Kmart - 1971

Kmart – 1971 – Gone are the “Good Old Days” and prices. Ads for Kmart in early 1971: Automotive – battery charger  6 and 12 volt - $6.88….. Wheel Alignment - $4.44 ….  Quaker State motor oil – 37 cents quart….. other specials – 7X Binoculars - $17.23 …. Live Songbird or cage - $4.96 …… Portable record player - $26.47 ….. Electric heating pad – 1.96 …… 4X5 wool afghan - $6.66 ….. Men’s Sport shirts - $2.66 …… Men’s no iron pants - $2.48 pair ….. and remember … all items were rung up at the cash register…. No such thing as scanning

Turkey Day Dinner

Thanksgiving Day 1971, I believe, was the first time the personnel at the Minot Air Force Base invited senior citizens from Minot to the Base for Dinner. Nine buses were used to transport 300 seniors to the Community Center on Base for Thanksgiving Dinner. The nine bus caravan was led by Ward County Sheriff, Olaf Haaland and included a wrecker in case any of the buses broke down. Eugene Benson was the director of the Military Affairs Committee for the Minot Chamber of Commerce and also the director of the Senior Citizens Activities Center. Base commanders, Col. Harvey B Logan, 862^nd Combat Support Group and Col. Grover C Graves, 91^st Missile Wing extended the invitation. The base commanders at the time hoped to make this an annual event and as time has shown, it is.

1911 - Housing

Housing & Grocery Market – 1911 – According to the 1911 Minot Optic Newspaper…. #1—5 room house  in a good location – Cash $1050.00 or trade for horses. Located at 650 North Ward Street.

#2 – rentals – A two room house for only $5.00 a month or a completely furnished 7 room house – all but linen and dishes - $25.00 a month.

Davis & Hannaford Market – Choice round steak only15 cents per pound…. Picnic hams 14 cents a pound and Beef roasts and pork roasts – 2 ½ cents per pound….

Minot Normal School

In 1911 there apparently some debate over where to build the Minot Normal School. Some wanted it built on South Hill and the other location was in North Minot. Residents of the town of Flaxton sent a telegram to Martin Jacobson (Jacobson Hardware) urging the city to build on south hill and start construction as soon as possible…. Well as history shows, the Minot Normal School was finally built outside of Minot on the north side of town. The Normal School later became known as the Minot State Teacher’s College , then Minot State College and now Minot State University….. Pictured below is Minot Normal School in 1917. Note, the west wing of Old Main has not been built. The bottom picture is from the mid 1920's.

Sears - 1965

Sears – Division Manager’s Sale – on September 29, 1965 the Minot Sears store had a big sale and their newspaper ads almost took over one section of the paper. The unique thing is that all department managers were pictured in the ad for their area. You may remember or know some of those people: Fashions Division mgr – Pat Smith ….. Drapery and Home Fashions – Dean Kjosen …. Men’s Dress Clothing – Chuck Anderson …. Appliance Mgr – Ves Schuster ….. Home Furniture – Pete Goetz ….. Home Improvement – Bob Eidsness …. Paint & Hardware – Arnie Johnson ….. Automotive Center – Dick Walsh

2nd Street Appreciation Days

December 2, 1958 –  In 1958 Broadway was know as 2^nd Street. The merchants on North 2^nd Street were holding customer appreciation days on December 4^th through the 6^th. Some of the participating businesses were: Between the base of the viaduct and 4^th Avenue – Brooks Realty, Brooks Barber Shop, Brooks Beauty Salon, Harry’s Variety and Linnertz Christmas Trees….. Located between 4^th Ave and what is now the Barley Pop – Northwest Beauty Shop, Northwestern Electric and Diamonds Dept. Store(now the Barley Pop).   North of Barley Pop to Subway…. Alm’s Westland, Diamond’s jack & Jill, Service Drug Store, 2^nd Street Super Valu, Super  Grill . Across 4^th Ave to the South – Cut Rate Food Market …. Where Westlie Auto is located, north of 1^st Lutheran – The Beaver Palace (original location) and Hugh-Nelson Motors… In the area of Tutti Frutti – Sterling Knudson – State Farm Insurance, he Radio Shop, Clarence Valker- Florist and Paul’s Grocery.

Christmas Stories

Going through a newspaper from December, 1958 I came across a story about “Santa and the Elf Boy”. I grew up in Jamestown and remember every year waiting for the story for the current year to begin. It seems the Minot paper carried the same or similar stories. The story was in chapters that began about December 1 each year. Every day would bring a new chapter… No paper on Sunday back in those days. The final chapter of the story would be in the paper on December 23^rd or 24^th. Santa was always the hero and in most stories, the Christmas Holiday was in jeopardy. In 1958 an evil villain was going to release a toxic gas that would destroy all the fairies. Santa and the Elf Boy to the rescue….

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines – In late March, 1959, Frontier Airlines was going to begin service to Minot. The week before on Sunday, March 23, Frontier Airlines held and “Air Fair” at the Minot International Airport. Eighteen, special 25 minute flights started at 9:30 in the morning and were given all day long. The plane used was a 24 passenger, twin engine DC-3 airplane. 432 people went on the flight. For many it was first time they had ever been off the ground. They were able to view the city, the airport and the Air Force Base from an altitude of 3000 feet. More than 5,000 people attended the event and Frontier Airline Stewardesses presented a carnation to the first 500 ladies. People could register for a free trip for two to Denver at many Minot businesses. Picture is of the Airport Terminal in 1958.

Entertainment 1964

Entertainment – August 1964… Here are some of the things to do for entertainment in August of 1964…. On Wednesday night, Roy Orbison and his orchestra were performing at the Minot Municipal Auditorium from 9 pm to Midnight. The Starlite Outdoor Theater was featuring “Buck Nite” , ($1.00 per car), all in the car were admitted for the $1.00 price. The double feature included Teenage Millionaire and The Explosive Generation. The next featuring starting was going to be McLintock, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara…. The Oak Park Theater was showing The Pink Panther, starring Peter Sellers and the Empire feature How The West Was Won…..

Four Lane to MAFB

Four Lane Highway 83 --  The news story on August 25, 1964 announced that the four lane highway to the Minot Air Force Base was now open. The story said that he opening of the four lane to the base should all but eliminate the traffic congestion between the base and Minot. With section to the base open, residents then had 16.5 mile of  four lane highway from the base to just south of Minot. Work was in progress on the 15 mile stretch of highway from south of Minot to the junction on Highway 23. …. It is difficult to imagine Highway 83 as anything other than a four lane highway

Tunnels on High Third

There are many rumors about tunnels under “High Third”, Minot’s Red Light District. One hears rumors about bars and clubs that had escape tunnels in the basement for quick evacuation in case of a raid by the police. Again, in interviewing people back in the mid 80’s for the Ward County Centennial, I was told that “High Third” in its hey-day had many such tunnels. I was also informed that at one time a person could start at 4^th Avenue (Burdick Expressway) and go to 1^stAvenue or Stearns Motors (now I. Keating’s) without ever going outside. The route would consist of basement tunnels between houses and businesses as well as above ground passages between buildings. I have been investigating the history of Minot’s High Third. I very seriously doubt if this was true.

I have put together a map of Third Street. I have a page for many of the years between 1930 and 1962. The information was derived from available Polk Directories. Many of the addresses on Third Street were houses inhabited by regular law abiding citizens. True or not about the tunnels, I don’t know and some of the people I interviewed 25 years ago are no longer with us to ask. One thing that did come out is the fact that most of the time the places to be raided were warned ahead of time about a pending raid, hence tunnels were probably not really needed. It appears that many establishments of Third Street had “escape” passages out the back or through the basement if the need arose.

Steam Tunnels

 For many years a number of downtown buildings were heated by steam which was piped into them by steam pipes for the NSP Steam Power plant. The steam pipes had to be maintained so they ran through tunnels below the streets and buildings. These tunnels were large enough to accommodate men who may need to repair or do other maintenance. Many people confuse these tunnels with tunnels rumored to be running into Minot for the purpose of running contraband in and out of town. Most of this was in the form of alcohol smuggled in from Canada and other points. The Steam tunnels under Minot, while large enough to walk through were separate form any booze smuggling tunnels. However there was a rumor that a tunnel ran from Stearns Motors to the Rex Motel and another tunnel that ran from Stearn’s Motors to the old Flatiron Building. Possibly, only the people working on the Broadway Project in 1960 would know if this were true.

Alhood Motors

Located on Highway 83 South, Alhood Motors was the home for the Hillman and Sunbeam vehicles, (manufactured by Rootes Automotive in England). On September 26, 1964 they had two featured vehicles in the newspaper. The Hillman Husky was A compact family sedan that could also serve as a load carrier by laying down the back seats. The price $2029.00. The Sunbeam Imp was advertised as a compact sports sedan. The price of the Imp was $1751.00 and it boasted 45 miles per gallon.

Minot Public Library

The original Minot Public Library  began in 1908 in two rooms rented in the Optic Block. In 1908 the city approved its first mill levy for library purposes. In 1910 with $2000 in its treasury, the library obtained a grant from Andrew Carnegie for a new building. The Library was built at the corner of what is now Second Avenue and First Street Southeast. The library moved into its new home in 1911 and remained there for 55 years, when it moved into its current location. When the Library was dedicated in February of 1912, it had 1490 books and claimed to have 1350 borrowers. The original library building is now the Carnegie Center. Pictured below is the interior of the library prior to opening and the library in 1911

Van de Streek Furs

On Thursday, August 20, 1953, Van de Streek Furs announced their opening. This company specialized in genuine fur coats. They were located at 108 4^th Avenue SE…. across from what is now M&H Gas. Times were different and women and some men wore genuine fur coats. Van de Streek Furs claimed to have a vault where they could store up to 2,600 fur coats at a constant temperature. They also had a showroom equipped with special lighting so the customer could examine the fur under various lighting situations. Free gifts to be drawn for at the opening included a mink cape, mink scarf and a Kolinski scarf….

Grand Hotel Fire

January 27, 1960 – The Grand Hotel was built in 1906 on the corner of 1^st St and Central Avenue SW. Built by Olof A Olson, iIt was originally known as the Lexington. An addition was built and opened in 1912. In 1917 the name was changed from the Lexington to the Grand Hotel. At the time of the fire the Grand had over 100 rooms and was also the home to 10 other businesses. No one was seriously injured in the fire. Articles on the blaze list the hotel janitor who suffered smoke inhalation problems. Loss due to the fire was placed at over $500,000.00. Today the losses would have been much higher. Pictured below is the Lexington Hotel, then the Grand hotel before and after the fire.

Waverly Hotel Fire

January 19, 1943 – Waverly Hotel Fire – the Waverly Hotel was located on the Southeast corner of Main Street and 1^st Avenue. The hotel was four stories high and was a landmark in the city. The Waverly Hotel was built by Peter Ehr in 1905. He was a resident on the top floor of the hotel but was carried to safety by firemen.  The night of the fire the temperatures were around 30 degrees below zero. . Reports stated that the water was freezing as it was sprayed on the fire. 91 one people were staying at the Waverly the night of the fire. Four lives were lost and the bodies remained frozen in the debris until spring thaw. Pictured below are the Waverly Hotel, early in its existance and the aftermath of the 1943 fire.

Past Businesses - 1950's

Some businesses from the 1950's that are not around anymore -- Waterman Packard – located at 3^rd Avenue and 4^th Street SE – Packard Automobile dealer …..Lloyd Construction – Highway 2, east of Minot – developers of the Bel Air area in Northwest Minot …. Frosaker Motors – Chevrolet dealer – 100 to 104 2^nd Street NW ….. Asplund Garage – 110 to 112 2^nd St Sw – Studebaker dealer …… Goldberg’s Furniture – 6 to 8 North Main Street …… Parker Motor Company – 117 1stAve SE – Dodge dealer – Across from the Blue Rider.... Pictured below is Ole Frosaker and the "all new" 1950 Chevrolet... and Frosaker Motors on Broadway.... also a picture of North Main street in the 50's ... Goldberg Furniture is seen in this picture

Gordon's Holiday Spot

Sept 24, 1964 – According to the ads being run by Gordon’s Holiday Spot, Joan Brandon, The World’s Greatest Hypnotist was appearing at the establishment. Supposedly she would present startling and sensational demonstrations that would hold the audience spellbound. There was a cover charge to get in and view the show. There was also a $10,000 reward offered to anyone who could prove that she was a fraud. The ad claimed if you could prove that she is a fake , the money was yours. An early menu from Gordon's is pictured below

ND State Fair 1982

 The Fair ran July 16^th through the 24^th that year….. 30 years ago the headliners for the State fair were: Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter…. Barbara Mandrell and Ricky Skaggs…. Jerry Jeff Walker …. The Beach Boys …. And Joan Jett & the Blackhearts…... In the Pub the featured band was the Whiskey River Band…. The fair also featured auto racing on the 17^th, 18^th, and 22^nd and there was a demolition derby in the afternoon of the 18^th. Pictured below are the origina Arches at the entrance to the State Fair Grounds

Bonanza Restaurant

The Bonanza was located at 1445 South Broadway…. Now the home of Paradiso… The Bonanza was a buffet style steak house. You entered the line,  ordered your steak and then walked through picking out the rest of the meal. All dinners included salad, Texas toast and potato. Some of the prices in 1975 were ….. 8 ½ oz T-bone steak - $3.79 ….. 6 oz Rib-eye steal - $2.19 ….. Shrimp Dinner - $2.29 …. Chicken Dinner - $2.09 ……. Fish Platter - $2.09….. Child’s Dinner – 79 cents….