History of New Rockford: January 4, 2020

At 9 p.m. Oct. 2, 1903, the 15-man committee meeting at the Congregational Church selected the J.H. Hohl property west of town between Maxwell’s property and the city limits as the site for the new Academy. They purchased 100 acres running to the river with a 40-rod riverfront for $5,500.

On the morning of Oct. 3, Frank Reed was operating a circular saw in the Charles Culp carpentry shop when he accidentally cut off a portion of the fleshy part of his right thumb. Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hulbert were in town. Mrs. R.L. Allison came down from Esmond to visit Mr. and Mrs. R.P. Allison; she returned on Oct. 12. John Wren and Peter Dodds were in Carrington. That night one bay gelding strayed; six years old, 1,000 lbs., white hind feet, mane trimmed, but partly grown out, with a small wire scar on left front leg, and shod on front feet.

On Sunday, Oct. 4, Mrs. E.M. Morris was in New Rockford. Will Steinweg was up from Carrington. Peter Dodds and Mayme O’Keefe were married at the Catholic rectory in Carrington, Father McDonald; she was the niece of Dennis O’Keefe. Andrew Dodds was the best man; Kathryn Wheeley was the bride’s attendant. The couple would live on the groom’s farm about 10 miles southeast of New Rockford.

On Oct. 5, Sheyenne druggist F.L. Kermott, Fred F. Allmaras, and George W. Johnston were in town on business. Joseph Dutee was in from east Eddy County on business and to visit. A.J. Richter came in from southeast of town. Mrs. F.B. Rader of Delano, Minn., and Mrs. C.F. McDonald and son of Eden Valley, Minn., arrived to visit their brother Dr. G.D. Murphy and his wife. Mrs. Frederick Skidmore and her sister Mrs. Charles Mann came into town from Tiffany and stayed with Dr. and Mrs. Charles MacLachlan until Oct. 8 when Mrs. Mann left for Sioux Falls to join her husband in their new house. After a visit with Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Bennett, Mr. and Mrs. George Moxley returned to their old home at Boone, Iowa, where they would spend the winter. Mrs. C.H. Babcock went to her former home in Sauk Centre, Minn., for a visit; she returned on Nov. 5. Stone mason Charles Curran went to Jamestown. G.W. Schwoebel was in Fessenden. Gus Lauch went to Barlow to finish a masonry job. That evening Otho Lathrop became a second-degree mason.

On Oct. 5, the Eddy County Commission met and added the following to the jury list: F.F. Allmaras, Gus Anderson, Ole Anderson, P.B. Anderson, Peter Anderson, Fred Atkinson, Albert Ayers, B. Babcock, D.L. Bailey, Andrew Bakke, George Bakke, O.W. Bauer, Stephen Beauclair, E.O. Borthwick, Fred Bose, Axle Bostrom, W.C. Bowers, G.W. Brownell, William Bucklin, Alex Burnett, John Burnett, Arthur Buttery, M. Bymoen, Charles Carlson, F.H. Chandler, Edgar College, Charles Conent, O.E. Couch, J.E. Cramer, F.F. Crepps, James Dafoe, L.J. Doyle, Charles Engstrom, C.E. Erickson, Patrick Farrell, F.F. Fisher, Albert Fossom, John Geromez, M.O. Holte, F.W. House, A.H. Johnson, Martin Johnson, G.A. Kruger, Otto Kruger, Arthur Larkin, P.B. Larson, C.R. Lunn, John Mattison, Went Mcgee, H.J. Miller, Max Miller, Erick Moe, A.A. Morse, J.E. Mulligan, Andrew Nelson, J.P. Scaby, and L.J. Sylling.

The Commissioners voted to pay the following: $11.25, John Nunn, work on courthouse fence; $2, Noxon & Oglesby, telephone; $4, Doris Yegen, stenographer, prohibition cases; $45, Mrs. A.G. Gardner, clerk in Register of Deeds’ office, September; $18.23, Olson & Wallrus, bridge supplies; $8, Rodenberg & Schwoebel, merchandise for county poor, Mrs. Lewis; $30, W.C. Hayes, courthouse janitor, September.

On Oct. 5 and 6, J.T. Shauers was in on business. Katie and Thomas Turner were up from Barlow. Martin, the 18-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Welsh, came in from his home in northeastern Eddy County, complaining that he wasn’t feeling well; a doctor diagnosed a mild case of typhoid fever and the boy went home to recover. From Oct. 5 to Oct. 8, attorney R.F. Rinker was in Esmond on legal business.

On the morning of Oct. 6, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. William Carroll. Mr. and Mrs. Sylvanus Marriage were in to shop and visit. Mrs. Burton Hulbert was in shopping. George M. Pike went to Fargo to serve on a federal court petit jury; he returned on Oct. 10. That evening Mr. and Mrs. O.A. Burger came up from Barlow. C.J. Maddux was in Jamestown on business.

On Oct. 6 and 7, Mrs. H.W. Clark visited her husband in Barlow. John Torson and Joe Miles were down from Oberon. Sheriff J.E. Bennett was in McHenry on business. State’s Attorney James A. Manly was in Jamestown on legal business.

On Oct. 7, Miss Madge Canning, a trained nurse from St. Paul, arrived to visit her sister Mrs. P.J. Butler and her husband. Miss Winifred Canning returned from St. Paul. Merchant tailor A. Scherrer of Belvidere, Ill., arrived to open a shop on the second floor of the old courthouse above George A. Fahrer’s meat market on Chicago Street. Mrs. Leon Galehouse was up from Carrington to visit between trains. Ole H. Olson was in from northwest of town. Real estate agent G.W. Streeter returned from a business trip to Chicago and other cities in Illinois. Marsh Chamberlain was in Belvedere, Ill., on business matters. That evening the Degree of Honor members presented their “famous drill.”

On Oct. 8, Mrs. Walter McDonell arrived from Valley City to visit her husband; she went home on Oct. 10. J.F. Clure came in from northwest of town. H.P. Halverson was down from the Sheyenne Valley on business. Contractor H.W. Clark went to Barlow to resume work on the Congregational Church, which had been stopped by the rains.

The Oct. 9, 1903, “Transcript” said that the previous week the “Carrington Record” had completed its Vol. V.

An ad: Money to Loan on farm land—Streeter & Cockerill.

J.M. Mulvey was selling his entire line of clothing to make room for other goods. E.M. Morris had for sale one team of horses, one harness, one new wagon, and one cow.

Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Stoddard were in St. Louis, viewing the Exposition (World’s Fair) buildings.

Sometime during the week Mrs. Valentine Fertig and baby were on a train at Independence, Wisc., when “a bad smashup” occurred, but neither was hurt, just shaken up. Peter Butler was in McHenry, looking after some business for H. Peoples. Also “a few evenings ago” Mrs. John F. Goss was initiated into the Royal Neighbors.

On Oct. 9, James Davidson was in on business. S.P. Pisel was in town. That afternoon the West Side Kindergarten Whist Club met at Mrs. W.E. Radtke’s. Mrs. R.M. Kennedy returned from Moorhead, where she had been with her young son Harold, who had undergone an operation for “osteomallicia” [osteomalacia—a weakening of the bones usually associated with a deficiency of certain vitamins and/or minerals] on Oct. 3. That evening the Hon. Joseph G. Camp, a noted orator from Georgia, appeared at the Opera House and lectured on “Truth and Shams.”