by Mrs. Leo Foster
Mrs. Chris Willuweit
Mr. Leonel Jensen
Beginning of the Town of Wall
In the spring of 1907 a town began to form at Wall, adjacent to
the nearly completed Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. The name of the
new town was taken because of an abrupt break from the flat prairie
land to the rough badlands formations just east of the Townsite. This
break forms an eight-mile barrier that had been known as the "Wall" by
the cattlemen for many years.
The first building there was a sod shanty, built by Harry Fuller.
Though not intended as a cafe, so many persons stopped there that the
men put up a table outside the building and served meals. On July 10,
1907, the Hendrickson Land Company opened the sale of town lots on the
homesteads of Gene and Bill Mackrill. This date was taken as the
birthday of the town and has been celebrated annually ever since. On
that day, the first lots sold were on the west side of Main Street in
Block 3. Lot No. 1 was sold to Walt Babcock who built a restaurant and
hotel, Lot 8 in the center of the block was sold to Charles M. Lewis
who built a store, and Lot 16 on the south end of the block was sold to
Bill Becker who built a store. The lumber for these buildings was
hauled from Wasta as the Railroad was built to there but there was no
bridge across the Cheyenne.
The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad was completed between
Pierre and Rapid City in 1907. Sometime in May, the two crews, one from
Pierre and one from Rapid City, joined the railroad grade. This
completed the roadbed work just west of Wall. Art Galbraith tells of
the excitement created by this event. Art says that quite a few people
were present when the roadbed was finished and that the workmen threw
away their shovels. A number of homesteaders picked them up and Art
says he still has his.
The rail-laying crews completed their work and the rails were
joined from east to west some distance west of Philip on July 10, 1907.
An item in the Rapid City Daily Journal describes the event by saying
that the last rail was laid at about 4:30 P.M. but that the traditional
golden spike was not driven until ten minutes after five. The first
through-train from Pierre to Rapid City was on July 14th when a train
load of railroad officials made the trip between the two points in
twelve hours.
Originally the Depot for the C&NW Railroad was planned on the
east side of the railroad tracks on Mackrill land, but a disagreement
between Mackrills and the Railroad Company ended in the depot being
placed west of the tracks on the Pogendorf homestead. Williams, the
first railroad agent, had his office in a box-car. He was succeeded by
Briggs, then by F. M. Noe, then by H. M. Hatton, and finally by K. A.
Broyles, the present agent. Joe Wall, the original section foreman,
gave way to Joe Herink in 1912, in 1941 he was followed by Severt
Hoveland, the present foreman.
Other businesses in Wall date back to the beginning of the town.
The first blacksmith, Harry Wiley, established himself in 1907, selling
that fall to Joe Lynn, who quickly disposed of the business to Herman
Schone. Except the four years spent farming his homestead, Schone
conducted the business until 1930.
The first Lumber Company was started by Peter Mintner in 1907.
This business was taken over by A. C. Kingsbury in 1911. J. H. LeCocq
came from Iowa in 1906 and homesteaded but he soon began working for
lumber companies, and for many years ran the Kingsbury Hardware and
Lumber Company. Ted Whaley also worked in the store for many years.
Fred Van Vleck started a second lumber yard in 1932. This business is
still active as the Van Vleck Lumber Company, and is operated by
Gilbert Van Vleck and son, Gene.
Baldwin and Fallon, were the first Drug Store owners in Wall. In
1907 a drug store was built and operated by Schulz who sold to Charles
Nippell. Vern Turner was the next proprietor, the Rovaart, Heine
Sebade, and finally T. E. Hustead, who, with his son, Bill, owns the
business at the present time.
The first medical man to practice in Wall was Dr. Hutter. Others
were Doctors Clark, Standeven, McLaurin, Meissrow, Toon, Adair, and
Jernstrom. Dr. G. W. Mills, the present practitioner, opened his office
in August of 1919.
The first garage was opened by Joe Knapp in 1915. L. J. (Lee)
Dixon, who had worked for Joe Knapp, opened a garage in 1920. Stanley
Beck opened a farm implement store on the east side of Main Street,
which he ran for many years moving to Rapid City when he was elected
Pennington County Clerk of Courts. The Chiak Brothers were also early
garage owners. Present garage owners are Szarkowski, Evenden and Stone.
Present filling stations are operated by Kennedy, Hoffman, Hustead and
Foster.
O. C. Marshall built and operated the first livery barn. Frank
Conway was the first Star-route mail carrier out of Wall. He carried
the mail from Wall to Pedro in 1907. He lived at Pedro. Other carriers
on this route were: Sam Jones, O. C. Marshall (who carried the mail for
a time between Wall and Pedro in a Model T. Ford). The low gear clutch
band burned out on the Ford one time while he was climbing up the Pedro
Hill so he stopped, took off the oil pan, cut a strip of leather from
the top of his boot, inserted it as a clutch band, replaced the oil pan
and came on into Wall without further trouble. Henry Heutzenroeder,
Martin Overholt, Himmelhaun, Frank Richards, Harry Johnson, Carl
Pritchard, Fred Lewis, Don Mendenhall, Nick Feller, and Otto
Eisenbraun, who is the present carrier. A new Star-route was
established between, Wall and Scenic in 1952 at which time it was taken
by Edward Hanewinckel who was succeeded by Bryce Kennedy in 1953.
The Wall Post Office was established in 1907 and Dock Shappell
appointed as first postmaster, opening up his first office in a small
tar papered shack on the west side of Main Street, which later burned
with all mail and equipment. Mr. Shappell immediately built a building
on the other side of the street for an office, and postmasters followed
in this order: J. W. Casselman in 1910, J. E. Witten in 1914, Chas. M.
Lewis in 1918, Paul Pulvany in 1920, Mrs. C. A. VanZant in 1921 (Mrs.
VanZant died while in the office and Mr. VanZant took over the duties
until 1922 when I. D. Winter was appointed. He held the position until
1935 when Lysle Dartt was appointed. He was given Military leave-of -
absence during World War II and Mrs. Anna Sebade was named acting-
Postmaster, with Marie Dartt as assistant, while he was gone. In 1947
Dayton Sebade was appointed Postmaster and is still serving in that
capacity.
In 1908, J. A. Galbraith, one of the 1906 homesteaders north of
Wall, petitioned the U.S. Postal Department for two rural mail routes,
the one north of town, was established in June 1909, and Mr. Galbraith
was appointed carrier. The other route was not established until 1921
and was operated by Herman Sebade, Jr. During World War II Herman took
War-leave to work in a Defense plant and John Bielmaier substituted. In
1943 the two routes were consolidated and Art Galbraith retired. Herman
Sebade took over both routes. Following Herman's death in 1960, Deane
Joyce was appointed and is serving the route now. The first mail
service in Wall was of a peculiar kind. When anyone from this section
was in Dakota City (the post office address of most of the people near
Wall) he would gather together all of the mail for this section and
bring it in a grain sack to Wall where it was dumped into a large box
in the grocery store and everybody looked through it, picking out his
own mail. Wall's mail route was the first in the Western half of South
Dakota.
In 1908, the first school, a frame building, was erected. Before
that time, school classes had been held in a personal dwelling. In
1928, there was a 3 story brick building erected a block east of
mainstreet with a wing added to the North side in 1959 and a south wing
added in 1963. There are over twenty-five people employed by the school
system at this time.
The first Church, a Methodist, was organized on July 11, 1907, on
a bowery floor where a dance had been held the night before. Rev. Ross,
a first Congregational Minister, who had a homestead near Conata,
walked more than 20 miles each Sunday to conduct services. He was
killed in a train accident near Conata and was one of the first people
buried in Wall Cemetery. Wall now has three churches Methodist,
Lutheran and Catholic.
In 1908 E. S. Johnston purchased a struggling newspaper, the Wall
Record, from an editor whose name has been forgotten. Successive
editors were Charlie Burnham, Joe Whitten, Paul Viney, Brenner, and
Gladwin Hansen. After some years Hansen allowed the paper to die. E. S.
Johnston again gave the town newspaper, moving his plant from Quinn and
publishing under the title "The Eastern Pennington County Courant".
Later the "Eastern" was dropped from the title. "Courant" is a Dutch
word meaning paper. The present owner, R. F. Lewis, purchased the paper
in 1930.
In 1909 the Cheyenne Valley Electric Company was organized with
C. E. Dowling of Sioux Falls, Elmer Hawks, and E. A. Brown, building
the original telephone line from Wall to Pedro. About 20 people
subscribed to this new telephone service. In 1917 the company was taken
over by Mrs. Ethel Herink. In 1918 the Lake Flat Mutual Telephone
Company that had been organized in 1908 was purchased by Mrs. Herink
and added to her line. In 1954 the Golden West Telephone Cooperative
bought the line and added it to an extensive telephone system covering
a large area.
In 1907 the Security State Bank was opened. In 1910 the First
State Bank was opened. In the fall of that year they united, continuing
as the First State Bank. This changed to the Farmers State Bank in
1926. This changed to the Underwood State Bank in 1940, and the First
Western Bank in 1962. Among those who have been in charge of the bank
have been Kneeland, Kiddoo, Green, Thompson, Witten, John Thoma, Gail
Lewis, A. S. Nystrom, Leonel Jensen, Warren Joyce, and Delbert Sebade
who is at present the President of the Bank. It is one of the three
banks in the county that kept their doors open throughout the banking
panic from 1924 to 1932.
An early landmark was the Babcock Hotel built in 1909 after fire
had destroyed a smaller hotel built in 1907. It included 40 guest
rooms, a barbershop, bowling room, pool room and general store in a
twostory frome building. This building was also destroyed by fire in
1918. After the Babcock Hotel burned, Mrs. Hulda Miller started a cafe
and ran a hotel in connection with her grocery and dry-goods store.
In 1930 the Gypsy Oil Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma, leased 115,000
acres of land north of Wall for oil-drilling purposes. On May 3, 1931,
a well was spudded in with quite a ceremony. Some 10,000 people
gathered to see the test well started. Governor Green gave the main
address and the Wall Commercial Club handed out barbecued-beef
sandwiches. Three steers had been barbecued the night before. During
the summer the well was drilled to nearly 6000 feet. A complete log of
their operations was kept and filed with the Geology Department of the
University of South Dakota. It was capped and abandoned.
The first elevator in Wall was built in 1910 by the Tri-State
Milling Company. It was operated for many years by John Harnden, later
by Joe Wilson, then Earl Johnson was manager, later on Lynden Bansey,
then Han Hamann took over, and still later Edward Hanewinckel. Its
present manager is Dwight Norman. In 1930 the farmers around Wall
organized a company and built an elevator. They sold this to E. C.
Smoot in 1931 and he in turn sold it to Ralph Ivins. In 1962 Ivins sold
his elevator to the Tri-State, so both elevators operate under one
management.
Other businesses of the early days were: A dray line operated by
R. A. Scheer, who had homesteaded earlier; a harness and repair shop
operated by homesteaders Frank Patterson and Eric Gorseth; later on
shoe shops were run by Mike Hawley, Frank Kruse and Joe Larson: Barber
shops were run by Safken, Shorty Wilmus, Bill Thompson, Sam Johnson,
Cotton Johnson, and Lynn Williams is the present barber.
Joe Bielmaier was the Fire Chief and handy man about town for
many years. He was manager of the town water-pumping station for many
years, walking each day to the old town-dam where the water pumps were
located and he never let the water supply tank get low. Howard Connolly
took over Joe's job as Fire Chief in 1932 and held it until 1964.
During Howard's last year as Fire Chief, a new Fire Hall was built and
dedicated "Howard Connolly Fire Hall", at which time Howard retired and
Max Hauk became present Chief.
Dave Whitwer and Gene Miller began short and long distance
trucking about 1930 and Dave is still trucking.
The town had some early attorneys. Both E. S. Johnston and Judge Thomas
Conniff were in Wall about 1908.
J. F. Street owned the Street Hardware on Main Street; Carl Lurz
owned a Hardware Store on Main Street. Jim LeCocq and Vern Kingsbury,
Lysle and Norris Dartt were some other hardware store owners and the
present day owners are Bud Estes and Dick Van Vleck.
The business name, W. H. and H. E. Miller was familiar to
everyone in the early history of Wall. W. H. Miller, a Civil War
Veteran sent his son, Frank, to the territory in 1903. Frank took a
Soldier's Declaration for his father, a procedure somewhat similar to
filing a claim, and in 1906 Mr. Miller came to the country and filed a
claim on a quarter section adjoining the town on the northeast. Mrs.
Miller joined him in 1907 and for a time they tried their hands at
farming. It was on this place that one of the first wells in town was
drilled. It was 110 foot bored well two and one-half feet in diameter
and dug with a horse drilling rig by Louis Jenson.
In 1909 Mrs. Miller opened a small millinery shop. In 1912 the
Millers leased their farm to R. A. Scheer and went into the store and
hotel business. They expanded this business into the well-known Miller
Hotel with accommodations for 43 guests. This building now houses
Beaches Cactus Cafe and Lounge.
For years Fred Lewis owned and operated the Minneapolis Moline
Farm Machinery business, selling to Martin and Erhard Eisenbraun. Some
of the early stores were owned by: C. M. Lewis, L. H. Hansen, Clayton
Babcock, Al Strandell, Mrs. Martinson, and Frank Martin, Butler, Lanam,
Mutchlers, Bradley, Galbraith, Long, La Roche, Fosness, Horst, and Fred
Lewis. The two grocery stores at the present time are Smith's Jack and
Jill Market and Clark's Wall Lockers. Galbraiths started a dry goods
and notions store and Minnie Dartt had a dry goods store called the
Style Shop.
Early in 1920 the Galbraiths opened a funeral establishment known
as the Galbraith Mortuary. They sold this business to Bill Walsh in
1952, and Bill still operates it. Having added a chapel in 1965.
In 1935 the Wall Commercial Club sponsored a number of free
movies to try and induce someone to come to town to build a theatre.
When it was determined that there was enough interest to justify a
business, the Raeburns built the present theatre which they sold to
Earl Neumister in 1937.
Since Wall has become a popular tourist town, many motel and
cabin courts have sprung up. Best, Buckstads, Harvey, Campbell, Dora
Welsh were some of the early owners. Followed by R. Paulsen, L. Dartt,
Werd, Knapp, J. Paulsen, Irene Schmidt, Estes, Jensen, Hauk, Geigle, H
& W Welsh & Mills. Also Crown and Paulsen's Red Arrow Camp.
Tourist trade also makes Cafe business good. Some owners were:
Millers, Johnsons, Connolly, Smoot, Schone, Briley, Wilkinson, Parr, B.
Babcock, Doyle, Peterson, Land, Todd, Fischer; with the present owners
of Wall Cafes being: Fosness, Beach, Pederson and Hustead.
There have been many pool halls, bars, and liquor stores in town
owned by Johnson, Parr, Babcock, Doyle, Wilsey, Crawford, Beach, Byerly
and Haefs.
Some other interesting dates in Wall's history: In 1922 the old
town dam was built. In 1923 the first water system was built. Pipe
lines were laid and a water tower erected. The water was not used for
drinking but it was good fire protection. The water filtration plant
was built in 1942, and a new town dam in 1947. In 1951 a sewer system
was installed. Two deep wells were dug in 1961 and 1962, giving the
town an ample supply of pure water. The Stone Community Hut was built
with W.P.A. labor and federal funds in 1936. The West River Electric
Association energized their lines in December of 1940, replacing the
old direct-current electric lighting system owned by Chiak Brothers. A
portion of the Badlands area south of Wall was designated a National
Monument in 1939.
On August 9, 1960, Wall became headquarters for a SAC Radio
Beacon Site. In 1961 Wall became one of the centers for a Minute-man
Complex which has 150 launching pads for intercontinental missiles.
The Committee realizes this history is far from complete and
regret any business or name we may have omitted.
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