Celebrating History

Emily Mayer

For this 46th installment of this series celebrating the 150th anniversary of Montana Territory and 125th anniversary of statehood, we refer to the Nov. 20, 1914 issue of The Havre Promoter. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen held a meeting, and here is the news, complete with misspelling:

TRAINMEN HOLD ELECTION

B. of R. T. Lodge No. 213 held their regular meeting at the Oxford Lodge Hall last night and elected the following officers for the coming year:

President-F. O. Hatler.

Vice President-Ray Vergeon.

Secretary-Wm. Lacey.

Treasurer-J. A. Mayer.

Journal Agent-E. O. Hatler

Conductor-R. A. Shane.

Chaplain-Henry Hartman.

Warden-C. B. Davis.

Inner Guard-Mike Cooney.

There is now a membership of one hundred forty-tw in the local lodge.

Preliminary arrangements were made for the fifth annual ball to be given in the Lyceum Thanksgiving evening.

The conductors also elected their officers for the year:

LOCAL O. R. C. ELECTS OFFICERS FOR YEAR

THE Order of Railway Conductors for the Montana division elected officers for the coming year at the annual election held in their lodge rooms in this city last Sunday. The following were the officers elected:

Chief Conductor-J. A. Mayer.

Assistant Chief Conductor-B. F. Hillabeck.

Senior Conductor-Harry Burton.

Junior Conductor-J. J. O'Brien.

Inside Sentinel-R. F. Erier.

Outside Sentinel-M. D. Tierney.

Trustees-H. A. Coster, R W. Halliday, Dan McKinty.

Legislative Committee-R. M. Rathbone; alternate, H. M. Coster.

Journal Correspondent-P. M. Lunny.

Secretary and Treasurer-A. D. Smith.

Alexander "Nosey" Smith also served as Havre's first parks director and took on many beautification and recreation improvements in Havre's early years. Also in this week's Promoter was an article about how Smith was working on getting Havre's ice skating rink ready for the season. This rink was located on land purchased by Hill County for "courthouse purposes" a block away from where the high school was located, which was then located on the block between 7th and 8th streets and 3rd and 4th Avenues. This location also served as the second high school so many Havreites remember, which also housed the first classes of Northern Montana School, today's Montana State University-Northern. Those who recall the series celebrating the Hill County centennial may remember the big fuss that purchase of land made in the newspapers back in 1912.

With regard to the courthouse, a legal ad was in this week's paper announcing a meeting regarding the bonds for the courthouse construction.

In the social pages, we find:

Miss Theresa L. Harrington, the altogether charming manager of the Grand Hotel in this city, returned home yesterday from a visit to Butte and Gregson Springs where she has spent the past ten days.

Sheriff Loranger returned this morning from Miles City where he tool Leslie Anderson, the boy, who set fire to the Graves & Lender blacksmith shop some time ago, to the reform school at that place.

Sheriff Loranger left this morning for Warm Springs with Nels Anderson, the man who attempted holding up the Bank at Gildford some weeks ago and who was found by a lunacy commission to be insane.