This photo shows the Elise Perras Museum and Hazelton Heritage Center in Hazelton, North Dakota. The small white two-story house with simple wood siding and a steep gable roof serves as part of the museum complex. A sign visible along the walkway reads “Hazelton Heritage Center and Elise Perras Museum,” indicating the site’s dedication to preserving local history. Snow covers the ground around the building, highlighting its prairie setting and heritage character.

Welcome to the Elise Perras Museum, which served as the first post office, a millinery shop and home of Hazelton’s first postmaster, Elise Perras. While her story is a tragic one, it also serves to represent that of a strong, intelligent, and courageous pioneer woman, who was ahead of her time.

Elise was born in a small town in Canada on October 24th, 1853. As the oldest daughter of a large farming family, Elise likely assumed many responsibilities. Little did she know at that time, how much those virtues of resilience and a strong work ethic would serve her throughout her lifetime.

In 1884, at the age of 30, Elise married her husband, Cyrille while still in Canada. Shortly after their marriage, Elise and Cyrille moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and later to Minneapolis. Cyrille worked at a meat packing plant, while Elise was a milliner, who started earning the reputation of making fine women’s hats. They had three children together: Anita, Leopold, and Olga. In 1900, at the age of 42, Cyrille had a tragic accident at the meat packing plant, and fell down the elevator shaft to his death.

After Cyrille’s death, Elise decided to move closer to family along with her three children. She joined her brother Avila in Emmons County. A few years later in 1903, she purchased these lots where the Museum sits today. While modest by today’s standards, you can imagine just how proud Elise must have been to have this home for her and her three children. In June 1903, she applied to become Hazelton’s first postmaster, and one of the first (if not the first) postmistress of North Dakota. In addition to serving the community as postmistress, she continued the hat-making business for the fashionable women of the area. Inside the museum you can view a hat that she made. She served the community as postmistress until 1905.

By 1918, with World War I well underway, the government had imposed food rationing across the United States. These were stressful times of war and the flu epidemic. On June 7th, 1918 a group of drunken men appeared on the doorstep of Elise’s home. They demanded to see Wallace Daugherty, Elise’s son-in-law, who they alleged was hoarding a supply of wheat. Wallace either wasn’t home, or Elise wasn’t about to hand him over to the men, whose tempers were inflamed and fueled by alcohol. An argument ensued, and one of the men shot and killed Elise, who became another victim of World War I in her own way.

Inside what is now the Elise Perras Museum, you can imagine her life–that of a hardworking, entrepreneurial single mother and widow, who, like so many women during the frontier days on the Northern Plains, met every challenge presented to her in life with courage and bravery.

Funded in part by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for Humanities.