History of Ryder
A history of the early days of Ryder would be
incomplete without the mentioning of “Old Ryder”. It began as Centerville about
4 miles southeast of the present site. Homesteaders had flocked into this area,
and it was necessary to stand in line for several hours to file on a quarter
section of land. It was well on its way to becoming a thriving city.
Ed Fredeen had circulated a petition among the
new residents to establish this post office. The first name selected for this
town was Centerville,
but it was rejected by the post office department as it was already being used.
The next submitted name, DeKalb, was likewise rejected. So, how was the name
Ryder chosen? The story is that when the postal representative came out to
establish the new post office, it was winter, and the nearest railroad was
Minot. He had to travel overland some forty miles by team and sled during the
cold weather. A Mr. Arthur R. Ryder was a partner in a Minot hardware store at
the time, and the postal official either already was, or became acquainted with
Mr. Ryder, and borrowed his buffalo coat for the trip. On his return, the
grateful government man tried to pay Mr. Ryder for it use, but payment was
graciously declined. As a consequence, this government man proposed the name of
Ryder for the new post office. The name was accepted and survived the 1906 move
to the new town site.
Austin Grey was the first postmaster of the
Ryder Post Office. Mr. Grey also erected a 2-story hotel and established the
first store. During the summer of 1903 and under the persuasion of Ed Fredeen,
Lloyd Wells from Souris started the Ryder News. with Guy Humphreys as the first
editor. H.C. Miller opened a state bank and was the first cashier. E.E.
Fredeen had the first contract to carry the mail from Minot to Ryder. Mrs.
Fredeen had a boarding house, several blacksmith shops were run by J.F. Smith
and the Casley Brothers, John S. Johnson had a real estate business, S.A. Olsen
ran a grocery store and A.C.O. Lomen was a hardware dealer as some of the first
businesses in Old Ryder.
The 4th of July of 1903 was
celebrated in the community and a baseball game between Ryder and Hiddenwood was
played with Ryder winning. A Presbyterian Church was organized with Mr. Evans as
the first minister.
In the spring of 1906 Ed Fredeen acted as an agent for the Soo Rail Road and purchased the present town site from Mr. Bailey, a homesteader who had seeded a flax crop on the NW1/4 of section 10 in the same township as the old town was located. Mr. Bailey never got to harvest his flax field because on July 19, 1906 the sale of town lots of present day Ryder were platted and sold on this flax field. Lots were sold to the highest bidder with the auction being conducted by Mr. Campbell, representing the town site company. Any amounts received over a predetermined level went into a park fund, and the sum of $3600 was acquired allowing for Ryder’s nice park. The biggest bidding event was between H.C. Miller and August Peterson for the corner lot which became Lot 9 on Block 13. Mr. Miller won and began the First State Bank there, and the last bank of Ryder called the Ryder Exchange was located there. Mr. Peterson bought Lot 7 of today’s Block 10 which was across the street and started the First National Bank.
The old business places were moved from Old
Ryder with new business places established. It is believed there were 4 banks,
4 hardware stores, 6 general stores, 3 livery barns, 5 hotels, 5 restaurants, 6
grain elevators, 1 blacksmith shop, 1 photograph gallery, 1 furniture store, 1
barber shop, 1 drug store, 3 doctors, 1 dentist, 2 lawyers and 3 churches. The
first restaurant to be opened after the lot sales was built by Kelley Bros. with
Mrs. Pat Kelley as cook. In October of 1906 Ed Fredeen began the construction
of his hotel which became the most famous holstery in this part of the state.
Nothing was overlooked that would aid in the comfort of the guests. The office
was furnished with comfortable chairs and marble tables, one of which was
rescued from the fire in 1947 and is displayed in one of the Ryder Museums.
There were 27 bedrooms. Ed Fredeen’s great-nephew and wife, Kent and Laural
Fredeen of Chisholm, MT visited present Ryder in 2003 searching for more
information about Ed Fredeen and family. Because of this, a file of information
about the Fredeen family was developed and is located on this marble table in
that museum.
It was not until November of 1906 that the
railroad steel reached Ryder, and the first train arrived on November 7, 1906.
The citizens thought their troubles with transporting coal and supplies were
over, but that was not to prove true. A blizzard soon blocked the line
completely and no effort was made to open the line until spring. In the
meantime supplies became low in all lines as all supplies had to be brought
overland from Minot or Garrison.
Toward spring the railroad sent a rotary
snowplow to open the line, and when the train arrived in Ryder, it carried one
carload of groceries---bottled beer. However, the citizens were so happy to see
the first train that they threw a welcoming party for the train crew which
delayed them several hours before moving west. This resulted in the
superintendent of the division discharging the entire crew. It took a petition
signed by nearly everyone in town to get the men reinstated to their jobs.
In those first years of town celebrations it was
customary to bring a number of Native Americans from the Fort Berthold
Reservation to the town to help. They would pitch their tents in a
semi-circular position and were provided with a young steer to butcher and serve
a portion to each group by having a crier call out a name of a squaw in turn to
come and carry her share to her tent. One of the features of such celebrations
was a dance in which the women would form a circle and shuffle around to the
music of a chant. Occasionally they would draw some man into the circle and
make him dance with them; but, then he could get free by making a small
donation. Since those earlier doings, the community has attempted to organize a
yearly picnic in the park with larger events on anniversaries of the alumni and
town. In the past years it was held on the 3rd week-end of July but
since 2004 it has been moved to the 2nd weekend in July and will
continue to be celebrated on that date in future years. The 100th
Celebration will be on July 7,8, & 9 of 2006 with just the picnic on July 9 of
2005.
It was not until May 8, 1907 that the first
meeting of a newly elected board of trustees was held. The records show that
the meeting took place in the bank building , presumably John Tucker’s First
State Bank, run by H.C. Miller, as he was also one of the first trustees. Other
trustees were R.L. Furlong, chairman, and H. E. Johnson. Aleck Haroldson, a
bank employee, was the clerk with George Krueger as treasurer, B.A. Dickinson as
assessor, Lewis Larson as justice and Martin Gettle as marshal.
On July 5, 1907 I.E. Officer was granted
franchise for a telephone system which was set up at Ryder and Plaza. It was
called the Queen City Telephone Co. This company lasted until 1954 when it was
sold to the Reservation Mutual Aid Telephone Co. at Parshall.
On July 25, 1907 the Village ordinances were
adopted. Elections were held every year in March until 1966. Then they were
held every two years which is today’s method.
In about 1910 Ryder’s Commercial Club was
instrumental in getting the north section of the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation opened up for homesteading. Probably the most active workers in this
movement we might mention were B.A. Dickinson and Ed. E. Fredeen. A congressman
and a member of the Department of the Interior were brought to Ryder and
entertained at the Fredeen Hotel and were given all the information at hand
relative to the reservation. As a result, a bill was introduced in Congress for
such an opening and a committee named to appraise the lands to be opened. B.A.
Dickinson headed the committee, assisted by a government agent and one Native
American from the reservation. After this was accomplished, the date was set
for registrations for those who wished to get a chance to draw a claim.
Thousands came from all over the nation to register with most of them going to
Minot and very few to Ryder which had promoted the whole thing. Later a drawing
was held and the winners notified to come and file if they wished. It wasn’t
long before all the claims were taken up.
It was not until 1957 that a municipal sewer
system was installed. In 1962 work started on the water system with a
$102,000.00 loan from Farmers Home Administration. This was the first such loan
to a municipality made in North Dakota, and possibly the first in the nation.
It was fully paid off in early 1981. A paving project got underway in 1980.
Because of the decline in enrollment, the Ryder
and Makoti School systems joined together in 1970 to become North Shore School.
So, Ryder High's last graduating class
was the 1969 group. The first 6 grades are taught at Ryder
while the grades 7-12 are taught in Makoti. Then, in 2003 this school system
joined with Berthold and Plaza to become the Lewis and Clark School District.
There are grade schools at Ryder, Plaza, and Berthold while the high schools are
at only Makoti and Berthold.
The history of Ryder is not complete without
praise given to the early day businessmen who arrived at or within a few years
of the founding of the town and stayed to make the town successful. Many of
those were listed by Ralph Larson in his town up- date in the Ryder Diamond
Jubilee book of 1981. At this time we wish to add others who since had done
much for the town of Ryder. This includes people such as Ralph Larson, Ted
Simmons, Harold Neukom, Don Morris, Mel Nelson, George Officer, Lloyd Bofenkamp,
Donald Mueller, James Erb, and Larry Petz to mention a few.