1907 St. Vincent Main Street

The carriage looks suspiciously like our 'Mystery Man' again!  Could it be?!

Source:  Digital Horizons, State Historical Society of North Dakota, via Pembina Historical Society

This shows the main street in St. Vincent, Minn. in 1907. Many buildings line the street and electric lines are visible. Notice the street is unpaved and there are wooden sidewalks present.

This street leads down to the river where it curves to the north for a short way, to where the ferry crossing is that takes people, wagons, etc. over to Pembina on the Red River. At the far end, where years later a bridge will be, you can make out buildings. Down in that area, at this time, is an elevator and a brewery, among other businesses.

St. Vincent Engine No. 1,  on display during the 155th Town Reunion in 2012

The firehall, its bell tower seen on the left (south side) of the street, is new, just built in 1903, housing a new fire engine, St. Vincent Engine No. 1! Directly behind the horse carriage on the right , behind the electric light post, is a short awning. That is the St. Vincent Bank. The larger awning to the right is over the entrance to the Nelson Green store. That same lot is where the Valley Community Church (later the St. Vincent EFC) was located.

Out of view, on the left, is the railway depot, platform, and tracks, which go south of the firehall running east/west. At one point, the tracks also went down to the river and curved around to the north, where the plans had been to build a railway bridge. Unfortunately, that never happened and that change significantly impacted St. Vincent's growth. Those tracks were later removed, and the rails into St. Vincent dead-ended in town. For over 70 years, St. Vincent had freight and passenger service as a sort of consolation prize, but it was ultimately doomed. For its first 30 years or so, it served an important role in bringing thousands - yes, thousands according to many newspaper articles - of settlers north and west, on the railroad. Most did not stay in our area, but only passed through.

In 1907, the town was already quieting down, but still a busy small town around 300 population. Right across the river, its counterpart and neighbor - and in the past, part of the same territory - was Pembina, around 600 or so at this time. So the 'twin city' area has a lively community of citizens, schools, churches, businesses, and surrounding farms. A great place to live, work, and raise families...

Mohammed Ali Bhamrahad, Peddler

When Mohammed was born (August 1, 1892), the countries we know today didn't exist. During the Ottoman rule "Syria" was the name of a region that was otherwise known as the Levant. The word "Syria" did not depict any separate entity/state but a geographical area the same way we use today the words "Western Europe", or "Far East". Lebanon was in the region of Syria but it was a semi-autonomous mutasarrifiyya (like a country) which was established in 1860. The leader of Lebanon was chosen by European nations and it was off-limits for the Turkish army.

When France took over the (Syrian) region, there were actually 6 countries: the state of Aleppo, state of Damascus, Jabal el druze, Alexandretta, Allawite state and Greater Lebanon. Some of the five other regions were annexed by Lebanon.

Toward the end of the mandate, Alexandretta got annexed by Turkey, Lebanon gained full independence, and the other four were merged together into a new country that adopted the name "Syria".

Lebanon has always been a de facto separate entity since the 1500s even if many historic maps don't show it; France simply decided to put it on paper and make it official.
___________

Mohammed Allay Bomrad was born near Beirut (?) in Damascus, Syria in 1892. He arrived in the Edinburg, North Dakota area in 1915, using that town as his mailing address while he traveled around Walsh, Pembina and Cavalier counties, selling his wares and working on farms during the busy seasons.

As a country peddler, he first made his route with a sack on his back selling notions, toiletries, dress goods, medicines, jewelry and other essentials.

In 1917, he bought his first horse. In 1922, his "one hoss shay" was replaced with a wagon when he bought a second horse, making a team - Bud and Biada, which he treated with utmost care. When talked sharply to them, he would say: "I'm talking Irish."

He wasn't "fussy" about where he slept - hay stacks, hay lofts - but later, when he was better known, he would find lodging and a bite to eat at some farm homes. For a number of years, he frequently stayed at the Sigurdson home west of Gardar.

Although he was thrifty, he was known for his kindness and generosity. During the flu epidemic of 1918, he spent weeks helping farmers who were victims of the "flu bug," never mentioning pay. He loaned money, trusted his customers when they were unable to pay. He sent much money to relatives in Syria and retained his Islamic faith by reading publications. He made regular trips to Vang on election days to mark his "X" as he had received his citizenship papers in Cavalier County. He stated it was a privilege for an American to vote.

"The Syrian Muslim, Mohammed Ali Bhamrahad...He lived among the Icelanders in America his entire life. He was
quite a legend and a very sweet man." - Janet Muldoon.  [Photo taken west of Mountain, ND and up the hill on the
Pembina Escarpment, also known as Schroeder Hill, on the Swanson farm, rural Cavalier County, North Dakota]

Although he had enjoyed good health, he had been the victim of several accidents, runaways and once losing all his wares when his horses stepped off a bridge crossing a flooded area.

While all his material possessions could be contained in his wagon, he stated his wealth was immeasurable. His unfailing health permitted him to be amid the beauties of nature, the joy of music and most of all - the hundreds of friends he had acquired while living in this country.

Eventually he retired to Canada where he expected to enter a nursing home among relatives. He passed away in February 1989 at age 97.

Chewing the Fat @ the Virtual Water Cooler

Recently, on a social media site, a few individuals who grew up in or near Humboldt, MN were reminiscing...

Deacon Jim Hunt One of my fondest Humboldt memories was living across from the Tri Honey Apiary. Old P.N Tri would let us go in when they were loading the extractors and get gobs of wax and honey on our fingers to chew. It was delicious and fun for a small boy growing up in the 50's in the little Minnesota town.Still love that honey and think of the Tri family every time I taste it.

Keith Finney I have lots of fond memories of them and the honey as well. Only got stung once and PN put a gob of wet mud on it. My eye still swelled shut. Ha. Tony and I used to stop by his grandma's after school for peanut butter and honey snacks.

Deacon Jim Hunt Henrietta - Very kind old woman.

Michael Rustad I used to worry about the bees but never once got stung. I spoke with Helen Tri often in her last years and I learned that Humboldt honey was mail-ordered around the world. They had a large number of dedicated customers in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to name just a few. We had our specialty food business right in Humboldt across from the Hunt house. And speaking of that house, it was huge! We had some really big houses in Humboldt and some really small ones too. The Boatz house, built by the Elevator Association, was tiny. Our house later occupied by my Grandparents and still later by Dick Gatheridge was a nice size. Does anyone remember Ree Schoenberger and their house. I think Bill Sylvester lived there before Ree and his wife.

Does anyone remember an incident when a massive tree was cut down near or at the Hunt's place by an unknown vandal. I wonder how that could have happened.

PROFILE: Lapp General Store

A new general store.  Short sales people on the street showing off the latest .22 rifles.  Wide new sidewalks all along Pacific Avenue's north side through the entire town.  Yep, St. Vincent was on a roll in 1912...

One of the best historical essays is all about the history of this store - HIGHLY recommended reading!

Lapp General Store circa 1912, brand spanking new!
[Lapp Family Photo Collection, Courtesy Beth Lapp]

Winnie & Dick Lapp packing heat in front of the family's store
[Lapp Family Photo Collection, Courtesy Beth Lapp]

Richard Lapp:  Ready, Aim...Fire?
[Lapp Family Photo Collection, Courtesy Beth Lapp]

Interior of General Store - Lapp Family Can be seen in back;
Click on photo to see larger version and greater detail
[Lapp Family Photo Collection, Courtesy Beth Lapp]

Farmer's Store

Farmer's Store in Hallock (1910).  Note tea chest on left...
[Photo Credit:  Minnesota Historical Society] 

My Mom and I often shopped at the old Farmer's store in downtown Hallock in the 1960's and 1970's.  Even then, it was somewhat of a general store, having a dry goods area where we would sometimes buy fabric and notions for sewing projects.  It still had the wood floors, and the high tin ceiling...

The Kittson County Farmers Co-operative Mercantile Company of Hallock, Minnesota, was incorporated in 1904. The intent of the farmers who organized the company was to cooperatively own and operate “a general mercantile, trading, shipping, forwarding, and commission business; [to engage in] buying, selling, exchanging, and dealing in all kinds of farm produce, supplies, implements, machinery, and other articles of merchandise incidental or necessary in operating and conducting a general store; [and] to buy and sell as much real estate as is reasonably necessary in conducting its business.” The “Farmers Store,” as it was commonly known, began by purchasing the inventory, frame building, and adjacent lots of a general merchandise store owned by C.J. McCollom. 

In 1914 the store needed larger quarters, and a second public corporation, the Farmers Building Company, was formed to finance and manage a new building.  A two-story, brick structure was built in 1915 on the site of the original store.  The Kittson County Farmers Co-operative Mercantile Company rented space in the building from the Farmers Building Company, as did other businesses and individuals.¹ 

In 1956 the Kittson County Farmers Co-operative Mercantile Company and the Farmers Building Company merged to become the Farmers Store of Hallock, Inc., a privately owned corporation. 

Source: Minnesota State University Moorhead Archives

¹ - After posting this, a reader mentioned that a great aunt lived in an apartment over the store for several years...

General Store: Walmart of its Day

Newspaper ad from Emerson International (1878)

Collector Photos: Wayne Stewart

I can't prove it, but I'd bet that this photographer is the one who took
this infamous photograph of the 1897 Red River Flood in St. Vincent...

These photos are from the Wayne Stewart collection. This first photo shows another photographer taking a picture. The photographer being shot is setting up to take a picture of two men in a boat during the 1897 flood in St. Vincent. The print is labeled as taken on April 22, 1897; written on the side of the boat are the words, "Ferry Boat for St. Vincent".

Ad sign, as seen on building in above photo

Further in the background, on the upper story of the storefront behind them, is an ad for Climax Plug Tobacco, a popular chew of the time, and purported to be the inspiration for the Minnesota town of the same name.

I've been in touch both indirectly and directly a few times with Wayne in recent months about various subjects, mostly connected with his photograph collection, but also his brother Bob.

In a mailing to me from last year, that included the photos in this post, Wayne had this to say...

Old St. Vincent in Photos: 1948 Flood

The pictures below were recently shared by a reader of this blog, a descendant of an early settler of the St.Vincent/Pembina area. Most of them were taken during the 1948 flood, with a few taken in other (mostly) unspecified but close years to 1948, including one of the then-new St. Vincent elevator, identified by handwriting on the back as being erected in 1950...

From far right front backwards:  Mont(gomery) Clinton's Minneapolis-Moline 

dealership, Art Clinton's home (Baker's Pool Hall), Post Office (Bill Ahles' 

grainery), (George) Sylvester's Store (Old Dick Lapp/Ahles Store), 

old City Hall, and finally, Short's Cafe (old First & Last Chance Saloon...)

Winchester House

William and Georgina (Atkinson) Ardies rented the Winchester House from 

Judge Conmy about 1908 and ran it for many years. This is Georgina and

her daughter Maggie Ardies (scratched-out face) in the kitchen.

[Photo Courtesy: Kent Myrick]

Interior photographs of buildings were not as common a century or more ago as they are today, mainly due to lighting concerns. To come across one of a well-known local business from that time period is definitely a rare treat. The above shot shows the kitchen of the Winchester House hotel in Pembina, originally built by Lucien Geroux¹. The photograph was shared with me by a great nephew of the lady on the right, Georgina Ardies.

I didn't realize until I began my recent correspondence with the nephew - Kent Myrick - that the hotel survived as long as it did.  Kent said his father grew up there in the early 1900's...

RIGHT:  Judge Edward Walsh Conmy, owner of the Winchester House at this time

The Winchester House in Pembina was run by my Dad's "Aunt Eeny", that is, Georgina (Atkinson) Ardies, while my dad was growing up there.

William Ardies was Dad's mother's oldest brother. William's sister Margaret (Ardies) Hensal and her husband George Hensal raised my dad and his brother, (Nathan and Ardies Myrick). She was always called "Auntie Hensal", in the English tradition, instead of using her given name. Probably because the Ardies family came to Pembina by way of Quebec, where they settled when they fled Ireland in the mid-1800s.

She lived in the Winchester for years after being widowed, still lived there in 1949 when we picked her up and took her to live with us. I remember going to that side door of the Winchester which faced Heneman's grocery store.

Old Ads

Photo taken during 2004 Gamble family reunion
 in St. Vincent, inside of Christ Church

Pembina Light & Power Co. - Serving Pembina, N.D., Bathgate, N.D., Neche, N.D., St. Vincent, Minn., Emerson, Man., and Gretna, Man.

Christopher Bros. Garage - Batteries, Electrical SUpplies, Repairing

Farmers' & Merchants' State Bank - Capital $18,000, Surplus $7,000 - "Hometown Bank for Hometown People"

Wm J. Mason - Rumley, Oil Pull ---- Accessories St. Vincent, Minn.

J.A. Munro - General Blacksmith, Engine installing

The above are transcriptions of ads that can be seen in the photograph at top. Click above image to enlarge full-screen, then look at the 'back' of the image; you'll note a large multi-business graphic advertisement display. These kinds of ad displays were common a century ago and before. They were often made for specific uses such as to surround a performance stage, the merchants being sponsors for the event.

Not much has changed, eh? One wonders if there might not have been such things in ancient Rome at their games. Knowing human nature, I wouldn't doubt it a bit...!

Lewthwaite's Drugstore

There are many places that are etched in my memory that will never leave me. They were imprinted there when I was a very little girl...those kinds of memories are the strongest there are. Today, I can forget where I put my keys or cell phone at a moment's notice, but these memories not only remain, but often come unbidden to the forefront of my mind.

But I don't mind at all, because they are like old friends. I enjoy revisiting them over and over. One group of such memories are those of place. And one of them, is of the Lewthwaite¹ Drugstore in Emerson...

One of the things I remember about the drugstore wasn't in the store itself but in the back behind it. The pharmacy was located on the corner of two streets. One side of the building butted up against its neighbor to the north (which I think was the Sawatzky Brothers grocery store), while the south side faced the adjacent street. Behind it to the east was the back yard with a high wall between it and the sidewalk. The druggist and his family lived over the store, so that was their private back yard. Despite the high wall, I could see they had something very intriguing to my young eyes - a tree house. And not just any tree house, but an amazing tree house. A tree house worthy of the Swizz Family Robinson. It was built up in the branches of an old large oak or elm tree.

¹ - (Origin Anglo-Saxon) From thwaite, a piece of ground cleared of wood, and lowe, a hill, law, a hill or eminence; in Saxon, Hlewe.

Pembina HBC Post

Interior of Hudson Bay Company post at Pembina, circa 1847. Pen and ink sketch by Hampden Moody¹ (C-35062/Public Archives of Canada)

¹ - Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody, of the Royal Engineers. Who was this Colonel Moody? According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, one of the many accomplishments of Moody was to be a part of a Commission appointed to investigate Canada's defenses against the United States. Part of that included examining the lines of communication leading to the west; I deduce that it was during this time period that Moody had occasion to be at Pembina to witness this scene, and record it for posterity in this sketch...

Profile: Clara Fitzpatrick

Clara, in the middle, serving at a friend's wedding, Church of the Assumption, Pembina ND (1947)

She had a great sense of humor and was always jolly. My Aunt Pat and her used to laugh almost non-stop when together. She was also a fantastic cook. She ran a restaurant for a time in Pembina. She made all the meals and even baked all kinds of stuff and sold bakery items. Made the best raised donuts. Baked bread and sold it, pies, cakes, cookies etc. Plus raising 6 kids. How she did all that baking and cooked the restauant meals too is beyond me. Aunt Pat used to help her out a lot when there visiting. She would not ever give out a recipe though for her bakery items as she said every time she gave out a recipe it would fail for her next time she made it. So she would not give them out.

NOTE: Others in photo are - Harriet (Fitzpatrick) Short (my mother, to Clara's left), Rose Monet & Therese Roy... sure who 5th person is, nor which is Rose and which is Therese!

1880 Dakota Territory Directory

For St. Vincent, Kittson County:


For Pembina, Pembina County:

Bradshaw, J. - Pembina Hotel
Cavalier, Charles - Postmaster
Cavalier, C. - Real Estate Agent
Crawford, Charles - General Store
Ferguson, Peter - Grocer
Gooding, C.J. - Railroad Agent
Johnson, Holmes & Driscoll - Farm Implements, Buggies & Wagons
La Moure, Webb Traill & Co. - General Store
McLellan, A. - Ontario House
Moorhead, Daniel - Saloon
Myrick, F.C. - General Store
O'Connell, Hugh - Express Agent
Pembina Mill Co. - Flour Mill
Scribner, Johnson - Saloon & Billiards
Strong, Thompson - Hardware & Farm Implements
West, George - Farm Implements & Wagons
Winchester, J.A. - Winchester House
Winters, George - General Store
Yerxa, T.E. - General Store