Tumbleweed Toggery

Tumbleweed Toggery was located at 1933 South Broadway in the building now occupied by Computech. They specialized in western wear and tack. Affiliated with them at the same location was Harlon Harness Mfg. Harlon Harness made new, repaired old and supplied parts needed for harness maintenance…. The building caught fire and burned in the mid 1980’s. Both businesses were lost and never reopened. Swenson Furniture was also located in the north end of the same building.

1942 - Advertising

1942 Classified Ads – classified ads in 1942 were, by today’s prices quite economical. A seven line ad for one day was 70 cents… for one week it was$10.50. ads promoting fortune telling, clairvoyant practices, matrimonial and selling stocks was not allowed …. Looking through some of the classified ads these struck me as unique. A three room house on East Central Avenue - $12.00 a month….a five room house on Valley Street - $21.00 month….

War Stamps

The war savings stamps introduced during World War II were released in five different denominations – 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, one dollar, and five dollars, all featuring a Minuteman statue. These stamps were purchased at face value and earned no interest. Individuals accumulated their war savings stamps in various collection booklets provided with the purchase of a stamp. Filled collection booklets could later be used to purchase Series E war bonds. For example, a full 25-cent booklet contained 75 stamps and was worth $18.75, which was the initial price of a $25 war bond. Thus, a full 25-cent booklet would be exchanged for a $25 war bond with a time to maturity of ten years.

War Stamp Sales – war stamps were sold in many stores in Minot during WWII. In July of 1942, the merchants in Minot conducted a “retailers for Victory” campaign. Selling the most stamps in various stores netted the seller prizes. The girls at Woolworth’s who sold the most stamps received a day off. Other prizes available at other participating retail stores such as SS Kresge and JC Penny.

Wooden Indian

Wooden Indian – in 1981 Dakota Square Mall Café Court was the home to The Wooden Indian. This was primarily a tobacco shop but did also have magazines, books, newspapers and men’s gifts. The Wooden Indian claimed to have a walk-in humidor for storing their tobacco products. They also featured imported and domestic cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. Pipes were available from$2.00 to $200.00. smokers accessories and bar supplies could also be found at the Wooden Indian

Navy Base in Minot

Navy V-12 Training – looking through a newspaper from 1945 I came across and ad placed by the Navy B-12 Trainees at Minot State Teachers College. They were thanking the residents in the Minot area for helping make their Variety Show a big success.. During World War II the Navy had a flight training base at the Minot Airport with classes at Minot State. On June 20^, 1945 a special program was held at Minot State honoring all of the V-12 who had completed their training.

Minot's First Blacksmith

Charlebois Shop – the first location for the Charlebois Blacksmith Shop was at First Street and First Avenue Southeast in 1887. They eventually moved to 313 East Central Avenue where the business continued until closing in 1984.  John Charlebois, who started the blacksmith shop also had a homestead in the 188o’s. His homestead covered a large area in Minot east of Main Street and up South hill. John Charlebois donated a lot of the land to Rosehill Cemetary. I remember delivering Coke products to The Charlebois Shop on Central Avenue. In the late 60’s they had one of the few table top Coke machines that still dispensed the 6 ounce bottles for a Nickel.

Blacksmith Shop in the 1920's

Dick's Meat Shop

  Someone asked me if I had any information on Dick’s Meat Shop. Until a few days ago I did not. Going through old newspapers somebody left for me I found something. Dick’s Meat Shop could be found at 1609 Fourth Ave. NW. Located across the street from Oak Park News. You could order beef and pork in full, halves or quarters. They also cut steaks to order for special occasions. In December, 1985 a side of beef was $1.25 per pound, hamburger was $.49 a pound and cured hams $1.89 lb. Since it was the Christmas season Lutefisk was available for $1.89 lb.

A Frame on Broadway

Tourist & Information Center – 1975 – the new Tourist and Information Center opened in the summer of 1975. It was located on the same corner where it is now, Broadway and Eleventh Avenue. It was a small A-frame building about 20 X 24 feet. It was built on the corner of the area that was an old coolie/ land fill. 43 evergreen trees planted around the building were furnished by the Minot Lions Club. Initially students from the Minot Business College staffed the center.

Ice Cream Shop

The Dipper – Ice Cream Shop – In the mid 1970’s The Dipper was located at 721 North Broadway. They featured 26 flavors of hard ice cream. The Dipper also had cones, malts, milk shakes, floats, sundaes, and banana splits…. It was air conditioned and provided inside seating. This is about where Subway on North Broadway is located.

Dinner Theater

Riverside Lodge Dinner Theater – The Riverside Lodge back in the 70’s held dinner theater shows. The consisted of cocktails and 6:30 followed by 7:30 dinner by candle light and strolling violins. The floor show started about 9:00 pm. The cost was $10.00 for dinner, tax and show. With a $2.50 cover charge. Shown below are some on the dinner theater venues.

City Bakery

City Bakery was in the 300 block on the west side of  Main St. The location is now the parking lot for wells Fargo Bank. City Bakery also had a lunch counter, of which I do have some pictures. The eating area had wire metal tables and chairs and a number of ceiling fans. People would stop for lunch and take home many of the pastries offered. I remember City Bakery during the 1969 flood. I was working at Downtown Red Owl.  City Bakery and their van(s) were used by the Red Cross to send out food and drink to the people working on the dikes and other flood protection. After our shift at Red Owl, a few of us would go to the back entrance of City Bakery, hop in one of the vans and deliver food and drink to the workers, sometimes all night long.

early City Bakery delivery vehicle

Lucifer B Tykes

over the years many local bands have come and gone in the Minot area. This group back in the 1970’s included Don Lee, Calvin Davy, Ron Hett and Jerry Scott … Following the 1969 flood in Minot, a local song writer wrote “The Ballad of Jim” .  A song about Jim Ruyak, chief of construction for the Army Corps of Engineers. The tune was to that of the Beverly Hillbillies Theme song. The Song had some popularity in the Minot area but was never topped the country charts. Members of the band were Calvin Davy, Jerry Scott, Ron Hett and Don Lee...

Minot State Barracks

For many years the married student housing at Minot State was referred to as “The Barracks”. My understanding is that these were a couple rows of temporary housing units built about WWII era to house families of Navy Pilots stationed in Minot for flight training and schooling. I had a fiend who lived in these back in the early 1970’s. They were certainly not much to write home about but they did manage to keep out the elements.

Skyport Mall

At one time the Century Mall was proposed for North Hill. In May, 1971 the Minot City Council was voting again on the Skyport Mall. If built it would have been directly west of the Entrance to the Airport (1971 the current terminal was not built). The center would have been over 460,000 square feet and provided parking for over 3300 vehicles. The earlier vote was 7 to 7 and the mayor voted in favor to break the tie. For a couple reasons the mayor’s vote was not considered legal. One of the opposing Aldermen was claimed to be changing his vote from no to yes. The vote was to annex the land into the city which would be tantamount to a vote approving the center. I believe the vote passed but the center never materialized.

Entertainment Events

Fred Waring Show – 1965 – February 7, 1965 the Fred Waring Show with The Pennsylvanians performed in Minot at the Municipal Auditorium …. The was a Sunday evening performance and all seats were reserved $2 - $2.59 and $3.00 …

Blue Oyster Cult and Rush – in July, 1976 Blue Oyster Cult was going to appear in Minot at the  All Seasons Arena. Their special guest band was Rush. They concert featured a special laser and flsh light show…. Tickets $5.00 in advance and $6.00 at the door.

National Grocery

The National Grocery  Store was on the southwest corner of Second  Street and 4^th Avenue SW… the intersection now known as Burdick Expressway and Broadway. The Building was built to be a grocery store.  After National Food closed, the building went through a number of owners and various businesses. For a short time the building was home to a case lot, wholesale type store. The when the Ace Hardware Store on First Street SW in downtown Minot lost their building to the construction of a parking lot, it became Ace Hardware. Then Scheel’s Hardware & Sporting Goods. In the early days of Scheel’s, they were more hardware than sporting goods. In fact The early Scheel’s Store was also a good place to find specialty baking products. After Scheel’s moved out, Schlotsky’s Deli occupied the north part of the building and the south side of the building was home to Tom’s Home Furnishings, a smaller furniture store.  Later, the building was purchased by and became the home of Zimmerman’s furniture, which is still there.

Kresge Cafeteria

 There was at one time a snack bar or cafeteria in the Jupiter Store.  It was located on the south side of the store as you entered. In the basement was a huge oak ice box or refrigerator used for storage.  I was told if I could get the old oak icebox out of the store when Jupiter closed, I could have it… the icebox actually was bolted together and was easy to disassemble. The refrigeration unit was shot and some of the base had to be rebuilt. However the ice box was lost in the flood of 2011 .. I did save the front panel, which weighs about 200 pounds. Some day, I will use that in some fashion in my basement. 

SS Kresge Store

The Kresge Store in Downtown Minot was originally just north of the Ellison Department Store for many years .  Sometime I believe in the late 60’s ot 70’s the Kresge Store moved about one block north just south of the Woolworth . If I remember correctly from my Kresge history, which  I learned during my 20 years working for Kmart, there were two Kresge Stores, The Dollar Store and Five & Dime Store. The Five & Dime was the early days version of the discount store.  Eventually both were combined into the Jupiter Store.. Many remember the wooden floors that were somewhat warped and creaked when you walked on them… When Kresge established the Kmart store chain, one of the names considered before the Kmart name was picked was Jupiter. Some speculate that had Kresge used the Jupiter name, the chain of stores would not have achieved the success enjoyed by Kmart. The Kresge location became Western Paint & Glass and that business was there for many years . Now Western Paint & Glass is gone and Main Street Books has moved into the building.

P P Lee Block

Woolworth’s was on the South west corner of Main Street and Central Avenue. Originally this was Jack Doyle’s saloon in the late 1800’s. It was purchased and became the P P Lee block and was the home to the New York Store owned by Fauchald. The New York Store was one of the early general department stores .  Somewhere around 1920 FW Woolworth bought the store to put in their Woolworth Department Store. Eventually the top floor was added.  The cafeteria was on the south side of the store close to the escalator. When I was a young kid, Grandpa would take us into Woolworth’s while Mom and Grandma were shopping to buy us ice cream. We were usually more interested in riding the escalator. This escalator only went up and you had to take the stairs down.…. If I remember correctly, the house wares department was at the top of the escalator. The building has gone through a couple changes in ownership but is now back to retail stores on the main floor and apartments above. Rumor has it the escalator may be restored to working condition

 
 

PP Lee Block

Woolworth

A Zoo in Mnot

Minot Z00  -in 1914 the decision was made to open a zoo in Minot. The Park Board decided to purchase two buffalo from South Dakota, a bull and a cow, at a cost of about $600.00. Five acres was to be fenced for the buffalo. A Menagerie will be started in the area. Some of the animals will be coyotes, foxes, bears and raccoons. A monkey cage will be added and the park already has a number of squirrels in the park, however, boys are shooting the squirrels. Fines and jail terms were to levied on anyone carrying guns in the parks. $1.00 to $19.00 and 1 to 15 days in jail. The Zoo building was built in 1921 and has survived a number of floods. Flooded in 1923, 1927, 1953, 1969 and 2011. The building has gone through many changes and is now in the process of becoming an Aviary.

 Zoo Building 1920's

 Original Bear Castle

Feeding bears

 

 

 

Sign at entrance

Future Devices

NSP – Look into the Future – In 1961 NSP placed an advertisement in the newspaper predicting some of the things that would come to be in the future….. some of these were Instant checkout in stores – Electronic devices will scan purchases and add the bills to give you your total due ….. Automatic Cleaner – A machine that will vacuum, wash, rinse, dry and wax floors by itself then scoot back to the its niche in the baseboard , empty any waste and wait for the next job…… Automatic Wall Painter – Walls will be built with panels that incorporate a chemical that will change color when electricity is applied….. change your wall colors to match your mood……. Cooling Blanket – A blanket that will heat and/or cool at your discretion ….. Make Disposable Tableware - with a touch of the dial and throw them away afterwards – or If using your finest china, you will be able to clean and sterilize in 3 minutes with ultrasonic waves.