Toward the end of her life, someone asked Gertrude Stein why she had abandoned her childhood home, Oakland, California, and never came back. She said, "There isn't anything there." While most of us have not abandoned Hannaford, those of us who left it in early adulthood and come back at intervals, and finally as Senior Citizens can appreciate her remark, as building after building vanished between visits. Leaving Dakota in the early '40s, and returning from time to time, I could always count on seeing the wide flat horizon of unlimited space, spectacular sunsets, and the bald hills of the creek, but each visit found more and more of the landmarks of my youth missing.
The state road heading down the hill to the swimming hole in the Bald Hill Creek once had the Hannaford Hotel, a barber shop, a corner store and across the highway facing east was the ski jump where we watched Art Bakken and other Scandinavians demonstrate>The state road heading down the hill to the swimming hole in the Bald Hill Creek once had the Hannaford Hotel, a barber shop, a corner store and across the highway facing east was the ski jump where we watched Art Bakken and other Scandinavians demonstrate style that no Olympics of the future seemed to equal. The state road became a main street, starting with the tower at the junction of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads and continuing with the two grain elevators, the Northern Pacific depot, Hank Harris' filling station, Swingen's lumber yard, blacksmith shop, post office, bank, Sons of Norway hall, and Troseth's hardware store. Heading west, streets led to the fire station, Dr. Hoffman's dentist office and the Mercantile store, the telephone exchange and Walt Richardson's barn. The western edge of town contained four buildings that had a good deal of citizen activity - the Great Northern depot, the school houses, and the two churches, the Lutheran and the Presbyterian.
The school house area after hours was often a gathering place for children's group games and roller skating. A game of "Anti-I-Over" was played, tossing a ball over the wooden annex of toilets on the west side. I must admit my appreciation of the newer school building with modern facilities was tinged with regret for the loss of the "Anti-I-Over" shed that was removed. The street light on the school ground permitted after supper games of Cops and Robbers, Run Sheep Run, and Hide and Seek, until many of the children were joined by parents, who with many of the townspeople, leisurely took the cinder walkway to see the "Nine O'clock" come in at the Great Northern depot. That train was Hannaford's Orient Express, our glimpse and connection to the sights, sounds and smells of a world of adventure, luxury and excitement. Many of us rode the local trains but the "Nine O' Clock" was true adventure, a real trip.
The two churches, the Presbyterian and the Lutheran, across the road from each other, were important not only for their spiritual and religious foundations, but also as social gathering places for young and old.
The women's groups of the churches, the Ladies Aid, served memorable community suppers in the Presbyterian church basement, and in the Lutheran Hall, mid town. The aromas, the clatter of dishes, laughter, greetings and hearty intake of thousands of calories of high cholesterol home cooking, washed down with cups of coffee brewed by the designated matriarch who had the well-kept secret formula of the right amounts of eggshells, eggs and coffee to add to the huge pots of coffee brewed.
The youth groups, Luther League and Christian Endeavor, met at the churches Sunday evenings. It is just possible that the social aspects of those evenings were anticipated more than the moral and religious guidance. There must be a good many Hannaford residents who have filed away a memory or two of moonlight walks home from those churches with a teen-aged member of the opposite sex.
So many of the older buildings are gone, to exist in photos and our memories, but Hannaford survives, changing with the times. It is a good feeling for those of us who aren't lucky enough to live there to know it is there.
Geraldine was born December 18, 1919, to Mabel and Harvey Benson in Hannaford. She married Alph Westley in 1942. Geraldine and Alph are graduates of Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minnesota. His work in Air Force Communications took the family to Germany, Norway, Alabama, Washington, D. C., and Massachusetts until his retirement. Geraldine taught school for five years and is presently in the antique business in New Hampshire. They have three children: Geradee Anne, Greig Adrian and Brandon Benson.
Geradee was born in 1947, in Germany. She married Jose Martinez Soler, a journalist in 1969. They live in Madrid, Spain with their children Erik, Andrea and David.
Greig Westley was born in 1949, in Washington, D. C. He and his son, Thomas live in Greenland, N. H.
Brandon Westley was born in 1953, in Germany. He married Eileen Barry in 1972. They have two children, Justine and Aaron. They live in Westborough, N. H.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 242