East Side of Main Street, Canton, SD around 1912

Canton, SD was a bustling town at the turn of the twentieth century (see last post), and its newspaper, the Sioux Valley News reported its activities in depth. Very little negative reporting went on; instead, the paper discussed the daily activities of its residents, cheered on business enterprises, and pushed an agenda to present Canton as a wonderful place for both working and living. A prominent grocery story created “Chraft & Hansen’s Canton Coffee,” which the proprietors said was a line of coffee “as good as any in the land.” They took out an ad in the March 4, 1904 edition to invite townspeople to partake of complimentary servings of Canton No. 25 in its line.

The coffee was probably needed, since a month later that same year, the paper raged that “after eighteen years of existence without open saloons Canton has opened her door and invited the saloon to enter.” The columnist was not ready to assert “that all who voted for license, did so because they were evil minded,” but it was clear that the paper’s position was solidly opposed to the move.

Arbuckles’ Was a Famous Brand of Coffee

Saloon, early 1900s