Jacobson Hardware

Jacobson Hardware occupied the main floor of the Jacobson Building on  Main Street and Central Avenue. The Opera House was on part of the second and all of the third floor. Martin Jacobson, Known as “the Hardware Man”,  started the hardware store after becoming a successful rancher near Des Lacs. In 1898, Peter Fugelso became the bookkeeper of the hardware store until 1901 when he resigned to become the Postmaster. He later resigned as postmaster to join with Martin’s nephew, Doc Jacobson, to purchase the hardware store on January 1, 1907.  The business was destroyed by fire in 1923. The building was rebuilt .  The Jacobson – Fugelso Hardware store eventually moved to the middle of the block just east of the alley on Central Avenue and survived for many years. Jacobson – Fugelso carried a full line of hardware in addition to Schwinn Bicycles, Toro Mowers, Delta Power Tools and Benjamin Moore Paint.

Grand Hotel Fire

The Grand Hotel was completely destroyed by fire o January 27, 1960.  A number of other businesses were also destroyed by the fire. Those include The Triangle Dress Shop and PW Miller Co. Both were next door and the either one may have been where the blaze started. Other businesses lost in the fire were the Grand Barber Shop, Grand Billiard Parlor, Grand Café, Pioneer Bar, Grand Studio and the S&H Green Stamp Store. Another business, in a building to the north of the hotel was Minot Roofing and Cornice. One person stated that he had “saved the day”, referring to his part in the Grand Hotel fire. He maintains that they ran out of beer at the bar located on 1^st street so he made and emergency trip to the Gamble Robinson ware house. Gamble Robinson was across the street from the now Rail Road Museum. Being an employee of Gamble Robinson he loaded up the city delivery vehicle with 100 cases of beer and delivered it to the bar. Well I guess maybe he did save the day?

Grand Hotel

the Grand Hotel, at one time known as the Lexington Hotel, was on the Northwest corner of Central Avenue and 1^st Street NW. The Grand Hotel was built by Olaf A Olson in 1906. An addition was added in 1912, making it one of the largest buildings in Minot at the time. The Grand Hotel had 100 rooms and flourished until it was destroyed by fire on January 27,1960. More than 1000 people turned out to watch the fire. In addition to the Minot Fire Department, men from the Minot Air Force Base rushed to help fight the fire and provide crowd and traffic control. I was informed that one of the fireman from the base wanted to drive the new pumper truck into the Grand Hotel on the Central Avenue level. He was not aware that there were two more floors below the main floor on Central. The pumper truck would have ended up in the basement. The location of the Grand Hotel is now a below grade parking lot on Central Avenue used by the Brady Martz Accounting Firm.

 Lexington Hotel - 1920's

Grand Hotel - 1950's

Valker - Christensen Company

This was a wholesale-retail seed and feed business, operating  one of the largest seed houses in the state, eventually making a specialty of processing and distributing grass seeds throughout the United States and many foreign countries. It was founded in 1920 by George Valker and A. M. Christensen. Christensen, who became sole owner in 1928, came to this state in 1910 as a teenager. He walked from Chicago to his uncle’s farm west of New England, North Dakota and then got a summer job at the Dickinson experiment station. The boy became so interested in his work there that he devoted much of his life to the seed business. Later in his career, he also served as president of the Dakota Transfer and Storage Company and the Minot Building and Loan Association (now Midwest Federal), as well as the Minot Association of Commerce.
This is the same pair who started and office complex that was never finished until Clarence Parker took it over many years later and created the Clarence Parker Hotel

 Unfinished office complex referred to as "The Sparrow Hotel"

The Clarence Parker Hotel in the 1940's

Minot Memories Is Back

Thanks to all my followers for being patient... the Blog was off line for about two weeks. With many emails and about 2 hours on the phone with a Google Rep. named Edgar in Honduras we were finally able to reactivate the website...

1958 Facts about Minot – Site of US Air Force Jet Interceptor Base and Radar Station – Great Northern Freight Classification yard in Minot was the most modern in the nation – The Airport was service by Braniff Airlines Daily and had charter service available – 3 paved highways intersected in Minot – There were 12,173 telephone connections and 8,981 electrical connections with a population of about 30,000. Minot also enjoyed a healthful and invigorating climate…. A fact proven by government records which show only a small percentage of people from this area were rejected for physical reasons in World War II.

Wards Department Store

The building that was home to Montgomery Wards started life in 1933 when construction began. It is on the Northwest corner of Main Street and 1^st Avenue . It replaced two smaller buildings that over the years, housed a lodge hall, a meat market, telephone exchange, a bank, post office, department store, and drugstore, among others. It became Montgomery Wards in May 1934. All floors with the exception of the top floor were used for retail. There was also an automotive repair department on the south side, near the alley. The Greenberg Men’s Store was next door. Greenberg’s exploded and burned in 1947. In 1958 Montgomery Wards added 25 feet to their building, expanding into the former Greenberg’s location. At that time they moved their automotive repair department to 3^rd St Northeast, next to the White Ice Cream Building. The building was known as the Emporium and was owned by James McClintock of Edina, Minnesota. In September of 1982, the building was purchased by local business men and renovated to what it is today

Auto Service Dept on Third St. NE

New Elks Club

Minot Elks Lodge 1954 – The original Minot Elks Lodge #1089 was dedicated in 1909. It was located on the southwest corner of  Main Street and 2^nd Avenue in Downtown Minot. This location is now Wells Fargo Bank. On Wednesday, October 27^th, 1954 the new Minot Elks Lodge opened on 2^nd Avenue and Broadway, about a block west of the original Elks Club. The grand opening events were limited to Elks members only, except for an open house from 2 pm to 8 pm so non-Elk members could see the new building. The Elks Club in 1954 boasted of having about 1750 members and the new building was built at a cost of about $500,00.00.

 Original Elks Lodge

New Elks Lodge - 1964