This was originally the home of Melancthon and Gertrude (Colby) Ibertson from 1910 to his death in1939. She continued to live here until her marriage to Andrew Lundgren in 1946, and then they lived here.
Ibertson’s was the pioneer furniture and undertaking establishment of Bemidji, and their stock consisted of everything in this line, from a baby carriage to leather upholstered lounges. Mr. Ibertson was a licensed embalmer and undertaker, and his stock of funeral furnishings and funeral clothes served many, many families. In 1908, he was elected coroner on the Republican ticket. The Ibertson funeral home figured prominently in early Bemidji history. He died on Dec 3, 1939.
In the fall of 1941, Mrs. Ibertson hired D & H Machine Works of Bemidji to service and replace a heating unit on the premises. Gertrude M. Ibertson married Andrew G. Lundgren on July 17, 1946 in Polk County.
Andrew Lundgren (1946)
Harold D. Searls (1953)
Wm. Drummond and his family lived here from about 1954-1978. He was a respected teacher and was on the faculty at Bemidji High School for 18 years. Bill Drummond served as a pilot in WW II from June 7, 1941 to Oct 17, 1945. William and Charlotte Drummond were married on June 14, 1945, in Phoenix, Ariz. After their marriage, they made several moves before coming to Bemidji. He was a commander of the National Guard for 26 years. He was a pilot with the Civil Air Patrol. Bill Drummond died in 1972. His students published a tribute to him in the Bemidji Pioneer which included references to his love of his Irish blood and told many stories of his native Boston. He shared his enjoyment of sports, especially baseball. They wrote that he displayed an excellent sense of humor when he often told them, “I’m not always right, but I’m never wrong.”
After her husband’s death, Mrs. Drummond continued to live in this house and worked at Bemidji State University for several years and then North Country Regional Hospital for 12 years. She enjoyed having her grandkids visit, reading and watching the Twins and Vikings. Their family consisted of a daughter Charlotte and four sons Joe, Chuck, John, and William Jr.
William Drummond, Jr. was accepted into the Master’s degree program in comparative and international politics at the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in California in Dec 1974. His area of study was Russian, and he spent two months in Russia earlier in the winter of 1974.
Keith Johnson (1982)
This property was last sold for $92,000 in 2007