7/21/2009:
On this day in 1910, the pioneer town of Timmer established a post office. Located along the Northern Pacific railroad about twelve miles southeast of Flasher, the town was named after C. L. Timmerman, who was a Mandan banker, rancher and merchant originally from the town of Sims.
When the Northern Pacific railroad line came through, Timmer built a new depot. Other businesses followed in the busy little town, such as The Timmer Bank, The Potter Hotel, The Bingenheimer Lumber Company, and the Timmer Pool Hall. Citizens of Timmer had a store and a meat market. A small local newspaper printed the "items of interest" so townsfolk could keep up with local news.
Timmer was growing, but the children of the town did not have a school. Emile Wolfinger, who had moved to Timmer from Iowa, opened his home to the local school children. He taught classes in his living room for several years, and was the area's first school teacher. Construction on a school finally began in 1914, and classes moved from Mr. Wolfinger's home, a mile south of Timmer, to the new school in town in time for the 1915 school year. As Timmer grew, so did the school. It expanded to a large two-room school house with a full basement, and the school hired more teachers.
Automobiles become the rage in the early 1900s, and Timmer grew with the times. The first service station and garage in Timmer was owned by Frank Berger and Harry Pfau, the proud owners of the first Chevrolet dealership in the area.
Like many small towns in North Dakota, Timmer started to die out around the 1930s. The drought was hard. Businesses closed, homes demolished, and some townsfolk moved away to more prosperous areas. The Timmer children attended classes elsewhere after the 1950 school year.
There is not much left of the town of Timmer these days, aside from a few mailboxes, one house, and a big hole in the ground, the basement of the old school. For those who grew up in the town, all that remain are the childhood memories of a place they once called Timmer.
Dakota Datebook written by Jill Whitcomb
Source: Morton Prairie Roots-1976, Marion Plath Peterson