FAIRMOUNT NORTH DAKOTA,
EARLY HISTORY
Compiled from original sources and
anecdotal accounts by Charles R. Pinkney, 1937
Redacted and edited in October,
2000 by Charles W. Pinkney, a grandson of C. R. Pinkney.
"The
early history on any town must of necessity be of its first settlers. The
material structures that later arise must have a mental concept in the brain
of the founder. The first history
of the Fairmount settlement, earlier known as Sewall Station, and still
earlier as "The Michigan Settlement" was written by Mrs. Elmer Wetherbee,
a highly intelligent witness, and published in the Fairmount News in 1897.
This writing begins with the entirety of her account of early Fairmount.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE MICHIGAN
SETTLEMENT
During the spring
of 1878 quite a number of farmers of western Michigan, decided to remove
to some state farther west where lands were cheaper. Most of these farmers
had small farms and were already comfortably situated. But rather than see
the children leave the home and seek new locations they decided to accompany
them.
While these people were making
arrangement to sell their farms and turn them into cash it was decided to
send someone into the west to find suitable lands and location for the new
settlement. That May, Mr. E.W. Spaulding was sent to the Pacific coast where
he remained nearly all summer and traveled extensively. He visited the best
farm regions in California, Oregon and Washington territory.
Though Spaulding found many points of
interest in these regions he found no farm regions outside of the Willamette
Valley of Oregon and the Sacramento Valley of California that had the
qualities that we considered appropriate for the farming needs of the
Michiganders, and besides these lands were as expensive of those of
Michigan. On his return home it was decided that he look elsewhere.
In the same year another man Mr. E. K.
Crafts made a similar journey except he had no particular destination in
view. He visited Chicago and while there chanced to hear a report of a
phenomenal crop of wheat that had just been harvested by Mr. Oliver
Dalyrimple in the Red River Valley of Dakota territory. Mr. Crafts, one of
the largest growers in Western Michigan, after reading the Dalyrimple report
made immediate plans to visit the region of the Red River Valley. His
preparations took him to St. Paul where he located a surveyor, Mr. W. W.
Taggert, who had traveled and had extensive knowledge of the entire region
of the Red River Valley. Taggert recommended the region just west of the
Bois De Sioux river in the location now southeastern Richand County as the
best possible location.
1879 The First Settlers Come to
Fairmount
Crafts was on the
next train to Dakota Territory and the Red River Valley and was very pleased
by what he found there. He returned to share his enthusiastic report,
explaining that he found what he was looking for. " – – a long, broad,
level prairie, as nice as any many ever saw, and extending for hundreds of
miles to the north with nary a stone or anything to turn the course of the
plow." This was all government land open for settlement, under the homestead
pre-emption. He could not find words strong enough to tell half of the
potential for this land and what the future would bring forth.
In March 1879 Crafts along with W.
Spaulding, J. P. Taylor, Chas. Scheburn, U. A. Griffin and E. W. Spaulding
left Hartford, Michigan to stake out the first settlement on the lands
near what is now known as Fairmount. They stopped first in St. Paul to
engage a surveyor to aid them in making their locations.
The settlers headed for Campbell,
Minnesota arriving on the 20th where they secured teams. Then heading
west they were for the first time entirely away from any view of dwellings.
They crossed the river at the present site of Geo. Grovsvenor. That
afternoon all of the party made selections for their homestead land sites.
All of the founding party except E. W. Spaulding
returned to Michigan the
next day. Crafts, Spaulding and Scheburn stopped in St. Paul to purchase
lumber which the railroad carried to Campbell the nearest delivery point, at
half rates. E. W. Spaulding remained to work on buildings so as to have
everything ready as possible when the families of the settlers were to
arrive in about two weeks. Spaulding also made himself familiar with the
landmarks in order to help new families to make their land selections on
their arrival. Some of the new families to come shortly were Clark and Lee
Johnson, Web and Deb Easton, D. M. Slawson, Allen Ragen, W. H. and W. J.
Taylor who with E. W. came on foot from Campbell to make selections. The
Johnson boys, also made selections for Robert Haney.
On the fifteen of April Clark Johnson,
Web Easton, Ed Spaulding and Deck Slawson came over with a four ox team with
lumber to put up the frame of the first house in the settlement. The
building is now standing on the Clark Johnson farm two miles west of town.
On the same day Bert Spaulding along with Wib and Frank Crafts, arrived in
Campbell with two cars of household goods, horses, wagons, and everything
needed in a new country, even W. Spaulding’s dog and Aunt Nan’s cat. On the
sixteenth, Warren Spaulding with a load of horses, farm machinery and a
carload of corn and oats. The same day the barn on W. Spaulding’s farm was
started. On the twentieth of April a party from Wahpeton and Breckenridge
came down to visit the settlers knowing that water was not plentiful brought
with them a tin can of some sort of beverage, a surprise to the Michigan
tenderfeet, concoction known as "reservation tanglefoot". Some of the boys
have since become better acquainted with the virtues of the beverage.
On the twenty sixth of April the
families of W. Crafts and E. and W. Spaulding joined the settlers. The
Mesdames Spauldings were the first women to arrive at the settlement, Mrs.
Crafts remained in Campbell for a few days until the Crafts house could be
completed.
On the 29th of April the first plowing
of about six acres was done by Clark Johnson and seeded to oats, this
produced a ‘pretty fair’ crop being cut by hand and threshed by flail by L.
H. Johnson.
During April and May new settlers came,
among whom were some of the most prosperous farmers in the community today.
Each settler plowed as much as he could, W. Spaulding outdoing the others
plowing over a hundred acres and this in addition to making to making 26
trips to Campbell. Most of the young men worked in Minnesota through the
season and hired their plowing done.
The fall of 1879 most of the settlers
returned to the East. The only ones to remain were E. and W. Spaulding, E.
Taylor, W. Mackney, and U. A. Griffin with their families. The winter was
not severe and the settlers enjoyed themselves much better than one would
suppose. So ended the first year of the Michigan settlement.
In the spring of 1879 a post office
was established in the home of Warren Spaulding. His wife (Aunt Nan) was
post mistress. The mail was brought from Wahpeton every Saturday, carried by
Bert Spaulding. He made the trip in all kinds of weather, sometimes on
horseback. When the weather was poor it would arrive sometime in the
evening. About sunset you could look in all directions and see the settlers
coming for their mail. Some carried a large sack to carry mail to others in
their neighborhood. The large kitchen would be filled with those anxious to
hear from home as the sack was opened and the names read. As the news was
received faces reflected the good news or the bad news of their mail.
Some of the "Firsts’
The first sermon
brought to Fairmount was delivered by H. R. Brasted in August of 1881.
Reverend Brasted was a traveling evangelist of the Baptist faith. Services
were held in the house of U.A. Griffin. In 1881 H. G. Huntley, a traveling
missionary overseer in charge of the South West organized the local Baptist
church. Reverend E. E. Tyson was the first regular pastor. Services were
held in local homes until a suitable housing for the church could be found.
The first school classes were taught
in 1880 in a small rough board shanty built on part of the E. Spaulding
farm. Miss Carrie Myers held sway in the small classroom teaches the three
R’s in true frontier style. The young scholars attending this first
classroom included Lillie and Jay Devoe; Art, Mary, and Laura Gallup; and
Alta, Maud, and Roy Haney.
An improved school building was erected
by the fall of 1883. This one room school house was built across from the
little church. Leila Mills was the teacher. Classes were not held in the
winter. In June of 1884 there was a serious storm that hit while school
was in session. The school house was blown off its foundation but no one was
injured. In the same storm, there was another school shanty 5 miles south
that suffered even greater damages. The teacher Jennie Williams and several
children were seriously injured. Medical assistance required a team of
horses to travel to Wahpeton and return, so it took a long time before the
injured could receive medical aid.
There were three townships which
comprise the territory about which this sketch is written: Fairmount named
by N. Davis after Fairmount Park in Philadelphia; DeVillo, named for a
cousin of the Spauldings, DeVillo Crafts; and LaMars named by Britton after
LaMars, Iowa. The land laying as level as a floor with now and then a pocket
or low place. The first year the ground appeared to be rather wet. One
settler being so disgusted by the water on his farm that he sold it to his
brother for a new hat.
Hard Times Recorded by
First Settlers
When one thinks of
the hard times these old settlers endured to make this country what it is,
we can only take pride in all of the stories that have been told us.
N. P. Nelson took a claim near the Bois de
Sioux river. One night on the first of April the river began to rise
perilously. The family got up, loaded their chickens, and pigs and children
onto a wagon, hitched the oxen on. By then the river was so high the oxen
had to swim. The wagon box filled with water. They drove to the Sikorski
home where they were cared for until the water had subsided and they could
return home.
The winter of 1884 was a cold one with
lots of snow and blizzards. Jimmie Taylor set out to visit the R. Deyoe
home. While on the journey a blizzard struck suddenly. They found Jimmy
later frozen to death and buried him next to a deep coulee. This was the
first burial in what was later to become known as Fairmount Cemetery.
Here are some
families who are among the first settlers in the Fairmount community: J. S.
Parsons who planted three tree claims in the northern part of DeVillo. Other
tree planters included Horton and Quarry whose tree claims equaled that of
a real forest. Other families in the vicinity were the Mackeys, Hamiltons,
Dunhams, James Fox, Lee Johnson, C. Lisk, and Deck Slawson, U. A. Griffin,
Pat White, R. Haney, Gallup, Bakers, Crafts, Web, Deb and Albert Easton.
In DeVillo and south some of the
first settlers were T. P. Williams, Frank Williams, Geo. Wetherbee, H.
Hubbard, and three Pelham families.
Settling within Fairmount first families
included Joe Henvis, N. Davis, John Anderson, Al Veits, H. Strait, R. Deyoe,
O. H. Perry, J. P. Taylor, Henry, Wallace, George and — ? –. Mrs. J.
P. Taylor was a nursed who tended many who were sick. There were others who
are not named here. But this list includes those who I consider the most
notable.
The first merchant was B. W. (Bart)
Schouweiler. The first doctor was Dr. D. C. Steele who endeared himself to
the people for he never refused a call and braved many a storm to help those
who were suffering.
Part II
History and collected
narratives. March 1937
Charles R. Pinkney
The Milwaukee
Railway came through in the year 1884. We can easily envision the elation of
those stout hearted pioneers as they experienced the arrival of the welcome
railway for it assured that the years of their isolation was shortly to end.
As we look back and contemplate the difficulties and challenges of the first
settlers we would conclude that these years were of any form of really great
compensations.
Two years later 1886 marked the
completion of two new rail roads the Soo and the Great Northern. Our young
metropolis was now ‘rarin’ to go. There had already been a couple of small
buildings erected on the Milwaukee Railway’s right of way. In one of these
Mr. Curtis had the first store. I believe from accounts that he was also the
agent for the railway. Mr. S. S. Payne had another of these stores and later
became the official postmaster replacing the service that had performed by
Mrs. S. Spaulding as before related.
Mr. B. W. (Bart) Schouweiler was the
first business erected on what is now Main street at about the same time as
the business noted above. There was a grain elevator situated on the
Milwaukee situated where Cudahy Produce now stands. Mr. Weideman was the
buyer. On the Soo Line the first elevator was erected in 1886 by the
Atlantic Elevator Company. J. M. Moyes was the first buyer there. About this
time in 1886 Phil Gottleman built a small frame building somewhere along the
Milwaukee right of way, which was later removed by U. A. Griffith to the lot
where the Hoffman hardware now operates and still stands.
Village Organization
In the county
auditor’s office in Historical Data Vol. 2. Page 359 we read that on April
28th 1887 the board of county commissioners after being waited upon by
certain petitioners and after describing the metes and bounds of the
proposed village, ordered that a meeting be held on the Ninth of May at the
store of Noah Davis to determine by majority vote whether such territory
shall become the town of "Fairmount". And the county board further ordered
that J. C. Henvis, N. Davis Jr. and Mr. B. W. Shouweiler act as judges and
that H. L. Eastman and Merrick Crafts serve as clerks for such election.
The vote was favorable to such, incorporated, giving our official birthday
as May 9, 1887.
This ended the town of Sewall as the
town had been known until this time. The name "Fairmount" was originally
proposed by Mr. Henvis who had come from Philadelphia where shortly before
the National Centennial Exposition had been held in Philadelphia in
Fairmount Park.
The first official meeting of the new
town’s board was held on August 30th, 1887. G. F. Wilson was president and
H. L. Eastman was clerk. At this time much more business than just the
official business was looming on the horizon of these people’s hopes. This
was caring for the infant population, the first of which had arrived at the
L. H. Johnson home and followed soon after by the birth of the first child
born within the town limits at the home of R. W. Dougherty.
I am also told that the first marriage
was that of Mr. Dougherty. The second marriage was that of B. W. Schouweiler
and Miss Carrie Nelson. I will end this manner of reporting here lest it
become a census report instead of an historical sketch.
Mr. Nels P. Nelson who had been
located on the Bois de Sioux since April 1878 were by now the ‘old settlers’
and Mr. Nelson, being a first class mechanic and blacksmith had come into
town and in 1886 had erected a blacksmith shop about where the residence of
A. I. Lee now stands. After many years of faithful service he returned to
his first love and bought and continued to operate one of the Spaulding
farms, two miles west of town.
Mr. Lafayette Parkhill Sr. and his
two sons, C. T. and William came in 1879 and John Anderson and his nephew J.
P. Nelson, came about the same time. Both of these families came from
central Wisconsin. The sole survivor of the first family, Hon. Layfayette
Parkhill came in 1882 and took up the claim of his deceased brother,
William. While he was still diligently managing his fine farm he was
elected to the legislature as well as supervisor and assessor. Later after
removing to town he was elected to the Office of Assessor for the village.
In 1897 he built and still owns the corner on First and Main which has been
since its constructions one of the foremost trading centers in the town.
Successive firms at this corner appear to have been; Deyoe and Haney, Deyoe
and Wetherbee, Wetherbee and Easton, and then for long years, E. W.
Wetherbee. A few years ago it was remodeled and a fine basement added and
since that time it was occupied by John Bostrom.
Early Town Growth After the
Arrival of the Railroad
Returning to
the town after the advent of the railways, we find that about 1887 Frank
Elliot and R. W. Dougherty built a hotel which was called the Fairmount
Hotel. It also had livery and bus line facilities in connection. The hotel
management was next taken over by Henry Mills and he then selling to U. A.
Griffin. It was then to be known as the Richland Hotel, a name it bore for
many successive managements during which it was renovated and enlarged. The
Richland drew a generous patronage and was well known for its fine cuisine.
Mr. Schouweiler’s first store, the first
on Main Street was situated where "Bert’s Club House" now stands was
followed by another store built by N. Davis in 1886. Here Mr. Davis
succeeded Payne as postmaster and he in turn was succeeded by Frank Zillgitt,
succeeded by E. A. Spaulding, and later succeeded by the long term of
Charles Leathart.
Mr. Davis built the corner building
known as the John Leathart corner in 1886. Pursuing the early buildings of
the town we find that Mr. Schouweiler along with W. H. Cox, Mr. John
Leathart, N. Powell and Ed Ballard incorporated the first bank known as the
Bank of Fairmount. To accomodate this they built a frame building on the
south side of Main Street. The same location that is had been occupied by
the Fairmount News. Later in 1901, a new brick building was erected on the
adjacent north side street corner on a lot owned by the Zillgitts.
During this period other businesses were
spring up. Among these were Frank Zilgitt grocery; Zillgitt and Johnson
dry goods and clothing; and the Ready and Zillgit restaurant. The firm of
Sawyer and Arnold had put in a lumber yard on the Soo. R. W. Dougherty and
A. J. Thiesen had built the West Hotel and adjoining brick buildings where
Dougherty carried a stock of hardware, harness goods, and farm machinery.
Dougherty also operated a livery. He later sold the hardware to E. R.
Collins in 1896 and the livery was sold to the Taylor Brothers.
In addition to the two first class
hotels mentioned earlier, Mr. Henry Strait had a fine brick building
constructed near the bank and a fine restaurant was opened there. In 1901
Mr. Jos. Clark built the adjoining building which was occupied at once by
the new First National Bank. This bank was officered by D. C. Steele,
President; C. P. Watson, Cashier; and Frank Whittaker, Vice President. Wm.
Cross, a prosperous farmer on the Minnesota side was also a heavy
stockholder.
In 1897 Mr. John Leathart, one of the
79’ers retired from his farm 2 miles north of town and bought the store and
building of Noah Davis to begin to engage in the grocery and general store
business, which became one of the substancial business places for a quarter
century afterwards. About the same time as the coming of Mr. Leathart, or
possibly a year earlier, O. H. Hellekson bought out the hardware business of
U. A. Griffin and built the present hardware store, removing the old Phil
Gottleman business to the east and adding a lumber yard on the east.
The Mergens brothers had come in 1895
and bought out the drug business of Davis and Schouweiler. A year or two
later they built a substantial brick building which still houses, as of this
writing, the oldest continuous business in town. This sturdy building turned
the sweep of flames in 1901 when fire swept the space from the Leathart
corner west to the Mergens building. Likewise many years later in 1912 or
’13 again stopped a fiery onslaught from the other side when the row of
wooden buildings went up in flames owing to a misbehaving movie theater
film.
On the south side of the street the
August Colberg drug company had taken over the small frame building which
the Baptist Church had outgrown and installed a fine stock of drugs and
medicines. Dr. Steele was associated with the Colberg enterprise at first.
In 1903 B. W. Schouweiler built the "Big Store" an outstanding mercantile
emporium which he carried on for many years. The big store later was
succeeded in operation by O. T. Valla, Knud Thompson, F. M. McConn and Sons
and lastly by John Bostrom.
During these last years of the
century the town continued to grow and flourish even without a promotional
boom, though it was not entirely without some of the growing pains incidents
common to frontier development. One of these was the incident of the "Reno
Blight" was undertaken by a pseudo lawyer who had an office in a vacant lot
adjoining the Masonic lodge building. But the fate of this unblest reknown
was nipped in the bud by the advent of statehood in 1889. Thus the nobler
attributes of uneffacable pioneer character was allowed to prevail.
Illustrative Character of
the Early Settlers
One incident
highlighting the golden character of these pioneers is recollected by Mr.
and Mrs. N. P. Nelson who resided near to the Bois de Sioux. The Nelsons had
retired for the night when Mrs. Nelson was taken suddenly ill. N. P., after
making her as comfortable as possible, rushed to his nearest neighbor, Mr.
Sikorski for help. Mrs. Sikorski quickly dressed and followed N. P. home to
care for Mrs. Nelson, while Mr. Sikorski started out in haste walking in the
darkness on foot, to fetch the nearest doctor Dr. O’brien in Wahpeton. It is
hard to match such unselfish acts that forge a memorial that the years can
not destroy but only strengthen.
Journalistic
No growing town
can remain long without a newspaper. One Mr. Smith started a weekly
newspaper in a small frame building on the north side between the Mergens
store and the State Theatre about the year of 1890 possibly a little
earlier. I am unable to find out what Smith called this sheet but he is
reported to be a man of real ability. He won a contest held by the Great
Northern to design an exclusive emblem to be displayed on all their rail
cars. In doing this he received a prize for $1000. This publisher was
followed by another, a Mr. J. F. Burt who had previously been a grain buyer
in White Rock. He called his paper the Fairmount Journal. I am told that his
daughter, Mrs. Frank Zillgitt was the chief editor of the paper. In 1896
Bradley W. Clabaugh bought out Mr. Burt and started the Fairmount News. When
the Bank of Fairmount moved into their new building in 1901 Clabaugh moved
into the former Bank site and there it remained publishing as the Fairmount
News weekly from that date to the present. After Clabaugh others followed
with the ownership of the Fairmount News, namely: Barney Stoffel in 1923;
then Samuel Ristey. These all used the original primitive equipment until
the present ownership of P. A. Frederickson and Lloyd Johnson when the plant
was re equiped with lino type and other improvements which gave us a wide
awake up-to-the-minute newspaper which has recently won distinguished
recognition from official publishing authorities.
Medical skills were offered from the
earliest times by Dr. Steele as previously noted. Steele, always on hand to
make calls with his black team of horses, near and far, day and night, long
years before the honk of the ubiquitous auto was ever heard in the land. Dr.
W. E. Kitely arrived in 1885 to practice in the community. Dr. N. H.
Greenman arrived about the turn of the century.
Spiritual Climate of Fairmount
Mrs. Wetherbees
previous account has detailed the first efforts in this direction. The first
room donated by Mr. Henvis was followed by the much larger building that was
later taken over by the Colberg Drug store. The Baptist congregation was
then located to its present location.
The Methodist Church had their first
services in June 1882 in the unfinished house of Thos. Bardsley. The
Reverend Ira Carter was the preacher. In 1889 it was decided to have an
edifice constructed for this congregation which was then built in 1890. Rev.
Jas. Strachan, a junior under Rev. J. H. Kelley of Wahpeton held temporary
services until the new building was completed. J. D. Deets assumed to first
pastorate. The pastoral succession seems to have been as follows: Rev.
Richard Hamer, 1891; Rev. J.H. Howard, 1892; Rev. J. A. Hovis, 1893; Rev.
Even Halsell, 1894; Rev. F. L. Rhodes, 1896; W. E. Plaxton, 1898; Thos. E.
Green, 1899 to 1900. In the present century additions to the succession
include: S. F. Beer and Rev. Morrison this followed by longer pastorates
still in the memories of some of our citizens; Rev. J. N. Loach and Reverend
Sage. The edifice was remodeled and updated in later years.
The Catholic Church was built in 1899.
It was without a resident priest until the coming of Rev. Fr. Meyer a few
years later. Since that date the church has made rapid strides and today is
a very strong parish with the addition of a fine priest’s residence and a
parish hall purchased from the school board at the time when the new high
school building was constructed in 1911.
As of the time of this writing our
present resident priest is Rev. Fr. Behrens who has directed the building of
several magnificent monuments displaying his collection of beautiful, rare
and historic stones and gems from every part of the earth. These have been
constructed in enduring monuments where all who view them may experience, in
the language of the great dramatist, "a sermon in stones and good in
everything."
Education in Early Fairmount
As noted in Mrs.
Wetherbee’s narrative, the first school was conducted in a rude board
shanty, located close to the Milwaukee tracks and about a half mile south of
the town site. After its destruction by the cyclone a couple of years later
the one story, one room building was erected on the site we call the Twin
Gables service station. This building was moved a few years later to a
location a block east and a couple blocks north, making its second stand
where the residence of Charles Templeton now stands. Education transpired
at this site until the year 1893 when the next larger school site was
started squarely across the east end of Main street. Here a Mr. Cluff served
as the first principal. About 1904 or 5 that building was turned a quarter
turn around and moved to the north side of the street. Additional rooms were
added at this time. A new more fire resistant brick building was constructed
in 1911 following a growing reputation of educational quality and growing
enrollment from both sides of the river. The addition of other rooms and a
new gymnasium date from 1930.
Other Social Organization and Businesses
The town of
Fairmount saw activity in numerous lodges and fraternal organizations since
1892. These included the I.O.O.F; the Masonic Lodge chartered June 15, 1893;
the order of Eastern Star, chartered June 24, 1898; and the Rebeccah Lodge
which had its beginning March 3, 1899. Besides lodges there has been
numerous active church societies, garden clubs, homemaker’s clubs and
literary clubs. Space and incomplete details limit our listing of them in
any kind of detail.
I have remaining but a few business
houses to mention to bring our account up to the new century and forward to
the present time. Here is that listing: The Hellekson Lumber Co., and the
Salzer Lumber Company where Charles Eide had his training for his present
management by serving in both of these. After the sale of the Hellekson
company to the Allen Bros. the lumber yard was discontinued. But soon after
another lumber company was opened in the vicinity of the Milwaukee tracks.
This company which came to be known as the Crane Johnson lumber company was
managed by some able business men, among them, Al Monson, Mr. Anton, and Mr.
John Birtel. Later these two companies joined to form a single entity
operated as the Salzer Lumber Company and managed by Chas. Eide.
For a few years during the boom period
of 1912 to 1915, L. H. Johnson and his son in law Jas. Leathart carried a
large stock of building material to accommodate the growing demand for
construction in the community. During the first quarter century of progress
one of the most important adjuncts to this progress was the use horses.
Horses powered the liveries, dray lines, bus lines. The number enterprises
and facilities tied to the horse would weary the reader. It is a safe bet
that the cash earnings connected to this class of the economy would far
surpass any other segment of enterprise. I shall not attempt to name any of
these, lest in doing so, I should omit any deserving agency.
Conclusion
While this
history does not take up in full the later years of Fairmount, it does cover
practically every point on which authentic information has been available
from the time of the first settlers up until the completion of the F. & V.
Railway in 1913. It is our belief that the major part of the pioneering in
the village was completed by that time. Exceptions would be a number of
infrastructure improvements, modernizing touches such as improved electric
service, water works and sewer systems and the additional of certain
industries as the Gamble Robinson wholesale house and the Cudahy packing
company plant and several private establishments.
The closing chapter of
this history of Fairmount could be summed up by stating that Fairmount has
enjoyed slow and steady growth over these past years. At this writing in
1937 Fairmount boasts 45 active business enterprises most of which are home
owned and operated. The tally includes three general stores, two hardware
stores, two drug stores, four restaurants or lunchrooms, three garages,
three dray lines, four service stations, two barber shops, hotel, theatre,
meat market, bakery, shoe repair shop, heating and plumbing establishment,
hatchery, cream and produce station, creamery and poultry packing plant,
wholesale house, elevator, lumber yard, three fuel dealers, bank, general
repair shop, blacksmith, pool hall, three bulk oil plants, laundry,
implement dealer, newspaper, livestock dealer, dentist, doctor and telephone
exchange. And last but not least, Fairmount is currently served by 3
railroad companies operating 4 transportation lines affording the best
all-directional transportation in the entire northwest. Fairmount still
needs to add a few other kinds of companies; manufacturing or wholesale
establishments. To any of these types of business we offer a hearty welcome
and full cooperation and support is pledged by the entire community under
the leadership of the Fairmount Commercial Club.
September 29, 2000
|