Kmart - 1971

Kmart – 1971 – Gone are the “Good Old Days” and prices. Ads for Kmart in early 1971: Automotive – battery charger  6 and 12 volt - $6.88….. Wheel Alignment - $4.44 ….  Quaker State motor oil – 37 cents quart….. other specials – 7X Binoculars - $17.23 …. Live Songbird or cage - $4.96 …… Portable record player - $26.47 ….. Electric heating pad – 1.96 …… 4X5 wool afghan - $6.66 ….. Men’s Sport shirts - $2.66 …… Men’s no iron pants - $2.48 pair ….. and remember … all items were rung up at the cash register…. No such thing as scanning

Turkey Day Dinner

Thanksgiving Day 1971, I believe, was the first time the personnel at the Minot Air Force Base invited senior citizens from Minot to the Base for Dinner. Nine buses were used to transport 300 seniors to the Community Center on Base for Thanksgiving Dinner. The nine bus caravan was led by Ward County Sheriff, Olaf Haaland and included a wrecker in case any of the buses broke down. Eugene Benson was the director of the Military Affairs Committee for the Minot Chamber of Commerce and also the director of the Senior Citizens Activities Center. Base commanders, Col. Harvey B Logan, 862^nd Combat Support Group and Col. Grover C Graves, 91^st Missile Wing extended the invitation. The base commanders at the time hoped to make this an annual event and as time has shown, it is.

1911 - Housing

Housing & Grocery Market – 1911 – According to the 1911 Minot Optic Newspaper…. #1—5 room house  in a good location – Cash $1050.00 or trade for horses. Located at 650 North Ward Street.

#2 – rentals – A two room house for only $5.00 a month or a completely furnished 7 room house – all but linen and dishes - $25.00 a month.

Davis & Hannaford Market – Choice round steak only15 cents per pound…. Picnic hams 14 cents a pound and Beef roasts and pork roasts – 2 ½ cents per pound….

Minot Normal School

In 1911 there apparently some debate over where to build the Minot Normal School. Some wanted it built on South Hill and the other location was in North Minot. Residents of the town of Flaxton sent a telegram to Martin Jacobson (Jacobson Hardware) urging the city to build on south hill and start construction as soon as possible…. Well as history shows, the Minot Normal School was finally built outside of Minot on the north side of town. The Normal School later became known as the Minot State Teacher’s College , then Minot State College and now Minot State University….. Pictured below is Minot Normal School in 1917. Note, the west wing of Old Main has not been built. The bottom picture is from the mid 1920's.

Sears - 1965

Sears – Division Manager’s Sale – on September 29, 1965 the Minot Sears store had a big sale and their newspaper ads almost took over one section of the paper. The unique thing is that all department managers were pictured in the ad for their area. You may remember or know some of those people: Fashions Division mgr – Pat Smith ….. Drapery and Home Fashions – Dean Kjosen …. Men’s Dress Clothing – Chuck Anderson …. Appliance Mgr – Ves Schuster ….. Home Furniture – Pete Goetz ….. Home Improvement – Bob Eidsness …. Paint & Hardware – Arnie Johnson ….. Automotive Center – Dick Walsh

2nd Street Appreciation Days

December 2, 1958 –  In 1958 Broadway was know as 2^nd Street. The merchants on North 2^nd Street were holding customer appreciation days on December 4^th through the 6^th. Some of the participating businesses were: Between the base of the viaduct and 4^th Avenue – Brooks Realty, Brooks Barber Shop, Brooks Beauty Salon, Harry’s Variety and Linnertz Christmas Trees….. Located between 4^th Ave and what is now the Barley Pop – Northwest Beauty Shop, Northwestern Electric and Diamonds Dept. Store(now the Barley Pop).   North of Barley Pop to Subway…. Alm’s Westland, Diamond’s jack & Jill, Service Drug Store, 2^nd Street Super Valu, Super  Grill . Across 4^th Ave to the South – Cut Rate Food Market …. Where Westlie Auto is located, north of 1^st Lutheran – The Beaver Palace (original location) and Hugh-Nelson Motors… In the area of Tutti Frutti – Sterling Knudson – State Farm Insurance, he Radio Shop, Clarence Valker- Florist and Paul’s Grocery.

Christmas Stories

Going through a newspaper from December, 1958 I came across a story about “Santa and the Elf Boy”. I grew up in Jamestown and remember every year waiting for the story for the current year to begin. It seems the Minot paper carried the same or similar stories. The story was in chapters that began about December 1 each year. Every day would bring a new chapter… No paper on Sunday back in those days. The final chapter of the story would be in the paper on December 23^rd or 24^th. Santa was always the hero and in most stories, the Christmas Holiday was in jeopardy. In 1958 an evil villain was going to release a toxic gas that would destroy all the fairies. Santa and the Elf Boy to the rescue….