Event Stories

History of the Early Days of Ryder

From “Golden Jubilee 1906-1956 Ryder, North Dakota”
The booklet was prepared and presented by the Ryder Commercial Club for the Golden Jubilee celebration July 18 and 19, 1956

https://archive.org/details/goldenjubilee19000unse_1/mode/2up

History of the Early Days of Ryder

A history of the early days of Ryder would be incomplete without reference first to “Old Ryder” – which began as “Centerville.”

In the spring of 1902 the territory southwest of Minot was opened for settlement and it was during this year that it was necessary to stand in line for several hours at the Minot land office in order to file on a quarter section of this most desirable land.  The land at that time was all prairie.  The only roads were Indian trails and the only settlers were a few scattered ranchers who did not look with favor upon the coming of the new homesteaders.

It was under conditions such as these that Mr. E.E. Freden circulated a petition among the newcomers for the establishment of a Post Office.  The petition was granted and the name of Centerville was submitted to the Department as the name for the new town.  This name was rejected by the Post Office Department and the name of DeKalb was then sent in which was also rejected.   At that time Major J.S. Murphy a leading Minot politician suggested the name of Ryder.  The firm of Ryder and Mansfield was in business in Minot in 1903 and it was from a member of this firm that the name Ryder was selected and sent in to the Department as the name of the new town and it was approved, and on July first of the same year the Post Office Ryder was opened for business with Austin Grey as the first Postmaster.  The site of this office was the northeast quarter of section thirty-four, township 151, range 86 which was about four miles south of the present location of Ryder.  Mr. Grey also erected a two story hotel and established the first store.  During this summer the Ryder News was established by Lloyd Wells from Souris, ND, who at that time was interested in a chain of country newspapers running throughout the middle and western section of North Dakota.  Credit for bringing Mr. Wells here, and this getting a newspaper in this community should, perhaps, go to E.E. Fredeen, who first interested the editor in the proposition.

The two men met under the most unfavorable circumstances possible.  Mr. Fredeen was staying in a hotel at Towner and, as was often the case in the small towns of that period, the hotel was full.  A stranger came in and wanted a room.  There was none to be had.  Seeing the stranger in such a plight Mr. Fredeen played the good Samaritan, and graciously offered to share his room.  The stranger accepted.

When they met in the room that evening and were about to retire the stranger pulled out three guns, a rifle, a pistol and an automatic and distributed them about the room, all within easy reach and easily available.

Surprised and perhaps not a little worried at the peculiar actions of this walking arsenal Mr. Fredeen inquired the reason for all the weapons.  The room’s other occupant replied that at one time in his previous career he had nearly been lynched and that he did not propose that such an incident should occur again.  It had been a case of mistaken identity.  The mob, for some forgotten reason had been in the mood to lynch someone, and had chosen Mr. Wells to play the leading role.  He had in some manner escaped but did not wish anything of such a nature to occur again.  Therefore he always went well armed and prepared to do battle.

In the course of the ensuing conversation it was disclosed that Wells was a newspaperman.  Mr. Fredeen suggested that in the vicinity of what is now Ryder – there being at that time no post office here – there were over a thousand people who would gladly welcome and support a newspaper.  The two men met again in Minot during the month of May of 1903, and finally Mr. Wells shipped out an entire printing plant, and on the 4th of June began publication.  Guy Humphreys was appointed the first editor of the paper.  H.C. Miller opened a State Bank and was its first cashier.  E.E. Fredeen was awarded the first contract to carry mail from Minot to Ryder.  Mrs. Fredeen had a boarding house, a blacksmith ship by J. F. Smith, Casley Bros. Blacksmith Shop, John S. Johnson real estate, S.A. Olsen Groceries, the Lomen Co. Hardware, and perhaps some others.

The Presbyterian Church was organized with Mr. Evans as the first Minister.  The fourth of July was celebrated by this community and a baseball game between Ryder and Hiddenwood was played in which Ryder won.

This thriving community struggles along for three years without a railroad.  The decision of the Soo Line to extend its branch from Max west changed the complexion of things to the extent that the new town would be located some four miles north of the old Ryder site.  In the spring of 1906, Mr. E.E. Fredeen, acting as agent for the Soo railroad, made the purchase of the present townsite from Mr. Bailey, on behalf of the early homesteaders.  This location is on the Northeast quarter of section ten, in the same township as the old town was located.

On the 19th of July, 1906 on a flax field on this quarter was held the sale of town lots for the new Ryder.  Lots were sold to the highest bidder.  The auction was conducted by Mr. Campbell, representing the townsite company.  The big event of the day was the spirited bidding of H.C. Miller and Aug. Peterson for the corner lot, which Mr. Miller won, for the First State Bank, and Mr. Aug. Peterson purchased the lot across the street for the First National Bank.  The old timers will never forget that scene.  All the money bid over the set price went into a park fund for the city and a sum of $3600 was realized, which is the reason that Ryder got such a fine park.  The business places from old Ryder were moved to the new town site and new business places sprang up every line was represented – four banks, four hardware stores, six general stores, 3 livery barns, 5 hotels, 5 restaurants, 6 grain elavators, 1 blacksmith shop, 1 photograph gallery, one furniture store, 1 barber shop, 1 drug store, 3 doctors, 1 dentist, 2 lawyers, and there churches.  The first mayor was R.L. Furlong; the first postmaster was O.J. Bye; E.B. Long built Ryder’s first sidewalks.  In October a commercial club was organized with C.H. Ross as president; the history which appears elsewhere in this book.

In June of 1907, the first school board was organized with B.A. Dickinson as president, Mrs. C.J. Holm first superintendent, Hilda Rosenquist primary teacher and Miss Van Note as intermediate teacher.  The school house was built by D.A. Dinnie of Minot and completed in August of that year.  The first graduating class of the Ryder High School was in 1914, and consisted of Mabel Flannery, Orianna Miller, Jessie Van Sicle, Edgar Lomen, and Ethel Hungate.

As stated before the railroad line was completed as far as Ryder in November, 1906, and the first train arrived Nov. 7.  It was a steel train and remained there to put in the side tracks before continuing to Plaza, but that did not mean that regular service was started.  A blizzard soon blocked the line complexly and no effort was made to open the line till spring.  In the meantime supplies became low in all lines as all stocks had to be brought overland from Minot and Garrison.  Coal was especially hard to get as it had to be hauled in from lignite mines several miles away and farmers who were able to haul in coal made good money during that time.  Some got as much as $22 a ton for their coal.  Lignite coal burned rather freely so it became known as “lug-all-night” coal.  Toward spring the railroad sent a rotary snow plow to open the line and when the train arrived in Ryder it carried one carload of supplies – bottle beer!  However, the citizens were so happy to see the first train that they threw a welcoming party for the train crew which delayed them several hours before moving west, resulting in the superintendent of the division discharging the entire crew.  It took a petition signed by nearly everyone in town to get the men reinstated to their jobs.

The first restaurant to be opened after the lot sale was built by Kelly Bros., with Mrs. Pat Kelly as cook.  The brothers made a success of their business and soon had the largest restaurant in town and continued in business for several years.

In October, 1906 Ed E. Fredeen began construction of his hotel which later became the most famous hostelry in that part of the state.  The building was heated by steam, had a fine large lobby, dining room and kitchen, so that they could accommodate 44 diners at one time.  At that time a better-equipped hotel could not be found anywhere else in the state except Grand Forks and Fargo.  The arrangement of the hotel throughout was perfect in every detail, nothing having been overlooked that would add to the comfort of the guests.  The office was furnished with comfortable chairs and marble writing tables; the dining room was ample in size to accommodate a large gathering.  There were twenty-seven bedrooms.

At the time Ryder was incorporated as a village the question of licensing blind piggers  and gamblers came up.  As the state was under prohibition at that time that could not be done so the matter was settled in the familiar western technique of having the characters arrested once a month and fining them a certain amount by the justice of the peace, thus adding to the village exchequer.

In early days notices such as these were often seen in the newspapers.  PIGGERS BEWARE!  Several of our citizens have expressed themselves as being utterly opposed to allowing the sale of liquor at the new town and anybody attempting it will be summarily dealt with.  The officials of Ward County take pleasure in killing this kind of pest.

PIGGER PINCHED!!  Frank Blake, who was running a “get-rich-quick” concern in the sod shack near the townsite, was shown where to head in at when Constable Sam Hutchinson swooped down on his joint Tuesday night and arrested him and seized his stock of liquor.  He was given a preliminary hearing before Justice Camp and bound over to the district court.  Bond was set at $2500.  He was taken to Minot yesterday and placed in charge of Sheriff Lee.  John S. Johnson swore out the warrant against the fellow, and he has performed a public service in ridding the community of this pest.  This should serve as a warning to the piggers.

In those first years of the town it was customary to bring a number of Indians from the Fort Berthold reservation to help with the celebration.  They would pitch their tents in a semi-circular position and provided with a young steer to butcher and serve a portion to each group by having a crier call out the name of the squaw in turn to come and carry her supply to her tent.  One of the features of the celebration was a “squaw dance” in which the women would form a circle and shuffle around to the music of a chant.  Occasionally they would draw some man visitor into the circle and make him prance around with them – he could get free by making a small donation.. 

     The most important deal that the Ryder Commercial Club handled was to secure legislation for the opening and settlement of the Fort Berthold Indian reservation. Probably the most active workers in this movement we might mention were B. A. Dickinson and Ed E. Fredeen. A congressman and a member of the Department of the Interior were brought to Ryder and entertained at a banquet in the Fredeen hotel and were given all the information at hand relative to the reservation. As a result a bill was introduced in Congress for such opening and a committee named to appraise the lands to be opened. B. A. Dickinson headed the committee, assisted by a government agent and one Indian from the reservation. After this was accomplished the date was set for registrations for those who wished to get a chance to draw a claim. Thousands from all over the country came to register, most of them going to Minot and very few to Ryder which had promoted the whole thing. Later a drawing was held and the winners notified to come and file if they wished, and of course it wasn’t long before all the claims were taken up, and today the reservation is considered one of the finest farming sections in the state.

     A history of Ryder would not be complete without giving credit to Mr. E. E. Fredeen for the part that he has taken in the building of the town. Some of his contributions include the building of a twenty-two room hotel, the Orpheum theatre, the Motor Inn garage and the first electric light plant. Other early businessmen who still reside in Ryder are C. H. Christiansen and G. B. Officer.

     Thus we have seen Ryder grow from a blooming flax field fifty years ago to the village of 1956.

RYDER VILLAGE

     The first settlers of the community had decided to call their new town Centerville. But when a representative of the postal department arrived to establish the post office he informed them that there was a post office by that name. When this representative arrived in Minot the weather was very cold. A hardware dealer by the name of Ryder loaned him an overcoat to wear on the trip out here. On returning to Minot he offered to pay Mr. Ryder for the use of the coat. Mr. Ryder would not accept anything. The postal representative said he would like to do something to show his appreciation for the use of the coat. Mr. Ryder suggested that he could name the new town after him. The representative said he would recommend the name to the postal department. The name was accepted.

When the railroad came through in 1906, the post office and several business buildings were moved to the new townsite. The first winter was a cold one with lots of snow and blizzards. The railroad was blocked for weeks and coal had to be brought in by team. The coal brought as much as $20.00 a ton and was auctioned to the highest bidder.

Kinstories (home)  -  Peterson Family (home)  -  Johnson Family  -  Susag Family  -  Flatau Family  -  Beckman Family
Granquist Family  -  Anderson Family  -  Stout Family  -  Walker Family  -  Morris Family  - Cauble Family