THAT REMINDS ME: Brand-new Studebaker, yours for $1,050 (in 1914)

Local skaters were featured in the annual skating carnival here 100 years ago. Merchants of the city provided prizes.

In a two-mile relay, four children from each grade school would skate one half-mile.

In a carry-all race, two men would enter with the first carrying the other around the half-mile course and back. They then would change off and go around again.

But as the spring of 1914 moved along, the automobile was the biggest news. Lyons Auto Co., which still is in business at 210 N. Fourth St., was advertising a Franklin Six Thirty Touring Car that weighed 2,700 pounds for $2,300.

Leslie Stinson was president of the Grand Forks Automobile Association, which was holding its fifth annual auto show.

Along with it, there were ads in the Herald. They showed that for $950, you could get a Model B-24 1914 self-starting, nifty, electric-lighted roadster. And you could go on up to a Buick Six, described as “a rich man’s car at a business man’s price” for $1,985.

The Cadillac that won the Dewar Trophy was billed as most prized in the world by Sims Automobile Co., 223 N. Third St.

There was a 1914 Overland Touring Car with a 3.5 horsepower motor for $950. The many dealers in this area worked with a distributor, Mayville (N.D.) Motor Co.

There were Ford, Buick and Chevrolet automobiles on the market. A Hupmobile that weighed 2,100 pounds was priced at $1,050.

The Rauch & Lang Control electric car was supposed to be “almost human.” Electric lights and a starter were big features in 1914. The Studebaker Four Touring Car was going for $1,050. A Studebaker Six was $1,575.

At the same time, the city was warning motorists they were required to stop behind streetcars that were stopping.

The future seemed bright in 1914. Railroad King James J. Hill said land bought at $15 an acre would be worth $150. And 350 men rose to their feet when he was introduced at an agricultural gathering here on March 8, 1914.

In other news:

•  The first bowling contest on the new alleys were to be played under the Grand Theatre. The YMCA team issued a general challenge to every team in the city.
•  Hotel Dacotah claimed to have the best cafe in Grand Forks.
•  The Buxton, N.D., school was closed because of a smallpox epidemic.
•  Mayor M.F. Murphy invited citizens to inspect the water plant, where $16,000 had been spent during the past year on improvements.
•  Curling and ice rinks that had been well-patronized in the winter of 1913-14 were closed on March 23.
•  “Erin Go Braugh” was presented by St. Michael’s Catholic Church before a packed house at the Metropolitan Theater.
•  “The Squaw Man” was showing three days at the Grand Theatre. Tickets were 10 cents and 20 cents.

 
There were signs of the times in the news 100 years ago:

•  Bull Durham smoking tobacco was advertised as what “real men” put in their pipes.
•  A Chinese girl who would become a lawyer was front-page news. And another story told of another vote on women’s suffrage was in the works.
•  Electro Painless Dentists were holding forth over the drug store at the corner of Third Street and DeMers Avenue.
•  Superintendent Michael Reidy of the county hospital and poor farm at Arvilla, N.D., reported patients were being cared for at the rate of $2.50 per week. And the farm made a deposit of $132.77 to the Grand Forks County treasurer for hogs sold.