Former mayor recalls Kalispell's younger days

It may seem like the Flathead has been changing rapidly over the last few years, but the differences people see today are nothing compared to what Tom Flynn has witnessed during his lifetime.

Flynn was mayor of Kalispell from 1961-67. He was born here on Oct. 3, 1913 - six days after a tugboat made the first practice run through the nearly completed Panama Canal and not quite nine months before the start of World War I.

The day he was born, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the nation's first individual income tax. (Newspaper accounts at the time focused primarily on a related reduction in import tariffs, which previously had provided a third of the revenue needed to support the government's total annual budget of $1 billion.)

"I entered the first grade in 1919," Flynn recalled during a recent interview. "I went to Central School. The janitor at the school was a former slave. His name was John White. I can still see him ringing the tardy bell.

"The school had eight grades. You could look out the upper-story windows and see Weightman's Livery, the largest livery stable in town. Back in those days, doctors made house calls. They'd have the livery stable hitch up a buggy. In winter, farmers would come into town and park their sleds there. They'd carry warm bricks with them, and the stableboys would reheat them for the ride home."

Journeys of almost any distance were big news back before motor vehicles dominated the landscape. The Inter Lake regularly made note of who came down from Whitefish for the day on business, or who left town to visit Flathead Lake. The name and hometown of everyone staying at the Kalispell Hotel (now the Kalispell Grand) also was reported.

Flynn's parents met here. His mother's family were Norwegian immigrants. His father managed the Listle Cafe, which was located on Main Street across from what's now Western Outdoor.

"My dad used to come home from the cafe and tell me who he fed that day," Flynn recalled. "He fed Charlie Russell once, and Frank Linderman. I saw those guys when I was little."

Except for a brief excursion to Washington in 1943, Flynn said he's lived in Kalispell his entire life. He worked a variety of jobs to support his family, but never considered moving.

"You had to decide as a freshman in high school whether you wanted to go to college," he said. "If you did, you took a foreign language and other classes. If you wanted to work, you took commercial classes. I studied accounting and stenography. I had a job before I got out of school and never collected an unemployment check my whole life. My friends who went to college came home in 1934 - and we all know what was going on then."

Jobs were tight during the Great Depression, but Flynn said he doesn't remember it being all that depressing. People just made the best of the situation.

And there was some work available, regardless of the poor economy. The highway across Marias Pass was finished in 1930. The route from Kalispell to Missoula opened in 1932 - Flynn's first job was as a 15-year-old time-keeper on that construction project. Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park also was completed in 1932.

In Kalispell, livery stables were replaced by car dealerships and garage shops. Flynn said there were several located "uptown," which is what the main commercial district used to be called. He worked as an accountant for one dealer, where a four-door Pontiac cost $895 and you could drive away with a new pickup for $625.

"When gas stations first appeared, it seemed like pretty soon there was one on every corner," he said. "Uptown was the only commercial area at the time - there were no shops on the edge of town. There used to be a grocery store where Valley Bank is now. The parking lot east of the bank used to be Flathead Commercial Company, one of the nicest stores in town. City Hall was located where the parking lot is north of the Water Department building."

Flynn married his high school sweetheart in 1933 - he and Helen have been married 72 years now - and they had four children: Lorence, a Kalispell dentist; David, a Boise accountant; Joanne, a retired school teacher in Kalispell; and Donna, a retired teacher in Spokane.

After working for several different employers over the years, Flynn eventually opened his own accounting business and later started a lumber business.

Despite the many changes that have taken place since that time, one thing that hasn't changed much is Depot Park, which owes its continued existence to Mayor Flynn.

Passenger trains operated between Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls until 1951, but by the early '60s the Great Northern Railway Co. was thinking of selling the former depot. The city didn't have the money to buy it, so there was talk of demolishing it and building a hotel. Flynn, however, convinced company officials to donate the property to Kalispell in 1964, along with Center Street, which the railroad also owned.

"That's one thing I'm very proud of," he said.

The former mayor has been less impressed with some of the decisions made after he left office. He thinks the $2.3 million Streetscape beautification project, for example, is pretty much the worst decision the city ever made. He's not a big fan of the city manager form of government, either, because of the added cost.

"Back when I was mayor, I was responsible for all the things the city manager does now, and I made about $6,000," Flynn recalled. "That was a little more than the garbage collector was paid."

He also expressed some irritation with the occasional spelling errors he finds in the Inter Lake - a sentiment that may have developed long ago, during his first appearance in these pages: The newspaper account of Flynn's birth read, "Born on Friday, Oct. 3, to Mr. and Mrs. T.A. Flinn - a son."

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com