Skip to main content

GETTING A BUILDING

By the first of august 1956, we had permission to put a building on the State highway property in Husum.  We also had buried a 3000-gallon water tank at BZ Corners next tot the Logs Tavern.

We had the site and the desire, but no money.  For the next few months and into the spring we had our hands out.  The response was gratifying.  S.D and S., The Rees Stevenson Mill at Husum, the Hollenbeck Mill at Trout Lake, The Broughton Mill and the rebuilt Hoppe – DeWilde Mills donated all the lumber.  By the following spring nearly everything we needed had been donated by various businesses.  The Fire District even kicked in $100.00.  By the spring of 1957 we were started on the building.

At that time everyone in the department was working away from Husum except me, so we could work on the building only on weekends and evenings.  About that time we had contacted the local carpenters union and a couple of volunteer carpenters showed up.  They would only work if a fireman was there, so I spent a number of hard days working with them but sure learned a lot.  By mid summer we were in the new building, however it still needed a lot of work.

A gentleman by the name of Joe Vendom lived above BZ at that time and was a brick mason.  He volunteered to build our chimney, so I got to help him by mixing mud and carrying bricks, we completed it in October.  I learned from this experience and found a job away from Husum a short time later.  We constructed the building with three bays and used 2.  A couple of years later, we converted on bay into a meeting room.