School District No. 2

"HISSSSssss..." - I remember well
the sounds of the radiators...

After writing about the St. Vincent School recently, I remembered coming across a mention once of it being assigned as District No. 2 under the early state education system.  I got curious, and went looking for more information...

According to an historical essay: 

School District No. 2 was organized in 1880... Its north boundary was the Canadian border; the west boundary was the Red River. It extended south along the Red River six miles, east from the river four miles. A schoolhouse was built in St. Vincent...

St. Vincent School closed around 1977, after a crack in the boiler was found¹. The cost to repair or replace it was prohibitive, so a hard decision was made to close the school, combining some lower grades in the Humboldt elementary.  It was the end of Humboldt-St. Vincent consolidation in name; consolidation in fact continued until even Humboldt closed.

¹ - The school was still using the same coal-fired, central boiler/radiator system they had been using when I attended the school...!

The Perils of Rev. Appleby

Rev. Appleby circa 1890
Photographer: W. H. Stalee 
[Minnesota Historical Society]

From the records left behind, it's clear that life could be difficult in the late 1800's on the frontiers, including here in Minnesota.  Even for pioneers of the Christian churches.  As with any group, there were good and bad 'men of the cloth'.

St. Vincent was fortunate to have one of the good ones.  After working with Ojibwa groups in the region, he was assigned to our parish.

During his time in St. Vincent, there were many practical difficulties he had to contend with...

St. Vincent's Mission, which is in charge of the Rev. H.M.V. Appleby, is the most northern in the United States.  It covers one county in Minnesota, one in Dakota, and has three outside stations involving journeys of thirty-four and forty-six miles respectively.  The difficulties met with by one traversing the region reminds one of the perils of St. Paul.  "Our work is most fatiguing, both in winter and summer;" observes the missionary, "Three times in my experience has my horse sunk through the ice and both myself and he been nearly lost.  At different times I have been lost all night, and once my horse rolled down the embankment at the end of a bridge, plunging us both into the river, though without injury.  Five times I have been nearly lost in open boat and canoe."  

Yet, notwithstanding all this, the personal inconvenience is greatly outweighed by the warm welcome, earnest inquiries after the Truth, and the deep regrets at having been so long deprived of the Church's service.  Two new churches are needed immediately in northern Dakota, pressing debts of $1,300.00 burden the mission in Minnesota, and for all the sum of $3,000.00 is needed by Bishop Whipple and the Rev. Appleby, in order that this important work be not abandoned. - Report on Minnesota, May 29, 1886 [The Churchman, Volume 53]

His impact was felt for years after he left, and is reflected in this article...

The Venerable Archdeacon  Appleby¹ assisted at the service, and his well remembered face, and soft English voice, that, for so many years, was, each succeeding Sabbath, listened to from the pulpit, will never be forgotten by his old parishioners.  Here it was that he and his Christian lady reared their interesting family; he knows every one of us, and his worth is known after he has left us. - Excerpt from article concerning Christ Church Harvest Festival, held December 4, 1891 [St. Vincent New Era²]

¹ - Thomas Henry Montague Villiers Appleby, Episcopal clergyman, b. in Regent's Park, Eng., Oct 28, 1843; was educated as a physician and priest in England; came to America in 1866; was rector in St. Vincent, Minn., 1881-1888; was appointed archdeacon of Minnesota in 1888, and of North Dakota in 1898; and general superintendent of Indian missions 1900, residing in Duluth...

While serving in St. Vincent's Christ Church, he also served in the capacity of Kittson County probate judge...

² - William Deacon, who owned and published the St. Vincent New Era until 1913 (after which the DeFrance family took over...), died in 1920 at age 83. Mr. Deacon was many things to St. Vincent, as well as being great grandfather to Margaret "Toots" Ryan, my grandmother's neighbor and good friend - Sources include The Fourth Estate [August 21, 1920]; Ryan Family page [Red River Valley website]

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...

Back to School, 1903

St. Vincent Classroom, circa 1903: My great uncle Charlie is the boy
against the window shade in the far back, on right; my great aunt
Hannah is to his left - our right - in front of him, hair in bun...

I recently posted about the St. Vincent School.

After that post, a cousin of mine discovered this interior shot of the school that her Grandmother - my great aunt - had in her personal collection.

Amongst the room full of children, are two relatives of mine - my great uncle Charlie Fitzpatrick, and my great aunt Hannah Fitzpatrick.

When Hannah graduated high school, she went on to attend teacher's
college, which at that time was the state normal school in Moorhead, MN
 (now known as Minnesota State University Moorhead) - Class of 1913...
[Click to enlarge]

Triggered Memories

I received an email from Michael Rustad saying my recent post about P.N. Tri brought back some memories of his own, and that he hoped those reading the posts here will share with me any such triggered memories they may have.  That's always been one of my hopes, that people reading these memories and histories, will share their own memories and histories of this little corner of the world.

PN Tri was a major figure in the history of Humboldt and St. Vincent.  I did not know that he was the first advisor to the Humboldt Stick to It Club. 

"Incoming!"

I belonged to the Stick to It Club and it was one of the best 4H clubs in N.W. Minnesota.  We had great leadership.  Marian Anderson from Humboldt won the state 4H dress making competition and was crowned at the State Farm.  Dennis Diamond was a consistent State Farm prize winner.  We had so many innovative parent and teacher advisors over the years.  Earl and Beatrice Bahr helped us immensely when they built our equivalent of the Diamond of Dreams on their farm.  Earl mowed a field so we could practice for our 4H softball team.  The year was 1965 and Humboldt's Stick to It 4H club was a powerhouse softball team.  It was boys and girls who played.  Dee Dee Diamond played on that team on the girl's side.  My brother Tony and I were the stars of the team.  We were the home run hitters, the ringers of the team.  Tony and I practiced softball daily.  We would pitch to each other and invented a game.  A home run was when we hit it over the barn with a towering drive.  A double was a hit into the chicken wire.  The chickens soon learned that they were to go in the barn when we played. We never hit a single chicken despite many hits into the chicken's yard.

Justice in Old Pembina

The story I'm about to share has been shared here before.  While the first version was full of character (based on solid research), this one has  more background as well as details regarding the final showdown, written by one of our area's premier local historians...

An outlaw from an infamous gang.  A U.S. Marshall on his trail all the way from Texas.  Their paths meet in Pembina on a cold November day in 1878...

by

James Benjaminson

           

Sam Bass gang - Sam in back, on
left; in front, the Collins bros.
William is on left, Joel on right.
[circa 1877]

In the annals of western outlawry, certain names have been etched into the American psyche – names such as Jesse and Frank James, the Younger Brothers, Billy the Kid, Black Bart and Sam Bass, just to name a few.  For the most part, their villainous exploits took place in parts of the country far remote from rural North Dakota.  The closest any of them got to North Dakota was the James Gangs ill-fated attempt at robbing the bank in Northfield, Minnesota and the Bass gangs robbing of seven stage coaches in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Still, the effect of one outlaw’s exploits rippled to the tiny town of Pembina, Dakota Territory in 1878.

Sam Bass was a young Texas outlaw who headquartered himself in Denton, Texas.  Teamed up with the outlaw Joel Collins and four others, the Bass gang staged the largest train robbery in U.S. history (at the time) when they held up the Union Pacific railroad at a tiny watering hole called Big Springs, Nebraska on the evening of September 18, 1877.  Although Bass was considered leader of the gang, law enforcement claimed Joel Collins was the brains of the outfit.  The gang rode into the stop over, made hostages of the station master and several others in the vicinity, cut the telegraph lines and waited.  When the train pulled in for water, one gang member swung himself into the cab of the locomotive and took the engineer and fireman hostage while the others headed for the baggage car.

When they rode off into the night, the gang had relieved the railroad of $60,000 in freshly minted 1877 twenty dollar gold pieces.  Dividing up the treasure, each man had 500 gold coins in his possession – about 35 pounds of gold per gang member.  The group split into three groups of two men, each heading in a different direction.   Word spread fast about the robbery and law enforcement swooped in on the area.  One of the gang members disappeared and was never heard of again (many assumed he had gone to Canada).  Joel Collins and his partner didn’t fare as well, being intercepted by a posse within days.  After a brief shoot-out, both outlaws were dead and $20,000 of the gold coins were recovered. 

Bass and his partner figured two lone riders would be suspicious so they acquired a buggy, stashed the coins under the seat and rode blissfully by the bands of law officers they encountered.  Returning to Denton, Bass enjoyed the high life, spending freely and enjoying a local sort of hero worship.  He had plenty of friends to warn him of approaching trouble and knowing the area like the back of his hand, he could easily hide from pursuers.  Living the high life the money soon ran out and Bass returned to his old ways.  Organizing a new gang, he returned to robbing trains.  Only this time he chose to hit the local railroads – his gang robbing four trains in quick succession within a 25 mile radius of his base of operation.  It was at this point the locals turned on him and his gang.  For seven weeks, the gang was pursued by a company of Texas Rangers, U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement, all to no avail (although an accomplice, “Arkansas” Johnson, was killed in a skirmish from which the rest of the gang escaped).

Bass’ downfall came at the hands of a spy that infiltrated the gang – and by gang member Jim Murphy who betrayed him in exchange for having charges dropped against himself and his father.  The fatal day came when the gang rode into Round Rock, Texas intent on robbing the local bank.  Laying in wait were the Texas Rangers and local law enforcement.  In a brief bloody shootout, one deputy sheriff was killed as was one of the outlaws.  Bass himself was wounded but managed to clamber onto to his horse and ride away.  The trailing posse found him the next day, lying under a tree, still alive but mortally wounded.  Death came to Sam Bass July 21, 1878 – it was his 27^th birthday.

Of the participants in the April 10^th train robbery at Mesquite, Texas, six of the eight robbers had either been killed or were in prison by the time of Bass’ death.  The robbery had netted each of the bandits the paltry sum of $23 each!  One of the gang – William Collins, was arrested days after the robbery and taken to Austin to stand trial.  He was moved to the jail in Dallas in June where a family friend posted a $15,000 bond to secure his appearance in court—a date he did not intend to keep.

A brother to outlaw Joel Collins who had participated in the earlier Big Springs train robbery, William Collins jumped bail and headed north, roaming across several states before eventually ending up in Pembina, Dakota Territory working as a bartender in Jim White’s saloon, a unique watering hole that straddled the border.  A red stripe painted on the floor designated which country a patron was in – the saloon on the U.S. side of the line, with the kitchen and sitting room on the Canadian side.  Known to the locals as William Gale, Collins befriended a local man, Robert Ewing, finally telling Ewing his real name and confiding he had a wife living in Dallas.  Gale/Collins asked Ewing to write her a letter, which apparently Ewing did.  One can only speculate but it is assumed authorities were watching her mail.  It wasn’t long before a deputy U.S. marshal arrived in Pembina looking for Collins.

Breadcrumbs of a Life: P.N. Tri

From 1920 "Farm Boys & Girls Leader".
Organized in 1919, it was the start of what
would be known as the the 4-H club of the
same name.  It's fun to read the origin of
the club, and the meaning of the name...

I was recently told that "...P.N. Tri was a world renowned beekeeper and featured in apiary magazines. They shipped honey all over the world!"¹ Well, of course that meant I had to see what I could find out.

The online record is slim, but I did find one article where P.N. Tri was quoted as wintering his bees in a potato cellar!  Not much to go on, but interesting...

According to the Red River Valley website, P.N. Tri, or Peter Nicholas Tri, came to St. Vincent in 1915 to be Superintendent of Schools.

Later he worked at the Humboldt School, as you can see in the magazine article clipping at left.  In this 1920 article, the St. Vincent Fair is referred to as the 'county fair'.  I have never been clear if it was officially the county fair at one time or not, but this is one occasion where it appears it may have been...


¹ - The little birdie's name was Michael Rustad...

Horses

Mosquito Swarm
[Click to see closer...if you dare!]

The newspaper article excerpt below describes a truly horrifying situation. I hate to think of the suffering the poor animals had to endure, ending in their deaths...

Many horses have died in Kittson County the past week or 10 days.  Recently, examination of one of the dead animals showed the presence of hundreds of mosquitos in the lungs of the animal. This year the pests are in evidence by billions. The rural sections, where grass is growing, is simply alive with huge swarms of them. It is presumed horses could not breath without inhaling hundreds of them, which in turn set up infection, killing them.

From: Kittson County Enterprise (1937) - Which was ironically the same year that the first definitive work on mosquitoes in Minnesota was written by Dr. William Owen of the University of Minnesota.

Grand Old Lady

So many children entered through these doors

The sign is blank.  The steps are mostly buried, a railing rises from the earth.  A gibbet of sorts protrudes from the front.

 It's obvious that just about everything needs help.  Roof, siding, windows, foundation.  The "Grand Old Lady" of St. Vincent, that housed so many young souls on their journey of learning, deserves better.

Tales of St. Vincent:

Rev. Kimberley's Grandson

In my eternal quest for stories and history about my beloved hometown, I came across a former resident's grandson¹ who lives in far off Oregon.

Here is a story the grandson remembers being told about...

Yes, I am the grandson of Rev. James Kimberley.

My father grew up in St. Vincent. I've never been there, but he told me many stories about growing up there. I think their house had a white picket fence around it. My father told me that when his parents were gone for the day, he was to rake up all the leaves. He had some matches and set little piles of leaves on fire, then stamped it out. It got bigger and bigger and the stamping didn't work. It caught the fence on fire. half of it was burned when his parents came home. He hid upstairs under their bed. His father found him and in his British accent said, "I say, Gurney, are you there?"  He responded, "NO!" His father was not amused. He caught hell for that one.  

 [as recalled by Ogden Kimberley, shared with me February 26, 2011]

¹ - I think Rev. K would like that his grandson is a bagpiper!