Ancher Nelsen and Rural Electrification
Ancher Nelsen with President Eisenhower in 1956
Ancher Nelsen was born to Danish parents in 1902 near Buffalo Lake. Nelsen attended elementary school in Brownton, Minnesota, and graduated from Brownton High School in 1923. In 1924 he began operation of his 280-acre diversified farm at Hutchinson, McLeod County. In 1929 he married Ilo Zimmerman of Brownton; they had three children. Nelson was a member of the Minnesota Senate from 1935 to 1949. He was delegate to the 1948 and 1952 Republican National Convention. In 1952 he was elected the 34th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. Nelson served less than one year before he resigned to become administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration Program, in Washington. In 1958 Ancher Nelson was elected as a Republican to the US House of Representatives in 1958 and served eight consecutive terms before retiring in 1974.
