A Frontier Farewell in Richland
Community ties bind residents together before a migration to Montana.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the most elaborate receptions given in Richland was tendered to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Price on Monday night by the combined Richland Rebekah and Odd Fellow lodges. The affair was given in the Odd Fellows hall in the Amon building and over fifty members were in attendance. A four-course banquet was served at which Mr. Harry Wheelhouse presided as toastmaster. At the close of the dinner, Mr. Price was presented with a handsome Odd Fellow lodge emblem pin, while Mrs. Price received a Rebekah pin from her sisters in Freedom lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Price were old residents of the Richland district, having occupied the B. F. Knapp ranch south of town, and were loyal supporters of the local Methodist church. They are moving to Montana, and their departure is deeply felt by the community.
“There is no family in the district that will be more missed than the Prices.”
In 1915, Richland was a tightly-knit agricultural community where membership in fraternal orders like the Odd Fellows provided the primary social safety net. Today, the names of these pioneer families remain etched in local parks and streets, even as the city has evolved from a farming town into a massive center of energy research.
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