Description: Circa 1908-1909 Lavina, Montana stagecoach mail bag. "Box 20 LAVINA STAGE H.H. Thoren, Rebecca S. Meyer" is hand-painted on the front of the canvas mail bag. "Box 20 LAVINA STAGE" is hand-painted inside the flap. Lavina is a town in Golden Valley County, about 40 miles north of Billings, and situated on the north bank of the Musselshell River. The town became a stage stop in 1882 on the route between Billings and Lewistown. This particular mail bag from the Lavina Stage line was for the Broadview, Montana stop in Yellowstone County, located 14 miles south of Lavina. Rebecca S. Meyer became Broadview's first postmaster on August 3, 1908 and left the position on March 22, 1909. See the Thoren & Meyer bio's below. Lavina Stage History As the central Montana range filled with cattle, the Northern Pacific railroad pushed westward across the Northern Plains. The rails reached Billings in August of 1882. The preceding spring, T. C. Power, a Fort Benton businessman, watched the progress of the track laying crews and envisioned a stage line connecting the growing soon-to-be rail town of Billings with Fort Benton. In May of 1882, Power founded the Benton and Billings Stage Company. It was the first north-south line to carry mail on coaches. He immediately dispatched construction crews under the command of Walter Burke to build trail over the 220 miles that separated the two towns. Burke was charged with the task of completing the road, erecting 17 stage stations, and stocking the line in less than six weeks. Completion of the road entailed finding a suitable passage not only over land but also across several streams that ran through the route, the most substantial of which was the Musselshell River. Burke assessed possible crossings of the river and settled on a ford about a mile upstream from the present town of Lavina. He erected "a stage stables, mess house, bunk house for the men to sleep in, and ... [a] saloon" and named the settlement Lavina in homage to his former sweetheart. That summer the Musselshell Valley "settled up thick," and the stage stop became the hub of activity. It was soon surrounded by the home ranches of several big cattle outfits, the closest of which was the Three V Cattle Company, which established its headquarters a quarter mile west of present-day Lavina. By the following year, the settlement offered daily stage service to Billings and bi-weekly stages east to Roundup and north to Lewistown, by then a bustling burg of over 1,000 people. By 1908, Lavina was a station on the Milwaukee Road and the community thrived for a time. A post office was first established at Lavina in 1883 (April 3) with Walter Burke as postmaster (he also served as the superintendent of the stage line). Reverend Dr. Herman Henry Thoren (1863-1945) was a pastor, ministering at the First Congregational Church at Big Timber, Montana starting in December 1907. Thoren had a farm in Broadview where he also conducted church services as of late March 1908. Thoren and Rebecca S. Meyer were cousins who originally hailed from the Chicago area (Naperville, Highland Park). Later, the cousins lived in Iowa with Dr. Thoren being the first president of Westmar University in Le Mars, Iowa from 1900 to 1906. The cousins arrival in Montana likely occurred around August 1907 just before Rebecca's August 24, 1907 homestead entry in the Billings Land Office. Herman Thoren was listed as one of the witnesses. Dr. Thoren was residing in Laurel, Montana (near Billings and 47 miles from Lavina) as of August 1910. Rebecca S. Meyer (1865-1954), originally a graduate trained nurse, became the first postmaster at Broadview, Montana on August 3, 1908 and left the position in March 1909. She apparently stayed in the Billings, Montana area throughout the 1910s. By 1923, Rebecca had relocated to Manhattan, Kansas and was in Colorado Springs by the early 1940s. She died in 1954 and is buried in Manitou Springs, Colorado. It appears she never married. Included in the photos (for reference only)... - Circa 1900s photo of Lavina, Montana. - 1909 view of Broadview, Montana. - January 26 1909 Billings Gazette notice with Rebecca's homestead entry from August 1907 with Herman Thoren as one of the witnesses (Rev. Thoren also had a homestead entry on October 14, 1907 with Rebecca as one of the witnesses). - September 17, 1897 Highland Park (IL) News ad advertising Rebecca as a nurse while they were still in Illinois. The ad shows she was residing with Rev. Thoren at the time. - November 18, 1908 Great Falls (Montana) Daily Tribune Tribune article titled, "P.O. Changes in Montana" about Rebecca. * CONDITION: Very Good * SIZE: Measures approximately 11 x 16 inches when closed.
Price: 1500 USD
Location: Pennsylvania
End Time: 2024-01-04T03:14:56.000Z
Shipping Cost: 9.95 USD
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Culture: Western Americana
