Overview
Dooley is a ghost town in northeastern Sheridan County, Montana, United States. The town was established as a station stop and one of the first four depots along the Soo Line Railroad branch line to Whitehall.
History
The town began in 1912 or earlier, when the railroad was coming through and landed on the corner of W.D Dooley's property. Around 40 buildings went up at once, to become the business area. It was one of the only towns not to move since the beginning of the railroad. He had to rebuild them after they caught in a fire. There were two saloons in town; one was owned by Hans Nelson and the other by Jim Kings. The church collapsed on the morning of July 8, 2019. Ted Nelson was a popular man in town and owned many of the businesses. He bought the Herman Bretzke building and started the first restaurant in Dooley. Mrs. Nelson managed the restaurant. The Racket (Variety) Store was owned by Ted. Ted also then bought and started a meat market, and had Christ Grythnes as the meat cutter. His meat market was one of the two in town. The other was caught in all three of Dooley’s fires.
The blacksmith shop was owned by Ed Campell and Newt Shaw. They did very well in their business, sharpening plowshares and keeping machinery in shape. The blacksmith shop had a few owners after the original ones moved away. There were other business around the town, some of them were short lived, while others were sold to new owners. There were two doctors in town, Dr. Sells and Dr. Cooper. There were a lot of different business in the early days of Dooley. As time went on they slowly died out. There were three elevators built, because of the large amount of grain that crossed the Canada–US border. Nels Markuson managed the elevators. Otto and Arthur Stadig built a big barn to board horses. They were able to care for over 100 horses. The mail was delivered from Plentywood in 1913–1914. The first postmaster of Dooley was Peter Hegseth, who ran the office out of his house.
There were two other postmasters, Willard Markuson and Ambrose Schumacher. The post office was closed in June 1957, and a route was established out of Westby. Church was held in George Wrights Hall, and led by Rev. F.E. Henry. Then it was held by Fr. Hennssey. The Rocky Valley Lutheran Church was built in 1915. The Ladies Aid furnished it. The first minister was Rev. S.J. Fretheim, and his first serviced was held in P.T. Hegseth farm house. After 1945 the church had closed due to so many people leaving the area, and was sold to a local farmer. In the fall of 1913, the school district was formed along with the school board that consisted of, Jim King, George Epler, and W.D. Dooley. For three years an old homestead shack was used as their classroom, where Miss Alice Murphy taught. In 1915 a school was built and the classes become more regular.
Until 1931 the grade school children were taught in the large room, and then it was decided that a high school should be built. The new high school had its first graduating class in 1932, with six students. The high school also had their own newspaper, "The Dooley Dew," then later changed to fit the mascot to "The Eagle Eye." The high school tried to create a radio station, but due to the lack of power they never bought a license for it. Over time the families around moved away and the local children were bused to Plentywood for school. The town also suffered infestations of armyworms, grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, which harmed local agriculture.
See also
*Rocky Valley Lutheran Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
References
* *Budke (Hilyard), May and Pamla Hendrickson (Fouhy). Sheridan's Daybreak III. Sheridan County Daybreakers Genealogy Society. Plentywood, MT: Sheridan County Daybreakers Genealogy Society, 2005. Google. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.