by Minnehaha County Economic Development
Minnehaha Funeral Home, with chapels in Baltic, Colton, Dell Rapids, and Garretson, has purchased over two acres of land on Main Street in Crooks and plans to add a local mortuary facility to the community.
"The idea for a Crooks location for our company goes back to when I was in elementary school," said Doug Nohava, manager and funeral director. "This is the next logical step in our expansion plan. We'll take some time to plan the facility and build in the future."
The Minnehaha County Burial Association started operation in the present Baltic Chapel in early 1929. The Association grew and its name was changed to "The Minnehaha Funeral Home" on November 19, 1955. Myron Nohava began working at the Baltic facility in 1976 and became manager in 1977. Now working with his son Doug as a co-manager, Myron is the longest serving manager in the funeral co-op's history. Myron Nohava was also one of the first presidents of the Minnehaha County Economic Development Association.
While the idea of a Minnehaha Funeral Home in Crooks has been in the works for some time, the actual land acquisition came together within the last year. Crooks Mayor Butch Oseby spoke with the land owner last fall, then approached the Crooks Development Corporation (CDC) to begin the process of bringing the funeral home to town.
"The city council was very supportive of the project," Oseby said. "We were able to contribute to the development corporation through our economic development fund to provide seed money, and CDC bought the land."
The economic turmoil caused by the pandemic slowed the momentum of the land sale to Minnehaha Funeral Home, but Nohava and the local development group got things back on track. Now the community is working together to prepare the Main Street tract for the next step in its development.
"Crooks Housing and Redevelopment has a lot of dirt from digging foundations for our community's housing expansion," Oseby said, "and the new funeral home lot needs some fill, so we're combining resources to get that land grade-ready."
Getting the community onboard for this project has been an energizing endeavor with great long-term consequences, according the Crooks mayor.
"With the sale of this land, the Crooks Development Corporation has some money to do other economic development projects," Oseby said. "We're also preparing our industrial park site, working to do what's necessary to get it certified by the state. A new business in town means new sales taxes, new opportunities, and the resources to move forward on new ways to build our community."
