County Poor Farm of the 1930s remembered as a place to be proud of

Erle Abentroth’s father purchased a new Ford in 1937.
Reason enough to visit the Traill County Poor Farm, Erle figured.
Of course, there were other reasons.
The daughters of Otinius and Esther Foss would certainly be impressed with the new car, Erle and his friends were confident.
A least the hired girl in the kitchen, Christina Hoff, would be persuaded to offer a couple pieces of pie to the young visiting card players.
In trade for a ride in the new 1937 Ford.
Erle knew the Foss girls from high school.

Honor.

In today’s world, an honorable person is becoming a rarity.
We pay tribute to the cons and the cheaters. We make fun of those who play by the rules. We’re hypnotized by the flash and don’t see the lack of substance. We let things slide. We loosen the standards. We celebrate the criminal, the rebel, the selfish.
I’m not a sports aficionado. I’m a casual fan. I tune into the big moments in professional or college sports. I find high school sports more real, more worthy, more fun. They’re truer to the spirit of the game.

Grave injustice

Traill County commissioners are trying to find a road into the Poor Farm Cemetery.
Opening a dialogue with the principal parties involved is a good place to start.
Friendly persuasion works wonders, we’re told.
By talking with the family living and owning the land surrounding the forgotten cemetery might, in fact, open roads so to speak, to old burial grounds along the Red River. A walking trail, perhaps?
The Traill County Poor Farm Cemetery shouldn’t be forgotten; again, it’s a part of our history. Granted it’s buried, pardon the pun, but that doesn’t mean all grave site markers have to buried, as well, and farmed over.

Community Spirit

Draw a crowd.
Hillsboro generally knows how to draw a crowd — pick a good cause, cook up something good to eat and serve up a little fun.
Over the course of the summer, we’ve seen proof of this phenomenon. HMC Foundation grilled up their traditional bratwursts in May and invited everybody to witness the groundbreaking for its $12.5 million addition. Delicious and bravo.
Traill County Historical Society kept things cool on the 4th of July with ice cream sundaes, old-time fiddlers and friendly conversation in the shade. Tasty and well received.

History incomplete

By NEIL O. NELSON
Not to be found today, the Traill County Poor Farm dates back to June 1883, when Traill County purchased 273.7 acres of land near the Red River in Caledonia Township for the purpose of establishing the Traill County Asylum for the Poor.
All that remains of the Poor Farm today is a cemetery, where 14 unmarked grave sites are surrounded by a Red River Valley wheat field.
Steve Kimbrell, whose family purchased the Poor Farm in 1958, and wife Lisa live in a home built on the property that once included a three-story brick and cement dormitory, a large barn and several smaller farm buildings.

Property owners wants to know county’s intentions

Land known as the Traill County Poor Farm has been in the Gerald Kimbrell family for nearly 50 years.
Forty-nine, to be exact.
Once the center of a 273-acre working farm, the property encompassing more than 100 acres was leased in 1955 to Clarence Blake of Caledonia.
The three-story brick and concrete structure was designated then as a home for the aged.
Traill County in 1958 sold the property to Gerald and Ruby Kimbrell of Cooperstown.
The Kimbrell family operated Fair Acres rest home for the next 20 years.
Steve and Lisa Kimbrell today live on the Fair Acres property.

Crazy ideas that just might work.

Get out of Iraq.
Read a book.
Write a letter.
Shop at home.
Bet on the Twins to win the pennant.
Save the Blanchard Bridge.
Enjoy a potato product every day, compliment someone every day, tell your children how precious they are, tell your parents and grandparents how precious they are, turn off the TV and pick up a novel, take the long way home.

County to explore ways to Poor Farm Cemetery

By NEIL O. NELSON
At last count there were 14 buried at the Poor Farm Cemetery near Caledonia.
Plotted in 1932 to accommodate a total of 96 graves, there’s little chance the cemetery will see any more burials on the property along the Red River three miles north and east of Caledonia.
Trouble is, access is not available to the forgotten cemetery.
Dallas Boeddeker wants to change that; rather, he would like the Traill County commissioners to alter the landscape leading to the burial plot in Caledonia Township, where in a span of 10 years (1933-1942) 14 people were buried.

Sunsets numbered for historic 107-year-old bridge at Blanchard

The Blanchard Bridge, recorded in history as one of the oldest bridges not only in Traill County but the state of North Dakota, as well, will soon be history.
History, as in never to be seen again.
James Sykes, a Wisconsin contractor, is expected to remove and move the bridge near Blanchard sometime this month.
The August exodus will bring an end to the debate between members of the Traill County Historical Society and the Traill County Board of County Commissioners. The Hillsboro Banner also entered the fray, supporting efforts to save the Blanchard Bridge.
All to no avail, Neil O. Nelson, editor of the Banner, grudgingly admits.

Switcheroo

Hillsboro High School will have a new principal when classes resume Monday, Aug. 27.
Ron Stahlecker, retired Thompson superintendent, agreed to contract terms this week.
Stahlecker, a veteran school administrator, will replace Kevin Coles, who started work this week as superintendent of the Northwood, N. D. school system.
Coles submitted his resignation Tuesday. He has been the high school principal in Hillsboro the last 12 years.
The move of Coles to Northwood and Paula Pederson to Hillsboro completes an unplanned exhange of school administrators. Pederson, former principal and superintendent at Northwood, will be Hillsboro’s new elementary principal this year.