There’s not much along Demersville Road south of Kalispell anymore. But at one point, Demersville Road was Gregg Street, the bustling heart of a long-forgotten community.
Now, documents depicting early land sales and lot arrangements in the town of Demersville have been found and put on display in the Flathead County Courthouse in downtown Kalispell. Don Kaltschmidt of Don “K” Whitefish discovered the rare documents earlier this year at an estate sale. The documents include six maps of town lots and a one-of-a-kind land sales book.
“I decided I’m not just going to let these collect dust,” Kaltschmidt said. “I want to share them with the county.”
Demersville was established by T.J. Demersville in 1888 and located between Kalispell and Somers. By the spring of 1891, the community had 532 people, according to a census completed in hopes of formally incorporating the town. But James J. Hill had other ideas when his Great Northern Railway arrived in Kalispell in 1891. Richard Hardesty, president of the Flathead County Museum Board, said building the tracks to Demersville would be easy, but it never happened.
“J.J. Hill put his railroad where he wanted and if there wasn’t a town, he got a town,” Hardesty said. “As Kalispell grew, Demersville shrank and by 1893 it was pretty much gone.”
In fact, by July 1891, when local citizens voted to formally incorporate Demersville, only 52 people voted on election day.
Kaltschmidt said he knew the documents were important when he first purchased the collection earlier this year. And when Hardesty first saw the records he knew they were “priceless” artifacts.
The documents show where home lots were once located and the sales book shows how much was paid for each lot. Back then, prices for a piece of land ranged from $50 to $200. The records also provide insight into some the of well-known families that had a prominent role in settling the valley.
“We have nothing else like it and are so grateful for the Kaltschmidt family for their most generous loan of these and other related valuable records and the accompanying endowment that we will use to preserve them,” Hardesty said.
The maps and sales book are being loaned to the county for 10 years and will be displayed in the Flathead County Commission chambers in the Flathead County Courthouse until December. After that, the pieces will be copied, digitized and preserved.