the club owns. Every fi****ms buff should try out one of these weapons, which is known in history as "the rifle that won WW II."
In the 1960's the Lakes Region Gallery League was created. Teams from the surrounding areas would gather to shoot .22 caliber rifles indoors competitively during the winter months. We used subsonic ammo and U.S. Army 50-foot small bore targets hung on individual bullet traps. At one time there were teams in Alexandria, Barrett, Elbow Lake, Fergus Falls, Glenwood, Graceville, Lowry, Morris, and Wendell. At the beginning the teams would travel to one other’s home range each week to compete and share a meal afterwards. Later, scoring was remote, but teams still gathered for a competition at the end of the season.
Due to declining interest over time and the difficulty in keeping a place to shoot, there were only two teams remaining, Morris and Fergus Falls, when the pandemic hit. That stopped the League, and when our Morris shooting location at the glass shop next to the Legion was sold, we lost access and have not been able to find a new place to resume winter indoor shooting.
In 2024 several members and officers of the club came together to try to revitalize the club after the downturn in membership activity that was started by the pandemic. New bylaws were discussed from May through August of 2024, with reference to bylaws of other clubs. The new bylaws were passed at the membership meeting held on August 27, 2024. The main difference from the recent past is that in addition to the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, who each serve one-year terms, there are now also three Directors who serve three-year terms. Collectively, all the officers and the three directors are referred to together as “the Board” or “the Board of Directors” of the club, and they are charged with the management of the Club between annual meetings. Members may attend Board meetings and may participate, but do not have a vote.
Because the first elections under the new bylaws were also held in August 2024, one of directors elected at that time was given a three-year term, a second a two-year term, and the last a one-year term, so that when each position was re-elected with a three-year term we would have staggered Director elections, one each year over a three-year period. The new Board met frequently after its election, to work on range improvements and to prepare for the 100th annual meeting, held May 20, 2025.
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