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LAYING OUT LEWISTOWN 75 YEARS AGO
By B. F. Gordon
7-4-1957 nsp
When I first registered at the Day Hotel, Lewistown was 13 years old and
Jacob Holtzemer, the proprietor. The Post Office was where McDonald's store is
now. Allison Samuels, the clerk, was able to handle all the mail called for. The
other prominent business houses were Lehman's store where Seiden's drug
store is now. The power Mercantile Co., the Montana Hardware store and two
livery barns on Main Street.
I have been in Fergus county 62 years - not long enough to testify
concerning the date of Lewistown's beginning but I am prepared to give
quotations from others that were interested.
Halsey Watson, who was connected with the Fergus County Argus and
whose father was an early saw mill man and the first to build on Watson Street named
for him. Halsey Watson said "Janeaux's garden property attracted my
father and Janeaux consented to sell a small piece lying along the border
between the Janeaux's claim and that of Paul Morase and abutting on Big Spring
Creek. Dr. Lapalme, who had training as an engineer as well as a physician was
asked by Janeaux to determine the boundaries of the property, my father
wanted. Lapalme suggested that some other people might want to settle and a
town site might be laid out, so beginning with the line of the Watson purchase
and calling that Watson Street ... the second street being named Jaueaux and
the third (now Main Street) being originally called Lapalme Street.
Halsey Watson said that his father's house was built in 1884 on the
present site of the Civic Center.
The quotation was written to the editor of the democrat News by Halsey
Watson regarding the early platting of Lewistown.
The following quotation is from an article written by Judge H. Leonard
Dekalb: "The original town-site of Lewistown was platted on the original
homestead of Francis A. Janeaux, by William T. McFarland in 1882. The
Janeaux homestead was one of the first patented in the Judith Basin. The patent
is dated October 16, 1882. So little was he versed in the art of land surveys that
his first survey described land a quarter of a mile away.
"Dr. L. A. Lapalme, a physician, was located in Lewistown as early as
1882, and for many years afterward, he wrote the following interesting
explanation: "In 1881 and in 1882 a certain number of people suggested to F. A.
Janeaux that his place being a good site for a trading point, he ought to layout a
certain portion of his land for a village. He put off the matter until the summer of
1882, when he proved up on his land, planning the erection of a store building as
the school trustees were to build a school house, he concluded the plat a portion
of his land and asked me to do it. At that time, a part of his farm was fenced in a
under cultivation. It was that piece comprised between the southeast line of Main
Street, the creek and the south line of the 40, as we did not plan for a town, but
only expected a small village of 10 to 15 houses. Mr. Janeaux did not want to
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Laying out Lewistown, 75 years ago |
| Creator | B. F. Gordon |
| Date Original | 1957-07-04 |
| Physical format | |
| Genre | newspapers |
| Publisher | Newspaper article. 7-4-1957 |
| Subject | Lewistown, MT |
| Type | Text |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana. |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Coverage-geography | Fergus County, Montana |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Rights Management | No copyright restrictions |
| Full text of this item | LAYING OUT LEWISTOWN 75 YEARS AGO By B. F. Gordon 7-4-1957 nsp When I first registered at the Day Hotel, Lewistown was 13 years old and Jacob Holtzemer, the proprietor. The Post Office was where McDonald’s store is now. Allison Samuels, the clerk, was able to handle all the mail called for. The other prominent business houses were Lehman’s store where Seiden’s drug store is now. The power Mercantile Co., the Montana Hardware store and two livery barns on Main Street. I have been in Fergus county 62 years – not long enough to testify concerning the date of Lewistown’s beginning but I am prepared to give quotations from others that were interested. Halsey Watson, who was connected with the Fergus County Argus and whose father was an early saw mill man and the first to build on Watson Street – named for him. Halsey Watson said “Janeaux’s garden property attracted my father and Janeaux consented to sell a small piece lying along the border between the Janeaux’s claim and that of Paul Morase and abutting on Big Spring Creek. Dr. Lapalme, who had training as an engineer as well as a physician was asked by Janeaux to determine the boundaries of the property, my father wanted. Lapalme suggested that some other people might want to settle and a town site might be laid out, so beginning with the line of the Watson purchase and calling that Watson Street … the second street being named Jaueaux and the third (now Main Street) being originally called Lapalme Street. Halsey Watson said that his father’s house was built in 1884 on the present site of the Civic Center. The quotation was written to the editor of the democrat News by Halsey Watson regarding the early platting of Lewistown. The following quotation is from an article written by Judge H. Leonard Dekalb: “The original town-site of Lewistown was platted on the original homestead of Francis A. Janeaux, by William T. McFarland in 1882. The Janeaux homestead was one of the first patented in the Judith Basin. The patent is dated October 16, 1882. So little was he versed in the art of land surveys that his first survey described land a quarter of a mile away. “Dr. L. A. Lapalme, a physician, was located in Lewistown as early as 1882, and for many years afterward, he wrote the following interesting explanation: “In 1881 and in 1882 a certain number of people suggested to F. A. Janeaux that his place being a good site for a trading point, he ought to lay out a certain portion of his land for a village. He put off the matter until the summer of 1882, when he proved up on his land, planning the erection of a store building as the school trustees were to build a school house, he concluded the plat a portion of his land and asked me to do it. At that time, a part of his farm was fenced in a under cultivation. It was that piece comprised between the southeast line of Main Street, the creek and the south line of the 40, as we did not plan for a town, but only expected a small village of 10 to 15 houses. Mr. Janeaux did not want to derange his field so I took his fence for a starting line. This is the reason why the streets of Lewistown are not running with the main points of the compass. Central Montana had an interesting history before the Lewistown town-site was laid out. It was William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition that named the Judith River in memory of his idolized young lady of Fincastle, Va., whom he married after returning from that historical trip to the Pacific coast and now we have the Judith Basin, the Judith Gap, the Judith Mountains (where 70 men are now building a radar station) and many other Judith names in memory of a pioneer, Virginia lady. The Judith Basin was the common hunting ground of the Indians until the game was killed off by the trappers and hunters. The Crow Indians wanted the Judith Basin for their reservation but the committee that made investigation turned them down on account of the Carroll Trail. Chief Joseph passed below Lewistown in 1877. A. R. Barrow settled at Ubet in 1881, he had become the speaker of the House of Representatives in Wisconsin and was first to bring a sawmill into the Judith Basin. James Fergus, after whom Fergus county and other places named, located on Armells in 1881. Granville Stuart, Montana’s famous historian, the first to discover gold in our state and wrote a record of what was happening in Montana for 41 years. He settled east of the Judith Mountains 1880- 81 and was appointed to report as our Minister to Uruguay and Paraguay South America by President Grover Cleveland. Granville Stuart was a native of Virginia. |
| Local Identifier | SC 1.1 Laying out of Lewistown |
Description
| Title | Laying out 1 |
| Type | Text |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Full text of this item | LAYING OUT LEWISTOWN 75 YEARS AGO By B. F. Gordon 7-4-1957 nsp When I first registered at the Day Hotel, Lewistown was 13 years old and Jacob Holtzemer, the proprietor. The Post Office was where McDonald's store is now. Allison Samuels, the clerk, was able to handle all the mail called for. The other prominent business houses were Lehman's store where Seiden's drug store is now. The power Mercantile Co., the Montana Hardware store and two livery barns on Main Street. I have been in Fergus county 62 years - not long enough to testify concerning the date of Lewistown's beginning but I am prepared to give quotations from others that were interested. Halsey Watson, who was connected with the Fergus County Argus and whose father was an early saw mill man and the first to build on Watson Street named for him. Halsey Watson said "Janeaux's garden property attracted my father and Janeaux consented to sell a small piece lying along the border between the Janeaux's claim and that of Paul Morase and abutting on Big Spring Creek. Dr. Lapalme, who had training as an engineer as well as a physician was asked by Janeaux to determine the boundaries of the property, my father wanted. Lapalme suggested that some other people might want to settle and a town site might be laid out, so beginning with the line of the Watson purchase and calling that Watson Street ... the second street being named Jaueaux and the third (now Main Street) being originally called Lapalme Street. Halsey Watson said that his father's house was built in 1884 on the present site of the Civic Center. The quotation was written to the editor of the democrat News by Halsey Watson regarding the early platting of Lewistown. The following quotation is from an article written by Judge H. Leonard Dekalb: "The original town-site of Lewistown was platted on the original homestead of Francis A. Janeaux, by William T. McFarland in 1882. The Janeaux homestead was one of the first patented in the Judith Basin. The patent is dated October 16, 1882. So little was he versed in the art of land surveys that his first survey described land a quarter of a mile away. "Dr. L. A. Lapalme, a physician, was located in Lewistown as early as 1882, and for many years afterward, he wrote the following interesting explanation: "In 1881 and in 1882 a certain number of people suggested to F. A. Janeaux that his place being a good site for a trading point, he ought to layout a certain portion of his land for a village. He put off the matter until the summer of 1882, when he proved up on his land, planning the erection of a store building as the school trustees were to build a school house, he concluded the plat a portion of his land and asked me to do it. At that time, a part of his farm was fenced in a under cultivation. It was that piece comprised between the southeast line of Main Street, the creek and the south line of the 40, as we did not plan for a town, but only expected a small village of 10 to 15 houses. Mr. Janeaux did not want to |
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