The July 5, 1912, “Cavalier Chronicle” carried a banner headline: “COURT HOUSE CONERSTONE LAYING,” followed by “Grand Ceremonies at Cavalier, Tuesday July 16th.” There would be a free barbeque in the city park and a baseball tournament. [The information was repeated in the July 12 edition.]
The previous week the “Pembina Pioneer-Express” had begun its 34th year of operation; Wardwell and Thompson had headed the paper for over twenty-five years.
On July 11 a large hailstorm hit the Cavalier area, mostly south and east of the town. It also struck Glasston and north of Drayton. Thousands of acres suffered losses of twenty to ninety percent.
On July 18 between five and seven thousand people (a thousand from Walhalla) crowded into Cavalier for the laying of the new court house’s cornerstone. Around 2 p.m. a procession formed on Division Street. There were the county and city officials’, residents, and visitors on foot, in carriages, and in automobiles. They paraded to the court house grounds, while brass bands from Drayton, Mountain, Neche, St. Thomas, Svold, Walhalla, and Cavalier played.
Standing on the platform were the Pembina County commissioners, other county officials, the mayor, a chaplain, the guest speaker A.A. Bruce, and John Otten, one of the oldest ex-County Commissioners.
Joseph Morrison as the master of ceremonies, called the meeting to order, Rev. G.E. Bohner gave the Invocation. After a song by a band, Joseph Morrison made an Address of Welcome.
Pembina County Auditor W.W. Felson announced the following had been placed in a copper box which would be put into the cornerstone: a condensed history of Pembina County to 1912; the most recent issues of the nine county newspapers; a copy of “The Long Ago” by Charles H. Lee; several current coins; samples of Pembina County wheat, barley, and oats; a list of the present state, district, and county officers; the 1911 Pembina County financial statement; pictures of the old courthouse in Pembina; a picture of the present Pembina County officials; and a copy of the 1911 North Dakota Blue Book.
Felson then outlined the history of Pembina County. It was organized January 9, 1867, with Pembina as the county seat and contained what became Cass, Traill, Grand Forks, Nelson, Steele, Cavalier, Walsh, and Pembina counties, as well as portions of Richland, Barnes, and Ransom.
On February 20, 1867, Charles Cavileer, Joseph Rolette, and Charles Grant were appointed to the Pembina County Commission.
On August 12, 1867, Charles Cavileer and Joseph Rolette met in Pembina and appointed Rolette as the chairman of the County Commission; John E. Harrison as the Register of Deeds and ex officio Clerk of Court; James McFetridge as the probate judge and ex officio county treasurer (by 1871 H.E. Nelson filled those two positions); William Moorhead, Sheriff; John Dease, County Superintendent of Schools. They divided the county into five election districts since the Pembina County in Minnesota prior to 1867 had been unorganized.
In 1861 the Red River Valley had fifty-one white males and twenty-five white females.
The first election of record in Pembina County took place on October 13, 1868. John Otten was a County Commissioner in 1873.
The Cavalier Band played as the cornerstone was elevated into position in the northeast corner of the building by machinery. Joseph Morrison then did the actual laying of the stone. The cornerstone was inscribed with the names of the Pembina County Commissioners and the County Auditor on one side and the year and the contractors on the other.
Morrison introduced the Honorable A.A. Bruce of Grand Forks, a justice on the North Dakota Supreme Court, who delivered an address.
With its completion, the crowd dispersed to the City Park and enjoyed a barbeque consisting of three oxen, two hogs, two sheep, 1300 loaves of bread, 35 lbs. of coffee, one barrel of sugar, plus pickles and mustard.
There were baseball games and band concerts and the day ended with a ball at the City Hall with dancing for several hours.
“It was the largest gathering in the history of Pembina County.”