Charles Scrutchin, Minnesota’s first Black lawyer to practice outside of the Twin Cities and frequently described in early Bemidji Pioneer stories as “Bemidji’s colored lawyer,” arrived in Bemidji just two years after the village had incorporated and soon became one of its most significant citizens.
Scrutchin often represented lumberjacks and other laborers, many of whom had recently immigrated to the country. In the 32 years he lived here, he handled over 500 cases in Beltrami County, many of them attention-getting criminal cases involving theft, graft and murder. But some of Scrutchin’s greatest accomplishments had wider ranging effects for Minnesota and the civil rights of the state’s citizens.
100 years ago today the first Bemidji High School was destroyed by fire
The town’s first high school was built in 1909 at a cost of $50,000, and opened in 1910. It was located between Sixth and Seventh Streets on America and Irvine Avenues, now the site of the Northland Apartments. 7:30 am, Jan. 16, 2021 ×
The aftermath of the Jan. 16, 1921 fire that destroyed Bemidji High School. It was built in 1909 at a cost of $50,000, and opened in 1910. Photo courtesy of Beltrami County History Center
BEMIDJI The three-story Bemidji High School building was only 10 years old when it was destroyed by fire 100 years ago today, on a frigid Sunday, Jan. 16, 1921.
Although Bemidji was not incorporated until 1896, it had a steady pattern of growth beginning in 1870 when Oliver W. Barnes traveled by stagecoach, ox team and a canoe route to the Bemidji area with a government surveying party and spent spent the next six years mapping the northern part of the state.
Barnes reported only one Native American person living at the outlet of the Mississippi for miles around the Bemidji area. The title to the Bemidji land was acquired in 1883 by Phillip Reilly of the John Martin Reilly Lumber Company of Minneapolis for its pine value.
In 1888, Marion Ellsworth Carson and George Earl Carson came to Bemidji by tote team cutting a wagon trail 17 miles due east from Moose, where they had started a trading post a year before. They established the Carson Trading Post at the south end of the lake and east of the Mississippi River, becoming Bemidji s first white businessmen. They also built the first mercantile store on the Bemidji townsite called the Pionee
Former Times Union publisher Roger Grier dies at 87
Went on to lead all Hearst newspapers; advised papers in former Soviet bloc
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1of6J. Roger Grier, Times Union Publisher (1977-1980) . -9- McBride.Bob Richey TU/noneShow MoreShow Less
2of6Vice President Walter Mondale, center, shakes hands with Times Union reporter Carol DeMare (with back to camera) during a visit to the Times Union in 1980 as he and then-president Jimmy Carter were waging what would be an unsuccessful re-election bid. From left are Editor Harry Rosenfeld, Publisher Roger Grier, Knickerbocker News Reporter Lise Bang-Jensen, Mondale with DeMare, Editorial Assistant Ken DelSanto and two unidentified Secret Service personnel. (Times Union / Jack Pinto) Show MoreShow Less
Former Times Union publisher Roger Grier dies at 87
Went on to lead all Hearst newspapers; advised papers in former Soviet bloc
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J. Roger Grier, former Times Union publisher and head of the Hearst Corp. s newspaper group.Provided photo
ALBANY Former Times Union publisher and Hearst newspaper group division head J. Roger Grier, 87, died Thursday at his home in Plymouth, Wis.
Though Grier had suffered from chronic neuropathy in recent years and spent the past seven months in hospice, the determined cause of death was COVID-19. His wife of 46 years, Barbara, also contracted the illness but has recovered.
A Minnesota native, Grier served in the Army during the Korean War and was a 20-year veteran of the Minnesota National Guard. He attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from Bemidji State University with a degree in business administration.