'THE story of Oakes really begins before the plat of the townsite was made or the coming of the railroads. In the first place nature did an excellent piece of work in preparing the land for a city. A dry knoll a mile back from the James underlaid with veins of first class water is a good preparation. The soil has enough sand to make it easily worked and still is rich in plant food, level but not swampy, sloping enough for drainage, a good soil on which people can be healthy and prosperous.

When the new country was open for settlement, many people needed to cross from the line of activity along the Northern Pacific railway to that along the new lines of the North Western and Milwaukee some hundred miles to the south. It is easier to follow a river than to have no natural guide so the people who made the trip between these two new lines of west-ward immigration went up and down the valley of the James. The Nicollet and Fremont expedition of 1839 is an example, as they passed up the James through Dickey County on July 17^th and 18^th of that year.

The Fort Totten Trail went up the east side of the James, and when traffic invited the establishment of a stage line, the Columbia and Jamestown stage, established by Benjamine in 1880, adopted the old Trail as its road.  A part of its line was very nearly along what is now Fourth Street in Oakes.  The men who were operating that line moved into Oakes when the railroad superseded that means of travel.

The first settler on what is now the site of Oakes was William Mills, a native of Ireland who had come to America in 1870.   He came to Dakota from Pennsylvania in the early eighties, and found some land that suited him along the line of the stage route.   He filed on the southeast quarter of Section 20 for a homestead and took the southwest of Section 21 as a tree claim.   His sod shanty stood on the southeast corner of his homestead, in the low ground just south of where the Wadena line of the Northern Pacific crosses the section line, or what is now Fourth Street.  Mr. Mills was a good cook and worked much of the time at the relay station at Bear Creek, but made his residence and improvements on his claims so that he proved up on both quarters.  Mr. John M. Jones had the quarters just south of Mr. Mills.  At the time of making these land entries there was no prospect of a city on their land, but the locations brought these four quarters to a meeting place where Union and Fourth Streets of the city of Oakes now cross.  At the time of the settlement of these two men the nearest towns were Ellendale thirty miles away, Grand Rapids thirty-five miles, Lisbon forty-five miles to the northeast, and Columbia thirty-seven miles to the south.

With the settlement of the region between Jamestown and Columbia it was inevitable that there should be a railroad between these towns, as the day of the stage coach was passing. The North Western was building up the James River Valley. Three towns, Eaton, Port Emma and Hudson, had been located on the west bank of the James in Dickey County, and it was thought the railroad would come up the west side of the river. In fact the promoters of Hudson were hoping to make that town the crossing point of the North Western and a future east and west line. As the survey was extended these towns were doomed to disappointment as the new line was located up the east side of the river. Even then Hudson hoped the new town would be located across from it, but the survey went on to the north.  Both the North Western and the Northern Pacific were studying the opportunity of a connecting line between their main lines. The Northern Pacific had built into LaMoure and the North Western was coming north, so the question was how much should each build, or were there to be paralleling lines. Some sort of agreement was made, and the North Western built up as far as Ludden and was willing to stop there. The little town of Ludden over on the fish-hook bend of the James moved over to the railroad, but the North Western had the town site and the Northern Pacific was not willing to come into Ludden, so a compromise was effected whereby the site of the junction town should be further north.

In the month of May, 1886, W. K. Cook, the general right-of-way agent of the North Western, made his appearance. He was looking for a desirable location as he knew the junction of the roads would make a good-sized town. He camped for a while to determine the adaptability of a location he had found, discovered that good water in abundance could be obtained any place at a depth of from twelve to sixteen feet, good water right out of the gravel, and that the natural lay of the land would afford excellent drainage. In the month of August, Mr. Cook secured options on the west quarter sections of land owned by Mills and Jones. A plat of the new town was made, and the main street known as Union Street, was laid out east and west on the section line and Fourth Street along the north and south section line. In the latter part of September the North Western laid its track to a point two miles south of Bear Creek, or in other words into the new town, and the Northern Pacific soon built down from the north, and the joining of their rails made the first connecting link between the northern and southern parts of Dakota Territory.

The original plat which was surveyed on September 14^th and filed with the Register of Deeds on September 15^th, 1886, consisted of seventeen blocks, seven of them and a line of lots along the Northern Pacific right of way north of Union Street, and eight blocks and a line of lots along the North Western right of way in the Jones quarter south of Union Street.  Very soon after this three additions had to be made; the Western Town Lot Company's Addition to the south and west of the original plat, the McCarthy Addition on the south and west parts of the southwest of Section 21, which was Mr. Mill's tree claim, and the Washburn Addition which included the whole of the northwest quarter of Section 28, with the exception of the railroad land belonging to the newly arrived Minneapolis & Pacific Railway.  This addition was the tree claim of Mr. John M. Jones, and it is said that Mr. Jones received $1000.00 for his homestead for a town site and $9000.00 for his tree claim.   The bargain with Mr. Mills seems not so easily found.  The name of the new town was given it in honor of T. F. Oakes, at that time Vice-President and General Manager of the Northern Pacific Railway Company. The new city was laid out on a plan worthy of its god-father.  Instead of streets the usual width of sixty-six feet, they were made eighty feet wide and everything had its start from the section lines. The name of the city had something to do with naming the streets, as those running east and west, with the exception of Union, were given the name of some tree.  South from Union they are Elm, Ash, Beech and Maple in order; north the first streets are Cedar, Pine and Oak; in McCarthy Addition they continue to the north as Poplar, Catalpa and Elder. The north and south streets were numbered, beginning with First Street about 100 feet east of the railroad rights-of-way, and continuing eastward to Eleventh Street on the quarter line through Sections 21 and 28. Other additions have harmonized with the original plan to make Oakes a symmetrical city.

The railroad companies had advertised the sale of town lots for September 29^th, 1886, but before that time people were coming to look up prospects for residence and business places in the town-to-be. Mr. George H. Ladd had put up a hotel, the first in Oakes. As no one could locate on the town-site he had this hotel just off the town-site to the east and pulled it over onto Second Street after he bought a lot there. Mr. Ladd has the unique distinction of helping to found three towns in Dickey County. In 1883 he built a hotel at Hudson and took a prominent part in the early days of that town. In 1886 he was one of the first on the ground at Oakes, and in 1905 he was the first to erect a store at Forbes and was its first post-master.  At the sale of town lots, Mr. P. S. Peabody was the purchaser of the first lot offered, paying £250.00 for it. In an hour's time 214,000.00 worth of lots were sold in amounts ranging from 2150.00 to $355.00 each. Work was begun at once on buildings and by the time winter came the city was a reality. Several buildings were moved in from other towns. Many were brought up from Hudson in the winter time, being hauled down on the ice after the James River had frozen over. The store building belonging to Elder White was pulled over from Yorktown at a later time. Some of the buildings brought in at that time are still standing (1929) as landmarks in Oakes. The printing shop and residence of Frank Busteed, the editor of the Hudson Herald stands on Union Street just east of the Telephone Exchange and looks much as it did at Hudson. Around on Second Street two blocks south the W. H. Marsh Block was brought up from Ludden, and just north of it a few rods is the Clark Building in which the Kemmerer Bank was located in Ludden. Across Second Street between Ogden's meat market and the photograph gallery stands a little old office building with sheet iron front that was brought up from Hudson, and just recently has been used as a laundry. Some others were brought up from Port Emma by the late T.  W. Bush. The C. M. C. Store was brought in from Columbia by E. W.  Bittman and remodeled. There may be some other business buildings or residences which were brought in from other towns but many of them have been changed or so thoroughly remodeled that their original appearance is not observable.

As the two railroads were agreed in building the line along the James they built a union depot just at the end of the Northern Pacific track on the north side of Union Street. This building now used as a freight house is still standing on the original site (1929).

Practically all the land had been homesteaded before the city of Oakes was founded, but it was the time of proving up and considerable land was being sold to new comers, so there were many transients passing through the new town.   Henry Vinkle put up a good sized hotel at the corner of Union and First Streets. This was known as the Vinkle House and was built three stories high, with some business places on the first floor. It was remodeled about 1900 and has been a land mark for years. In 1887 Dan Lynch built a three story hotel across the street to the south of the Vinkle House and called it the Exchange Hotel. It has been remodeled several times but has been in continuous operation ever since its early days.  In 1902 this hotel was bought by C. M. Stevens, who had homesteaded a farm and bought other land in Clement township. He made the hotel modern in its appointments, made several additions, and renamed the hostelry the Home Hotel. One block further east a third hotel was built and named the Argyle House. This was burned in 1891, but in 1892 Mr.  A. G. Hemenway and his son-in-law Mr. Andrew White bought the site and built the two-story Argyle House, which was remodeled later and became the property of W. D. Huffman. These hotels did a good business which showed the activity of Oakes as a center of travel. In addition to them there was at a later time La Clair's restaurant in the Klein & Sutmar block which was well-known as a popular eating place.

The livery business flourished. After the railroad came down from Jamestown the stage business was discontinued. Frank Mellinger, the driver of the old Columbia stage, came down to Oakes and started a livery barn. Mr. Benjamine, the man who operated the old stage line, had lost all that he had made in the freighting and stage business by speculating in wheat, and had to go to Mellinger for a job. He would not go to his relatives in Nebraska while he was in comfortable circumstances, so when misfortune came he was too proud to go to them, and worked and lived in Mellinger's barn. Sometimes when he was in bad humor he would say; "Curse you, I own everything else here.   I started Mellinger up in business, and everything he has got I own", Benjamine had an old army rifle that he had used when among the Indians freighting on the plains.  He prized it greatly and boasted that he could kill a deer at half a mile with it. Some one stole the gun and he felt very sorry about it, and said that he would not have parted with it for any amount of money, but he never got it back. Finally when Mellinger sold out the livery barn Benjamine drifted away to Nebraska and died years ago among his relatives there.

Moore's livery barn run by 0. H. P. Moore was well-known for a time, and was later owned by his sons, Dick and Charley under the name of Moore Brothers. Dick is now in Montana and Charley lives near Crete.  The old barn was moved two lots north in the next block and is owned by H. P. Low. W. J. Roberts was a late comer in the livery business, and one of the best known barns was the Up-to-Date Livery, Feed & Sale Barn.  The Teal & Stanley Barn back of the Vinkle House was a good cement block building which became known as the "horse hospital." It was owned by S. W. Teal, a veterinarian from Canada and George J. Stanley whose home had been in Sargent County.   Another barn that was well known and which continued until automobiles took the place of horses was that of Mr. J. B. Andrews, whose place of business was just across the North Western tracks to the west. Mr. Andrews had come to Dakota from Illinois in the late eighties and had been located in Milnor until 1901 when he removed to Oakes. He was a public spirited man, serving efficiently as a member of the school board in Oakes and taking a prominent part in church and charity work. He was fond of horses and kept a good livery stable, always having horses for sale and always ready to buy more. In his advertisement he states that they "usually have a few high class drivers that can move along a little." Mr. Andrews was the owner of the pacer, "Cockt swain", whose time was 2:10 and which was quite well known on the track at the county fairs. He had bought this horse as a two-year old while at Milnor and brought him to Oakes with him in 1901. The horse lived to be twenty-five years old and was such a favorite with his owner that he had him chloroformed at last.

The first bank in Oakes was organized in 1886 by a group of men of which Mr. Thomas F. Marshall was the moving spirit. This was called the Bank of Oakes and they built a little banking house 25 by 40 at the corner of Union and Second Streets. Mr. Marshall was its first cashier, and as office boy had his nephew H. C. McCartney, with whom Mr. Marshall worked in business relations the rest of his life. Mr. McCartney became cashier of the bank in 1891, and soon after this the name was changed to that of the First National Bank of Oakes. The Marshall-McCartney Company was organized November 9, 1902, to handle farm lands, livestock and grain, and it had offices in the back part of the bank building. This bank has come through the changing vicissitudes of good times and hard times and probably what might be considered their good fortune has been very largely due to the foresighted policy adopted by this firm which allowed them to handle their real-estate through the subsidiary company that was thoroughly organized to manage its interests.

In July, 1887, when Oakes was less than a year old, a party of surveyors came in from the east. The terminus of the Soo, then the Minneapolis & Pacific, was at Forman, but it was coming west. Without any announcement, Mr. Underwood and Mr. Lidgerwood, two prominent officials of the Soo came in with their chief engineer. They had the papers to show that their road had purchased the old grade and all the rights of the Dakota Midland Railway Company, a corporation that had been organized at Ellendale to promote the construction of a line from that town to Wahpeton, then a promising railroad city. The Dakota Midland had secured the right of way and had done considerable grading. Its line passed through the old town of Hudson and to the south of Oakes about three miles.

The Soo officials went into conference with T. F. Marshall, at that time cashier of the Bank of Oakes, and through him the fact was communicated to the citizens that the Soo would enter Oakes providing inducements were made. With his characteristic energy Mr. Marshall set to work and secured the right-of-way through the town, and armed with other concessions from the citizens, went to Minneapolis, and not only succeeded in getting the road to enter Oakes but secured a contract from the officials to make it a division point on the line. The Soo kept pushing westward finally reaching Bismarck in 1901, and by purchase of the Bismarck & Washburn line secured access to the coal fields of McLean County.

Another railroad line had been scouted out to run from the main line of the Northern Pacific at Wadena through Fergus Falls, Wahpeton and on to the west. On a trade with the Great Northern the Northern Pacific secured the grade to Milnor and put it in operation to that town by the early eighties. In 1898 this line was built into Oakes to make connection with the Jamestown and Fargo branches. The Soo built its depot down on Second Street so the town has always had two depots, but it has enjoyed unusual advantages as a railroad center. The time tables of these roads about 1905 show that there were eight passenger trains daily on the following schedule: The North Western left for the south at 5:10 in the morning, the Northern Pacific for the east at 6:15 A. M., returning at 8:20 in the evening; the train for Fargo and Jamestown arrived at 1:30 in the after-noon and left at 2:30 P. M.; the Soo Passenger went west at 7:00 A. M.  and east from Bismarck at 7:30 in the evening; the North Western arrived from the south at 2:30 in the morning.

This schedule gave Oakes a mail service hardly equaled outside of the great cities. A post-office was established late in 1886, with Mr. Hineman as the first postmaster. He was followed by Mrs. Dan Lynch, and then Mr. J. B. Root was postmaster, after whom came Mr. M. N. Chamberlain for two terms. After Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. W. H. Bush was postmaster, and in his term the post office was burned in the big fire that swept several business blocks.

The year 1903 brought a distinct era of substantial building to Oakes. Figures that are probably conservative show the amount of building done.  In 1902 improvements amounted to $52,000, in 1903 to $65,000, in 1904 to $82,000, in 1905 to $65,000 and in 1906 to $86,000. The residents of Oakes in these years will remember that the Klein & Sutmar Block was erected in 1904 with its majestic seventy-five foot front, a substantial brick structure that has proved its worth through the years, as there are forty-one office and living rooms on the second floor and large mercantile rooms on its first floor.  The proprietors who built the store came up from St. Paul in 1894 and had large farm and ranch interests southeast of Oakes. Across Second Street to the east stood the Roberts Block, in which was the Corner Hardware managed by J. W. Bush, the Economy Store which was bought by J. H.  Jesson a newcomer from Wahpeton, and in whose store the fire started, to make such a devastation in the center of the city, and The Senate Cafe operated by W. T. Brown, an Eaten Rapids boy who came into the county with its first pioneers. The second floor of the Roberts Block was fitted up for living rooms.

After the post office block, the Kennedy Block was next east and was a brick building in the basement of which Mr. Kennedy had his barber shop.  The Point Billiard Hall occupied the first floor, and Dr. Gale's dental parlors had the second floor front. Harmonizing closely with the Kennedy Block was the. Lockie Building, the first brick building erected in Oakes. This was erected in 1903 by Mr. W. M. Lockie, who has had a hardware store in one of the first floor rooms ever since he built the block. It has another business place on the first floor which in the early days was occupied by the Palace Clothing Company. Beyond these Miss Piper and the Boardman Brothers had store fronts, and around the corner on Third Street and a little further north was the hospital built of concrete blocks by Dr. Boardman. 

On the south side of Union Street the most conspicuous building was the First National Bank, when they pulled back to the alley the old building they had used for twenty years and erected the present structure of Roman pressed brick heavily trimmed with Bedford stone, with its portico on Union Street supported by four Corinthian columns of Bedford stone. Built in 1906 and 1907, it is one of the finest and most commodious bank buildings in the northwest, and the foresight of those who planned it gave the town an edifice of which any city, regardless of its size, may well be proud. Beyond the First National Bank on the south side of the street were the Argyle Hotel and several other business places, the fine home of the Oakes National Bank and then the large house of the Cash Mercantile Company. This building was taken to pieces in Columbia and moved up to Oakes in 1893. This contained the store of the Bittman brothers on the ground floor, and the Opera Hall, or what was known as the Academy of Music, on the upper floor with full stage settings and gallery, and with an outside stairway from the Third Street side. The Bon Ton Dressmaking Parlors of Mrs. M. Thompson were also in the front of the second floor.  The Opera Hall was the main place of amusement in the city, furnishing the largest auditorium for public meetings. There were also several good places of business on Second Street.

One of the old landmarks of the early days is the home of the Oakes Machine Company at the corner of Second and Elm Streets. This was built by P. J. Aasen a native of Minnesota, who came to Oakes in 1889 and put up his machine shop that same year. It was known as the Oakes Auto & Machine Company, and was one of the best furnished machine shops in Dakota. It had two iron lathes, planer, drill, engine, emery grinder, and a blacksmith shop. It manufactured plows of its own patent and was noted as a boiler repairing shop. Mr. Aasen invented and patented an auto engine, and did a large business with the farmers and thresher-men of that part of Dickey County. Mr. Aasen is still in business at the same place and has kept his building in such repair that it looks the same old landmark so well known by the men who brought him machinery problems in the early days.

The Oakes Mill was built in 1895 by Mr. J. H. Rapp, and had a capacity of fifty barrels of flour per day. In 1899 a new management bought the mill and increased its capacity to one hundred fifty barrels a day, and in 1904 built an elevator of twenty thousand bushels capacity, so that the mill and elevator took in about 65,000 bushels of wheat from the crop of 1906.  Mr. C. P. Walton from Wisconsin, a brother of Frank Walton of Ellendale, was president and treasurer of the company and Mrs. C. P. Walton the efficient secretary, with Fred Knock as the wheat-buyer. In recent years the competition with the great milling enterprises has made it advisable to cease operating the mill.

The Oakes National Bank was organized by a group of farmers headed by H. S. Nichols and J. H. Denning. H. S. Nichols was an Iowa farmer who had heard of the new land opened in Dakota and had come to the Clement neighborhood and built up a splendid farm. Mr. Denning was from Ohio and had come up to the Hudson neighborhood where he had been successful in building up a fine farm of 480 acres. These men with some of their neighbors and acquaintances enlisted a capital of 225,000 and organized a bank, constructed a fine two-story brick building and commenced business October 12^th, 1903. Mr. Nichols was made president, and E. J. Walton who had come to Oakes in 1897 to accept a position in the Bank of Oakes (now First National), was the vice-president. In 1906 J. E. Bunday who had had experience in the Gwinner State Bank was the cashier. Under conservative management this bank did a good business. In recent years it has occupied a good banking building on the corner diagonally across from the First National Bank, formerly the site of the old Roberts Block.  In the uncertain times of 1927-28 it experienced some of the difficulties common to banking, and had to close its doors, but gives promise of meeting its obligations as well as possible with the "frozen securities" characteristic of this period.

While the business houses were being built on a true city scale there were many fine residences constructed. Many of these are yet among the best to be found in cities of this size or larger. Building material has always been available. The Salzer Lumber Company came in early and is still in business (1929) on south Second Street. The Oakes Lumber Company was started in 1905 by the Murray brothers, three of whom had taken land and added to their holdings in Hudson township until they had a combined acreage of 1600 acres in improved farms. In recent years the Thompson Yards have established one of their well appointed yards on Union Street between the Northern Pacific Railroad and First Street.

The Marshall-McCartney Company deserve special mention for their advanced practice in farming and stock-raising. Not only were they among the first to grow durum wheat in large quantities, but as long ago as 1906 they had 350 acres of corn that yielded 40 bushels to the acre. They sold many of their scattered quarters and bought the Brooks ranch of 2,000 acres in James River Valley township, and in addition to that leased five sections. A great deal of their land was under hog wire fence so that they could keep sheep as well as cattle. Through the winter of 1905-6 they carried 350 head of beef cattle and summered 1,000 head, selling 750 head for beef in the fall of 1906. They would go out to Montana and buy up sheep to turn into their fields after harvest, arranging to have them stopped over on their way to Chicago so that they could reship with only the extra expense of $10 a car. In 1905 they bought 2,000 sheep in this way, and in 1906 bought 10,000 for the purpose of feeding them. At a profit of 21.00 a head they made good money. Mr. Marshall was especially interested in this type of stock management and encouraged his neighbors to get the benefit of this means of conserving what otherwise might be wasted.

The H. J. Johnson Land & Cattle Company was another firm that did good business with live-stock. Mr. Johnson was born in Denmark and came to this country when quite young. He came to Oakes in 1898, and opened a set of offices and purchased a farm a half-mile west of the city on the bank of the James, where he established a herd of full-blooded Hereford Cattle.  Mr. Johnson was agent for some of the holdings of the Baldwin Corporation in eastern Dickey County, and the firm had offices for a number of years on the second floor of the Lockie Block, but for several years recently the office has been the old Oakes National Bank Building, which it now owns. 

Mr. E. W. Bittman was one of the great builders of Oakes. He came to Oakes from Columbia at the time of the sale of town lots in 1886. He purchased the lot on which the Roberts Block and later the Oakes National Bank were located, and established a branch of the "Great Western" with headquarters at Aberdeen. In 1893 he had a building brought up from Columbia and erected the present C. M. C. Block, where he was in business with his brother Fred for a number of years, finally selling to Mr. Seifert who has continued the business at the same location.

J. W. Bush was a pioneer in Dickey County, for he came to Port Emma with his father in 1882, and turned the first sod in four townships, Port Emma, Lovell, Hudson and Riverdale. He was engaged in business at Straubville for a time and came to Oakes in 1903, where he bought and managed the Corner Hardware in the Roberts Block until the fire of 1907.  After the First National Bank moved into their new building, Mr. Bush established his hardware business in the old bank building and it has continued there ever since. Mr. Bush's death occurred in 1927. His brother, W. H. Bush came to Port Emma in 1882, and has been in Oakes from the first, was postmaster for two terms from January 7^th, 1906, and has been in the grocery business in the same building on the south side of Union Street for the past fifteen years.

Mr. W. M. Lockie came to Dickey County in 1883 developing a farm of two sections in Bear Creek Township. He put up the handsome Lockie Block in 1903, and has been in the hardware business ever since. He has seen the growth of Oakes from the time when he used to sell the boys the two-wheeled carts for joy riding to the days of the Packards and high powered cars. John H. Coulter came to Dakota Territory in 1879, and to Oakes in 1891, and has been engaged in grain buying, some of the time at Norway Spur and lately for the Atlantic Elevator on the Soo Line in Oakes. He has served as city marshal and on the Board of Education.  When he came to Oakes it was a small town of about 355 people, but his first experience made him think them very lively. As he stepped off the train at the Union depot he saw a bunch of threshers being herded out of town across the tracks to the west. As they passed, the herder, Dan Lynch the town marshal said, "If you fellows want to fight get out of the city limits and go to it, but you can't fight on this side in town." He followed them over the tracks outside the city limit where they turned on him and licked him before they settled their private fights. Another grain buyer of about this time was W. E. Dickinson, who was in Oakes for a time before going to Fullerton.

John Kennedy came to Oakes in 1888, a barber by trade. He built the Kennedy Block in 1906, rebuilt it after it was burned in 1907, and is yet (1928) in Oakes. Mr. Kennedy was Representative from Dickey County in the Legislative Assembly of 1889 and introduced the bill prohibiting the use of dogs for hunting. Ritterbush & Son were contractors and builders who had much of the building in the years of new construction.  John Schill came to Oakes in 1886 and his shoe shop has been a landmark for two generations. W. R. Bishop had a meat market two doors east of the Argyle Hotel.   Sol Hunter came to Oakes in 1887 and is still in Oakes.  C. B. Fenton will be remembered by the older settlers, also G. A. Tuthill who is still (1929) in Oakes. S. Bergenthal came to Oakes in 1897 and worked in the Union depot till 1901, when he went to the Soo depot as its agent and has remained with that company since. In 1928 he was elected mayor of Oakes, and has one of the best homes in the city. The North Dakota Artesian Well Company, established in 1905 with the man who is now Senator Peter Norbeck of South Dakota as its president, has put down a great number of artesian wells in Dickey and other counties. While its main work is now repairing wells, it is still in business with Mr. Fred Sletvold as manager. Among the newer business men Mr. C. E. Knox has taken a prominent part in the business and political life of the city.  He was for several terms one the Representatives of Dickey County in the Legislative Assembly and has had a hand in shaping much constructive legislation. W. S. Wickersham and W. D. Huffman have served as county officers.

Dr. H. P. Boardman was the first physician in Oakes. He was a student of medicine at Ann Arbor, Michigan and a graduate of Bellevue Hospital of New York City. He was the family physician for many of the early residents of Oakes and built the Oakes Hospital in 1904. With his brother Martin he was interested in the furniture business. Perhaps it was not quite appropriate that a physician should be connected with an undertaking establishment, but that fact did not detract from the popularity and worth of Dr. Boardman. He sold his hospital and practice to the Maercklein brothers, Fred W. and Ivan R. who were prominent physicians in Oakes for about twenty years. Dr. Fred Maercklein died in 1925, and Dr. Ivan Maercklein moved to Wishek.

Oakes was organized as a city in 1888. Mr. Thomas F. Marshall was its first mayor. There were three wards, and J. B. Root and Dan Lynch were elected aldermen from the First Ward, M. H. Roberts and A. Ritter-bush from the Second Ward, and J. F. McCarthy from the Third Ward.  J. W. Lucas was the first Treasurer, A. G. Hemenway the first City Justice, E. W. Robey the first City Attorney, J. E. Spurring the first City Auditor, B. F. Roddle the first Chief of Police, and E. G. Baldwin the Assessor. The first Police Magistrate was chosen in 1890 and R. S. Angell filled that office.  The people of the city had faith in the purposes of their officers and loyally backed any plan for improvement. A city hall of good size, 55 by 80, to house the offices of the city government and the fire department was erected in 1907. This is a brick structure with ornamental trim that has given good service.

The newspaper has always been an important factor in the develop-ment of a new country, and no city can boast the name without a good live sheet to give the people the news. The first newspaper in Oakes was the Hudson Herald, which had been issued in that town by Frank Busteed and was brought to Oakes in 1886. The Oakes Republican was the offspring of the Hudson Herald, the Port Emma Times and the Jim River Journal, the latter being the paper started at the little settlement of Eaton. The Republican was run by Ellis and Brown.

When matters became interesting in the political field and the people were beginning to believe that populism was the real hope of the country, the Oakes Independent was launched in 1893 with E. W. Weston, a homesteader in Hudson Township as its editor. C. S. Brown was editor of the Oakes Republican in the early nineties, when the plant was owned by a stock company, and was later joined by W. L. Straub, who moved his Rustler to Oakes from Cogswell in 1894 and assumed an interest. The Republican became the property of Ed. A. Smith in 1898; three years later it absorbed the Oakes Independent, and in October, 1902, was purchased by Goddard & Wright, proprietors of the Dickey County Leader at Ellendale. Mr. F.  S. Goddard was editor for a year and then the partnership dissolved, Mr.  Goddard taking the Leader and Mr. Wright the Republican. In 1906 the name was changed to "The Oakes Times," continuing the former volumes of the Republican; new and modern equipment was added in 1905 and a souvenir edition of the Times was published as a Christmas number in 1906.  The Oakes Times has consistently advocated the principles of the Republican party in state and national affairs, and is now (1929) the only paper published in Oakes and one of the two papers of Dickey County.

It is characteristic of a new town that the people at once establish their churches. In this Oakes is no exception, as early in its history five churches with buildings of their own were organized. The Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Swedish Lutherans and Swedish Mission societies constructed the first church buildings. The Catholic church has been remodeled but still stands on its original site. The Swedish Mission church was moved out to Hample and is still in use there. The Methodist building is still on the old lot but has been sold to the Norwegian Lutherans and a commodious brick building built by the Methodists. The Presbyterian building was sold to the German Lutherans and a fine new structure built in 1919 by the Presbyterians on their original location. There were several other denominations represented in Oakes in the early days and some of these have since then erected places for worship.

The City of Oakes has a beautiful cemetery on the hill two miles east of town. This is on the quarter of land which belonged to M. N. Chamberlain, and at first lots were bought of him. The organization of an association was made by T. W. Millham, M. N. Chamberlain and Dr. Matthews, and in 1904 the ground was platted and an association formed with H. V.  Hicks as president, W. A. Pannbacker as vice-president and W. H. Bush as secretary treasurer, and the plat was recorded with the Register of Deeds on March 15^th, 1904. In 1916 the cemetery was deeded to the City of Oakes and was later named Oakes View Cemetery. The names of a great many of the pioneers can now be found on the monuments of this cemetery. 

Many of the founders of Oakes had belonged to some fraternal organization before coming to their new home, and a number of these societies were established early. At first they met where ever they could find a good room but finally secured Union Temple, a good building on South Second Street.  It was built in 1892 .by a stock company, but the shares were taken up by the Masonic, Odd Fellow and Workmen lodges, who own it jointly. The lodge rooms are on the second floor, the first floor being a business place. The secret societies represented in Oakes in early times were the Masonic bodies, the Odd Fellows, United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America, Yeomen, Woodmen of the World, Red Men, Eagles, Maccabees, with their auxiliaries.  Order of Eastern Star, Rebekahs, Degree of Honor, Royal Neighbors. In recent years there is a Post of the American Legion and the Auxiliary.

There is a good Boy Scout organization which promises much help to the boys, and the Camp Fire Girls have an association. For several years there has been a live Den of Lions International, giving the city one of the best service clubs. There was in Oakes a Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the General Burnside Post, with its auxiliary of the Women's Relief Corps, but its members have passed on to the higher roll call with the exception of Mr. Curtis of Yorktown, who is now at the Soldiers' Home at Lisbon, and Mr. Payton of Glover.

From the first Oakes has maintained good schools for its children. The first school was held in a little building on Second Street just north of where the Oakes National Bank is located, along side the little hotel building used by Mr. Ladd in 1886, and the first teacher was Miss Belle Brainard. The first school building was erected in 1887, on the south side of the block that is now the location of the new school building. This first school house was of wood construction, two stories high with four rooms.   It served the school children until 1902, when a wing was built of brick, and the frame structure of the old building was brick veneered and remodeled throughout.  Two years after that, or in 1904, another wing was added, and this was the school house for twenty years, except as it was necessary to provide for more room before the new building was constructed.

The St. Charles Parochial School was built on North Fourth Street in 1907. Mr. George Baldwin of Appleton, Wisconsin, owned many quarter sections of land in eastern Dickey County and was around Oakes frequently.  Mr. Baldwin became interested in this school and gave it a quarter section of land and other substantial support, and it is now known as the Baldwin Memorial St. Charles School.  It occupies a fine building on a beautiful site and has a good attendance, maintaining good scholarship standards. The school was closed for three years from 1922-1925, but was reopened.

The founders of the new city wanted it to be a beautiful place in which to live, they bought from Mr. Marshall all but four lots which had been sold to private parties of the block on the southeast corner of Union and Fourth Streets and donated it to the city as a park. It has become a beauty spot known as Central Park. About 1909 it was found that Mr. Marshall owned the land just beyond the city to the east and south of the extension of Union Street, and that he would make an attractive price to the city.  The citizens went around and got subscriptions and bought ten or twelve acres, which they gave to the city as Donation Park. It now has a ball diamond, extensive play and picnic grounds, and facing Union Street one of the prettiest tourist camp grounds in the country. The whole park is kept up with pride and is a monument to the foresight of its citizens.

Nearly every new town has its fire. It may be one of several, or a great conflagration. In the month of October, 1907, a fire started in the Economy store owned by J. H. Jesson, in the center of the Roberts Block, and burned the entire business block which was housing the Corner Hardware store of J. W. Bush, the Economy store and the Senate Cafe, besides accommodating several people on the second floor. The post office building just to the east was burned and the fire got into the Kennedy Block through an open coal window so that block was consumed. The fire was stopped on that side of the street by the solid brick wall of the Lockie Block. As it was, the fire got into the second floor of this building and did considerable damage.  There was a high wind at the time so the fire spread across the street and burned the Argyle Hotel, Young's Drug Store, the Union Meat Market owned by W. R. Bishop, and run by Amos Fordyce, and the Fenton Hardware store. There was a vacant lot between the hardware store and the building now occupied by W. H. Bush so the fire was stopped there. There was some feeling against Mr. Jesson, but the sites of most of these buildings were soon occupied by substantial structures that have really made a better looking street.

The city had put in a system of sewers and water works in 1904.  Drainage was made to the James River. Three artesian wells, each having a pressure of ninety to one hundred twenty five pounds to the square inch, had been installed, with good four inch mains and hydrants placed at advantageous points throughout the city. Nearly all the business places and residences had been connected with these modern conveniences. With such good water so easily obtained the people had been in the habit of using surface wells for drinking and domestic purposes. These wells were shallow and it was found that they were liable to contamination, so some points were driven down in Elm Street just off of Second Street, and in 1927 a water tower with a capacity of a hundred thousand gallons was erected and the city is furnished with first class water from the city system.   It was discovered that a strong underground current of good water ran under the city from east north-east, but on account of the possibility of contamination the points are put down about forty feet. There are still three or four artesian wells in operation in Oakes (1929) and several citizens are still using their surface wells. The city has been remarkably free from any disease that could be traced to a water supply.

In 1903 the business men demanded that the city be better lighted so a stock company was formed known as the Oakes Commercial Company and a gas plant with mains was erected, so that the streets could be well lighted with acetylene gas. Most of the business places and many residences were connected with the gas lines. It was the age of electricity, and Dr. Blakeslee of Bemidji came over and started the General Utilities Company in 1912.  A direct current system was established in that year. This came into the hands of the Mid West Power Company, and this company sold to the Otter Tail Power Company in 1923. This company was organized at Fergus Falls in 1907 and made its first development by building a line from Fergus Falls to Wahpeton. Shortly after it extended its lines in Minnesota, and about 1920-21 began to extend in North Dakota. In 1923 their lines were built into Dickey County at Oakes. The company has continued to expand until they have over 3500 miles of transmission lines and are furnishing nearly 300 towns and cities. They have a generating capacity of over 25,000 horse power, have over 30,000 customers and are serving a population of over 140,000 people. The Otter Tail Power Company has five hydro and five steam plants. The steam plants are operated from fuel taken from their own mines at Wilton, N. Dak. In 1927 they generated 48,027,747 kilowatt hours of electricity and are supplying twelve of the good sized towns of North Dakota.   Oakes is the only town in Dickey County to which the Otter Tail Power Company furnishes current.

The telephone is a modern convenience that is almost indispensable.  A telephone system was organized in Oakes by Dr. Boardman in connection with Mr. Ed. N. Leiby of Ellendale and Mr. J. F. Zietlow of Aberdeen.  Fourteen phones covered Oakes and there was a long distance line to Ellendale and Aberdeen. A few years later the system was incorporated with the Dakota Central Telephone Company, and since about 1904 the service has required three operators. Mr. H. V. Hemenway, the son of the builder of the Argyle Hotel, is the local manager, and the company has a neat office on the north side of Union Street beyond Third Street.

From its convenient location and excellent train service Oakes has been quite a convention city. Several political conventions have been held here, a notable one in 1900 and some in recent years. It entertained the state encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1904 and the State Firemen's Convention and Tournament in 1907. In 1919 the south-eastern division of the State Teachers Association held its convention here, meeting in the C. M. Hall.   Through sleeping cars to Minneapolis and Omaha have made it convenient for speakers of national note to come to this city.

The school facilities for the children of Oakes became inadequate by 1915 or before. To relieve the congestion a class was established in the council room of the city hall, and later some temporary buildings were hauled up to the school ground to care for some of the classes. Finally it was decided to erect a building fitting and adequate, and bonds were voted accordingly. A fine modern structure was erected on the north side of the school block. As the city had no auditorium nor adequate library accommodation the people voted bonds for the erection of a gymnasium and a library and united their funds with those of the school to complete the plant. As built the school has a fine auditorium, a commodious and well equipped gymnasium, study rooms, a good library room and full class room space, a credit to any city and a monument to the appreciation of education by the people of Oakes. The school has always maintained a high standard and from its classification is known as the Oakes State High School. The first class was graduated in 1892 and consisted of three girls; Grace Boehmler, Delia E. Ladd and Jennie May Root. As the school was not at that time classified these girls had to take the state examination in all the subjects and were given diplomas accordingly. The Class of 1893 consisted of one girl, and the high school was officially established and recognized by state authorities in 1893-94. In athletics and in debating the high school has held high rank in recent years.

The old Union depot became inadequate for the growing business of the railroads so in 1917 a new brick depot was built across Union Street to the south and a single office has served since then for both the Northern Pacific and the North Western.

Another new building is that of the Oakes Mercantile Company on Union Street just across the track of the Northern Pacific from the old Union depot. This firm, composed of the members of the Leach & Gamble Company of Wahpeton, saw the strategic location of Oakes for a wholesale grocery house. They incorporated in 1924 and began business in the building of the Oakes Auto & Machine Company, a bankrupt firm. The venture was successful so in 1926 the wholesale house put up a splendid building along the railroad track, and Gordon S. Bader is manager of the company.

The greatest business enterprise in Oakes and in Dickey County is the North American Creamery Company at its branch opposite the Soo depot on South Second Street. The head office of this company is at Paynesville, Minnesota. In May, 1904, this company located a branch in Oakes as the North American Storage Company with a good sized place of business west of the Union depot. They bought cream and made butter and handled eggs, doing an excellent business and proving that there was a real field in butter making in Dakota.   Several other ventures had proved successful, but this branch operated as a storage company up to 1915. They were not churning and were not a creamery in the full sense.

In 1915 Mr. Walter T. Noonan, now Vice-President of the Company came to Oakes to open it as a creamery. The old Storage Company building was sold and became the Bottling Works. A new building was erected on the new site on the Soo Line and the company made butter, repacked eggs and dried the butter milk until 1925. From that time on they have handled poultry, have opened a feed and poultry dressing station, and also installed a chick hatchery. In 1926 they added a down town retail store to sell bottled milk. They have added to their building every year, the greatest addition being made in the fall of 1925. They now have a capacity for making 10, 000,000 pounds of butter a year, a capacity in the poultry department of 2,000,000 fowls, and are equipped to handle 75,000 cases of eggs. They have a hatchery with six units of 16,000 capacity each. They operate as a centralized creamery for the south half of the state east of the Missouri River. There are now (1928) seventy-eight farmers who sell them whole milk. The buttermilk is dried and powdered so that it makes a good commercial product. In 1927 the company shipped 378 carloads of butter to the Eastern market. They have their own selling agency in Boston where most of their shipments go. They are one of the largest manufacturing plants in the northwest. During turkey week in December 1928 they bought 125,000 pounds of turkeys at an average of about 34 cents per pound.

The business men of Oakes believe in recreation and take time for pleasure as well as business. They have a very wide awake Golf Club and have laid out excellent golf links four miles north of Oakes on the Singleton place north of Bear Creek. The course is well kept and affords grounds worthy of any one's best sportsmanship. As evidence of the appreciation of this sport it may be said that the Club has taken an option for the purchase of eighty acres on which the links are located, and if they conclude it advisable the enterprise of the members will complete this deal.  In addition to the railroads Oakes has two excellent highways, as No. 1 runs along Fourth Street in its course across the state north and south, and No. 11 comes in from the east to go south to Ludden and west to Ellendale and on to the Missouri River country. There is also a well graded country road to the west of Oakes. To make their city free from dust and mud the streets are oiled and the city is comparatively free from dust annoyance.

It is a city of fine homes. Mr. Noonan's residence is one of the best in the state and the home of the mayor, Mr. Bergenthal, comes next. It is a growing city and has justified the expectation of its founders and those citizens who have come later to live within its borders.

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