Granville School 1938
Centennial News and Events!

This is the Granville Area History Page

McGillicuddy Plate shows building
of Granville State Bank in 1903.

Return home to Granville, N. Dak.

The City of Granville Centennial Celebration is an opportunity for everyone to learn about Granville area history. Please email us anything you would like to see added to this page.

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President Bush Congratulates Granville "I send greetings to those celebrating the 100th anniversary of Granville, North Dakota. This milestone is an opportunity to take pride in the rich heritage of your community. "Communities like yours provide support as people raise families, build better lives, and pursue their dreams. The success of Granville is a testament to the contributions of your citizens and the hope and promise of our great country. "Laura and I send our best wishes on this special occasion." (signed) George Bush

Early History of Granville and the

Granville State Bank, Granville, N. Dak.

Compiled by Paul P. Robinette Jr.
March 24, 2007

The first non-native peoples to settle Granville, North Dakota were William A. Christianson and his wife, Minnie, both of Minnesota. Christianson came to the Granville area April 26, 1895 as an employee of the Great Northern Railway. The depot was named after Granville M. Dodge, a civil engineer for the Great Northern Railway. It is interesting to note that the name Granville is old French for, “from a large town.”

The railroad built a depot in present day Granville and Christianson was the first station operator. He was also the person in charge of feeding the railroad crews working in the area. He returned to Minnesota to marry Minnie Anderson in 1898, and brought her back to Granville where she helped him prove up their homestead. She also helped him and his cook serve breakfast of over 200 pancakes a day for the railroad laborers. Christianson was assigned by the railroad President Jim Hill the duties of “farmer agent,” which meant promoting Granville immigration. (Christianson later became Granville’ first Postmaster of the Granville Post Office.) In 1899 Christianson wrote Clayton A. Stubbins in Brit, Iowa and convinced him to visit Granville.

Stubbins and his father, the family patriarch, George E. Stubbins, settled in Granville and became prominent Granville “Founding Fathers.” George Stubbins and his three sons filed for homesteads which encompassed the future town sites of Granville and Norwich. Clayton Stubbins, who was the eldest son, filed on the area surrounding what was to be the City of Granville. He sold lots on the east side of Main Street in 1901 and platted the west side in 1902. One of the first buildings erected on the east side of Main Street housed the first Granville State Bank, established in 1901.

In 1903, Clayton and his father built the two-story bank building still standing in Granville. The construction of the Granville State Bank used local prairie rock and brick from the Denbigh Brick Factory. The general contractor and head stone mason was Robert Fowler. His brother, John Fowler assisted him and his crew. The first floor housed the bank and vault and the second floor was home to five Granville fraternal organizations

A subsidiary of the bank was the Stubbins Land and Loan Company, chartered by the state in 1902 to provide a more efficient administration of the extensive land and real estate holdings of the company. The bank fell on hard times during the North Dakota bank panic of 1921. The Great Depression and droughts of the 1930s forced the liquidation of much of its holdings.

The bank building has been recently acquired by a former native of Granville, and is in the process of being rehabilitated for future potential businesses. The City of Granville, elevation 1521 feet, was incorporated in 1907. Granville reached a peak population of 455 in 1910. The current city population is about 275.

The Stubbins Family was also involved in the Mystery of Injun Joe – but that is another story.

Buffalo Bone Trade Creates “Bone Towns”

Compiled by Paul P. Robinette Jr.
April 24, 2007

During the late 1800s the buffalo herds had been slaughtered for robes and sport. But there was no accessible market for most of the meat. Virtually all of the carcasses had been left to rot and the bones to bleach where they fell on the prairie.

As the construction of the railroad moved west through North Dakota new towns and cities sprang up along its lines. Large white monuments of sun-bleached buffalo bones to sell were stacked as high as 20 feet. They were waiting for the arrival of the railroad. With the virtual extermination of the buffalo, people turned to gathering the bones to sell, a harvest which lasted only a few years on the bone-strewn plains.

The economic boom days of the 1880s were followed by a bust in the early 1890s. The economic bust of the early 1890's in North Dakota was alleviated by the bone trade during that time. The trade continued until the boom of the late 1890's in North Dakota. The buffalo bone trade was a welcome industry for all, from the American Natives and farmers, to the railroads themselves, which needed cargo to fill their empty cars for their return trips back east. The bone monuments were worth $5 to $20 per ton. It became a timely industry for the northwestern part of North Dakota. This included the City of Granville, where buffalo still roam the prairie on the Big Sky Buffalo Ranch north of the city.

The Worner and Stoltz Company was the leading buyer in Minot, and they paid from $6.00 to $15.00 a ton for the bones that were delivered there.  Products manufactured from the bones included knife handles, commercial fertilizer and converted carbon used in the process of the filtration of sugar. From the 1860s through about 1890s, there was a growing need for animal charcoal to make carbon filters for refining sugar, which was a growing industry in America.

Bones were also used to manufacture fertilizers, glue, and pharmaceuticals. The bones were rich in calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and other minerals. Calcium phosphate is used as a supplement for animal feed, fertilizer, in commercial production for dough and yeast products, in the manufacture of glass, and in dental products.

The settlers often relied on the bone market to help get them started on their farmstead. When the immigrants arrived too late in the season to begin farming, they could gather bones instead. One settler recounted gathering bones from the plains with her father and sisters. She said, “My father, my two sisters and I used two teams and two wagons on our bone-gathering forays … My oldest sister and I would take one outfit and my dad and younger sister the other. When we had our loads, we would take them to town and sell them for about $12 per ton. We hauled 14 tons of buffalo bones to Minot, and believe me when I say I don’t know how we would have lived if it had not been for the money we got that way.”

The bone trade made it possible for many settlers to survive the hard times. The money bought food, and seed, and a chance to survive until spring. The bones were soon exhausted and the trade moved further west with the further development of the railroad. The bone trade ended in 1891, bringing the buffalo’s uses to an end for a time in central North Dakota. Today, buffalo have become an industry again with the development of commercial ranches for meats, furs and tourism. Granville’s buffalos are a major contribution to the Granville area economy today.

Train Wreck Near Granville, N.D. March 13, 1909

This black & white photo postcard shows a Great Northern Railway train derailment in the winter outside Granville, North Dakota. The engine, with the coal car still attached, is stopped on a small bridge, and is leaning to one side, while the coal car behind it leans in the opposite direction. A railroad car further behind it has completely derailed and lies on its side in the snow. The cars trailing behind are leaning slightly off the tracks. Workers standing on the tracks are trying to repair the damages. Handwritten on the postcard, "Wreck near Granville, N.D., GNRR, 3/13-09."