BY BENJAMIN L. CLARKEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER

Our first Sidney mysteryphotos were likely taken onesummer around 1907-1909. Inthe first, six men, includingthree soldiers, stand out-doors smiling for the camera.In the second, the young sol-dier and the soldier standingnext to him in the group pho-to are riding the same horse.

All that is written on theback of both photos is “Sid-ney, Mont.”, in the samehand. That is all we knowand why we’d like your helpfiguring out who these menare, and the story behindthese photos. For instance,why is the man at far leftwearing an apron? Are thesesoldiers all brothers homevisiting? Are they somehowconnected to the Lower Yel-

lowstone Irrigation Projectthat was getting startedabout that time?

We are able to determinethe date range partially fromthe uniforms the men arewearing. If you look closelythere are variations in allthree which allow us to deter-mine it was sometime after1905, but before 1916. Thathelps, but is still a pretty biggap of time.

We are able to narrow therange down further becausethese are Real Photo Post-cards. They were very popu-lar in the early 20th centuryand allowed you to take aphoto yourself and send it asa postcard to friends andfamily. Many old rodeo post-cards from Sidney are alsoReal Photo Postcards. Thebacks of these photo post-cards have been carefully

studied by collectors andarchivists, and the backs ofthese two date to 1907-1909.

Now, if you know who thesemen are, or what the occa-sion was for the photos,

please get in touch with theMonDak Heritage Center at406.433.3500, at mdhc@rich-

land.org, or find us on Face-book and tell us there! Wewould love to know!

4A SUNDAY, FEB. 6, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

SIDNEY, MONTANA1911-2011

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

Editor’s note: In honor of Sidney’scentennial, the Sidney Herald is run-ning a twice Sidney page focusingon the city’s development throughthe years. Special thanks to theMonDak Heritage Center wheremuch of the information is gathered.

A little more than twocenturies after the greatLewis and Clark expeditioncame through, RichlandCounty still thrives today.Through the years the resi-dents of this harsh, yet won-derfully stunning landscapehave celebrated victories instatehood and incorpora-tion and shared in hard-ships and tragedies.

2011 marks 100 years sinceSidney’s incorporation, atestament made possible bythose who stuck throughfreezing winters and swel-tering summers to pursue alife on the American fron-tier. So here’s to Sidney andanother 100 years.

THE BEGINNINGSome 70 years following

Lewis and Clark in 1880,Richland County’s first fam-ily of William and SarahNewlon settled in whatwould become the town ofNewlon in 1881, about fivemiles southwest of present-day Sidney. At that time,there was an influx of set-tlers that was very little atfirst but had grown. Buffalo

hunting wasprominent,and the Mon-Dak regionwas seen asone of thelast places inthe famedfrontier. Set-tlers came di-rectly fromDenmark,

Norway, Germany and Italy.By the late 1880s, there

had been substantialgrowth in the Lower Yellow-stone Valley. Residents inthe Sidney area traveled toNewlon to drop mail offat the post office, butthey were getting tiredof making those trips.So in 1888, the townspeo-ple submitted a petitionfor a post office underthe name Eureka. Butthat was not to be whenthey were notified acommunity in north-west Montana alreadyclaimed the name.

The man whowas respon-sible for resub-mitting the paper-work, Judge H.L.Otis, would ultimate-ly be credited for namingthe town. Otis was goodfriends with a family by thename of Walters, and he es-pecially took a liking to thecouple’s 6-year-old son, Sid-ney. When he suggested thename for the new post of-fice, no one raised any ob-

jections.Residents of the Lower

Yellowstone Valley in 1889celebrated Montana’s state-hood, and the area contin-ued to grow with new resi-dents. Several area settlersmet in the Sidney School-house in August 1897 to dis-cuss plans for a town hall.Three months later it wascomplete and a dance washeld – the first activity totake place in the log-builtcommunity hall.

At the turn of the century,businesses began to sprout.

The first shopin

Sidneyopened in 1901, a generalstore, and was followed byother businesses like theValley Bank (a change inname would lead to FirstNational Bank in 1908), ho-tel, restaurant, optometrist,photo gallery, stable, thecontroversial saloon, the

Yellowstone MercantileCompany, electric companyand a grain elevator, meantto entice a railroad to Sid-ney. The first Northern Pa-cific train would eventuallypull into Sidney in June1912.

But in January 1911,something dramatic wasabout to take place. Resi-dents of this small commu-nity secretly wanted incor-poration and ultimately sep-aration from Dawson Coun-ty to vie for the county seat.Several Sidney residents

met to discuss fire pro-tection and equipment

but considered in-stead a propos-

al by banker R.S.Nutt to incorpo-

rate. In that meeting,17 voted in favor while

two voted against andone abstained. Withintwo months, a census

reported thepopulation

was at 358, justover the 300

numberneeded to incor-

porate. In late March,upon consideration of

a petition, Dawson Countycommissioners approved,and all that was needed wasvoter approval. The votersapproved the town’s incor-poration 55-1 on April 21,1911.

reporter@sidneyherald.com

A lot has changed since theoldest house standing in Sid-ney was built. Even thenamesake ofthe street onwhich it sitshas changedsince thehome’s histo-ry wasrecorded dur-ing Mon-tana’s state-hood centen-nial in 1989.Another cen-tennial is up-on us and it’sonly naturalto reflect onthe witnessesamong us who have seen itall: Sidney’s historic homesand buildings.

According to most, the old-est house still standing start-ed construction in 1895 byDr. Charles L. Stockwell, a lo-cal dentist who came to Sid-ney in 1893. The old lime-stone house is in the north-east part of Sidney on Holly,not far to the north of the oldstone church. Dr. Stockwellserved as Sidney’s secondpostmaster, following Mag-gie Crossen who was com-missioned Oct. 22, 1888. Mrs.Crossen’s family left Sidneyin 1894. Like his predecessor,Dr. Stockwell ran the post of-fice out of his home. So, notonly is the old limestonehouse Sidney’s oldest exist-ing home, but also Sidney’soldest existing post office.

Mary Mercer located thisinformation about the oldstone Stockwell house fromnewspapers at the time:

“April 1895- C. L. Stockwellhas begun to build a stonehouse 16 by 32 feet. July 1895-C.L. Stockwell goes to Willis-ton today for a load of lime.

He has the first story of hisstone house up… 1896- Dr.C.L. Stockwell of Sidney hasput in a new well and isadding a large cellar andkitchen to his residence.1901- C. L. Stockwell resignedas postmaster and went toSan Francisco.” FollowingDr. Stockwell’s departure in1901, the post office wasmoved again.

In 1904, the home was soldto Lossie Dawe so his chil-dren could attend school inSidney. Dawe had home-steaded earlier on BurnsCreek. Dawe’s family lived inthe stone house on Holly dur-ing Sidney’s incorporationin 1911. Dawe also owned theland where the old hospital/old community servicesbuilding stands and SidneyMiddle School stands. Dawedonated the land to the newcity to encourage growthand development. Dawe wasconnected to another post of-fice when the town of Enidwas established and namedfor his daughter.

Wearing many hats inservice to the community isa common part of many ofour pioneer stories. Sidneycomes by its pride of com-munity honestly as so manyof our forebears served andgave continuously, even oper-ating public services fromtheir homes. It’s an examplewe can all admire and emu-late.

During Sidney’s Centenni-al Celebration this summer,the MonDak Heritage Centerplans to host horsedrawntours of Sidney’s historichomes and buildings. Pleasemake plans to attend thissummer!

bclark@richland.org

Building our heritage

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION The oldest house in Sidney in August 1909.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Sidney has grown, steadily and without a boom, from a hamlet...to a hustling, bustling little city. Main street taken Nov. 29, 1908.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Real photo postcards featuring soldiers in slightly different uni-forms. Most likely 1907-1909, but perhaps later. Caption on backreads only: “Sidney, Mont.”

Executive DirectorMonDak HeritageCenter

Benjamin L. Clark

Mystery photos from the MonDak Heritage Center

How Sidney became Sidney

Sidney Waltersin 1949

BY BENJAMIN L. CLARKEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER

Our mystery photo of theDr. J. S. Beagle home was tak-en July 10, 1912. We feel veryconfident about this date be-cause on the back in a con-temporary hand in fadedfountain pen ink is the in-scription “taken July 10,1912.”

If you look closely, notquite all of the stars andstripes décor has been re-moved. One panel of starredmaterial can be seen in anupper floor window. See thecompanion article “BuildingOur

Heritage”about the ear-lier photo tak-en as thehouse wasnearly fin-ished. In thisphoto, howev-er, it looks likethere was yetanother cele-bration at theBeagle home with so manyguests in their summer fin-ery.

Checking the Sidney Her-ald from July 12, 1912:

“Mesdames Varco and Bea-gle were hostesses at acharming afternoon party atthe Beagle home on Wednes-

day afternoon, July 10. Onarrival, the guests were

given pencils and pa-per, and their ability

at writing alphabeti-cal stories was test-ed… The prize wascaptured, however,by Miss LenoreMeisenbach, herstory reading thus:

‘A boy can do

everything finely. Generallyhe is judged kindly. Littlemischiefs need only parents’quiet reconciliation. Soundthrashings usually vouchwickedness. Xylophonesyield zest.’ ”

Miss Meisenbach also pro-vided a vocal solo that after-noon with the “dainty re-freshments.” There was alsoa reading of a story I’d like tosee: “Little Johnnie Visitsthe Dime Museum.”

So, where is the mystery?We know the house, we knowthe date and we know whathappened. Thanks to the Sid-ney Herald, we even knowthat the sister of SidneyMayor Bud Meisenbach wona prize for an alphabeticacrostic story.

What we don’t know is whothe rest of the women andchildren are. By my count,there are 47 women and fouryoung children. We know afew names from the brief ar-ticle in the newspaper, butnone are actually identifiedin the photo. Does anyoneknow who they are? Can youidentify Mrs. Nutt, Mrs.

LaRue or Mrs. Woodward?What about Mrs. Kelly, Mrs.Isham or the prize winnerand singer Miss Meisenbachwho became Mrs. G. C. Fields

in 1915?

4A SUNDAY, FEB. 20, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

SIDNEY CENTENNIAL1911-2011

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

Editor’s note: In honor of Sidney’scentennial, the Sidney Herald is run-ning a twice monthly Sidney Centen-nial page focusing on the city’s devel-opment through the years. Specialthanks to the MonDak Heritage Cen-ter where much of the information isgathered.

In April 1911, residents ofthe newly formedcity of Sidneyhad their eyesset beyond be-ing just anothercity in DawsonCounty, whichback then hadbeen thelargestcountyin the na-tion. Theywanted separationand to become the countyseat.

In the next two years, sup-port grew for creating a newcounty and taking Dawson’s

northern townships with it.Sidney was in for a numberof facelifts as several proper-ty owners began to planttrees and grass in prepara-tion to become the countyseat. A committee was ap-pointed to select city parks;that was followed by a yardand garden contest to moti-vate interest from residentsto beautify the city and havea better shot at being select-ed county seat. Lighting,

electrical powerand sewagesystems

came next.On May 16,

1914, the Daw-son County

commis-sioners

held anelection for

all the voterswithin the boundaries of theproposed county. Of the 1,442votes cased, 1,094 approvedformation of Richland Coun-ty; just 48 opposed it. Also de-cided in the election was the

new county seat. Competingagainst three other town-ships for the honor, Sidney’scampaign to beautify the citywould ultimately help it winthe election. Voters approvedSidney with 848 votes while

Lambert took second with425, Enid with 168 andFairview with 119 votes.

There was a challenge,however, to Sidney’s appoint-ment as county seat of thenewly formed Richland

County. In the fall of 1920,Lambert residents offered achallenge, campaigning toget the issue on the ballot.About 1,600 signatures out ofthe approximate 3,000 tax-payers in the county were

collected. But officials woulddiscover that at least 20 per-cent of the signers were nottaxpayers at all, making thepetition invalid.

reporter@sidneyherald.com

Dr. John S.Beagle built abeautifulhome insouthwestSidney in1912. The 99-year old, twostory homestill boasts alarge cobble-stone porch,twin cobble-stone chim-neys and oth-er originalfeatures.

This photograph of thehome was taken in the sum-mer of 1912. If you look close-ly, you can just make out a fewstars and stripes decorationsfestooning the pillars of thesecond floor sleeping porchand garlands along the edgeof the roof of the front porch.A small pile of lumber andother materials lay at the rearof the house. We know thehouse was completed by July10, 1912 (see mystery photo).So, this photo could most like-ly date to July 4, 1912.

However, in 1912 there weretwo summer-time holidayscelebrated with patriotic dec-orations. Of course, Indepen-dence Day on July 4, but alsowhat was then known as Dec-oration Day. ince the end ofWorld War I we know this hol-iday as Memorial Day to re-member all who have servedour country. But in 1912, theholiday was still very muchconnected to the memory ofthe Civil War. After all, in 1912there were still many CivilWar veterans still living, even

in Sidney!Another event spurred a

huge celebration that firstweek of July 1912 – the ar-rival of the Northern PacificRailroad, cementing Sidneyas the leading city of the areasoon to carved out as Rich-land County.

Dr. Beagle came to Sidneyfrom Minnesota before 1909and was one of at least threedoctors practicing when Sid-ney incorporated in 1911.Many doctors came and went,but Dr. Beagle was one whostayed until his passing in1959. Dr. Beagle opened his of-fices on the second floor ofthe original Yellowstone Mer-cantile, and established a hos-pital in 1911 where theLalonde Hotel stood, south ofthe Centre Movie Theatre onCentral Avenue. In 1909 hewas joined by his wife, Fan-tine, and after establishing of-fices and a hospital in whichto treat patients, he beganbuilding his home. Dr. andMrs. Beagle were involved innearly everything concernedwith establishing Sidney’smedical, educational, and cul-tural efforts and even thefounding of Richland County.These continuing institutionsstand as a witness with hishome of another Sidney pio-neer sacrificing for the im-provement of our community.

During Sidney’s CentennialCelebration this summer, theMonDak Heritage Centerplans to host horse drawntours of Sidney’s historichomes and buildings. Pleasemake plans to attend the cele-bration this summer!

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION This photo was taken in 1912 of Dr. John S. Beagle’s home.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Sidney campaigning for county seat of newly formed Richland County. Main street looking east from Central Avenue. Two story home isEdgar and Emma Kenoyer’s.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION A charming afternoon partyheld at the Beagle home in1912. Please help identify the47 women and four children.

Executive DirectorMonDak HeritageCenter

Benjamin L. Clark

Mystery photo – Name the women at 1912 gathering

Sidney campaigns to become county seat

Dr. John S. Beagle,1910

Building our heritage

4A SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

SIDNEY CENTENNIAL1911-2011

Editor’s note: In honor of Sidney’scentennial, the Sidney Herald is run-ning a twice monthly Sidney Centenni-al page focusing on the city’s develop-ment through the years. Special thanksto the MonDak Heritage Center wheremuch of the information is gathered.

BY HARRY LIPSIEASIDNEY HERALD

There was a time whenbaseball was not a thing todo, instead the thing to do. Itwas when businesses closedto catch the game, and farm-ers joined together to formtown teams to representtheir community. It was atthe forefront of the 20th cen-tury, and baseball fever hadcaught on throughout the na-tion.

No area was immune fromthe baseball craze. In fact,even before its incorporationin 1911, Sidney was known asa baseball town. At the time,it was not seen as just anoth-er sport, but as means to en-tertainment and friendship.Ultimately, it became a wayof life for many.

“You either played baseballor you tried to play baseball,”Dean Thogersen said.“That’s just the way it was.”

Town teams ruled the areafor the first 60 years of the20th century as pretty muchevery settlement in the coun-ty put together a squad. Sid-ney squared off againstteams ranging from Elmdale,Cheery Creek, Savage, Gos-sett to Glendive. These con-tests weren’t just a coupleguys playing for giggles, in-stead the games were sourcesof pride for the entire com-munity.

“There was a lot of rivalrythat came with it,”

Thogersen, who was a mem-ber of Sidney teams in thelate 1940s, said. “You didn’twant to come home after los-ing to another town. Every-body took it pretty seriously.”

The history of these teamsgoes back before Sidney be-came a town or had a news-paper. In 1908, the SidneyHerald’s first year of publica-tion, advertisements rootingon the team were common-place on a weekly basis. Atthe time, the quality of atown’s team reflected on thecommunity.

One such example of thatsupport came in 1911 whenSidney cheered on its teamharder than ever. Businessesplastered signs in front oftheir storefronts to cheer onthe hometown boys andclosed the doors on gamedays. Baseball fanatics didtheir best to spread the wordabout the upcoming team’stalent two months before theupcoming season.

So Sidney must have had along history of taking homestate titles as only winnerscould have such a following?Not really, in fact the squadfailed to win a single game inthe prior season. So in 1911,the community made evenmore effort to spread interestabout baseball and its localteam.

“The area really knew howto support their teams,”Thogersen said. “As a kid, Ialways looked up to the play-ers and hoped that someday Icould play. They were our he-roes.”

These teams mostly fea-tured players in their 20s, 30sand into their 40s and 50s.Many of the athletes werefarmers who grew up with

the game. A lot of these play-ers were known for havingnatural athleti-cism and excel-lent fundamen-tals.

“We hadsome highquality base-ball in thearea,”Thogersensaid. “Alot ofthose guyswould comeoff the farmand have their way on thebaseball diamond.”

No matter where it was,contests always drew acrowd. Along with the team,a spirited group of familyand friends on horseback fol-lowed to attend the awaygames. Often it was a longride back if Sidney failed tocome home with a victory.The losses, however, pushedthe community to supportthe team even harder.

One of the reasons for thiswas the popularity of the ma-

jor leagues. Inevidence, an

advertise-ment in theSidney Her-

ald read, “Itwill give every-

one interestedin thenationalgame achance

to wit-ness and sup-

port their hometown boys.”As the years went on, base-

ball was still popular at boththe local and national levels.In the 1940s and 1950s, therewas a rejuvenation in thetown teams as Sunday be-came the day for America’sfavorite game.

“It kind of became a picnicday for the community,”Craig Price, who was a mem-ber of Sidney town and le-gion teams in the late 1950s,said. “All kinds of families

would gather at the ballpark.The city league teams werevery big back then.”

In 1949, former All-StarRogers Hornsby made a visitto town for a camp to workwith players of all ages.Camps and similar eventswere popular ways to pro-mote baseball in the area.

“I remember watching himwork with the legion team,”Price said. “He was in his St.Louis jersey and helpingthem with the basic funda-mentals of fielding.”

Hornsby was not the onlybaseball icon to make a stopat one time in Sidney. Leg-endary pitchers SatchelPaige and Virgil Trucks bothhad struck out their share ofbatters in Richland Countywhile traveling with semi-professional teams. Their re-spective teams, the KansasCity Monarchs and theHouse of David, played theSidney town team infundraisers.

“It was a different feelingto play against former majorleague pitchers,” Price said.“I got a bunt single off ofPaige, and it was a great feel-ing.”

Sidney also had an Ameri-can Legion team at this timeas well as a town team. Thelegion team competed in theEastern A with Glendive,Miles City and Billings.

“We always had prettycompetitive teams,” Pricesaid. “But Billings alwayshad excellent squads. Ourteams always played themtough, but couldn’t quite getover that hump.”

As the 1950s came to anend, so did the area’s townteams. There were a numberof factors, but ultimately a

lack of numbers doomed thesquads.

“There were just a lot ofother things to do at thetime,” Thogersen said. “A lotof these other towns werelosing a lot of people andthere just wasn’t enoughbaseball players left.”

Price added, “It seemed asif all of a sudden the teamsjust kind of disappeared. Itwas a shame, but that’s howlife goes sometimes.”

Throughout the next halfof the century, the area hashad several legion teamshave success at the state lev-el. But as other activities andsports have popularized, Sid-ney became less known as abaseball town.

“We have had our fairshare of good baseballteams,” Price, who coachedin the legion program at dif-ferent times in the 1960s,1970s and 1980s, said. Twotimes in Price’s coaching ca-reer his teams placed secondat state. “When I coached, wealways had great kids thatenjoyed to play the game.”

While the days of business-es closing for games are gone,Sidney has its fair share ofbaseball fanatics still here.

“That’s one thing Sidneyhas always had,” Price said.“There are plenty of peoplethat live here that have a nat-ural love of the game.”

More than 100 years re-moved from the beginning ofbaseball in the area, it’s hardto understand how impor-tant the sport was to the com-munity. It was a major part ofthe culture and as Price said,“There’s a reason why it’scalled America’s pastime.”

sports@sidneyherald.com

After marrying in Glen-dive in 1893, William A. andMay Ball came to Sidney in1896, and Curt Ball, theirson, was born in Sidney in1908. By the time of thefuture mayor’s birth, theBalls had set up a livery sta-ble and hotel in the growinglittle town. Curtis remem-bered in a 1989 interviewthat his mother opened theirhome to travelers for noth-ing, but as homesteadingpicked up in the area, shedecided to meet a need andopened the Valley Hotel.

The original Valley Hotelis long gone today, although awonderful old sign stilladvertises it from the cornerof the Cheerio Lounge atMain and Central. The differ-ent buildings that stood onthe site are also gone. Howev-

er, one of the four earliestbuildings owned by the Ballsstill stands, just not in theoriginal location. One small

house wassold andmoved fromthe site nowoccupied byKentuckyFried Chick-en to south-west Sidneyin 1905. AlKelch boughtit from theBalls andmoved thehouse to itspresent loca-tion and hada chimney

built by Bill Combes. Accord-ing to Combes’ daughterGeneva, he was paid a raisin

pie for the task. The homestands today with the sameornate screen door visible inthis photo, taken around1910.

The caption on the back(likely written around 1976)of this photo reads: “IsabelleNorthey is chopping downthe Xmas Tree, I (Ray) amletting her do it, and Iremember the other as aMiss Mitby. She and GanettSims came to teach here.” Iwas curious who Ray was,and discovered one RaymondPetersen owned the housesome time after Al Kelch.The problem was he was tooyoung to be the man in thisphoto. I checked the manyother Ray Petersens (andPetersons!) in the records ofthe MonDak Heritage Centerand found they would all be

too young to be this man.Without a last name, andwithout a city directory ofthat time, it could be very dif-ficult to determine who hewas. I decided to look forIsabelle Northey and foundone Arthur Earl Northey,known to his friends as Ray.He must be the Ray in ourphoto! Isabelle also seems tohave used another namethan the one given her, whichwas Rose. According to the1910 U.S. Census, A.E. “Ray”Northey and his wife, Rose“Isabelle”, lived in Sidney atthe time of the census.Isabelle’s maiden name wasBenoit, of the Benoits ofFairview. A search for teach-ers named Mitby and GanettSims turned up a Sept. 8,1911, Sidney Herald articlelisting teachers: “Miss Mitby,

of LaCrosse, Wis., 5th and6th grades…Miss Simm, ofSpearfish, S.D., primaryroom.”

Such name confusion is anormal, but frustrating hur-dle that can make historicresearch difficult, and whyit’s important to preservefamily records and memo-ries along with officialrecords – especially when

loved ones use names notreflected in official records.

During Sidney’s Centenni-al Celebration this summer,the MonDak Heritage Centerwill host horse drawn toursof Sidney’s historic homesand buildings that are atleast 100 years old. Pleasemake plans to attend the cel-ebration June 24-26!

Building our heritage: Historic homes in Sidney

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Isabelle Northey cuts down a Christmas tree around 1911 in frontof one of the oldest houses in Sidney standing today.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Sidney Moose 1949 baseball team included, front from left, DonNutter, Harold “Dean” Thogersen, Dean Beck and Paul McMorris;back, Bill Mullin, Jeff Green, Alton Thogersen, Lloyd Dooley, GuySeversen and Carl McMorris.

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION Baseball grounds in Sidney in 1915.

Executive DirectorMonDak HeritageCenter

Benjamin L. Clark

For love of the game

4A SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2011 SIDNEY HERALD

SIDNEY CENTENNIAL1911-2011

Editor’s note: In honor of Sidney’scentennial, the Sidney Herald is run-ning a twice monthly Sidney Centen-nial page focusing on the city’s devel-opment through the years. Specialthanks to the MonDak Heritage Cen-ter where much of the information isgathered.

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

In the beginning there wasone station. One radio sta-tion that would become a“flagship” for media in theMonDak region.

KGCX, a longtime staple inSidney and the surroundingarea, began broadcastingover the airwaves some 80years ago. Founded by Ed-ward E. Krebsbach, KGCXwas the first radio station li-censed to First State Bank inVida on Oct. 5, 1926. The sta-tion had a power output ofjust 7.5 watts and operatedon a frequency of 1249 Khz,reaching approximately 5miles.

The radio equipmenthad been purchased for$125 from a local ranch-er and amateur radiooperator and was oper-ated from a back roomof the state bank. Itsschedule was for onehour at noon each day.On Sunday afternoons,the station conducteda talent show foranyone whowanted to per-form over the air. Aschedule that contin-ued until 1929. Whileoperating in Vida, KGCX ex-perimented with an all elec-tronic pickup for playingphonograph records whichwere played by placing themicrophone in front of thephonograph horn. The sta-tion moved to Wolf Point inthe early 1930s.

The stationwould laterhave variousprograms al-ternating be-tween infor-mational seg-ments andmusic. Themost popularprogram wasthe “Ask Your

Neighbor” segment in whichlisteners could call in everymorning to buy or sell prod-ucts, share recipes and com-munity announcements aswell as public service an-nouncements. “I think it wasimportant to the communi-ty,” radio personality andarea historian Arch Ellweinsaid. Country music playedby day; rock and roll bynight. The station becamethe “go-to” for information.“It was really a linchpin inemergency services too,” Ell-wein said.

By 1941, KGCX had movedto Sidney from Wolf

Point as

a full-time com-mercial station. Because itwas during World War II,new material was unavail-able for civilian use, so thebuilding, equipment and an-tenna were lifted and movedexactly as it was to a site 5miles north of Sidney. In1952, a second tower wasadded to the antenna systemto directionalize the output

of the new transmitterwhich was installed, and

the station went to5,000 watts full time

on its 1480 Khz fre-quency reachingabout 100 miles.The station movedits studios fromthe Sucksdorfbuilding on Cen-

tral Avenue to

the site of the CheerioLounge (a bank back then)upstairs. In the ‘50s though,it was moved to the base-ment of the LaLonde Hotelnear Centre Theatre.

Krebsbach was instrumen-tal in establishing other

stations in eastern Mon-tana and western North

Dakota as well as the first TVstation to serve the MonDakregion at KUMV, a stationthat celebrated its 50th an-

niversary a few yearsago.

Ellwein, who joinedKGCX staff in 1975 asa DJ and sports direc-

tor, frequently broadcastedlocal sports. “It was a differ-ent era. Everything was verydifferent,” Ellwein said. “Forone, all employees needed anFCC first-class license as anoperator. Everybody had togo to a federal building andtake tests.” Employees need-ed to “know a little bit”about the engineering aswell as the ability to keeptrack of records, documentwhat went on the air that daywith typewriters and report-ed the news, weather andwhatever else, over the air.The DJs used reel-to-reeltapes and vinyl records toplay music; there were nocomputers and certainly nodigital software, only analog.“It was a lot more hands on,”Ellwein recalled.

After 67 years on the air,KGCX/KGCH closed in Au-gust 1993 and KSDY, which

served the area for a decade,also went dark, leaving Sid-ney and the county withoutany local radio broadcastsfor a few years. Business ad-vertising was split betweenthe Williston, N.D., stationsof KYYZ and KDSR as wasSidney sports. When the sta-tion left, it was unexpected.“You make the assumptionsomething will be there,” Ell-wein said. “Everything’stransient, and I think thatwas a shock.”

Today, Sidney plays host totwo stations, a radio market,Ellwein says, that has be-come more regional. Nowa-

days, most broadcasts originate

from satellite feeds. Operat-ing a radio station requiresonly a few staff members butcontinues to serve the area.

“Broadcasting is so muchan identity of a place,” Ell-

wein said. “The audiencemakes the radio station justas the customers make anybusiness.”

reporter@sidneyherald.com

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION E.E. Krebsbach, operator and announcer at KGCX in Vida.

History of rockin' n' rollin' radio waves

Arch Ellweinsports director, 1976

COURTESY | MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER COLLECTION KGCX building north of Sidney.

Mystery photos

BY BENJAMIN L. CLARKEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MONDAK HERITAGE CENTER

Our mystery photo thisweek is a large, clear photo-graph of what I guess to be amother and father, five chil-dren and their dog. Only ahandwritten note on the backin ballpoint pen (so muchmore modern than the photo):“Found by Lisa.” We’re notsure who Lisa is to ask her ifshe knows anything. So weare left to our own devices tofigure out who these peoplemay be, or maybe who theyare related to.

This photograph is what iscalled a cabinet card. Theseformal portraits were popularat the end of the 1800s and be-came less common as photog-raphy moved into the handsof everyday people with popu-lar snapshot cameras. Histo-rians can sometimes date cab-inet cards by the decorativeborders around the edges. Un-fortunately, some critter got ahold of this one and gnawedthe borders away, fortunatelynot damaging the image itselftoo bad. The depth of clarityand arrangement of the fami-ly makes me think it wasdone by a professional, butthere are no stamps or mark-ings of any kind to help withthe identification.

The father is wearing ashawl-collared vest, whichwas popular before the CivilWar. Other clues in the photosay this was taken much laterthough. Some people have atendency to wear clothingand hair in a similar fashionto the time when theyreached adulthood, so guess-

ing he’s closing in on 50 yearsof age at the time of the pho-to, would put it in the early1900s. But maybe he’s just“old fashioned,” and this islikely a hard-working familywithout a lot for “extras.” Forthe formal portrait, some ofthe children are barefootedand the father shows no signof owning a watch and iswearing what looks to be cor-duroy trousers – a workingman’s fabric in the 1800s.

Teenage girls, however, arerarely “old fashioned.” andluckily we have one in ourphoto. Historians andarchivists like teenage girls inmystery photos: They are stillgrowing and often fashionconscience, two good reasonsto update clothes frequently.And clothing fashionschanged back then just as fre-quently as today – perhapseven more so. Also, if youcouldn’t keep pace with thelatest fashions in clothes, agirl could do so much moreeasily with her hair, as thisyoung lady does with herbangs and hair pulled up andback.

Comparing to known datedphotos from the western U.S.,I feel fairly confident datingthis photo to right around1895-1905, leaning to the earli-er range than the later. Do youknow who they are?

Of course, if you have anyinformation get in touch withus at the museum at md-hc@richland.org, 406-433-3500or find us on Facebook, whereyou can review all the mys-tery photos, athttp://www.facebook.com/MonDakHeritageCenter.