Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, March 27, 1909, Page 12

BEMIDJI, BELTRAMI COUNTY AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA. With plenty of lumber and available wood material for the manufacture of smaller articles of every day use, the field Be- midji offers for the special industries here- in enumerated must appeal to all interested. SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. Of both schools and churches Bemidji has a wealth. There are nine religious denominations here, and the school enroll- ment amounts to 1,100, an attendance phenominal in volume, considering that the children of this commonwealth are not forced to be breadwinners at an early age a fact which also reflects the pros- perity of our population. As a city's thriftiness is judged by the soundness and resources of its banks, in proportion it is judged by the number of its educational buildings, and church edi- fices, its school enrollment and the strength of its church congregations. At present Bemidji is wrestling with a $35,000.00 proposition for erecting a new High School building, in which event the present building will be used as a graded school. The people of Bemidji are extremely gealous as to their educational and re- ligious institutions, generous to a fault in their support of them and patriotic in their protection of them. THE CITY IN DETAIL. Bemidji is a city built after the most substantial fashion. There is no other city of her size which can exhibit greater num- ber of substantial buildings or a fewer number of shacks. Substantiability is the watchword in all that she does, and her people are of one accord in maintaining the enviable reputation which the city has earned as to spontaneity of putting up suitable and modern buildings and such as contribute to the advertisement of the city. L The clogged and muddy streets, so char- acteristic of many growing towns, are con- spicious by their absence. While no streets have as yet been paved, it will be but a short time before the city council will is- sue bonds to secure this much desired im- ])!")\'(‘IH(‘I\[. As to sidewalks, Bemidji ranks among the /rst cities in the Northwest. She is girded with cement and flagging from one end to {he other, and no dangerous pitfalls lurk in the way of the stranger who arrives after dark, neither in the pathway of any one else. The city council has been com- mendably industrious in its enforcement of sidewalk ordinances, and the people who use them most—the wage-earners—are thus protected against treacherous planks, dangerous protruding nails and spikes, and rotten or worn out lumber. As to newspapers, Bemidji has four, chief of which is The Pioneer, the only “daily and weekly” paper published in this section of the state. Bemidji has also been designated as the city for holding the county tair, and in manifold other ways has proven her claim to priority over all other cities in Northwestern Minnesota. Bemidji also possesses adequate tele- phone facilities, is the County seat, and consequently serves as the mentor of the County’s official affairs. As Bemidji is a diligent and coming city, it will readily be seen that she has no idleness or poverty to contend with, and that her people must of necessity be prosperous. The public improvements daily being made absorb the number of laborers who might, perhaps, otherwise be without an occupation, while the fertile fields and numerous industries which abound in. and about the city are in a most flourishing condition. PATRIOTIC BUSINESS MEN. This is where Bemidji is strong. Her business men are patriotiec, energetic and liberal. They go deep into their pockets whenever any needed public improvement becomes apparent, and they work in accord, one with the other at all times, a circum- stance which goes a long way toward ex- ploring the city's prosperity and the bright future which is in store for her. ST. ANTHONY’S HOSPITAL. Even though the city of Bemidji is young in years, she is old in benevolence and charitable work. This truth is typified by the existence of St. Anthony’s Hospital, con- ducted under the direction of the Bene- dictine Sisters’ Benevolent Association. The hospital was erected in the year 1899, with the advent of the first construction train. Of course it was then operated on a small scale, but since that time its success has attracted such attention and good will that it is now distinguished by a three-story building. It provides sixty beds, fine gen- St. Anthony’s Hospital, — Last Resting Place of Chief Bemidji. Monument to Chief Bemidji, standing in Greenwood Cemetery, Bemidji’s ‘‘City of the Dead’’; Erected by the Citizens of Bemidji. eral wards, ten private wards, its own laundry plant, the which contains modern machinery operated by electricity, and spacious quarters for the Sisters in charge. The building is steam heated, it is cap- able of camfortably accomodating seventy patients, it is thoroughly lighted by in- candescent lights, and is constructed along the lines of the most scientific and sanitary deductions and regulations. St. Anthony’s Hospital is another institution which conveys the generosity and patriotism of Bemidji’s people, and is one which is of extreme credit to the city. SECRET AND SOCIAL ORDERS. Visitors and prospective homeseekers need not fear the lack of secret, civic and social orders. Every well known secret society has secured a meeting place here; civic bodies, such as business clubs, literary bodies, social bodies and musical com- panies are found in plenty, and good fel- lowship and a fraternal spirit pervade the place. All in all, Bemidji is a model ecity, a ‘prospereous city, and a city with a bril- liant past record, as well as a brilliant future. The citizen who “knocks” his home town should be ostracised. ») 8