Northern Pacific Railway Transcontinental Train, the first northern transcontinental train, as it appeared in September, 1883, enroute from Saint Paul to Gold Creek, Montana, where on September 8 the Northern Pacific's last spike was driven. Aboard this train were President Henry Villard of the Northern Pacific, General U.S. Grant, and other dignitaries of the United State and foreign countries. Following the spike driving ceremonies, the train proceeded to Portland, Oregon.
Otto Schmalzbauer acquired land in June, 1901, from the New Brighton Land Company, upon which he built his meat market. One of the areas first entrepreneurs, Otto was a butcher, cattle and horse trader, hotel and saloon operator, slaughter house owner, realtor. and New Brighton Village official. Pictured with Otto is his daughter Theresa Schmalzbauer.
A fire destroyed the Peoples Coal and Ice Company, which had operated since the turn of the century. The ice was stored in well-insulated ice houses and covered with sawdust, which helped to insulate the ice and keep the blocks from sticking together. The sawdust used for insulation helped fuel the fire. Burnt lumber from the walls is still attached to the foundation. The ice houses were sited on the east shore of Long Lake.
Peoples Coal and Ice Company had five ice houses on the east side of Long Lake which first served the stockyards industry and later provided a busy commercial ice industry for some 60 years in New Brighton. The ice was stored in well-insulated ice houses and covered with sawdust, which helped to insulate the ice and keep the blocks from sticking together. When needed, the 20 x 32-inch blocks were loaded into railroad cars, which held about 140 blocks per car. Any left-over ice went toward filling many a villager's own icehouse.
Pierre Bottineau and G. A. Bracket chart the course westward for the Northern Pacific Railway in 1869. This photo also includes an Indian woman, two Indian men, and twenty-five railroad scouts. Photo of the expeditionary force was taken on the second day out.
Sadie and Franklin M. Searles, prominent New Brighton businessman, in front of their 1923 vehicle with their grandchildren, Helen Searles and Donald D. Searles.
Franklin M. Searles, his wife, Sadie, grandson Donald, and son DeWitt, in front of their still-standing home on Fourth Avenue in New Brighton. Searles was a prominent businessman and served on the Town Council for many years. He was known as "Mr. New Brighton" in the 1920s.
Mrs. Putzke was a homeless woman who lived in a vacant hotel building with her children in the 1930s. The Beisswenger family took her in and she remained on their farm for 35 years. Her two daughters lived in the home as hired help and Mrs. Putzke lived in the farm sheds, peeling potatoes, topping vegetables, and preparing berries and produce. As poor as people were in the 1930s, many extended charity and generosity to people such as her.
The grocery store of Schmalzbauer and Zamor, located on Front Street in the old Transit House building, was operated by Frank (Shorty) Zamor and Anton (Buff) Schmalzbauer, brothers-in law.
Otto Schmalzbauer, Jr. and Anton Schmalzbauer along with Florence Lundgren in the Home Brand Grocery Store, run by Anton and his brother-in-law Frank Zamor in the old Transit Hotel building.
World War II soldier Leroy Linder with New Brighton banker E. L. Hagund and unidentified woman. Many New Brighton men answered the call to duty in World War II. A granite monument in front of the New Brighton City Hall honors World War II veterans.
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was founded in 1902. The congregation first built a rectory and then a basement church in 1907 on Fifth Avenue. The parish, which became one of the largest in the state, built a church atop the basement in 1922, and eventually built a much larger sanctuary in 1952 in a school-convent complex three blocks to the east on land donated by the John Farrell family.
The stockyard industry, one of New Brighton's earliest business enterprises, was begun in 1889. The stockyard enterprises consisted of two large packing houses, the Twin City Packing Company and the Minneapolis Stock yards and Packing Company, which were located immediately south of the stockyards. There were facilities for killing rooms, refrigerator capacity, hide rooms, lard rooms, smoke meat rooms, and a sausage preparation room. Numerous slaughter houses, rendering works, and hide houses were located in an area referred to as "Butchers Spur". This photo shows the expanse of the stockyards industry at the turn of the century. On the far right are the five ice houses run by Peoples Coal and Ice Company. Far back on the photo is Long Lake. Front of photo shows the cattle pens.
Horse barn at the stockyard site, with cattle in pens in front. Toward the rear is the opulent Exchange Hotel, a hotel built for the stockyards industry, which later became Beisswenger Hardware.
View of the stockyards shows the five ice houses run by Peoples Coal and Ice Company and cattle in pens. This photo is currently being used in the letterhead and logo for New Brighton's civic event, New Brighton Stockyard Days.
The Swanson Dairy Farm was located at 578 Silver Lake Road. The farm house, built in 1914, still stands. The farm not only produced milk, but sold it directly to the consumer through milk routes in northeast Minneapolis.
The Transit House, left, a hotel in New Brighton, and the Hudoba Building, right, looking west on Front Street. The Devine Hotel, Searles Lumber Company, and the Devine home east of the railroad crossing are in the left center of the photo. The Hudoba Building housed a general store, saloon, a hotel, and living quarters. The Transit House, the first hotel in New Brighton, also had a saloon. It later became a grocery store.
The New Brighton Town Hall was built in 1898. Although planned as early as 1891, it took seven years to finish the project. It held the police department, government offices, and social events which were held in the upstairs auditorium. It was razed in the mid-1950s.
The view of the New Brighton Town Hall contrasts in size with the small shoemaker shop to its south. To the north is the Treat Building and a portion of the Marston Block. On the top of the hall was a flag pole which was on top of the large bell steeple on the left of the building. The bell was rung whenever there was a a fire. The fire engine was housed on the main floor of the building. The bell would also ring at nine o'clock when all the children had to be off the street.