Crossland To Publish Book On History Of Fairview

Compiling stories about Fairview for the Sidney Herald about 15 years ago sparked her interest in area history and since then, Fairview native, Debbie Baxter Crossland, has been compiling the history of Fairview and its development across the state line between Montana and North Dakota. At the same time, she was writing, she started a data base with business names and personal names so she could cross check all that information. Now, she is putting all that knowledge in a book.

With thousands of hours of research, Crossland has mapped out all the original businesses that occupied the two main areas of the town, Interstate Avenue (State Street) and Ellery Avenue, along with as much personal detail as possible. She said that Leon Brodhead got her started on the map, using his personal knowledge, then she took it even further back to the beginnings of the town. She has gained information from various sources including the late John Bauman, multiple newspapers, books, personal interviews, the MonDak Heritage Center, and Ancestry.com. She welcomes information or stories that anyone would like to share, particularly any information on The Bucket of Blood bar and the elevators, both in North Dakota.

Two men in particular saw the potential in the land along the Yellowstone River. On the Montana side, Lewis Newlon homesteaded and built his first store from across Pioneer Cemetery on what is now Hwy. 201. In 1904, he moved his store to State Street, making it the first store in the town of Fairview. Newlon plotted the town and sold lots for $1.00.

Corbetts owned the North Dakota side. He built the Corbett Mill, a boarding house which sat across from where East Side School sits now, and a rooming housing on State Street. Lots on both sides of the line were easy to sell with the coming of the railroad in 1913.

Both areas of town had thriving business districts, including their own newspapers, but two major fires within six months of each other in 1919 wiped out half-block areas of State Street businesses and the shift began to the Montana side of town.

In addition to writing her book, Crossland has labored intensively learning the history of the people buried in the Pioneer, Fairview and Fort Buford cemeteries. She has created "Historical Walking Tour" brochures which are available at the MonDak Heritage Center in Sidney with plots and names for each one that include interesting personal information.

Crossland is also working on adding the block and lot numbers of each person buried in the Fairview Cemetery. She adds this information to the website http://www.eastfairviewcemetery.com. If you need to find where your loved one is buried, this is the place to look. Crossland is also adding the obituary for each person.

She is also working to put obituaries with information cards into plastic folders which will be placed in a binder and available at the MonDak Heritage Center. Crossland has high praise for Leann Pelvit, Ramona Raphael and Danielia Benton for all their efforts to map out the county cemeteries. "The work they did is fantastic," she said.

These projects take a lot of time, but Crossland says she is OK with that. "I love history," she said. "I read an obituary card and it's a history of a person from beginning to end. It's interesting, how they traveled, why they came to this area, and how they lived and survived." She also gains tidbits for her data base and book when she sees a business name or an event.

Visitors to the Senior Center during Fairview Old Timers Festival were in for a treat as Crossland shared a power point presentation with history of the town as well as one detailing all the military servicemen and women from Fairview, with pictures where possible.

Although Crossland moved to Grand Forks about a year ago to be closer to her daughter, she continues to return to her home town and work on the history of the area she loves. Please contact her at 406-480-2404, or email [email protected], and leave a message if you have any information about the cemeteries or the history of Fairview that you would like to share.