A Peek into 1890 St. Vincent...

The little things that make a town, the politics of growth and decline, the individuals that made a difference; this is St. Vincent, in the year 1890 (thanks to Kittson County Museum and History Center archives and its director, Cindy...)

July 4, 1890

The Pembina silver cornet band played a number of tunes of sacred music, on the river bank, last Sunday afternoon.

On Tuesday the liquor sellers at Pembina closed their bars. Since then it has been hot, the drinkers thirsty, and the procession of them to St. Vincent well attended.

June 6, 1890

If the gentlemen, who are members of the Pembina Cornet Band, knew what pleasure their excellent music gives us and other St. Vincentites, nightly, when playing on the river stand, they would not grow weary in well doing.

"…he has virtually been the resident Doctor [these past 10 years], consulted for every form of sickness; there are few families in the neighborhood of St. Vincent but are under obligation to him for attendance and advice in time of affliction. Anything we could write would not adequately express the loss St. Vincent will sustain in his removal or the regret the disappearance of his familiar face from our streets will occasion." – Notice of departure of Mr. A. Schmid, resident of St. Vincent, businessman, druggist, and emigrant from Switzerland; known as a scholar, fluent in German and French…

April 25, 1890

Monday evening the Pembina silver cornet band played a number of beautiful musical selections on top of the toboggan slide on the river bank. The people of St. Vincent appreciated the treat. Mr. Vaughn is a very talented first cornetist.

My mother often recalled the band, and the concerts they had once played, down by the river. I wonder when I see the dates in some of the news briefs about their concerts, such as in these 1890 issues of the St. Vincent New Era, how many years they were around, and if she actually saw them, or was just recalling what her mother, my grandmother, told her. Either way, it does sound like a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon or weekday evening...