USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > Perham > Historical album and centennial book, Perham, Minnesota, 1871-1971 > Part 3
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May 20, 1894 was the laying of the cornerstone and the building was dedicated Oct. 14, 1894. L. H. D. Schmidt built the furnishings including the ornate altar. Three services were held for the dedication; Rev. C. Albrecht of Parkers Prairie, preached in the morning; in the after- noon, Rev. G. Natzat, and in the evening, Rev. C. C. Metz of Detroit Lakes. The Rev. George Groh was pastor.
He and Rev. A. E. Agather served the congregation for the first fifty years. Other pastors were: Rev. E. W. Steinhorst, Rev. Robert Haltner, Sr., Rev. J. W. Raedeke, Rev. C. D. Uetzman, present pastor since 1966.
The construction of the new church began in 1969 with dedication in May, 1970.
The first Catholic Church in Dora Township was used until the early 1900's.
CONGRATULATIONS PERHAM
WE ARE PROUD OF YOU AND PROUD TO BE A PART OF YOU !!!
PERHAM DRUG
R. T. Bucholz - Pharmacist W. B. Kemper - Pharmacist
PERHAM, MINN. 56573
OTTERTAIL CITY
During the years of 1868, '69 and '70, the town of Otter Tail sprang up, mushroom fashion into the limelight. In 1870, not only did Ottertail city have five hotels, seven stores, gambling houses, brewery, and the newspaper, but also it had several wholesale houses and was the dis- tributing point for entire northwestern Minnesota. Among the business houses was the general store of Jim Nash, St. Paul House (Hotel), R. L. Frazee, E. G. Holmes & Co .- wholesale, and Englund & Johnson, wholesale.
A man by the name of McArthur ran a flour mill at
Balmoral. Fletcher, Loring and Bly ran a firm called the Railroad Supply House. When it was found that neither the Northern Pacific nor the Great Northern (which went by the way of Fergus Falls) would come through Otter- tail city the booming village disintegrated almost with the same rapidity it had sprung into prominence. Build- ings were moved to Perham and Fergus Falls and the pride and glory of the 70' was practically a deserted vil- lage by '74, robbed of its commercial importance by the railroad in 1871.
PERHAM'S FIRST NEWSPAPER
The first newspaper issued in this part of the county printed its first edition on July 24, 1874. Kemper Bros. and Drahmann were the owners and the masthead bore the name of X. S. Burk, editor. Burk was one of the original N.P. R.R. engineers who was with the original survey crew from Duluth to Moorhead. The paper was called the "Perham News" and was printed in a frame building, which was later used for a lime house, that stood ap- proximately where Al Miller's Jewelry shop is now. After the first issue the owners traded the paper to Burk for 40 acres of land. Burk was allowed $15 per acre for his land, was given free rent of the building and a contract for $100 in advertising. However, the "News" did not prosper. It went continually down hill and was sold to Ed Knappen. Knappen could not make a go of it either and it was sold to Ed Davidson. Davidson made a success of the paper and published it until his death in 1913. At that time Edi- tor H. D. Smalley, Sr., bought it and combined it with the Enterprise which he had purchased in 1911.
During '79 and '80 Perham continued to grow rapidly. The winter of '79 was an extremely cold one and good
sleighing all winter. Kemper Bros. and Drahmann bought the old saloon and dwelling of Mr. M. Mohr and Henry Kemper moved the postoffice into that building. He bought an entire new postoffice outfit from Yale and Town Mfg. Co. of Stamford, Conn. The new outfit consisted of 367 boxes of which 70 were lock boxes. The layout cost $413.80.
Henry Kemper stated in his History of Perham that on "March 20, 1880, the first number of the 'Perham News,' a weekly paper, was issued by Hall and Dixon. It was named in honor of the original News which had long since died of heart disease, as the editor didn't have the heart to ask subscribers to pay up. During the summer of '80, the following buildings were erected: John Curo, dwelling; L. Struett built his new clothing store, the same which is now occupied by Editor Herman Schmalz, and from which Minnesota Volksblatt is issued. This was the first German paper in the county.
Another newspaper was started in Perham on May 3, 1877. It was entitled The Independent and was edited by F. M. Geoghegan. A copy of its first issue is on file at the Otter Tail County Historical Society.
THE ENTERPRISE-BULLETIN CELEBRATED ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY - 1958
The Perham Enterprise-Bulletin had completed its 75th year of operation in 1958. There were newspapers in Perham before the Bulletin was established in 1882 - the Perham Journal, the Perham News, and a German lang- uage paper - but none was able to withstand the rigors of frontier economy.
The yellowed pages of the Bulletin's ancient files show John Burke as the editor of a four-page newspaper. Subscription rate in the '80's was $2.00 per year.
The News was started in July 1874 by Kemper Broth- ers and Drahmann. They sold it several years later. Just what happened to the News after that is not clear, but it was evidently suspended before the Bulletin was started.
Ed Davidson was perhaps the most successful of the early editors. In those days, newspapers declared their political learnings and defended them vigorously and often. Davidson was both a printing craftsman and a pret- ty fair writer, handy tools of the trade in a small news- paper.
Politics was responsible for the creation of the Per- ham Enterprise in 1909. A group of businessmen, led by M. J. Daly, pioneer Perham lawyer and political leader, induced J. P. Coughlin to come to Perham in competition with Davidson. In August of 1911, Coughlin sold the Enter- prise to Harvey D. Smally, Sr., a native of Caledonia, Minn., who was at the time editor of the Sioux City (Iowa) Stock Journal.
The Enterprise was located in a building which stood on the vacant lot across from the present Postoffice.
Davidson died in 1913, and his widow sold the Bulle- tin to Mr. Smalley a few months later. The newspapers were combined under the title Enterprise-Bulletin. The equipment was also consolidated into the Bulletin build- ing.
In those days, when all type was set by hand, it took four compositors to set up a four page newspaper In 1918, when the newspaper was located in what is now the Coast- to-Coast building, the first linotype was installed. Wartime labor shortages delayed the installation.
In 1942 a 20x56 brick and concrete building was con- structed on the present lot, and the plant moved into what appears to be its permanent location.
The early 1930's found the Newspaper battling to stay solvent, like so many other business places hit by the depression. At the bottom of the slump, with four persons
employed, the entire gross for the year was $6,500, old records reveal.
As the depression waned, new equipment was in- stalled increasing the capacity of each employee.
The Jubilee Edition was 60 pages in size.
"Thanks is due today, 1971, to Mr. Harvey D. Smalley for the beautiful editions of the Enterprize that weekly go out to the Perham area."
"Most of the story contents of this book, besides being the works of writers named elsewhere on these pages, are past releases from the Perham Enterprise through the years."
Maggie and Scotty Swan
INDIAN SCARE IN 1874-75
(Quoted from Henry Kemper's History of Perham) - 1874
"I think it was in the winter of 1873 and '74. It was bitter cold, when a report came to town that a large band of hostile Chippewa Indians camped on the north shore of Little Pine Lake in the timber about where the boat house and bridge is now located at the inlet of the lake, and that unless speedy action was taken to remove the Indians, that some night when somniffering, the village inhabitants might awaken some fine morning minus their scalps. Capt. Geo. Reider of St. Joseph, hearing of this, said that he was an old Indian fighter from way back in '62 and that he would undertake to drive the redmen from their perch if he could raise a company of volunteers and have a chance to drill them a little before he made the at- tack. Our citizens felt much relieved from their anxiety to know that there was one brave man in the land who was willing to risk his life for the sake of saving many others.
Reider was therefore unanimously chosen captain and authorized to organize a company of volunteers. He at once sent to the armory at St. Paul for fifty guns with bayonets, belts, cartridges, boxes and supplies of ammuni- tion. While we were waiting for the guns, etc., to come, the captain picked up 50 men in the village and from all the surrounding towns and commenced drilling them in the streets of Perham three times a week. Of course he had to have music, so J. B. Kemper hunted up an old rusty tin whistle and John Frisch, Sr., being a butcher by trade, made himself a drum out of an old discarded cheese box, upon one end of which he stretched a sheep pelt, from which he had first picked the wool out as much as possible, leaving the wood bottom in the other end of the cheese box. The drum did not sound very loud; it had a kind of muffled tone, on account of the wool that was left on the pelt, but the thing answered the purpose all right. The guns arrived in due course of time, and, by this time Capt. Reider had drilled his men sufficiently so they could go through the Hayfoot, Strawfoot act very nicely. At the last drill the Captain gave his orders for every man to ap- pear the next morning at sunrise under the penalty of death in case of failure, without good and valid cause. The next morning was a bitter cold one but our men re-
sponded to a man at the Captain's roll call. Then he gave his men a short instruction, of Military tactics of course, and then headed by the marshal, music, tin whistle and cheese box, they marched in the direction of Little Pine Lake. It was 40 below zero. The rest of us remained in town keeping hot water and other things in readiness for the return of the soldiers in case some should be wounded. We waited for an hour or more, when suddenly we heard a number of shots fired in the direction of Little Pine - then we were certain that the battle had commenced. Then we boiled the boiling water still more, prepared lint, plasters and other things for the wounded soldiers which would soon be sent in. But the shooting was of short dura- tion and we knew that the battle was fought and that either side or the other must have got licked. We waited another hour, and to our great joy beheld our soldiers coming back in the distance. We had to use a field glass to be able to see whether all of our men returned or not and whether some were being carried, but to our further joy we saw each one was coming along on his own pegs. When they came near enough for us to recognize their features, we noticed and were much alarmed at some of the men bleeding from their hands and faces, but on close exami- nation we found that they had been scratched by the prickly ash which grows in abundance around the lake.
Many of the boys had their noses nipped with frost. There was no music when they returned. Kemper's whistle had frozen up and John Frisch had knocked the stuffing out of his drum and had dumped it over his head to keep his nose and ears from freezing. He looked like a Turkish Sultan.
The Captain told us that they had scared the Indians badly and that they had promised to leave at once. There- fore he found it unnecessary. But later on some of the boys gave way and told the truth and said that they had lurked and scouted around among the prickly ash until they had their faces and hands all scratched, when they ventured through the bush, and coming up the lake shore met old man Finday, coming through the bush, and coming up from the lake with a nice 12 pound pickerel in his
hands and shouted "Bushu nitchey." The Captain then told him that they must leave the premises at once or he would have to force them to go. But Finday had replied, "Crowin" (No sire), we were "bogate" (Hungry) and came here to fish, and as soon as we have enough fish to last us during the winter we will go, not before. The treaty closed and the only condition was that they might catch as many "Kigo" (fish) as required for their winter's sup- ply and then leave. Two years later the keeper of the Armory caine here from St. Paul to get the guns. He called upon me (Henry Kemper) because I had become responsi-
ble for the guns by signing a bond for $300 with Capt. Rieder.
I could find but a half dozen guns in the village, the rest were scattered all over the country. I called upon Capt. Rieder and made him hustle for the guns. I had begged the keeper for two weeks time to collect the guns. In about a month the officer returned and I had been lucky enough to collect all the guns but two. He asked what had become of them? I told him that they were lost in the "Battle of Little Pine Lake." He laughed and was satisfied, and so was I." - by Henry Kemper.
"SQUAW POINT" by Eloise Oswald
On the shores of "Big Pine Lake" (near my home) lie buried two famous Indian characters that played a great part in the "Early Days" of Perham, Minn. Above you will see the greatest tribute or symbol of Indian Tradition left to be viewed by the many, who come to visit this heroic resting place of these brave chieftains.
The Legend of the Graves is as follows:
During the early days, when the white settlers were first coming into our community, a certain tribe of Indians were fighting against each other. An Indian Squaw in love with an Indian Chief on the opposite side of the lake, swam across Big Pine to warn her lover that her tribe intended to attack them. Both were killed in this battle and buried side by side near the shores of the lake. Every other year tribes of Indians used to come to these graves to repaint and decorate them. Some times Indian trinkets - blankets, peace pipes, food, clothing, etc., were left on the graves, as a token of love and respect, that they still live among them and are not forgotten. Regular Indian Ceremonies were performed at the graves ending with "War Dance" conducting the dead "To The Happy Hunting Grounds."
بنت
Indian Grave on Squaw Point, Big Pine Lake
Indians
EBELING CAFE
ED & BABE
. "Home Baked Pastries"
. U.S. Choice Sizzling Steaks
· Barbeque Ribs - Shrimp · Superb Chicken - Fish
NC
USELMAN'S, INC.
CHRYSLER - PLYMOUTH - DODGE IHC - NEW HOLLAND GEHL - OWATONNA FARM EQUIPMENT
Phone 631-3503, - 3506 or 1498
WADENA, MINN.
NORTH SIDE GROCERY STEPHEN & IRENE BUCHOLZ
"Your Picnic Headquarters" Daily - 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Holidays - 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Snacks - Beer - Pop Ice - Dry, Block or Cube
446 1st Ave. N. - Perham, Minn.
CONGRATULATIONS TO
PERHAM
ON 100 YEARS OF PROGRESS
ALLISON AND COMPANY
FERGUS FALLS, MINN.
BEST WISHES
PERHAM
ON YOUR 100TH YEAR
Established 1880
CM
CUTLER-MAGNER
Company SALT PROCESSORS DULUTH, MINNESOTA
"Furnishing Salt Needs for Perham and Surrounding Area."
"CALL CUTLERS FOR QUICK SERVICE"
REMEMBER WHEN?
The good old days
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Old Fashioned Swim Suit
Roller Coaster at Little Pine about 1904
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-
Minnie Kerbs (Mrs. Hubert Paulson)
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Henry Sieling and his crew installing the first telephone lines in the area. This is in July, 1912.
117 Bu. 20 lbs. Potatoes. Gilbert Antonsen, about 1910
A Velee Auto as sold by Albert Haut. Mr. and Mrs. Haut in the front seat. About 65 years old.
World War I Soldier coming home.
Churning Butter
Country Club Overland in foreground. Empire in background - 1918
Dock at Spruce Lodge on 4th of July, 1913
Snow Mobile Built by Walter Schmidt in 1925
The Balloon - Perham
Vince Drahmann, Driving
Bridge, Toad River, Perham, Minn.
BRIDGE, TOAD RIVER, PERHAM MINN.
Strect Scene of Perham in 1904 in early winter
1919 Memorial Day Parade
Rush Lake Baseball Team at Boedigheimer Lake
Maxwell
7
Snow Mobile
Parade May 30, 1919
Dick Beitz on Indian Motor Bike. Bernie Jahn on Wagner
VETERINARY HOSPITAL R. P. FISTLER, D.V.M.
610 3rd Ave. S.E. Hwy. 78 346-2120
PERHAM, MINN. 56573
H & M BUILDERS
· Mason Work
· Remodeling
· Concrete Work . New Home Constr.
PERHAM
CLARENCE HEMMELGARN
MILO
MARTINSON
346-7110
346-7010
Jacobson congratulates Perham on its centennial. We are proud to have Jacobson Hammermills and other quality feed mill equipment operating in many feed mills in the Perham area. We're happy to be with you in the second century.
JACOBSON MACHINE WORKS, INC. 2445 Nevada Avenue North Minneapolis, Minnesota 55427
Compliments of
GRAFF IMPLEMENT GRAFF INS. AGENCY
Prop., Ed Graff
Since 1929
PERHAM, MINN.
KNUTTILA Implement Co., Inc.
* Glastron & Alumacraft
* Johnson Motors (Rental - Repair - Storage)
* Ski-Doo & Skee Horse
Snow Co. Trailers
John Deere
* Farm Equipment
* Gehl Sales and Service
Perham
-
346-2255
CHEVROLET
BAUCK CHEVROLET COMPANY, INC.
"Our family has been in business almost 75 of these 100 years, and we thank all of you for our associa- tion over these three-quarters of a century."
Perham, Minn. 56573 346-2000
HIGHLIGHTS OF MR. DRAHMANN'S TALK
May 11, 1966
The Polish people who settled here came directly from Poland, but the people of German descent came from Ohio because of religious reasons. The Drahmanns came from Ohio.
The first County Seat was located at Otter Tail City where the old hotel known as the "Saint Paul House" and occupied by the Schumacher family now stands.
The flour mill located at Toad Lake served the whole Northwest and some was shipped to Winnipeg.
The first log house was at Fort Gary back of Big Pine Lake.
The first sawmill burned down.
Perham was a wild place in those days with lynching, fighting, and drinking being very common. It had thirteen saloons. The father of Nathaniel McConachie was the manager of the first baseball team at Perham.
Mrs. George Young was the first white child born at
Perham. She was the mother of Mrs. Mary Rice.
The first school house was located on the lot of 311 Second Avenue S.E., where the Vince Drahmann home is now located. It was later moved to the lot where Saint Henry's Parish is now located. Mr. Vince Drahmann at- tended this school.
The Chippewa Tribe was very friendly. The Indians would come to Perham to trade. The fathers and grand- fathers and children would ride in the cart drawn by oxen or horses while the women walked behind. When they re- turned home the women would follow after the carts, car- rying the groceries.
One old Indian always charged at Drahmann's Store during the winter and would pay in the spring. One winter he told Mr. Drahmann he could not charge that winter because he knew that he would not be there in the spring to pay and he did not want to die owing any bills. He did die that winter.
The third graders of the class of 1964-1965 started us on this project.
PERHAM
(Written by the third graders in the classes of Mrs. Lawler Olson and Mrs. Roger Jones.) - 1964-1965
The prairie around the present site of Perham was settled by people of German and Polish ancestry who came here from Ohio. They left Ohio to come to Minneso- ta where there was danger from the Indians in order to get their homesteads. Most of the Indians were friendly. They gave the early settlers calico corn.
The first houses were made of sod. Temporary log cabins were also hastily erected to serve as winter quarters.
The nearest railroad was at that time in St. Paul, Minn. Late in the first winter the settlement ran out of salt. They had to go to St. Cloud to get more supplies.
The lowly rutabaga played an important part in keeping the colony from starvation the first winter. Flour and smoked meats ran out, and potatoes and corn were delicacies. The first band of six planted rutabagas imme- diately upon their arrival. These were put in a hastily constructed root cellar. Not one deer was shot that first winter.
The largest tract of broken land was about 14 acres. Corn, rutabagas, oats, and wheat were the principal crops.
In 1870 the Northern Pacific sent men in here. They drove three stakes: one on the corner of the Fred Moore farm, one at the present site of Perham, and one at Otter Tail City.
In 1871 they started the railroad through here. The settlers knew very little about what was going on.
In 1872 several men came in and drove stakes on the Mohre farm. When they left Peter Mohre and his brother went to see what the signs said. The signs had just one word of them - Perham. The Town Site Company select- ed the name Perham for the town in this untamed prairie.
Perham was the name of the first president of the North- ern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Perham never visited Perham. Perham's location came within one acre of being located by the "old brewery" on Otter Tail River to the east of the present location.
The birth of Perham was in 1872.
In June, 1872, Mr. Kemper (father of William Kemper) and Mr. Drahmann erected the first wooden building on the North side of the N.P. tracks. The building housed the first mercantile business and the first post office in Per- ham. A boot and shoe box was secured and fixed with pigeon holes. The postmaster received $12.00 a year.
Paul Miller's Jewelry Store in the Early Days
CONGRATULATIONS TO
PERHAM
ON THEIR
100th Year
TILLMAN PRODUCE COMPANY, INC.
* Processor of Quality Controlled Eggs
Free Farm Pick-up
PERHAM
Phone 346-2500
Compliments of
HOHENSTEIN BUILDERS
DENT, MINN.
SVERDRUP MUTUAL INS. CO.
FIRE, LIGHTNING AND ADDITIONAL COVERAGE FOR OTTERTAIL COUNTY
UNDERWOOD, MINN.
MERCHANTS BAR
FROSTED MUGS & PITCHERS FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE
Main Street of Perham
Rod & Doris Fudge
PERHAM FARM SUPPLY COMPANY
IHC TRACTORS & MACHINES FARM HAND - FARM-OYL - OWATONNA SWATHERS - FORAGE BLOWERS BERG BARN EQUIPMENT CUB CADETS & CADET CO.
PERHAM
-
346-7155
SCHOOLS
PERHAM'S FIRST FRAME SCHOOL BUILT IN 1875
In october 1875, Perham's first frame school house was constructed. This building stood where V. H. Drah- mann's home now stands. At the time it was built it was of no use - there were no children to be sent there. After a number of years this building was moved to the lot on which St. Henry's parish house now stands and was used as the first parochial school. A brick veneer was placed on the building at that time. In 1916 this building was re- placed by the present St. Henry's School.
School Dist. #51 about 1892
SCHOOL FOUNDED ON SEPT. 19, 1883 BY REV. BUH
September 16, 1958, marked the 75th anniversary of St. Henry's Parish School. This event was celebrated June 1 at the 8 o'clock Mass at St. Henry's Church when the 75th class of the eighth grade graduates was led by the lower grades down the aisle of the church in preparation for their Corporate Communion.
Given a place of prominence during the Mass were five people who were members of the first class in St. Henry's School: Mrs. George Young, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Mutschler, Mr. Henry Mutschler, and Mr. John Schei- decker.
St. Henry's first parish school was erected in 1883 by pioneers who came to Perham mostly from Catholic set- tlements in Ohio and were anxious to provide Catholic training and education for their children.
The first school house was a frame, two story struc- ture, which also served as the Sisters' residence. It was blessed by Fathers Tomazin, Gunkel and Lange, the latter being pastor at the time. The school opened Sept. 16, 1883, with an enrollment of 60 pupils. Two Benedictine Sisters were in charge of the school: Sister Clemenine and Sister Seraphica.
In later years the old public school building was bought and moved to the church ground to provide for the increase in attendance. Eventually, overflowing attend- ance forced some classes to be held in a concrete building previously a harness shop, and now occupied by the State Highway Department.
In 1916, the distressing condition came to an end with
the construction which provided school rooms, a parish hall, a gymnasium and apartments for the Sisters. The building of the $35,000 school was directed by Father Alexis Dehaut, and it was connected to the church by a tunnel for the children to pass to and from church on cold or rainy days.
The original school building built in 1883, was torn down in 1919, and part of the lumber was used in the con- struction of the present rectory.
In 1947, a Sisters' Home was purchased from John Kukowske, Sr., thus ending more than sixty years of living in the school.
At present the school consists of five large class- rooms, a parish hall, gymnasium, lunch room and central heating plant, which also heats the church. This year the school will open an additional classroom.
The enrollment in 1958 was 347 with seven teachers, six Benidictine Sisters and one lay teacher. These were Sisters Ruth Mary, Gregor, Hildegarde, Marcelle, Valera, Ann, and Mrs. Robert Schmidt. Today, the enrollment is 165 pupils.
CORLISS TOWNSHIP DIST. 227
Another school house was built in 1890 when John Fiedler sold a half acre of his farm for school purposes. It was named District 227 of Corliss Township. This school house became too small and in 1921 a large school was built. This served its purpose until 1969 when it was consolidated with District 549 of Perham.
In 1921, there were 40 pupils going to school and by 1940, there were 60 pupils on the census list. The District then voted to send the 7th and 8th grades to the Perham Public School.
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