Paved Streets in Minot 1937

Dec. 4, 1937 - Paving Ordinance  from the past – From the Minot Daily – an ordinance on the books in Minot – When Minot got its first paved streets, which consisted of wooden blocks, the city fathers prized it like a zealous housewife does a newly waxed floor. All precautions were taken to keep the paved streets pristine. – No garbage was to hauled on or across the streets unless absolutely necessary to remove it to an alley. Fine was $5 and up to 10 days in jail. By the way, in bad rain storms and it the streets flooded, the wooden paving blocks were known to float away

World War I - Over

 The first place to receive the news that The Great War ( WWI) had ended was the Minot Daily News. It was about 2:00 am Minot time. The editor received a message at his residence that the Armistice had been signed by Germany. By the time the whistles started to blow in the early morning hours, the Minot Daily News had thousands of “Extra’s” on the streets. The city went wild with delirium. One man tied a rope to a cowbell and ran through the streets. Make shift floats and parades were quickly assembled to celebrate the news. The City Auditor at the time, Hagenstein, and a group of patriots gave speeches, many interspersed with the song, “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s all here.” Many businesses closed as well as the Minot City offices. All had signs out stating. “Closed today to bury the Kaiser”. 

Marching to Go to War - WWI  - Central Ave

Minot Ship By Rail Club – The Minot Ship By Rail Club was formed to promote the use of the railroad by the coal companies. The railroads and their employees shared in the prosperity of Minot. In 1932 to promote the railroad as the main means of transporting coal out of the area the Club came up with these statistics:

In 1931 the Railroads paid $193,269.47 in taxes to the Ward County Treasury

In 1931 the Railroads paid approximately $975,000.00 in wages to Minot residents

In 1931 these Railroad employees paid about $150,000.00 in Ward County taxes

In 1931 there were over 2500 railroad employees and dependents living in Minot

Impressive statistics for the time

J C Jarrett - Violins

In 1937 J. C. Jarrett was making violins that were different from the conventional instrument. His Violin did not have a sound post as did most others. According to Jarrett,  a sound post is used to improve the tone in violins in which the wood and design are not in perfect acoustical harmony with the strings. Jarrett felt his instrument is acoustically perfect in all its tones so no need for a sound post. The neck of the violin was an inch longer to facilitate the playing of half tones above the open strings. The wood for the violin was rock maple imported from Europe. To determine the musical qualities of the wood, it is struck with a steel hammer before any work is done to it and while it is still in block shape. The wood had to have a silver, bell like tone to be used. The tones would determine the thickness of the pieces to be carved. The cost of material in 1937 was about $100 per violin. The estimated value of the completed violin was $2500.00

Great White Way - 1917 - Eastwood Park

In the summer of 1917, amid the concerns of war in Europe, Eastwood Park was preparing for a celebration and carnival. Ninety seven street lights had been installed in Eastwood Park and an additional 10 installed on East Central on the same circuit. Eastwood Park was preparing the opening of it's beautiful Great White Way.

In 1917, Eastwood Park was the largest residential section of any city in North Dakota to be lit up with street lights. The festivities planned were band music, a number of speeches, a street carnival of fun including a street dance, and a souvenir booklet about the neighborhood. All the houses in the neighborhood were to have been decorated with Japanese lanterns as well as having their shades up and lights on throughout the house. All the street lights were to have been turned on at the same time.

However, due to a great many things which required public attention, much of the celebration was cancelled.

The celebration was a quiet one with all the street lights and houses lit up. Residents of Eastwood Park held open houses for friends and family. Everyone in Minot was invited to visit Eastwood Park and enjoy the beautiful lighted scenery.

The Epworth League and the Methodist Church served ice cream and other refreshments on the lawn of the home of F.B. Lambert, one of the planners of the event, 224 8th Street SE.
(by Steven Cameron)

Restaurants in the 1960’s & 1970’s  - McDowell’s Big Boy Take Out – 17^th St and 4^th Avenue Northwest – Featured catering for events of all sizes …….  Jack’s Pizza – 511 North Broadway and Tony’s Pizza on Valker Road (Capri Bar location by the Holiday Inn )- Also featured tacos and sandwiches in addition to pizza – Specials – 3 tacos for $1.00 ….. Sweden House – then The Viking Table - A smorgasbord restaurant located at 1910 South Broadway (now the home of Marketplace Dollar Store)  After The Viking Table it became McJack’s and then Jake’s Spice & Spirit  … .. Hitchin’ Post Restaurant – located 3 mile east of the Fairgrounds – Sunday baked ham dinner in 1976 only $3.75 ….. The Big Boy Drive-in ... on the corner of 31st St SW and Broadway

Big Red Furniture

 Bennie’s Cycle Service – 3701 South Broadway – Now the home of Ryan Honda ….. Krebsbach’s Inc. – Home of International Harvester vehicles and other farm equipment – now the home of Marketplace Foods on South Broadway behind 1^st International bank…… Schriok’s Lawn & Trail Inc  - Highway 2 & 52 Bypass at 10^th St. SW – Now the home of Clear Channel Radio ….. MacBruce’s Sport Shop – 1605 South Broadway – specialized in athletic shoes – Now the home of Papa Murphy’s Pizza ……. Big Red Furniture Warehouse – on 3^rd Street SE – 2 blocks east of the CP Hotel by the railroad tracks ….. 

Milk - 9 Cents a Quart

From January 15, 1934… Demonstrators entered two Minot grocery stores to protest the price of mile on their counters. Chain Grocery on 2^nd St NW was visited by approximately 50 people. Minot Food Market, also on 2^nd St, NW was visited by the same group. At the Chain Grocery store, the protesters dumped about 100 quarts of milk on the street. At Minot Food Market about 20 quarts of milk were dumped out in addition to a small amount of cream. The reason for the protest was these two stores were selling milk at a price lower than the group wanted. The average price for milk at that time was nine cents a quart. Chain Grocery was accused of selling milk four quarts for a quarter and at times seven cents a quart. Minot Food Market had a sign in the window stating “Free milk with the purchase of 50 cents of groceries. The group was representing the milkmen’s organization.

The Clarence Parker Hotel --

Ellison’s planned a three story department store with another two floors of office space on top. The first three floors were built but not floor 4 and 5 as George Vaulker started building his office building on the northwest corner of 1^st Street and 1^st Avenue Southeast.  Thinking there would be a surplus of office space, the Ellison Building remained at only three floors. The restaurant in the Ellison Building was 0n the second floor. The Vaulker office building  was never completed. The bottom two floors were all that was finished. The top floors were open with just the supports showing. The building was referred to as “The Sparrow Hotel” for many years as the birds were the only tenants. Twenty years later Clarence Parker bought the unfinished building and converted it to the Clarence Parker Hotel. In 1953 President Eisenhower  stayed in Minot while visiting the Garrison Dam. While in town, he rented a suite rooms at the Clarence Parker Hotel. 

 Construction in late 1920's - Valker Office Building

 Construction stopped at this point for close to 20 years

Clarence Parker Hotel

Leland House / Leland Hotel

The Leland House – In 1896 the Parkers leased the Leland House from the original owner, Allen Tompkins. They bought it from him in 1898. Located on the corner of Main Street and Central Avenue, The now Leland Parker Hotel had 10 rooms with their own bath. The hotel also had its own sewer system which was constructed after the city council turned down a proposal for city sewer. It was also Minot’s first brick building. 

The Leland Hotel – in 1904 the Leland Hotel had a pretentious dining room that could seat 100 people. Buffalo steaks from Clarence Parker’s famous herd were one of the popular items on the menu. The Leland advertised 110 rooms, steam heat, electric lights and fine furnishings. The Leland was remodeled and improved six times over the years. In the 50’s some of the businesses included the KG Men’s Store, Gambles, and a cafeteria.

 Leland House - about 1899

Leland Hotel - early 1900's

The Parker House --

The Parker House was Minot’s first hotel. It was established in 1886 by Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Parker, parents of Clarence Parker. The hotel was in downtown Minot on 2^nd Avenue. It was temporary home to many travelers and many of the buffalo bone wagon drivers. Buffalo bones were the cash crop for many early settlers in and around Minot. The bones were hauled in by the horse drawn wagon full and piled next to the railroad tracks. When loaded on the trains the bones were shipped to the east and I believe ground for fertilizer and other uses. Depending on the market in the east, buffalo bones were bringing $4.00 to $12.00 a ton. At one time there were so many buffalo bones stacked by the tracks that the railroad laid down a spur line just to load all the bones

Parker House on the right