1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

558 DULUTH AXD ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Second avenue. On the morning of July 4th, 1895, the pole was
struck by lightning, "and shattered to its very foundations."
R. F. Berdie was the first fire chief, and had part thus in the beginning
of a municipal department of which Hibbing is most proud. In 1920,
the total valuation of the Hibbing fire equipment, not including the
water system, hydrants and real estate, but merely the legitimate firefighting
equipment, was $165,449.90. Cut off the 165 and you probably
have the maximum figure paid to the village of ]\Ierritt for the
original second-hand equipment.
Hibbing in 1895.—One writer, who visited Hibbing for the first
time in 1895, described the place as follows:
In those days Hibbing lacked much of being a "right smart place."
* * * It was only a step from hotel to swamp, muskeag, or an outcrop of
rock. Man}' of those steps, too, had to be taken over a couple of planks,
instead of a cement sidewalk. Archie Chisholm was cashier in a dinky little
bank, limited in personal purse, but with a soul rich in hope. W. P. Mars,
now an official in a wholesale hardware firm of international importance,
then conducted a retail hardware here and did much of the heavy work with
his own hands. On that visit I met John A. Redfern. It was a warm sunny
day and he was setting a new boiler at the Penobscot mine, garbed in a red
undershirt that harmonized with his perspiring face and his rather vivid head
of hair.
In those days, Hibbing certainly was an ugly duckling. The U. S.
Steel Corporation had not yet been organized, and V^ictor L. Power was
wearing knee trousers, playing hookey, and thinking over whether he had
better >he a sailor or a soldier.
Notwithstanding appearances, conditions were brightening for
Hibbing in 1895. Atkinson writes :
The coming of the summer of 1895 brought brighter prospects with it.
The D. M. & N., which had established its depot building at what was then
the south end of Third avenue, and did considerable track-laying, which
gave needed employment to the people. The Lake Superior Consolidated
Iron ]\Iines * * *. began preparation to open several mines, and that gave
the future a brighter tint than it ever had before. Property along Pine street
ibegan to come up a little, and lots advanced in price from almost nothing to
$3(X), in some instances. The Itasca ^Mercantile Company purchased the lots
it now (1902) occupies, at the corner of Pine street and Third avenue, from
Ole Hagerson, paying $750 therefor. The same lots cannot be had today
(1902) for twenty ttimes that sum. The year 1895 saw the opening of several
iron mines, and the town began to grow.
The City Hall was erected in 1895, and the village became a place
of dignity when in the winter of 1895-96 Frank Hibbing so far showed
his confidence in the future of Hibbing as to build "the first hotel
of first-class character erected on the range."
The Opening of the Hotel Hibbing.—The Hotel Hibbing was
opened on February 22, 1896, and "it was an event that interested
the people of the entire range." Atkinson writes
The Hotel Hibbing was opened with a grand ball on Saturday, February
22, 1896. Excursion trains were run from Duluth and all of the range
towns and our good neighbors drove across country from Grand Rapids to
join-in the festivities. The reception committee was: F. Brady, F. H. Dear,
Frank Hibbing, P. F. Eagan, James Gandsey, Garry Graham, W. L. Honnold.
M. H. Godfrey, James Geary. J. B. Beethold, A. M. Chisholm, Dr. D. C.
Rood, C. H. Munger, Dr. G. X. Burchart. P. Mitchell, and Dr. M. H. Alanson.
The floor committee of the memorable ball was Wm. H. Wright, D.
McEachin, F. E. Halbert, A. H. Sicard, C. F. S^heldon, W. L. Selden, and
Thomas J. Godfrey.
The Hibbing, until quite recently, when it became necessary to
remove the lower end of town to the new townsite at South Hibbing,
was the more exclusive of the two leading hotels of Hibbing. But
it, and the other hotel, the Oliver, would, in any event, be hope-
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