Born To Be a Newspaper Man

by Martin J. McGowan Jr.

St. James Hotel

The most impressive structure in Appleton was the St. James Hotel. Located in the heart of the business district on the main street in town, it was the focal point of the community. With its canopy over the sidewalk it appeared to be something out of the Wild West. One could almost imagine a cowboy coming out of the second story window to the canopy roof and jumping down to his horse tied to a hitching post at the curb.

The hotel was owned by Mrs. M. M. Mills. She lived on the top floor with her mother, Mrs. J. W. Wright, the widow of a Civil War veteran. I recall seeing her husband when they lived down the street from our first home. It always impressed. me to see a person who fought in the Civil War so many years earlier.

Virginia Mills, the red-haired daughter of Mrs. Mill, also lived at the hotel. She was the vocal music teacher who directed our quartet to the A rating in the state high school music contest. She only taught for that one year and then went off to Fergus Falls to marry a dentist.

In the early days the hotel ran a large, white bus to meet incoming trains on both railroads that served Appleton, the Great Northern and the Milwaukee. The Great Northern had a branch line that ran from Benson to Watertown, S. D. The main line of the Milwaukee ran through Appleton from Seattle to Chicago. Their tracks crossed in Appleton and if there was a problem with the Milwaukee tracks between Appleton and Minneapolis, the trains would continue on to the Twin Cities on Great Northern tracks.

It was customary in those days for salesmen to bring trunks filled with their wares on the train. The bus was large with a wooden body painted white. It was driven by "Father" Massee. He was not a clergyman but must have been the senior member of the Massee family. He would bring the salesman and his products to the hotel where the salesmen would set up in a room and invite local merchants to visit them there and hopefully make some sales.

The three-story gray wooden building occupied almost half a block. Starting at the alley in mid-block there was a restaurant connected to the hotel lobby. This was the best eating place in town at the time. The lobby was a dark and dingy place. It became the site for the town loungers to hang out during the day to watch the passing parade of townspeople. My uncle, Charley Vieg, was one of those often found there. A brass spittoon occupied a prominent place on the floor for the convenience of those chewing snuff. Judging by the stains on the floor it was evident their aim was not very good.

The most colorful person in that lobby was Charley Dillon, the hotel clerk. He walked around in a shirt with suspenders holding up trousers that were too short. They exposed his white socks above the top of his high-top shoes.

North of the lobby were some business establishments. First was the barber shop of O. M. "Mint" Teien and Hans Teigen. My grandmother preferred that I get haircuts from Teigen. I sat on a board placed across the arms of the barber chair to get my clips.

Teien later parted with Teigen and opened his own shop down the street. He had the custom of getting his patrons in the chair, putting the cloth around their necks and then going across the street to the Candy Kitchen for a cup of coffee. He took his cup of coffee, poured some of it in a saucer and proceeded to blow across the coffee to cool it and then drink it down. Observers couldn't understand how he could drink such hot coffee. In the end it cost him for he had to have his voice box removed.

A story is told that when President Coolidge visited the Black Hills of South Dakota, a cowboy came to him and said, "Here is a cup of coffee for you. It's all saucered and blowed."

There was one more unusual feature about the barber shop in those early days. That was the presence of a bath tub in an adjoining room. Appleton was a small town supported by farmers. Saturday night was the big night of the week when they came to town to patronize the stores and to have a good time. They often started with a bath and then a shave after which they were all set for Sunday and the rest of the week.

The next store north of the barber shop in the St. James was a cigar store owned by I. "Ike" Osmundson. He had the best job in town. He came to work about 9 a. m., sat in his chair in the front window and read his newspaper. I don't recall how many cigars or other tobacco products he sold, but it didn't seem to be much. At 5 p. m. he locked up his store and walked home.

I can't recall if the S. H. Johnson insurance business was behind the cigar store or in an adjoining office. At any rate most people knew Si Johnson was there.

He parked his car in front of the office and when he prepared to go home warnings went out. Johnson was an elderly man and when he got in the car he revved it up to a roar. Then with a crashing of gears he pulled out of his spot. He didn't move very fast for all the roaring of the engine. He must have been riding the clutch to move so slowly for all the noise. With everybody watching and being careful, Johnson made it home safely.

It was said by most people in Appleton that the St. James Hotel was too old to burn. That theory was disproven in November, 1950, when it did indeed burn to the ground except for three partial walls and all those interesting people were put out of business.

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