The Keg - Pt.2

The Barrel was part of a chain of barrel shaped root beer stands built by Harry Muzzy and his wife Martha in the 1930’s. Muzzy grew up in Minot, worked as an engineer for the Great Northern Railway until 1920. He moved to Crookston, Minnesota and owned a successful cigar store. He had the opportunity to start a root beer stand in Great Falls, Mt. Aware of the success of the A&W Root Beer stands in California, he thought they would be a success along Highway 2 in the northern part of the country. He built the Great Falls stand in the shape of a 2 story barrel. It was a huge success both as a root beer stand and also as a tourist attraction. Muzzy and his wife lived on the second story of the Great Falls barrel.

The Keg (Barrel) Pt 1

The Barrel root beer stand (The Keg) was built in 1931 in Minot. It was during the great depression, a time of dust storms, drought, heat waves and crop failures. A nickel bought a root beer and a dime bought a toasted ham sandwich. Food was delivered to the vehicles by young carhops. The smiles were free. Some believe the word “carhop” was coined because the waitresses had to hop p on the running boards of the cars to deliver the food. Others say it was a derivative of  the word “bellhop” and adapted to the cars.. … Most drive-ins instructed the carhops not to stand on the running boards because it was improper and overly familiar behavior. . The first carhops were not teenage girls, but were adult women who found the tips were excellent even back in the 30’s

 

10,000 Packs of Cigarettes

1971 Cigarette Rumor – Trinity Hospital was the recipient of over 25,000 empty cigarette packages from all over the state. Many believed the rumors that cigarette companies would redeem the empty packs for items such as seeing eye dogs, wheel chairs and other medical supplies. Over 10,000 empty cigarette packs came from the Westhope School District.  Unfortunately there was no truth to the rumor. Trinity thanked all those who tried to help the cause. The empty cigarette packs ended up in the Minot landfill. 

Minot Original City Hall

The first building to serve as City Hall for Minot was the home to the Police Dept in the basement, the Fire Dept. on the main floor and dormitory above, the jail, magistrate’s office and the City Manager office and staff also on the main floor. It was built in 1905 and was located mid block between Main St. and 1^st St SW. (or next to the Alley behind the Montgomery Ward building – across the street from the 1^st Avenue Building). In the early 1900’s, this was quite literally the center of Minot. DA Dinnie was awarded the bid for construction for the price of $11,171.00. The new building  to be the best facility of its kind in the country for cities the size of Minot. However the Minot Aldermen were so disenchanted with the finished result they refused to occupy it as they claimed it had not been built to specifications. About 6 months later they resolved the conflict and moved in.

 Minot City Hall on 1st Ave SW

Dinnie Flats - Apartments at one time on the Corner of what is n ow Broadway and Burdick Exp

Girls working in the Gas Station

Country Boy Conoco – 1967 – in 1967 the manager of Country Boy Conoco on South Broadway tried a something new in staffing the service station. He replaced half of his male staff with girls… he said that the girls were more cooperative and efficient than the boys. When a vehicle pulled in for service work and one of the boys approached to help the driver said “Do you think we came here to be waited on by you???”.

Eagles Club

In April of 1972 the new Minot Eagles Club was dedicated and opened to members. The club was located at the intersection  of 2^nd Avenue and 16^th St. SW, across from Arrowhead Shopping Center. In less than a year, the Eagles membership had grown from 1800 to over 3200. The Minot Eagles Club was organized in 1942 and the new home was the fourth location. Prior to this opening the club was located at 110 1^st Street SE, Which was the home of the Chicago Club. The new club was about 17,500 square feet and built at a cost of $483, 365.00….

 Eagles club - 1985

Eagles Club - 1962

Busineses from 1964

Dyna-Kleen – January, 1964  saw the announcement of a new cleaning service in Minot. Dyna-Kleen had a goal to provide low cost cleaning of furnaces, boilers, chimneys, duct work and air conditioning systems for both commercial and residential customers. Dyna-Kleen also was able to do carpet and upholstery cleaning and grease removal in restaurant kitchen areas                   

Montgomery Wards Auto Service Center -  Location – 18 Third St. SE … Just north of the Firestone Store…. Full line auto service center … also sold and serviced lawn mowers of various types … seems they also sold a couple models of camping trailers.

Montgomery Wards Service Center