Talmage Main Street 1910

(Compiled from Juanita Bathurst’s History of Talmage and Helen Dingler’s Past and Present: Towns of Dickinson County.)

Prior to 1900, some of the families who arrived from Pennsylvania, Ireland, England , Canada and other places to settle  in the Talmage area included Robert Wilson, T.C. Iliff, John Curts, H.C. Harvey, Ot Smith, Tom Purvis, Jarvis Moore, Tom and Mary Fisk, John and Margaret Whitney, John Fulton, David and Rebecca Stokley, William Fenn, George and Sarah Tyrell, Frank Faron (who married Adalaide Forman already living here), Gilbert Cheney, and the Saylor family.

Many who settled here, like Millard Engle from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, wrote to families and friends back east about the prospects available in the Talmage area, so others followed. The families of John Garver and Mrs. Garver’s father, Mr. Beck, Sam Garver, William Coup, Isaac Book, and J.H. and Annie Cundiff arrived in the 1880s.

Other names include T.J. Laney, J.L. Watt, George Sterl, Miles Huitt, Bob Lockridge, Henry and Melinda Book, J.A. Engle, the Holzworth family, Elmer Carnine, and William Bowyer.

The town’s livery stable was purchased by John Britt in 1900. He enlarged the business to hold four teams, a buggy, and a riding horse. By 1920, Britt was selling livestock feed in conjunction with his livery service.

The National Aid Agency assisted the community in building a meeting hall in 1901. The lyceum was the center of local entertainment, meetings, and meetings of Modern Woodmen and Royal Neighbors Lodges. In later years, the town hall building was the J.H. Wallace Feed Store and a market for farmers’ poultry and eggs. A lean-to at the north end of the feed store served as the ice house. The town hall was torn down in the mid 1960s, and lumber from it was used in the Dale Bathurst home.

Through the early years, three doctors cared for the community. Dr. F.W. Montgomery and Dr. Mannes practiced here before Dr. S.N. Chaffee arrived in 1905. Dr. Chaffee built a new home, office, and drug store complex on the west side of Main Street and practiced in Talmage until 1939.

A.C. Bathurst was a Talmage merchant from 1906 until 1918. He was joined by his nephew Bryon Leighton Bathurst from Pennsylvania.. In 1919, he purchased the business, which was open until 1930. The former Bathurst store is presently owned by the local water district.

The first Briney Addition was registered on May 8, 1906. The late Lydia Jolitz recalled that each family could only buy two lots to keep the addition residential rather than small farm plots. Walter Watt, a rural mail carrier built a number of homes in the Briney Addition. The second Briney Addition was registered October 22, 1907 and a third on October 25, 1911.

In 1906, the first bank opened in Talmage as the Citizens Bank on the west side of Main Street until a new building was erected on the east side of the street. This building remained a bank building until 2010 when Pinnacle Bank closed the Talmage Branch and donated the building to the Talmage Historical Society.

Telephones came to the Talmage community in 1909, and directors of the newly formed telephone company were Alfred Dodge, Henry Book, Mart Whitney, Anten Musil, George Ayers, and Frank Schopp. Telephone operators were the Naylors, Cowans, Edith and ross Walker, Patti Coup, Iva Coup, and Lulu Book.