History of New Rockford: February 1, 2021

The Oct. 30, 1903, “Transcript” said the school library had added volumes on American, English and Ancient History. George Hawthorn was back in school after an absence of four weeks. There had been no tardies so far that month.

An ad— Go to Leonard’s Restaurant for a square meal, H.C. Tarbell, mgr. Tarbell also managed the East Side Livery Barn and solicited the farmers’ trade. R.M. Kennedy had his five-room cottage on Lamborn Avenue East for rent.

The Treasurer’s Report for Plainview School District #14, covering July 1, 1902, to June 30, 1903, showed receipts of $891.16 and expenditures of $616.60, of which $390 was teachers’ wages.

Mrs. Joseph LaPierre’s sister Mrs. John Malay of Madison, S.D., was visiting her. For a few days Mrs. L.G. Lundin of Sheyenne visited in town.

Contractor John Weimals was building a large machine shed for Lawrence Prader a couple miles south of New Rockford. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pake’s new house in northwest New Rockford was enclosed. Contractor J.L. Kinnaird had almost completed a house on Dunnell Avenue East for E.M. Morris which would be occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Riggle and family.

T.A. Kellington was ill for a few days during the week.

The previous week Theo. R. Quam, Dr. Nelson, and several others from Sheyenne went hunting at Devils Lake.

On the morning of Oct. 30, Father McDonald celebrated Mass in the Tiffany Catholic Church. Hotel Mattson clerk Andrew Johnson brought down a goose with a .22 rifle while standing on the hotel’s veranda. Mrs. R.T. Muir visited the eighth grade history class. Went McGee was in on business. David Twist from northwest of New Rockford and Mrs. W.G. Carter and daughter were in town. Mrs. T.E. Lahart left for Minneapolis, where her sister had been injured in a runaway; she returned on Nov. 3. Will Chambers left for a winter in his old home West Concord, Minn. Lawrence Butler took the train to St. Paul, where he would attend college. J.M. Patch left for his Indianapolis home. H.B. Herbeson departed for Medina, where he would be in charge of a creamery. William Bucklin and William Wilson left for a week of hunting at Strawberry Lake a hundred miles west of New Rockford. That afternoon Mrs. E.S. Severtson entertained the West Side Kindergarten Whist Club. That evening the New Rockford Orchestra played at a reception in Carrington.

On Oct. 30 and 31, F.W. Soule, eyesight specialist, was at Babcock & Bucklin’s drug store.

Early on the morning of Oct. 31, there was a display of Northern Lights which made the sky “one mass of beautiful shooting lines of every imaginable color and tint.”

On Oct. 31 a marriage license was issued for John A. Warner and Martha C. Hanson, both of Sheyenne. Mrs. John Dodds was in shopping. F.B. Ewald [Ewals?] was up from Barlow on business. Erwin Forbes also came in to do business. Nils Gunderson was down from northwest of New Rockford on business. “Esmond Bee” editor Homer Allison stopped in New Rockford for a few hours on his way to Jamestown to visit his brother E.G. Allison. J.H. Rodenberg left for California after looking over business matters. Jessie Treffry went to Jamestown to attend St. John’s Academy. That afternoon a farmer’s team ran away on Chicago Street and headed for home; no damage. That evening the Andrews Opera Co. presented the musical farce “Birds of a Feather” at the Opera House. Despite the audience-pleasing performance by the company, “the audience was not as large as they deserved.” Also that evening Miss May H. Young and Miss Olive Saunders entertained the teachers of the public school and Mr. and Mrs. James E. Hyde in the Hotel Brown at a Halloween party, complete with “old-fashioned Halloween games” and “hair-raising ghost stories.”

From Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, the following school students visited out of town: Edith Marriage at her parents’ farm; Vada Aultman with Tiffany friends and relatives; Lillie Ohrner at Barlow.

On the morning of Sunday, Nov. 1, the streets of New Rockford were littered with Halloween debris scattered by kids and some not so “kidish.” That morning the ten-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Dutee shot himself in the right foot while hunting with a .22 rifle. He was brought to New Rockford, where doctors treated the wound. The Tiffany Sunday School was organized; officers elected were Frederick Skidmore, superintendent; Miss Georgie Fields, secretary; Mrs. A. Larson, treasurer. Miss Hilda Johnson was in New Rockford. Walter Schmid returned from Oregon to live in New Rockford again. Barber D.Y. Stanton went to Williston and western North Dakota; he returned on the evening of Nov. 6. John Von Almen and G.W. Streeter were in Carrington; Miss Nell Davidson and Miss Jennie Van Horn visited there. A 15-lb. son was born to Prader & Goss clerk Marcus Medved and his wife. At 6:30 p.m. School Principal Robert T. Muir spoke to the Epworth League.

That Sunday afternoon Mrs. D.H. Keyton, 46, died at her Brinsmade home after being ill a few days. In 1885 she and her family settled southeast of New Rockford and lived there until moving to Brinsmade the past spring. She left a husband; two daughters; a son; and two step children: Mrs. James Robinson and John Robinson, both of Brinsmade; five brothers; and a sister. Her funeral was held in Brinsmade on the morning of Nov. 4, Rev. J.R. Beebe, with interment in the New Rockford Cemetery [there is no “Keyton” grave there today].

From the morning of Sunday, Nov. 1 to noon Nov. 2, the male members of the American Opera Co. went goose hunting, after which landlord Brown of the Hotel Brown made their birds into a game supper. C.H. Babcock, a friend of the men, and Dr. and Mrs. G.D. Murphy were the guests of honor.

At 10 a.m. Nov. 2, Thomas Hrach held an auction sale on his farm six miles northwest of New Rockford for six work horses, a colt, six milch cows, two two-year-old steers, a bull, six spring calves, seven hogs, chickens, turkeys, one Kentucky drill, one John Deere iron harrow, one wooden harrow, one McCormick mower, one McCormick binder, one hay rake, one Case gang plow, one walking stubble plow, one walking breaking plow, one wide-tired Fish Bros. wagon, one narrow-tired wagon, one disc, one top buggy, one platform buggy, double harness, buggy harness, 10 tons of wild hay, seven tons of millet, one range, one heater, one sewing machine, and all of the household goods. A free lunch was served at noon. F.C. Davies was the auctioneer.

That day John Cahill, who had not been in school for quite a while, returned. Clifford Kennedy joined the eighth grade, while Elsie Tarbell and Joe Shauers entered the 7th grade. Miss Rickard’s grammar room had 34 students.