History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 39

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011

USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 39

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Teeter & Homan came to this city from Holbrook in 1916 and established an agencye

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for the Dodge cars and Republic trucks. They cover ten counties. This firm recently pur- chased the Boyden residence property at Sec- ond and Sycamore for $15,000 and expect to erect a garage and sales building in 1920 equal if not superior to any in this part of the state.

H. P. Hansen established an agency for the Reo cars and trucks in 1914. Mr. Hansen was formerly in the retail business but finds the automobile decidedly more fascinating.

The Gibbs Automobile company is one of the largest concerns of the city, comprising George Gibbs and Ed Guthman. It began business in 1916. It is the agent for the Studebaker car and covers sixteen counties. Mr. Guthman came to this city from Salt Lake City. Mr. Gibbs is an old Grand Island man, and has been very successful in the new business.

The Richey-Freeman Auto company has just begun business with W. O. Ritchey, recently of York, and C. B. Freeman, George Fleming, and L. W. Van Horn, of western Nebraska, interested. They are the agents for the Buick and the Dort cars. Arrangements are being made for the erection of one of the finest garage buildings in the city next year, at Third and Kimball avenues on the old Pierce livery barn location.

The Grand Island Motor company, consist- ing of William Cords and John Sass, began business in 1918 and handle the Chevrolet cars and Allis-Chalmers tractors.

The Nielson Auto company, with Niels E. Nielson proprietor, began business in 1916 and handles the Nash and Allen cars and trucks. It also does a general garage and repair business.

The Grand Island Tire & Rubber company, with Roy E. Geise proprietor, began business in 1918, Mr. Geise coming to this city from Council Bluffs. He handles all kinds of auto accessories and U. S. and Fisk tires.

The Gates Half Sole service station, with C. A. Lee proprietor, began business in 1919, coming to this city from Omaha. Mr. Lee is confident that the automobile and accessory business of the Third City will grow with more rapid strides than any other industry.

Recently Fred Gilbert has taken the district agency for a large number of counties for the Maxwell line and established a distributing house at 415 West Third. F. F. Kaner is removing to California. Farm Power Co. is handling Fordson tractors next door west of Glass-Evans Co. Worth Alexander has a garage at 222 Fourth street. The Roy Brown

garage at 524 E. Fourth street is another north side garage. (Other north side garages are the Highline garage at 417 West Fourth and Zlomke garage on North Pine street.) The importance of the taxi business to a city the size of Grand Island which is without a street car system may be realized by the fact that at times as high as sixty-two taxi licenses have been in effect in the city. The Koehler Taxi Line (C. B. Havens Trans- fer Co.), Grand Island Taxi company, Mc- Intosh Taxi Lines, are companies that operate several cars apiece, and there are two or three dozen individuals operating one or more cars for this purpose. Nielsen & Petersen have had constructed a large moving truck that can carry up to two or three tons of household goods or other loads, if they desire to load it so heavily. Central Storage Co., Jim Hughes, Roy Brown, have good sized moving and transfer trucks now. Moving across country is becoming more common as the roads im- prove. In 1918 several parties moved their household goods between Grand Island and Lincoln by truck and van. This method saves from two to three handlings of the goods and eliminates a great deal of packing. The Man- hattan, and B. & I. Oil companies have had branch distributing stations here for some time. The Standard Oil company built a splendid filling station at the southeast corner of Second and Pine. The Manhattan Oil company is just completing a splendid, orna- mental station at the corner of Second and Wheeler. The Sinclair Oil company is search- ing for a suitable location, and a station is soon to be built on the familiar triangle be- tween Locust, Wheeler, and Division, where the Linderman residence stands by the B. & L. Oil company. The importance of these estab- lishments is effectually emphasized by their acquisition and ability to profitably use some of the most valuable business corner locations in the city.

Other automobile businesses in this city. handled in the past and not heretofore men- tioned, have been, W. E. Rownd, 221 East Third, automobile accessories, repairs and livery, as early as 1902; C. J. Donner & Son.

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114 S. Pine street; Hart Gun Co., 103 East Third, as early as 1908 and 1909; Branaman Bros. operated under that name at the pres- ent Brandes location in 1911 and 1912; Upper- man & Leiser and Henry Stratman were then handling automobiles as well as agricultural implements. There were three garages in the city in 1911, the Cummings, Harrison & Reid, and Rownd. E. R. Farmer operated in 1914 at 116 W. Fourth, but has sold this garage since then. The Independent Garage Co., 224 East Fourth, Jarvis Auto Co., 120 East Sec- ond, and Western Auto Exchange, 114 South Pine, were also operating in 1914. In 1919 there were the Dahlstrom garage, now the Gibbs Auto Co. garage, Graham Auto Co., 109 East Second, which handled the Buick for this territory. Upon Mr. Graham's death in 1918 the Buick agency was taken over by Ritchey-Freeman Co. and the Brandes garage was the successful bidder for this location, in which they placed their repair shop and ac- cessory salesroom. C. H. Sems was at 121 North Cedar, Walters & Marsh at 112 South Pine, the Tire Hospital at 115 North Second, and Third City Auto Co., at 118 South Wheeler.

In addition to the wonderful growth and multiplicity of makes of automobiles from which the purchaser of this day has to choose, there are already something like two hundred makes of trucks and a similar number of tractors on the market, with more being offered each month. A short discussion of the general growth of the automobile and kindred industries, written by V. E. Evans, of the Glass-Evans company, in April, 1919, is herewith offered :

Ten years ago the automobile business was in its infancy and a few of us that were so engaged were classed with the village black- smith, absolutely no credit, and for places of business we generally had to occupy some old abandoned shack, generally the worst appear- ing building in the town, and when you called upon one of these places of business you expected to see as its manager a greasy man with his overalls and jumpers sufficiently saturated that they would almost stand alone. Now we think this a fair interpretation of the pioneer garage man. The contrast of them

today is so great that it would almost seem like an impossibility for so great a transforma- tion to take place, in face of the fact that the business was so inadequately equipped in the beginning, and today we stand foremost in the cities and villages throughout our country as a representative business.

The possibilities of the business and its permanency was conceived by a progressive class of business men who took upon their shoulders to establish the business that was heretofore considered very treacherous to the country's finances. The bankers who have always been admitted to be the country's fore- most financial advisors, were against and dis- couraged their customers in buying auto- mobiles, mainly refusing to loan money for

FORD BUILDING, GRAND ISLAND

their purchase. Conscientious no doubt, in their convictions, but very mistaken in their ideas, which has been proved by the thousands of cars that have been delivered, and yet the financial conditions are better today than they have ever been in our history.

Throughout the state of Nebraska the car dealers have the best buildings, and most up- to-date places of business of any state in the union, and my experience has been that as a rule they have better systems and service installed than the average merchant of today.

When a country becomes so commercially industrious as ours it is a continuous race against time, and every time-saving device that can be installed finds a ready market and I can cheerfully say that the automobile saves more time than any other invention today.

The automobiles of today carry more people to and from their industries and work in the cities than the street cars. In the city of Chicago today, it would be impossible for the street cars and elevated lines to carry the traffic were it not for the automobiles. This would necessitate the building of a subway which would cost millions, and in New York where they have the subway, surface and

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elevated lines, the automobile carries more passengers than either.

Taking the rural districts into consideration. Throughout the summer months, when the farmer's time means money to him, think of the inconveniences of not being equipped with an automobile when it is necessary for him to make as high as eight or ten trips a week to the city to purchase repairs and materials to successfully carry on his business. If he had to resort to a slow team of horses, it would require a half day to make the same trip which now requires only one hour with an auto, and especially during the acute short- age of farm labor which we experienced last summer. There ought not be any question in your mind as to the importance of the auto- mobile and its duties.

Our great country has in its bounds 5,000,000 automobiles today, owned and op- erated by our most progressive business men with a carrying capacity of one-fourth of our entire population. In other words, we have sufficient auto conveyance to transport 25,- 000,000 passengers over one hundred miles in any one day, and under the very hoods of these cars is a representative power of ap- proximately 150,000,000 horse power, which is three times greater than all the other motive powers combined. This enormous growth has taken place in the last ten years and ought to be convincing evidence of the automobile industry and its permanency.

Motor trucks less than two years ago made their first appearance in our community. Today they are shown by all of the leading firms of our city, as well as others through- out the state and many of them enjoyed the sales of 40 or 50 trucks during the season ; they also have proved themselves beyond a possible doubt, as essential as the automobile. Every farmer, as well as merchant, can no doubt realize a great saving in their use when he has an occasion to haul a load.

Within a radius of 50 miles of Omaha there is more live stock delivered to Omaha stock market with motor trucks than by railroad. With our national system of highways com- pleted, which is the crying need of our land, the tonnage transportation of trucks will ex- ceed that of railways.

General Coleman Dupont, in a recent ad- dress to the farmers on the high cost of living and its relations to the distribution of farm products on good roads, made the statement that can hardly be disputed, when he said that more than 5,000,000,000 tons of freight pass over the highways of this country with

an average haul of little under 10 miles on macadamized roads at not to exceed 8 cents per ton.

In the year 1917 there was manufactured and delivered approximately 190,000 trucks, as compared with 250,000 during 1917 and with an estimated production of 290,000 dur- ing 1919, is a very satisfactory growth enjoyed by the truck manufacturers. The above figures alone ought to eliminate any question in your mind as to your transportation problem.

The evolution of farm power from ox teams of the early settlers to the tractor of the modern farmer has taken place also within the last few years, and since the introduction of the first tractor there has been such a growing demand that the industry itself has been unable to cope with the situation. The final manifestation of this is the powerful, economical and efficient power-farming ma- chinery, therefore, again we have demon- strated the further need of motive power.

The farmer that can fill up his tractor with a few gallons of kerosene and proceed with the proper seeding of two or three hundred acres of land, and in this manner increase his acreage 4 or 5 hundred per cent over horse- power, ought not to be blamed for investing his money in a farm tractor, and throughout the very intense heat of the summer season, when it is most necessary to harvest crops in order to save them, is able to do the same amount of work that he could do in cooler parts of the year but would be impossible for him to perform with horse-power.

I have endeavored in the above three articles in treating on automobiles, trucks and farm tractors, to prove to you that the auto- mobile business is permanent, and our lines answer the needs of as many wants and es- sentials as any mercantile business in exist- ence, but which was heretofore scoffed at and was considered a luxury and detrimental to the public welfare.

BICYCLE INDUSTRY

The importance of Grand Island, with its network of railroads centering here, as a dis- tributing point for the state has again been recognized. This time the city has been chosen as the central distributing point for the entire state, outside of Omaha and Douglas counties, for distributing bicycles and motorcycles. As a result the first car- load shipments of bicycles and motorcycles

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

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WHEEL CLUB, GRAND ISLAND

ever received in any Nebraska city except Omaha, will be sent here soon.

E. A. Brandes has signed a contract with the Miama Bicycle Co. of Middletown, Ohio, for the 1920 season that gives the Grand Island office the entire state outside of Douglas county, or 92 counties in all. The first shipment is to be received September 1st and is to be a carload or 350 bicycles. This is double the territory had by the Brandes people the past year. This is the first time a carload of bicycles ever was shipped here. It will be the first time a carload ever was shipped to any city in the state outside of Omaha.

J. B. Shelton, local manager for Brandes, states the company also will have the same territory for distribution of Indian and Ex- celsior motorcycles. The past year the local office handled the territory west of Lincoln. The motorcycles are to be received here in carload lots, the first carloads of motorcycles to come to any city except Omaha.

The growing importance of the bicycle is shown by the fact that 500 pairs of bicycle tires, or 1,000 tires, were sold here by Brandes last year and 3,000 this year. During 1920 fully 5,000 bicycle tires will be handled here. The sales of bicycles are increasing, Mr. Shelton stating the sales last year were double those of the previous year, and this year were twice the number sold last year. A few years ago bicycle sales were scarce comparatively but the war started an increase in the use of the bicycle as a matter of economy in trans- portation. Many men in this city who own cars bought bicycles to use in place of their cars for going back and forth between office and home. The use of the "wheel" by the women came back into style last year as well. Five times as many women's bicycles were sold this past year as had been sold in the previous five years altogether, Shelton says.

William Goettsche who conducts Goet- tsche's motorcycle and bicycle shop, also states that business in that line is growing with great rapidity. He has the distribution of Harley- Davidson bicycles and motorcycles for a num- ber of counties and at this time has shipments due which will be larger than any shipments in the past. He also does a big accessory

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business, distributing accessories for all sur- , Thompson and his fellow aviators direct and rounding towns. make the flights. This company immediately "It is only to be expected that this city should become a large distributing point," he remarked. "No city in the state is better equipped, so far as railroad lines are con- cerned, to send goods to other places in the state." ordered a Curtiss aeroplane which arrived July 7th, and since then exhibition, passenger, and business flights are being made regularly. Scheduled flights have successfully been made over the various towns in central Nebraska. This company secured the agency for a ter- In anticipation of increasing business and to handle better the present large volume, he has rented the rooms formerly occupied by William Veit's grocery, as a repair shop. All of his repair work will be handled there and his old shop will be devoted to use as a display room only. The repair shop has occupied the rear part of his shop. ritory comprising almost half of the state, and before it had been in operation a month Man- ager Thompson organized the Ord Aero Club, which has already ordered a Curtiss machine, and since then about ten machines have been sold. The effect of this concern is likely to be .very important for Grand Island in the future. as it will tend to secure for the city the same Goettsche has sold more bicycles this year than ever before in one year. Not only has his sales been large but the factory office has notified him that his sales have been larger than in any other city of similar size in the United States, and larger than in any city in the United States from the point of sales per population. advantage as a supply, storage, and general utility station on the various transcontinental aerial routes already being planned that the city has secured in matter of railroads and highways for motor transportation. Lieu- tenant Thompson is the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Thompson. He was born, raised, and educated in Grand Island, attended schools in this country and in Italy, graduated from GRAND ISLAND AERO COMPANY the Creighton College of Law, was admitted A new transportation industry which has perhaps been expedited a generation or so through the necessary advances made during the great war just closed, is the aeroplane industry. Through the initative of Lieut. Lloyd G. Thompson, who served during the war as an aviator in France and an aviation instructor in Italy, Grand Island has furnished the first aeroplane company to be incorporated in the state of Nebraska. The Grand Island Aero Company was incorporated in June, 1919, for $25,000 with E. L. Brown president, Lester Schuff, vice-president, A. E. Cady, Jr., treasurer, E. C. Burger, secretary, and Lloyd G. Thompson, general manager. Lieutenant and entered the practice of law with his father when the great war was well under way. Without waiting for the United States to enter, he secured admission to an aerial in- struction camp in England and was in the aviation service when the American dough- boys and aviators arrived in France. Upon his return he re-entered the practice and also took this step that furnished to Grand Island a good "head-start" in aviation industry, that will undoubtedly develop rapidly in the next few years. While Lieutenant Thompson was in the service, his wife, Aimee Schwynn Thompson, studied shorthand and assisted in the law office of Thompson and Thompson.

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CHAPTER XV

COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GRAND ISLAND

COMMERCIAL BEGINNINGS OF GRAND ISLAND - STORES IN 1873 - BUSINESS LEADERS OF FIRST DECADE - BUSINESSMEN OF 1876 - DURING THE NEXT TEN YEARS (1876-1886) - DURING THE LAST THIRTY-TWO YEARS - THE HOTELS - RESTAURANTS - CONFECTIONERIES - SA- LOONS - BARBER SHOPS - LIVERY, FEED AND SALE STABLES - BLACKSMITH SHOPS - AGRI- CULTURAL IMPLEMENTS - ELEVATORS - FLOUR AND FEED -LUMBER AND COAL - COAL - GROCERY STORES - MEAT MARKETS- BAKERIES - ICE DEALERS - DRY GOODS AND SHOES - WOLBACH STORES - SHOE STORES - CLOTHING BUSINESS - MILLINERY STOCKS - DRUG STORES - BOOK STORES-JEWELRY STORES-FURNITURE AND UNDERTAKING-WALL PAPER STOCKS - HARDWARE STORES - OTHER STORES - COMMERCIAL ORGANI- ZATIONS - HALL COUNTY IMMIGRATION SOCIETY - THE MERCHANTS CLUB -THE BOARD OF TRADE - THE BUSINESS MEN'S CLUB -THE COMMERCIAL CLUB

COMMERCIAL BEGINNINGS OF GRAND ISLAND

As hereinbefore noted, the town of Grand Island, as it now stands, moved over to its present location from the first settlement to the site located by the Union Pacific railroad Company in the spring of 1866. The first track of the Union Pacific railroad was laid by that company on the 8th day of July, of the same year, and the first house built in the present confines of Grand Island was a section house, built by the same company. On the same day (July 8, 1866) the first con- struction train was run into the city.

Theretofore there had grown up during the nine years intervening since the arrival of the .first colony, on July 4, 1857, what might rather loosely be termed the "old town." There was really no platted town, but a com- munity of people with close neighborly inter- ests and a constant exchange of business dealings.

The commercial interests of the community had been served by the old "O. K. Store" of Henry A. Koenig and Fred Wiebe, which had been running since 1862, on one farm. Some-

thing like five miles farther west Fred Hedde had built up a business and catered to his neighbor's needs, and on farther west was Jim Jackson's Wood River store. But with the location of Grand Island station on the railroad the stores had to leave the old emi- grant roads, and Koenig and Wiebe promptly came up to Grand Island station, as did Fred Hedde. Likewise, Jim Jackson moved into the first site of Wood River, that sprang up with the arrival of the road, and he later had to move again to the present site to keep up with his community.

Grand Island did not promptly settle down on the streets which are now the principal business streets. But like the great majority of towns, missed its guess about one block off in each direction. The first community . huddled around Front street, east and west, and principally around Pine street, north and south. In his centennial sketch, prepared in 1876, Dr. J. P. Patterson states :

The first dwelling in the town was erected by W. Stephens at Locust and Front streets. During the autumn the Railroad House was

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built and the eating house established for the accomodation of passengers. The first building being of insufficient size, an addition was put to it, and the whole was used as an eating house until the completion and oc- cupation of the later commodious and hand- some structure, which took place in December, 1875. Part of the old building was purchased by Fred Hedde, and removed to the south- west conrer of Locust and Third streets, where, after having some very essential re- pairs, it was occupied by Mr. Hedde as a store and dwelling. The balance was con- verted into a neat dwelling by P. Touhey, and later occupied by C. W. Thomas as a res- idence. The post office was established in November, 1866, and D. Schuller was ap- pointed postmaster, and about the same time several stores were opened, among the first of which were those of M. S. Hall, a railroad contractor, Koenig & Wiebe, who had re- moved their old O. K. store into the town proper, in 1867. Wm. R. McAllister and C. W. Thomas commenced business in the same year.

An examination of the advertising columns of the newspapers in the fall of 1873 showing the business houses of that time will recall many familiar names to the old settlers of the county, and those of the present generation who grew from childhood in the community.

The general stores were: O. K. Store, a store that had been brought over from the old town and that was located on the site of the present Koehler hotel. It was then managed by Robert C. Jordon, and the stock eventually closed out. C. Wasmer & Bro. store was lo -. cated on West Third, where the Woolworth Five and Ten Cent store is now located. This was afterwards closed out. C. W. Thomas's stock, known as The Excelsior store, was lo- cated across the street and in the next block west from the Wasmer store. Third street had not been opened until 1871 when James Michelson and W. R. McAllister built build- ings on the northwest and southwest corners of Pine and Third streets. The store of Jacobs & Michelson was opened in 1871 on the site of the present Michelson block, and that of W. R. McAllister on the southeast corner of Third and Pine, a lot or two in from the street intersection. James Cleary, dealer in

stoves, tinware and house furnishing goods, was located in North Locust street, between Third and Front streets, and T. J. Hurford, who offered another stock of hardware to the trade was at the corner of Third and Wheeler, where the present O. C. Thompson Co. is lo- lated. Other business houses and industries represented in the advertising columns of the papers in 1873 were: F. Drews, fashionable barber; A. F. Wilgocki, surveyor and real estate agent, for the two seemed to go to- gether in those days, they closed the deal when they located the party on the land; State Cen- tral bank of Nebraska, with F. A. Weibe as president and Dorr Heffleman as cashier; Newsdepot at City Drug store, with N. P. Kelley, dealer; State Central Brewery, Geo. Boehm, proprietor, on Locust street; Capital Billiard hall at the corner of Locust and Third streets ; Fritz Suehlsen, "icecream, lunch at all hours and general confectionery" on Front street; Cornelius Ivers' billiard hall, Third street ; A. H. Wilhelm of Alda, Nebraska, ad- vertising "for best prices and quickest returns on buying grain ;" Geo. T. Hoagland and Son, lumber; Tout & Morton, carpenters and builders; M. J. McKelligan & Co., "wines, liquors, etc."; Fred Nabel's city bakery ; D. G. Phimister, contractor and builder ; L. Engel, merchant tailor; Jenneman & Dunphy, boot and shoe manufactury. on Locust street; Probstle & Barks, harness, saddles, etc., on Locust street ; Koenig & Wiebe Steam Flour- ing Mill, and "dealers in Grain, Flour, Ground Feed and Coal"; C. E. Lykke, blacksmithing on Third street; W. A. Platt auctioneer ; J. G. Feller, Harnes maker; Bassett's Sample Rooms, under the Clarendon hotel; John Grimes, bootmaker, on corner of Third and Pine streets ; American Feed, Livery and Sale . Stable; John Fonner; wells hair dressing and shaving saloon, joining the Nebraska house. The only resident survivors of the foregoing list are Fred Nabel, C. E. Lykke, - and Jas. Cleary.

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 39

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 1011

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011