Freighter, Stockman, and Legislator William Allison [otd 08/22]

W. B. Allison. H.T. French photo.

Salubria stockman and Idaho legislator William B. Allison was born August 22, 1845 in Glasgow, Ohio, about 60 miles south of Akron. The family moved twice before coming to Idaho: to Illinois in 1854, and Iowa the following year.

In 1863, the Allison’s settled in the Boise Valley, where William’s father Alexander took up a homestead. He apparently also filed a homestead through one of his sons because the Illustrated History said his farm encompassed 320 acres. That same year, William B. found work as a freighter, helping to drive a wagon train from Omaha to Salt Lake City. For the next five years, he freighted in Idaho, and three more times drove trains into the Rockies from the Omaha supply depots.

In 1868, William claimed a homestead in the Salubria Valley. In November of that year, he also got married. The following year, Alexander moved the rest of the Allison family to a spot about a mile north of where the son had settled. For over twenty years, William and his growing family lived in a log home while raising top-grade Hereford cattle, Berkshire hogs, blooded horses, and sturdy mules. Then, in 1891, he replaced the old structure with a larger, more modern dwelling.

The core of his acreage would soon become a part of the village of Salubria. However, after the railroad reached the Salubria Valley in 1899-1900, Cambridge Station quickly grew into a town.

By the end of the century, William owned over five hundred acres of excellent farm and ranch land. His farmland furnished produce for local consumption, and he also raised grain to improve the diet of his stock. His holdings would eventually expand to over eight hundred acres.

He took a strong interest in politics and in 1879 was persuaded to serve a term in the Territorial legislature. While there, he introduced the bill that split Washington County from Ada County. (Weiser became the new county seat.) He did not again venture into elective office until 1893, when he served a term in the State House of Representatives. Three years after that, he was elected Assessor for Washington County.

For years Allison was a staunch Republican. However, like many farm-country people he took up the Silver Republican cause in 1896. The Idaho Statesman reported (August 16, 1896) on the county-level convention, which selected Allison as a delegate to the state Republican convention. The article said, “The convention, by a vote of 20 to 2, passed a resolution indorsing [sic] the course of the state Republican party in supporting the cause of silver regardless of party lines. … The delegates selected are all strong silver men.”

He returned to his first adherence when the Silver Republican party folded.

Cambridge Station. Cambridge Commercial Club.

Salubria was still considered a viable town when Allison passed away in 1914. However, by then Cambridge had drawn much of the important business away. In fact, the only Salubria Valley newspaper had moved to Cambridge right after the Station opened.

Allison had been very active with the Masons, so his funeral service was held in the Cambridge Masonic Hall. The railroad ran a special train from the main junction at Weiser so Lodge members could attend the funeral. The service was declared to be “the largest ever seen in Cambridge.”
                                                                                                                                     

References: [Blue], [French], [Illust-State]

“W. B. Allison Passes Away,” The Midvale Reporter (October 8, 1914).

Actress Marjorie Reynolds: From Silent Films to Made-For-TV

Long-time movie and TV star Marjorie (Goodspeed) Reynolds was born August 12, 1917 in Buhl, Idaho. Her parents were Harry W. and Grace Goodspeed, both from Maine. Her father received his M.D. degree from the Medical School of Maine (Bowdoin College) in 1897. Dr. Goodspeed practiced in Maine, New York City, and Chicago before settling in Buhl around 1909. 

Marjorie Reynolds.
Publicity Headshot.

In 1922, the family moved to Los Angeles. Later, studio publicists offered some fanciful stories about how they relocated, but these can be discounted. In any case, her mother enrolled Marjorie in dance classes at an academy that specifically trained students for roles on the stage or in movies. During the following two years, she appeared as a “waif” or dancer in at least four productions.

After that, she was inactive for several years. She danced in a stage play in 1929 but did not appear again until 1933, when she had three roles that involved dancing. For these, she was billed as Marjorie Moore. One, the silent film Wine, Women, and Song, also included her first small acting part. Her career was securely launched in 1935-1937, with roles in seven productions.

Sadly, her mother died in January 1937. However, later that year, she married John Wesley “Jack” Reynolds, a casting director. He helped get her first (small) speaking role, in the thriller Murder in Greenwich Village, now using the name Majorie Reynolds. Over the next five years, Majorie appeared in at least fourteen low-budget westerns, interspersed with musicals, standard dramas, and thrillers. She was the female lead for many of them, and received quite favorable reviews.

In 1942, she landed what many consider her highest accomplishment: The love interest in Holiday Inn, with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. She got to dance with Fred Astaire, whom she found “wonderful to work with.” Moreover,  Crosby sang the renowned “White Christmas” for her. She received rave reviews for her performance and many predicted it would make her a superstar.

Like many performers, Majorie made time during the war years to deliver shows to service audiences, including a trip to bases in the Aleutian Islands. (She would reprise that role during the Korean War.) Although she took time out to have a baby girl in November 1946, she performed in at least seventeen feature files (starring in most) by the end of 1952. Unfortunately, Marjorie and Jack Reynolds divorced in the spring of 1952. She would remarry about a year later.

She had her first minor role in a TV series in 1949 and that picked up as time went on. Thus, her main focus from 1953 to 1958 was as the long-suffering but resourceful wife on the TV show The Life of Riley, with William Bendix. She found her role somewhat repetitious, but loved the rapport with the cast and crew. 

Bendix & Reynolds. Studio Publicity.

Majorie made only two feature films (in 1959 and 1962) after Riley ended, but found plenty of work in various TV series and commercials.  Her last screen credit, in 1978, was for the three-part miniseries, Pearl. The story dramatizes “ordinary” peacetime life in Honolulu during the few days that ended with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was noted as “one of the ten most watched” programs when it aired in November. Overall, she appeared in over 60 movies as well as countless TV commercials and series episodes.

After Marjorie retired from movies and TV, she filled her days as a hospital volunteer. Also, her second husband became ill in 1984 and she nursed him as best she could until he died in the spring of 1985. After that, she spent more time with her daughter, who also worked in the film industry. In 1997, she passed out while walking her dog, was taken to a hospital for observation, but died that evening, on February 1.

A consummate professional, Majorie was well-like by everyone she worked with in movies and TV, cast or crew. And over those years, she shared the cast with many major stars: Vivien Leigh, Bob Hope, Roy Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Mario Lanza, Shirley Temple, Robert Mitchum and on and on.

Many wondered why she never became a superstar herself, despite her good looks, outstanding ability as a dancer, and versatility as an actress. One wonders if she might have been too versatile … tackling an amazing range of comedic and dramatic roles. In westerns, she might be a standard heroine to be rescued, a determined ranch or mine owner, or even a dancehall girl. As a wife and (or) mother, she had roles as faithful, doting, jealous, manipulative, cheating … or even unwed (quite racy when she did that back in 1938). Other roles included models, detectives, nosy reporters, a princess, a refugee, and more. That is, her fans never quite knew what to expect … which may have counted against her.
                                                                                 

References:  Colin Briggs, “Marjorie Reynolds: Benevolent Beauty,” Classic Images, Muscatine Journal Division, Muscatine, Iowa (2010).

Gary Brumburgh, “Biography: Marjorie Reynolds,” Internet Movie Database, imdb.com.

Dick Vosburgh, “Obituary: Marjorie Reynolds,” The Independent, London (February 15, 1997).

Boise and Southwest Idaho Automotive Pioneer Harry H. Bryant [otd 08/05]

Boise Ford dealer Harry H. Bryant was born August 5, 1871 on a farm about eight miles northwest of downtown Detroit. The family homestead was just four to five miles north of where automotive pioneer Henry Ford had been born eight years earlier. Harry grew up with two of Henry’s younger brothers, and his older sister Clara was a close friend of Henry’s oldest sister. Henry Ford and Clara Bryant were married in 1888.

H. H. Bryant. [Hawley]

Around 1890, Harry left home to find work. He married the following year and, for the next two decades, tried diverse ventures, first around Detroit and then in Seattle, Washington. But he had little success and apparently hit rock bottom in 1912. Meanwhile, his brother-in-law grew rich and famous, and sister Clara had become the Bryant family matriarch when their mother died.

After the summer of 1913, Harry and his family traveled east to Detroit. For undisclosed reasons, Harry and Henry (and Clara) decided Harry should represent Ford Motor Company in Boise. Boise had joined the car craze in 1901, when a saloon keeper purchased a gasoline-powered Loomis “horseless carriage.” Three years later, men were racing their cars at the fairgrounds. And by early 1909, Ford had hired a “live hustler” to handle Idaho sales.

On December 7, 1913, the Sunday edition of the Idaho Statesman printed a Ford advertisement placed by “H. H. Bryant & Son.” The firm competed aggressively, with heavy advertising, entries in car races, contributions to local causes, and “technical exhibits.”

They prospered and, in October of 1917, took occupancy of a large two-story building – 150 by 122 feet – at Eleventh and Front streets. The ground floor housed sales areas and a complete garage, while the top floor had machinery for light manufacturing. The plant turned out bodies and transport trailers for commercial vehicles. And, in 1920, Harry purchased a fancy home with a big lot on Warm Springs Avenue, where some of the wealthiest Boiseans lived.

Two years after that, he opened the Bryant Commercial Body Company in a plant that covered two acres of land on Fairview Avenue, about a mile from downtown. The facility assembled Ford automobiles from parts that were shipped in and fabricated truck bodies. At the time, it was one of only a handful of Ford assembly plants in the West. Later, they also produced small boats.

Besides his advertisements and other publicity events, in the 1920s Harry availed himself of educational movies produced by the Ford Motor Company. In 1914, Henry had initiated a film department, a first for a manufacturing company. Many productions, of course, had an obvious promotional slant. However, early on, Ford understood that solid content would generate a lot of interest and goodwill. He counted on the film credits and dealer presentations to gain name recognition.

H. H. Bryant Garage, ca 1982. National Registry.

The release of the Model A Ford in 1927 kept sales hot in Boise, as it did everywhere else. But the Thirties brought the Great Depression. Harry kept the dealership afloat with a loan from Clara in early 1933, but then sold it about a year later. During that same time period, he also shut down the assembly and production plant on Fairview.

In 1935, the Bryants moved north of downtown and leased out the fancy home on Warms Spring Avenue. Harry passed away in May 1938, about four months after the assembly plant had been converted into a sports arena. The historic garage building on Front Street was approved for National Registry listing in 1982, but “renovated” out of existence in 1990.
                                                                                

References: [Hawley]

“[Boise Automotive News],” Idaho Statesman, Boise (October 1901 – May 1938).

Ford R. Bryan, Clara: Mrs.Henry Ford, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan (2013).

“H. H. Bryant Garage,” Tourtellote and Hummel Architecture Thematic Resource, National Register of Historic Places (1982).

David L. Lewis, The Public Image of Henry Ford, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan (1976).

Idaho Physician-Surgeon Dr. A. Ayer Higgs … Camas Prairie, Gooding, and Boise [otd 08/04]

Dr. Alexander Ayer Higgs was born August 4, 1870 in Owensboro, Kentucky, about eighty miles southwest of Louisville. The Higgs family had been early pioneers in the colonies, arriving around 1650 from Gloucester, England. They settled in Maryland, with descendants proceeding to North Carolina and then, around 1850, to Kentucky. Ayer’s grandfather was a physician, as were several other paternal forebears. 

Dr. Ayer Higgs. [Hawley]

Thus, in early 1894, Higgs enrolled at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati. [See blog, February 12, for a discussion of eclectic medicine.] He signed in as “Ayer A.,” the form he preferred for most of his medical career. He received his M.D. in 1896 and operated a practice near his birthplace for a time. He then accepted a teaching position at the Georgia Eclectic Medical College. He married in early 1899 and the couple had their first child, a girl, in Atlanta.

However, Ayer decided the heat and humidity in Georgia were bad for his health, and began to spend more time back in Kentucky. Some years earlier (it’s unclear exactly when), his brother Benjamin had moved to Idaho. In 1900, Ben had a ranch job near Hailey and wrote favorably of the climate and prospects for growth. Finally, in the spring of 1901, Ayer traveled to the state to check it out.

Impressed, Dr. Higgs moved his family to the village of Soldier, located about twenty-five miles southwest of Hailey. The town thrived as a center for farms and ranches supplying the booming gold and silver mines in the high mountains to the northwest. As the only physician for miles around, Ayer’s practice took off, and he soon began investing in ranch properties and a bank. Sadly, the couple’s little girl died there in 1906.

Ayer broadened his horizons after his brother DeWitt, also a physician, joined him around 1907-1908. They opened a hospital in Gooding. Not long after that, the rest of the family – parents and the three youngest brothers – also moved to that town. All told, with Ayer, Benjamin, and DeWitt, the Higgs family included eleven children, all boys. Five of them, however, had already died before the age of five. Ayer’s father passed away in 1910, his mother a year or so later. Then, in early 1914, brother Ben also died.

Meanwhile, the Gooding hospital attracted a solid clientele. As it happened, Ayer himself drew special attention because he proved to be an outstanding surgeon. In fact, he was often called away to perform especially tricky operations. That included going out of state to places like Salt Lake City and Portland. He once boarded a train with a husband whose wife needed his help … in Florida. Finally, in early 1919, he moved to Boise to open a specialized surgical practice.

Dr. Higgs insured that his surgical suite always had the most up-to-date equipment and methodology. He also kept his own skills current, studying in Chicago and regularly at the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Reports noted that he was a personal friend of Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder of the clinic. He was a fellow of the American Medical Association and a member of the Idaho State Medical Society. In 1911, he served as a member of the AMA House of Delegates.

Perhaps because of his health, Dr. Higgs moved his practice to Chula Vista, California around 1926. Over the years, he often visited friends and family back in Idaho and Oregon. In the summer of 1940, he fell ill while visiting his brothers in Burns, Oregon, and didn’t recover for several weeks. Not long after that, he retired from active practice. Some time later, he moved into San Diego, where he died September 10, 1943 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
                                                                                 

References:[ Britannica], [Hawley]

“Dr. A. A. Higgs Succumbs To Long Illness,” Chula Vista Star, California (September 17, 1943).

“[Dr. A. A. Higgs News, Statesman],” Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho  (March 1908 – September 1940)

“[Dr. A. A. Higgs News, Various Sources],” Owensboro Messenger, Kentucky; Macon Telegraph, Georgia; Shoshone Journal, Twin Falls News, Idaho (October 1899 – September 1939).