| Summary: | Some of the First Me At the turn of the century Park River began to take on metropolitan airs. Ed Code installed the local telephone system. A couple of years later a long distance line was run into town and connection made with the outside world. Then the municipal light plant and waterworks was built, and Park River took its place in the sun of strictly up-to-date cities. When the high school went in for football, one of the first coaches it had was Vil- hjalmur Steffanson, who used to put the boys through their signals in the yard behind the Windsor hotel during his stop between trains. He was then attending the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, and later gained fame as an Arctic explorer. After the town's incorporation as a city its chief executives were drafted in true democratic fashion from a variety of callings. Hiram Libby and Joel Myers were lawyers, John Wylie and Steve Cameron, blacksmiths; Jim Dougherty, real estate tycoon; Billy Metz, miller; and Ed Herwick, contractor. Before the close of. the "elegant eighties,".* there was another flourishing institution com* rnon in every hamlet and town. That was the. saloon, where men fraternized over foaming mugs, traded horses or hatched political conspiracies — or possibly engaged in a game of "draw." Park River had its quota of saloons- all located on the main street. Corner lot locations, so much desired now by drug stores, were also then preferred. Later when the temperance movement was gathering force, the '"corner saloon" became too promi-: nent a place to "duck in" for the patrons who tried to maintain amicable relations all around. Two outstanding dispensers of the "cup that cheers" were Timley and Jones: Timley's place was a veritable Monte Carlo; it was ornate and the first building in town equipped with an elevator. This was not used, however, for lifting human cargo but rather for supplying refreshments for th£ habitues of the parlor of chance upstairs. This, place flourished in the wide-open days o( the town. When the frontier spirit passed, a stage was built in the west end of the old faro' 13 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
|
|---|