Robert Dimond Hoskins (1860-1946) – more commonly referred to as R.D. Hoskins – was a pioneering lawyer and businessman who founded a retail store that eventually expanded into a greenhouse and a media empire that included today’s KFYR television and radio stations, among others.
Hoskins was born October 3, 1860 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was raised in Pennsylvania before receiving a law degree from Alleghany College. He came to Dakota Territory sometime before November 1884 – originally settling in Bathgate, located in Pembina County. While there, he was editor of the Bathgate Sentinel. It was that month that he married Florence Armstrong.
He was admitted in the state bar in 1889 and moved to Bismarck at about that time. He was first clerk of the state supreme court until 1917, and later as a deputy clerk of the federal court until shortly before his death.
In 1898, Hoskins founded “Hoskins Cigar, Stationery, and Flower Store” at 213 Main Avenue. Hoskins also owned Capital Bookstore, founded that same year inside the recently completed Tribune Block on the northwest corner of 4th Street and Broadway Avenue. It’s unclear if Hoskins was its original owner or acquired it later. In 1909, after the Tribune Block’s expansion, he relocated his original namesake store there. The retailer was one of the first in the region to offer photofinishing products and services.
At some point, Philip Meyer – married to Hoskin’s daughter, Etta – partnered in the business and it became Hoskins-Meyer in 1922. Later founding KFYR radio (1925) and television (1953), among other media entities, the resulting Meyer Broadcasting Company evolved to become one of North Dakota’s largest privately-owned enterprises before selling, beginning with the retail store in 1948 and the entirety of its media operations by 1998.
Hoskins died on January 3, 1946.
