| Summary: | seems to recall where the Chris Belling Shoe Repair business was located that was also mentioned in an above paragraph. E. T. Christianson located his building on the south lot where Opdahl Motors is now located. It is believed that P. N. Peterson operated his implement business from his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Fick now live on that farm just east of town. For many years this was known as the Justesen farm. First the Hans Just- esens made their home there and then their son, Ray and his family. The Bowen Hotel that was built in 1902 was located on the west side of Main Street where Community Lanes is now located. Town Once Had Six Churches The first church building in town was the Skandia Lutheran Church, erected on the site of what is now the Clarence Willason home, in 1902. The same building, long ago moved to a different location three blocks east of main street, is now the religious home of the First Lutheran congregation. While the exterior has been little changed, the interior is greatly improved. The next church to be built was the Catholic edifice, followed several years later by erection of the Congregational Church. Then came the Reformed Church construction program and some years later the erection of a Swedish Lutheran Church building. The old Litchville theatre building served as a church known as Immanuel Hall, following a split in the Norwegian Lutheran congregation. The split was healed and the congregations reunited years ago. Of the six church buildings once gracing the town, only two now remain, the First Lutheran of which Rev. J. J. Miller is pastor, and the Reformed with Rev. Frank Boerema in charge. St. Anne's Catholic Church was located where the Albert Neumann home is now standing. The present parsonage for the pastors of the First Lutheran Church served as the rectory for the Catholic Church. It is believed that St. Anne's Church was moved to laMoure. The Congregational Church stood where Mrs. Nola Muralt now lives and the Swedish Lutheran Church was on the lots where Mr. and Mrs. Arvid Arves now have their home. Brick School House Buill in 1903 During the first three years, there was no school building in town and the youngsters, of whom there were quite a number by this time, attended classes in what was known as the Barnes School, two miles west of town. This school was located on land now belonging to Clarence Verduin. This naturally, was an untenable situation, and so on July 8, 1902, Litchville people had their first big public meeting, called to consider the problem of building a school house. Without a dissenting voice, it was decided that a four room brick school house with full basement be built at a cost of $4,000. It developed that in the spring of 1903 a contract for $5,062.50 for construction of the school house was let to M. II. Severson, Lisbon contractor. Only two rooms were completed and used for a number of years, but before long even basement rooms were in use as class rooms. There was considerable controversy regarding the site, opinion being divided between three locations. An election was held for the purpose and the site was chosen by a considerable majority. It was called "the hill" at the time. Subsequently, the building became too small, was razed, and gave way to the present schoolhouse in 1923. The Misses Edith Jones and Ida Krogen were Litchville's first school teachers. Elmer Johnson, Fred Green and M. D. Willennar were among the early - day superintendents of Litchville schools, while Fred G. Aandahl, former governor of North Dakota, served in that capacity during the latter 1920's. Today, in this of 1975, Supt. Henry Friedt heads the corps of instructors. Giebink's 'Blue Sky' Flevator It was in the spring of 1902 that Henry Oiebink bought his first piece of Litchville farm land, a half section, purchased from O. E. Hage, a short distance north of town. Enthusiastically, he did not stop buying farms in the locality until at one time his holdings consisted of more than 5000 acres. To help with his and others' grain marketing problems in the early years, he set up an immense "Blue Sky Elevator" with r<x>m for a "million" bushels, as he stated. Later he bought one of the conventional elevators, now part of the Miller Elevator Complex formerly known as the Litchville Elevator. When the town was without a bank in the summer of 1930, he was one of the moving spirits in the organization of a new banking institution and for a time held a majority of the stock. Thus it was that Litchville was without a bank for only a few weeks, while many towns that lost banks at about the same time never did overcome that deficiency. Remember, those were in the long depression years of the 1930's that brought so much havoc to the national economy. The second year of Litchville's life was nearly as hectic as the first, and other new businesses started were the Litchville Tow and Fibre Mill by W. S. Hartsough and a well-digging firm of 'Thompson K Wangrud. I. J. O'Day was also well digger here but as far as is known never lived in the town. In addition, there were a number of business changes during the latter part of the year. For instance, Dr. Ouigley left to take further schooling somewhere and Dr. M. Westley took his place as the community's doctor. A year later. Dr. W. R. Claybaugh appeared upon the local professional scene. The 1). S. H. Johnson land Company hauled a little building into town from its land holdings in Greenland township which their local manager, Paul Paulson, used for an office. New Railway Rumors Dame Rumor had it in the fall of 1902 that the N.P. was going to extend its line from Marion to Dickey, thus giving (Htr town both east and west connections. Litchvillians were elated because train service had not been too good and the belief was that the service would be improved a hundred percent with the new connection. It never came. Similar hope was revived when officials of the Soo Railway Company did some re-surveying in 1903 (it had done so before in 1900). The talk was that the Soo line was to come from the southeast and run through Litchville to Jamestown. That line did not come, either, and it is a good thing for the town that it didn't. The \. I>. had a little shack that was replaced b.v a one story depot (which was later moved to Hastings) in the early years, but it wasn't long before a better-lhan average depol with living quarters in the second storv, was constructed. This building was in the path of the hungry flames on that July day 46 years ago. As formerly staled, Bellanger was the first depol agent. Men by the name of Backlund, Heath and I'ravitz and perhaps others followed him, all before 1910. That's the year R. M. Davis came to Litchville to remain until 192!), succeeded the same year by Carl Eredrickson. Norman Colebank took over in April of 1951, following Fredrieksons tenure. The depol was closed in 1973 and donated by Burlington Northern to the Litchville Park Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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