Dr. E. Gomer Davies

Practicing physician in De Smet from 1881-1896; for many years, Dr. Davies was the only doctor in De Smet.

Davies & Sasse have greatly improved their new drug store by putting a fine glass front on the building. / Davies & Sasse have built an addition to their store, filling up the space south of Loftus & Broadbent’s. They will use the new part for a store room. They are getting their stock well arranged, and make a fine display. – The De Smet Leader, November 8 & 15, 1884.

     
There were many years when De Smet tourists were told that the flower shop building next door to the Loftus Store was once Tom Power’s tailor shop. Since more and more Little House fans are realizing (one would hope) that there was a 25-foot lot with building between Loftus & Broadbent, General Store, and T.P. Power, Merchant Tailor, the story was later amended to add that, “Well, the tailor shop was moved next door to the Loftus Store.”

The lot between Loftus & Broadbent and Power was the Dr. Davies lot.

It’s an oft-told story that upon arrival in De Smet in early 1880, Jake Hopp set up his printing press in the back of Fuller’s Hardware, and that poor Jake slept on boards laid across the rafters while getting those first issues issued that April. What isn’t part of the Kingsbury County News origin story is that Jake contracted to purchase Lot 18, Block 3, and that he and his partner at the time, attorney George Mathews (1852-1941), were busy working on the new abode of the Kingsbury County News in the snowy days that led up to the October blizzard of 1880. “They kept going until the 17th. By the 16th they had almost as much snow inside the new building as there was outside,” according to the Honorable Mr. Mathews when asked about it in 1918.

After the Hard Winter, Jake ran the newspaper out of this building until he sold it to Dr. E. Gomer Davis in 1883. The De Smet Leader, September 8, 1883, reported: “Dr. Davies has purchased and moved his office into the building formerly owned and occupied by the [Kingsbury County] News.” This suggests that if Laura Ingalls bought her name cards from after the Hard Winter until several months prior to teaching the Bouchie School, she would have bought them in the lot 18 News office on Block 3, with Loftus & Broadbent to the north and Tom Power to the south.

Born in Wales and immigrating to the U.S. in 1865, Edward Gomer Davies (1843-1920) graduated from Rush Medical College in 1879 and came to De Smet in early 1881 from Columbia County, Wisconsin. In the fall of 1882, he filed on a preemption claim and in January 1883, on a tree claim in Kingsbury County. Both claims were in Section 13-T110-R57; Dr. D’s next-claim neighbor was Louis Bouchie (before he was married to Lib). At the time, Dr. Davies was in his young thirties, had been married to the former Jane Warmington since 1869. The couple had five children: Alma, David, Autumn (born prior to moving to Dakota Territory), and Willie and Susan. Alma and David Davies were classmates of Carrie Ingalls, and Autie was a classmate of Grace Ingalls in De Smet. In 1889, Alma and David Davies were members of the first class to graduate from high school (the 9th grade) in De Smet.

Dr. Davies’ first office was in the back of Bradley’s Drug Store (Block 3, Lot 20), and his early newspaper ads said he could be found either there or on his claim.

In August 1883, Dr. Davies bought Hopp’s building that stood between the Loftus Store and the tailor shop, paying $400 for the building and lot. He also bought two other town lots in Carroll’s Addition (Lots 6 & 7, Block 5), at the corner of Second Street and Fourth Avenue, now known as the northeast corner of Second Street SW and Harvey Dunn Avenue. Dr. Davies built a house for his family here; Little House scholars know it as the Boast house because Robert and Ella Boast later purchased it! This house is no longer standing.

In 1884, Dr. Davies, a practicing physician and surgeon, and Lewis E. Sasse, a licensed pharmacist from St. Charles, Minnesota, opened a drug store in Dr. Davies’ office building. The “new” drug store (as opposed to Bradley Drugs two doors to the north, which was the “old” drug store) was called Davies & Sasse. Their partnership lasted a couple of years, then Sasse took over the drug business and Davies went back to doctoring full-time; the two men had different jobs but continued to share the building. From the De Smet Leader, December 18, 1886: Notice of Dissolution. The partnership hereto existing between E.G. Davies and L.E. Sasse is dissolved by mutual consent. L.E. Sasse continues the business alone at the old stand. The Doctor has withdrawn from the business and gives all his attention to his practice. Office in rear of store. E.G. Davies. L.E. Sasse.

Lew Sasse moved his drug store out of the Davies building after another couple of years, and he occupied at least three other spots on Block 3 over the years, eventually building on the former Scofield lot (Lot 15, Block 3) in 1910. Dr. Davies and family moved to California in 1896 for two years, then back to De Smet, then to Letcher, South Dakota, for 15 years before retiring to Yankton in 1913. While the family was in California, a doctor from California took over Dr. Davies’ practice and operated out of the Davies building on Lot 18. The circa 1900 photo above shows the Calumet businesses on Block 3 except for four lots to the south (left). Lewis Sasse’s early advertisements said to “look for the mortar” to find his store. Here, the mortar is still on the street in front of the Davies building, although Sasse’s drugstore at the time was farther south. You can read the word “DRUGS” on the side of the Sasse awning. Bradley Drugs has a sign at far right advertising “Drugs;” it is cut off in the photo. Sasse usually had a jeweler/watchmaker in connection with his store and the clock; advertisements said to “look for the clock” out front. Sam Owen’s boot and shoe shop sports a wooden “boot” hanging over the door to that portion of his building.

Dr. E. Gomer Davies died in Yankton on March 8, 1920. He was buried in Yankton City Cemetery. A cement and cobblestone bench was placed in De Smet’s Washington Park in honor of Dr. Davies and his many years of looking after the health of early De Smet residents.

The tailor shop versus the Davies building. In August 1886, Elizabeth Power and Thomas P. Power sold Lot 17, Block 3 to George W. Elliott for $500. In the fall of 1892, the Elliott building (former tailor shop building) was moved to a lot near the courthouse and fitted up for a residence; it is no longer standing. Elliott built a brick building on Lot 17, which he still owned when McKibben’s 1912 panoramic photo was taken. At the time, the Golden Rule occupied the building; you can read the sign on false front over the awning. The next year, Fred Brewer bought the former Dr. Davies building and moved the Golden Rule next door.

My guess is that the confusion between the Davies building (lot 18) and the Power building (Lot 17) could be because the Golden Rule run by Fred Brewer had occupied both the 1892 Elliott building (Lot 17) that replaced the 1880 Power building (Lot 17) and the 1881-1883 Hopp-Davies building (lot 18) that was next door to the Loftus Store.

I can find nothing to suggest that the brick Elliott building was ever moved a lot to the north, but that still wouldn’t have been the tailor shop, because the tailor shop was definitely moved elsewhere.

Isn’t it historic enough that De Smet Flowers & Gifts was once the Kingsbury County News print shop, and that it had been built by Jake Hopp and the future ten-term mayor of Brookings and delegate to the 51st Congress of the United States from Dakota Territory, the Honorable George A. Mathews?

     

Dr. E. Gomer Davies, see also Jake Jopp, Thomas P. Power, Ella & Robert Boast