In late June the oldest operating business in Chinook moved to a 'new, old location.' The "Journal," which published its first edition in May of 1890, moved south on Indiana Street to the set of buildings recently referred to as "the old Chinook Hardware." The newspaper is now operating from a building that was built around 1912, then modified over the years with additions and, more recently, the remodel of one of the original buildings and the removal of the wooden structure on the southside of the complex.

Two historical photos of Chinook give some context for how the area around the "Journal's" new location developed. The accompanying 1914 wide angle shot of the downtown and Indiana Street to the south, shows the first of the original buildings that made up the old Chinook Hardware location. The photo shows the wooden portion, which was recently razed. The north building, which is brick and block, was added on to over the years and currently holds the newspaper's main operations. The narrow block building to the north, was added after this photo, although the exact date of its construction was indeterminant.

The second photo, a 1948 panoramic view of the downtown area, shows surrounding buildings in the area at the time. The narrow, north building had not been added to the old hardware location by 1948. One noticeable change was an expansion of the gas station on the corner, sometime after 1948, that brought the hardware store and gas station closer together.

It's really not clear why the first old Chinook Hardware buildings were built back in the early 1900's. Some say the back portion of the wooden building was a livery stable. There never was any real evidence to support that, though the building certainly looks as if it could have served that purpose. From bits and pieces of information, it appears several businesses occupied portions of the two original buildings over time. Al's Shoe Store was one that many seniors remember being in the wooden part of the building for a long time.

In 1946 Phil and Leroy Paulson bought an existing hardware business that was in the building and bought the building from Baldwin Dairy.

(When and if the dairy used the building was also not clear). The Paulson's remodeled the buildings to accommodate their new business and ran the business until it was sold to Jack Peterson, who also operated a hardware business.

Paul Stout bought the business and buildings in 1996, then sold to "Journal" owners Keith and Keri Hanson in 2017. The Hanson's razed the southerly wooden structure, making a small parking lot where the wooden building stood. The north, narrow building was sold to Finley's Food Farm, for storage, and the center building was remodeled to accommodate the "Journal."

In addition to the move, another significant change for the "Journal" was to begin having both the "Journal" and the Big Sandy "Mountaineer" printed in Havre. That meant scrapping the old press used to print both papers.

The Hansons bought and installed the 1950's-era Goss Community web press to print the "Journal" in 2004 and the "Mountaineer" after purchasing the latter newspaper in 2009. Hanson said, "When we installed the press it was the largest web press from the eastern state line to Kalispell." The old press was scrapped through Pacific Steel and Recycling. Hanson, "The old press weighed a total of 30,000 pounds when scrapped out."

Steve Edwards

This 1948 aerial shot of the block where the "Journal" is now located shows some of the surrounding buildings, when they were completed and how they were used. Looking counter-clockwise starting in the center: 1. Current location of the "Journal," last the Chinook Hardware and original buildings from 1912; 2. Currently Chinook Lube, Tire and Sporting Goods, built in 1936 as a gas station; 3. Currently the Presbyterian Church, built in 1902 as the church; 4. Currently the Blaine County Museum, built in 1915 as Griffin Hall; 5. Edwards Funeral Home, built in 1936 as a funeral home; 6. Currently Bear Paw Cooperative, built in 1918 as Carnegie Library; 7. Blaine County Courthouse, dedicated in July, 1914 and addition of annex (not pictured) to south end completed in 1980; 8. Currently part of grocery store parking lot, the Orpheum Theater (just some of the rear of the building is visible) was built in 1911; 9. Currently part of grocery parking also, this building housed, among other businesses at various times, the Bon Ton Bakery, Allison's Photography Studio and Meyer's Jewelry. Some say it was also a "kids' recreation center" at some point in time.

Keith shared another historical tidbit about printing the "Journal." He explained that from 1986 to 1999 the Chinook based paper was printed at the "Havre Daily News." Keith was a pressman for the Havre paper and printed the "Journal" as well during that period. Until the Hanson acquired their own press, the paper was still printed in Havre. Keith said, "Most people don't realize that I printed the "Journal" for all but about four years of the last 30 years.

The "Journal" is now officially operating from the new location in the 400 block of Indiana Street. Stop by and check out the new location.

And if you have any additional or more accurate information about the old hardware buildings and how they were used, share it by leaving a message at 357-3573. The reporter will contact you. We would like to fill in some of the historical gaps that are unclear at this point.