News you can use
News you can use
By Emily Mayer
Preparations had been taking place for weeks regarding the Great Northern Montana Stampede 100 years ago. Articles had been printed outlining the work being done for this highly anticipated event, and this one appeared on the front page of the May 6, 1916 issue of The Havre Plaindealer. Of particular note was Mr. Kenney’s observations about Havre’s growth and progress:
GREAT NORTHERN AID FOR HAVRE STAMPEDE
Railroad Will Assist in Advertising the Event
Yesterday W. P. Kenney, vice president of the Great Northern was in Havre and among other things taken up with him was the assistance of his road in making the Great Northern Montana Stampede during the week of July Fourth the success it should be.
The committee calling upon Mr. Kenney would be done by his road to attract the attention of those who would visit the state to witness a first class show of this kind. He said that they would do a great deal of advertising and make the rates such that they would draw a crowd.
In the course of conversation Mr. Kenney said that he had known Havre since 1892 and had watched her grow from the little hamlet of that time to the substantial little city of today. He said: “I know of no town in the northwest of the size of Havre that has so many substantial brick buildings or that shows more evidence of substantial growth than does this beautiful little city. There is one feature that is most marked in Havre and that is the superb street lighting system and boulevarding. Nowhere have I seen its equal in a city of her class, and I can’t speak too highly of your beautiful new court house. There are larger ones but none more handsome and none better appointed.”
With the assurance of the co-operation of the Great Northern Railroad there is nothing to prevent the stampede from being one of the largest of its kind pulled off in the northwest. The management is fast getting details in tangible shape and there is no chance for a hitch from now on.
In the May 4, 1916 edition of The Havre Daily Promoter, a list of donors was published who were giving money toward the success of the rodeo. It reads as a veritable “Who’s Who” in Havre. Anyone of any community standing and any business who valued their reputation was donating anywhere from $5 to $500, and more was coming.
Speaking of that progress, here is an article printed in the May 6, 1916, issue of The Hill County Democrat showcasing more of it, complete with misspellings:
METHODIST CHURCH
The regular services will be held in the church next Sunday. The pastor will preach both morning and evening on topics of interest to all. The Sunday School and the young peoples work will do you good if you attend.
The ladies aid met this week in the social rooms of the church and were entertained delightfully by Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Edwards. These ladies are taking up other work outside of the regular aid work and it is counting for larger success.
A very encouraging and delightful service was held on Monday afternoon when the past or and members and friends of the church gathered and layed the corner stone. It is a beautiful polished Montana granite stone with the following inscription on it-VANORSDEL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, April, 1916, A. D. It was layed in the north east corner of the building facing Fifth avenue.
The workmen are busy on the job of completing the building and it is hoped to have the task finished in the early fall. It is a long pull and a pull all together and the joys of victory will be ours. We believe it will be one of Havre’s public buildings that she may well be proud of.
I had been asked about information regarding the Sacred Heart Church a few weeks ago. I did a cursory search of headline articles but could find nothing that immediately came to my attention, but I did find this entry in the “Local News” section of the Promoter’s May 2, 1916 issue. This addition for this column is for Gail Rader:
Mother Superiors from the hospitals at Minot, N. D. and Buffalo, N. Y., are in the city for the purpose of considering plans for the enlargement of the Sacred Heart hospital in the city.
In “Society” news, parties and gatherings were picking up, and the Havre Women’s Club printed their itinerary in the Plaindealer for the District Federation meeting coming to Havre next week. Music, speeches, presentations on a variety of subjects and, of course, parties were planned for the big event. The Plaindealer’s column mentioned a Shriner’s Dance, but a more complete description of the soiree was printed in the Promoter’s May 6, 1916 issue, complete with misspellings:
Shriner’s Ball Proved Brilliant Social Affair
The North Montana Shrine club gave a ball last evening in the Lyceum hall. It had been planned to give the ball in the ball room of the new Masonic temple, now in course of being finished, but it was found that the building would not be ready in time, so the entertainment was transferred to the Lyceum.
The hall was beautifully and appropriately decorated for the occasion, the shrine colors, red and white, being generously used in the decorations.
A large star and crescent, emblematic of the order, was hung in the front of the hall nd with the electric light made a brilliant display. There were light shades in the red and white and similar colored streamers floated out upon the breezes generated by the electric fans that were stationed throughout the hall.
The Shriners were becrowned with their red fezez and crowning many a gorgeous coiffure of the ladies were the white fezez.
The Thayer orchestra furnished the music, to whose rhythmic strains the revelers danced until midnight, when they repaired to the Havre hotel dining room, where an elaborate banquet was served.
There were many out of town shriners with their ladies in attendance, and the affair proved to be in every way a success.
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