6/28/2007:
The city of Granville is celebrating its centennial this weekend, with a full slate of activities, including a parade, classic car show , concerts, a wagon train and several trays of Lucille Loftesness’ delicious centennial long johns!
Granville is located about 24 miles east of Minot on US Highway 2 and, according to the 2007-2008 Department of Transportation Official Highway Map, boasts a population of 286.
The first non-native people to settle in Granville were William A. Christianson and his wife. Minnie, who came from Minnesota. Like many others, it was the Great Northern Railway that brought the Christiansons to the area. The depot was built in what is now Granville and Christianson was the station operator. Minnie may have had an even more important job. In addition to helping husband, William, “prove up” their homestead, she helped feed the railroad crews that were building the line, cooking over two hundred pancakes a day to get the laborers day off to a good start! The train depot itself was named, “Granville”, which in old French means, “from a large town”, after Mr. Granville Dodge, a railway engineer William Christianson later became postmaster of the town. One of his most important moves was to write a letter to Clayton Stubbins of Brit, Iowa in 1899 convincing Stubbins to move to Granville. Clayton, his father George, and two brothers did just that, filing for homesteads on much of the land surrounding Granville. In 1903, using prairie rock and bricks from the nearby Denbigh Brick Factory, Clayton and father George Stubbins built the Granville State Bank, a building that still stands majestically on the corner of Main and second street in town. The first floor of the bank housed the bank and vault and the second floor was home to five Granville fraternal organizations. The bank, abandoned for many years, is currently owned by the city, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is being rehabilitated for future business potential.
Granville is known all over the world as the town that, for a time became known as McGillicuddy City. The Sazerac Company was looking for a way to promote its line of McGillicuddy Schnapps and ran a national contest to name a town “McGillicuddy City” Several towns were vying for the title because the winner of the contest would get $100,000 dollars to be used for a community project. Granville was the winner of the 1998 contest and the money was used mainly to build a community youth center for local children. Although the McGillicudy City run is over, the Sazerac Company will be serving its famous Dr. McGillicuddy’s Old Fashioned Root Beer during the Granville Centennial…
…and if you’re in the Granville area for the centennial, check out the nearby historic Denbigh school, the Denbigh experimental forest and the David Thompson State Historic Sight.
Centennial activities run from this Friday through Sunday in Granville.
By Merrill Piepkorn
Sources:
Paul Robinette’s articles for the Granville Centennial web sight
www.granville.com
PRND 2007 conference handbook
NDDOT Official Highway Map