The directory of 1886 lists ten attorneys of whom not one has been left in Ellendale for many years. Alex. D. Flemington was a prominent figure in the new town and in the early days was a partner with Atwood L. DeCoster. They had their office two doors east of the Randall store. The Flemington family have remained in Ellendale. E. P. Perry had an active part in the early history of the town and his son H. H. Perry is an attorney and lives in Ellendale. W. M. Austin was one of the first dealers in furnishing goods and was located on the corner where the VanHorn Grocery is now in business. Mrs. Austin had a millinery store, and the son, J. M. Austin, has been a practicing attorney and the County Judge for many years. M.  P. Axtell was a  homesteader in Ada township but came to town to engage in business and later formed the Austin & Axtell Collection Agency in partnership with J. M. Austin. His family is still represented in the city and his youngest daughter Grace was a Y. worker in France and is in business in New York City. Mr. C. A. Morrison was another homesteader who came in to town.  He organized a hardware and coal business at the location of the Dunphy Hardware on the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue.  He established a fine farm home just south of the city which is now the home of W. H. Wenkstern. Mr. B. R. Crabtree came to Ellendale from the family claim further north, graduated from the local high school and with some experience in one of the banks of the city went into the First National Bank when Mr. Frank Gannon went to Aberdeen. A. J. Applequist was the photographer and his family is still represented in the county. There were three grain buyers in the elevators of the city, one of whom was A. T. Cole who represented his county in the Legislature and has been Judge of the Third District Court for some years with his residence at Fargo.

The newspaper has been an important factor in all new communities.  The Dickey County Leader was the first paper to be published in the county and has had a paper every week since it was started by Wesley Moran in May, 1882, the first issue being published on June 2, 1882. Mr. Moran built himself a good comfortable home on the corner of Second Street and Second Avenue, which home was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lovell until the fire of 1916. On the back of that lot next the alley and facing Second Street Mr. Moran erected a small building into which he placed the presses and type fonts he had brought with him from Minnesota and the first issues of the paper were printed in that little shop.   Mr. Ed A. Smith was a printer by trade and had been living at Flandreu, Dakota, but was advised to establish a newspaper in the new town in Dickey County. He made arrangements for his equipment in St. Paul and came out by way of Jamestown, only to find at that city the first copy of the new paper called the Dickey County Leader.   He came to Ellendale and worked with Mr.  Moran and has had considerable to do with the newspapers of Ellendale.  Mr. Moran built the original home of the Leader on Main Street and ran the paper for about five years when he sold to Moore & Goddard. The Ellendale News had been launched by D. B. McDonald and was sold to Ed. A. Smith who discontinued its publication.  The Keystone Commercial had been started at Keystone in 1882, but moved to Ellendale in 1885 and became the Ellendale Commercial and had C. C. Bows field as its editor.  The Commercial had passed to the ownership of R. E. VanMeter in 1891 and was located in the place now occupied by John Jones' pool hall. In 1895 Mr. VanMeter had a disastrous explosion of his gasoline engine and was so badly burned that he died in a few days.   His wife continued the publication for a time and later sold the paper to the Leader where its name is carried in the subtitle.   In 1891 E. J. Moore sold his half interest in the Leader to Ed. A. Smith and the firm became Goddard & Smith, until in December, 1897, when Mr. Smith sold his interest to Alex. R. Wright. This partnership continued until October 1903, when Mr. Fred S. Goddard became sole proprietor. After Mr. Goddard's death in 1915 the paper has been continued by Mrs. Goddard and the son, H. J. Goddard, who built a fine new printing plant after the fire had burned them out completely on May 9, 1916. The North Dakota Record was started by Peary & Son in 1894, and was continued by other owners until it was burned out completely in 1916, when it ceased to exist. The Farmers Sentinel was moved to Ellendale from Forbes about 1919 and has been located in the basement of the Opera House block. This is owned by a stock company and Mr. H. G. Lewis is the managing editor.

Some of the people of Ellendale wanted a railroad east and west, and very soon after the settlement a company was organized under the leadership of Mr. W. H. Becker to promote such a road. The larger plan called for a line from the Missouri River about opposite Winona across the state to the Minnesota line, but special attention was given to a line east from Ellendale to Wahpeton. The right of way was secured and a charter obtained from the government, several towns were projected, notably Ransom and a town where Forman is now located, Hudson at the crossing of the James River was established and an office was opened by Mr. M. N. Chamberlain in this town to promote the railroad and dispose of lots in the town-site.   Considerable grading was done and the old grade is still visible in some places in each of the three counties of Dickey, Sargent and Richland.  This company sold its holdings to the Minneapolis & Pacific, which built its line now known as the Soo over parts of the right of way, but as the Great Northern had built into the south part of the county this road went through Oakes and on to the west further north. In 1886 the Milwaukee built on to Edgeley, and the same year the Great Northern built into Ellendale from the east. This new road placed its depot in the northeastern part of town, and its old engine stall could be located as late as 1929. This road gave the city another line to the Twin Cities and added more mail service.

Before the coming of the Great Northern and the extension of the Milwaukee there were connections by stage to many towns to the north and east.  The directory of 1886 shows these connections as advertised at that time.

POST-OFFICE DIRECTORY.-Delivery open at 8 a. m. close at 8 p. m., open Sunday 6:30 p. m. close at 8 p. m. Mails from the east and south at 5:30 p. m. close at 9 p. m. daily. Grand Rapids, LaMoure, Yorktown and all Northern Dakota mails arrive at 8 p. m. and close at 9 p. m.  daily. Keystone and Merricourt mails arrive at 8 p. m. Thursdays and Saturdays and leave Mondays and Fridays. Weston, Eaton, Emma and Milnor mails arrive at 12 noon and close at 2 p. m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Lorraine, Coldwater, Youngstown and Hoskins mail arrives at 6 p. m,. Saturdays, and closes 9 p. m. Sundays. Hudson and Westbore mails come and depart irregularly.   F. S. HORTON, P. M. 

RAILROAD TIME TABLE.-C. M. & St. Paul R. R., leaves Ellen-dale at 7:45 a. m., Aberdeen at 1:30 p. m., arriving Minneapolis at 4:30 a.  m. Returning leaves Minneapolis at 9 p. m., Aberdeen at 3 p. m., and arrives in Ellendale at 5:30 p. m.   FRANK L. BACON, Agent.

The old court-house was the scene of many stirring conventions and public meetings.  It was erected in time for the trial of the first murder in the county, a story which is told under Kentner township.   It served the city for its school house in 1915-1916 while the new brick school was being built, and there were many meetings held there in the time of the World War.   It was in use when the preparations for statehood made Dickey County and the middle part of LaMourc the Eighth District for the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention.  The nominating convention was held at the old court-house with delegates from all parts of the district.  Mr. Flemington was selected early in the afternoon, and after some little skirmishing Dr. L. D. Bartlett was chosen as another candidate, but the third one was not so easily determined.   The meeting ran over into the evening without adjournment but the delegates were afraid to go out for supper lest the opposition win and many had some lunch sent in for them.  At about 2:30 in the night Mr. Rowe of Monango was selected for the third candidate.   At the election held on the 14^th of May these three men were elected, and in the Convention which began at Bismarck on July 4^th, 1889, they proved active and influential delegates, taking part in some of the important questions that had to be met by that body. The Industrial School and School for Manual Training was located at Ellendale the peculiar type of the school being largely the ideas of Dr. Bartlett in a plan that received Mr. Flemington's active support.

A water supply is essential to a city and in 1886 a deep well was driven in Third Avenue at the court house corner. This was put down to the "second flow" and furnished soft artesian water at a pressure that could fight fire in the highest building in town. When this flow was thought to be insufficient for all uses a well was put down on a lot bought for this purpose by the city on Fifth Avenue, but this well was put down to the "third flow" and furnished hard water. The pressure was enormous and a separate main was run down Main Street to afford fire protection and for any purpose for which the hard water could serve. When the soft water well ran down in pressure a pump was installed in the little well house in the street at Third Avenue and water power from the hard water well was used to pump the soft water and put it under pressure. The hard water well had to be re-cased in 1914 and by 1927 was so far beyond control that an overflow sewer was built to carry off the water.

In 1896-1897 there was a return of the severe winters of the earlier days, and for several weeks no train service was possible on the Milwaukee. The Great Northern was snowed under in January and did not run a train until the thaw of the following spring. Great snow banks blocked the streets and tunnels to the business houses were dug. For a time the mail was brought up as far as Frederick by overland conveyance and a man was sent to bring it from Frederick to Ellendale on horseback. The town was well supplied with fuel and provisions so no one suffered and help was given those in the country when there was need.

A gas plant was installed for lighting the business places and the homes as well as the streets, and a sewer system was installed early in the new century. On this sewer system some trouble was experienced from the objection of the people owning land along the run west and southwest of town. A septic tank had been installed but with the large amount of water used and the run off of the artesian wells the tank was not large enough, so the reduction of the sewage was not carried far enough before the overflow.  A law suit was started but that trouble was averted by the city's purchasing a quarter section of land. Most of this land was afterwards sold with the no wage rights retained by the city, and soon after this a good reduction plan was installed that has served very well to dispose of the city's sewage.

When the Great Northern extended its line to Forbes a new brick station was constructed in its present location on Main Street, and in 1915, a new station was constructed by the Milwaukee. The period from 1905 to 1915 was one of substantial rebuilding. Fires, always a menace in a new town built of wooden construction and more or less cheaply and hurriedly put up, burned out several of the old business houses.   A new opera house was put up by an organized company in co-operation with some of the owners of the lots.  A fine new hotel, christened the Dickey, was put up on the old site of the Central House, probably the best hotel in the state for some years.  The Leiby block, the Geer building and the Ellendale National Bank, and a fine banking building erected on the site of the old Holbrook House, were instances of this building program.  The court-house was completed in 1912, and the city built a beautiful brick city hall across Main Street from the old building of the early days.  A new school building was erected on the old site, costing #60,000 at the time but worth double that on prices of a later time.   The Methodists had outgrown the old building of 1883 and in 1916 erected a fine brick church on Main Street at Fourth Avenue.   Several new homes had been erected, which with the shady and well-kept streets was making an attractive residence city of Ellendale. An electric plant was built in 1914 and in September of that year the city was lighted by electricity.

Then on a windy night, May 9, 1916 came the big fire, the event from which time has been reckoned since. The old Applequist livery barn at the corner of First Avenue and Third Street caught fire at about ten at night. The siding was in ribbons and the entire building was littered with chaff and hay. It had not been used for some time and in fact had been condemned by the city council and ordered removed as a menace to the safety of the town. How it got afire was not established but it made a terrible blaze. There was a north-west wind blowing at a gale of forty miles an hour, which fanned the blaze into one like a blow-torch. The fire spread to the row of buildings on the north side of Main Street and ignited the whole row; sparks and burning boards were blown through the town and set fire to a barn in the south-east part of town and to the prairie to the south.  No one could stand before the blazing heat; the fire jumped Main Street to the south side and the wind blew live coals down the side streets and alleys with the result that two blocks were swept clean and two others almost clean of anything made of wood.   By keeping the Christian Church on Main Street wet the fire was stopped there, and the homes of Leiby and Bodle on First Street formed the last ditch of the fight in that part of town, with strong reinforcement by the new Anderson house across the street. The last fight was made at the Davis house on Second Street.   By turning up an old mortar mixer the fireman could hold the hose on the house and keep it wet in spite of the intense heat of the burning Baptist manse at their backs.  A number of families living in the path of the fire were gotten out in safety, so no lives were lost although escape in many instances was very narrow.  Some twenty-one families were burned out, three blocks of business places, including both newspaper plants; and the Baptist Church, the best church building in town, was burned by sparks blown into an open basement window.

With characteristic western zeal, the business men who were burned out set to work to rebuild on more substantial lines, with the result that the business section now has some very commodious and attractive stores of fire-proof construction. To enhance the beauty of the streets a White Way was installed in 1926.

Some of the homes of the early days are still standing as homes of the newer generation or of the original pioneer. Among these are the Meachen home on Railroad Avenue; the Fred Walker place on Fourth Street, the Leiby home on First Street. The Flemington home is still located on its original site. The D. W. Coleman home was built by Hugh Martin and several of the houses in the west part of the town would be still recognized by the original builders.

When the Thompson Yards removed to their location by the Milwaukee depot the company erected eight very neat cottages on the half block occupied by the lumber yard they had bought of the Kings.

There have been several times when the people desired a city park.  The grounds of the State School, the court-house and the city school have been kept up in park-like order, and the site of the old city hall has been improved by a neat band-stand, but none of these are a city park. In 1909 Dr. M. F. Merchant, who had a new grove growing on his land east of the city, offered to turn it over for a park, provided the boulevard was improved and the property maintained in good order as a park, and provided that the improvements were made within ten years. Dr. Merchant had plotted an addition from his quarter which he designated "East Ellendale" about the time that he was preparing the offer of the park, but this addition was never made. Again in 1917 this tract on Dr. Merchant's quarter was again staked out and a sale of lots was held, but the project came to naught and the time for development of the park expired.

A more constructive measure in 1926 gave the city an opportunity for a real park. The taxes on Block 8 and parts of blocks 6, 10 and 12 of the DeCoster, Flemington & Wells Addition remained unpaid for several years and the property reverted to the county, so the County Commissioners gave these lots to the city for a public park. Plans are well under way to improve these and the city has a Park Board for such purposes. As a further beautifying of the streets and highways a row of trees on each side was planted along the half mile to the cemetery and along the highway out of town to the north.

In the winter of 1918-1919 the city was visited by an epidemic of the Flu. A hospital was established in the firemen's rooms at the City Hall and the local Red Cross chapter took care of the people who needed hospital attention. Mr. H. C. Peek and Mr. Ira Barnes took charge of this work, and many, especially of the students of the State School who were here away from home, were cared for with excellent results.

While Ellendale is on two railroads and two excellent highways it is pre-eminently a city of homes. A good building and loan association has helped people acquire their own homes, and probably a larger percentage own their own homes in this city than in the average town of the western part of the country.

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