Ramsey County ND Archives History .....Recollections Of John Rainberry 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 6, 2015, 8:55 pm

Recollections from John Rainsberry

   Late in the fall of 1902, the Lakota Telephone Co., owned by Bob Metcalf, had
built a line from Lakota to Brocket, where they installed two or three phones.
As the line went right by our place, we had a phone installed as did Bob
Gardiner and John Sundeen.

   The town of Brocket, being pretty well built the fall before the rails were
laid on the branch, as I remember, Brocket was a small group of buildings on a
virgin prairie. There was still grass in the streets. It was only 12 miles from
Lakota, so most of the building material had been hauled from there before the
rails were laid.

   When I first saw Brocket, it consisted of two hardware stores, two lumber
yards, three general stores, a hotel, a livery barn, a cafe, pool room,
drugstore, a harness shop, blacksmith shop, butcher shop, machine business, a
bank and four grain elevators, and of course, a doctor's office and a barber
shop. At one time there was a creamery, a photograph gallery and a local paper.
The ball park was on the east side of town, about where the present school is,
but moved to the west side of the railroad tracks for several years, and then to
the south side of town about where the R.E.A. building is.

   The first school was held in the basement of the bank, and dances and shows
were held above the pool room for several years.

   A hustling prairie town at difficult times, there were two banks and two
machine businesses. That was too much for the trade territory, so one would have
to fold up.

   My first trips to town were to ball games. There was always a good ball team.
Real good for a small town.

   The population of the town and the surrounding country was somewhat more
cosmopolitan than the average prairie town, as it was on the edge of Finnlander,
Bohemian and a Norwegian settlement. The Northwestern Mercantile Co. was known
as the Finn store, the Pioneer Mercantile was known as Munson's or later Sahl's,
the Norwegian store. The Brocket Mercantile though founded by Sam Lohnbakken,
was later known as Bina's store. They did not need to call it the Bohemian store
as there were plenty of Binas in the settlement to the east, including three
brothers of Frank Bina.

   Northern and Central Europe were well represented in the community and the
policeman for years was — Yes! you guessed it — an Irishman who did his job and
got along well with the people.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Brocket diamond jubilee, 1900-1975

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