History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 22

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742

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Tisdell & Company brought a steam saw-mill with them that was kept running for several years supplying lumber for the needy. In the winter of 1860 I came to Nebraska and located at Salem on the 26th day of February.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, SHUBERT.

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Soon thereafter I bought eighty acres of land adjoining the townsite from John Billings, and got some of it broke the following spring, with the expec- tation of bringing my family in the near future and making that my perman- ent home. The gold excitement in the far West induced me with others to seek our fortune, if possible, among the mountains near Pike's Peak.

TOWN OF SHUBERT.

About sixteen miles due north of Falls City the town of Shubert is located, and of all the towns in the county this is one of the most important, from the standpoint of business transacted and general commercial activity. It is the principal trading point for a wide extent of country, that is not only well adapted for all kinds of farming and agricultural pursuits, but for stock raising as well.

Having a most advantageous location, it is not wonderful that there should have grown here a thriving town of some five hundred people and that the town should from the first show a degree of progress and a growth that showed the site to be well chosen and the town to fill a want in that sec- tion of the country. Those who have built up Shubert to what it is today, have not only built wisely but they have built well. The town is laid out on a generous scale, the streets being. very wide, and along the main street are to be found many business blocks of brick that would be a credit to larger towns. One thing that impresses the visitor is that nothing seems to be overdone, but each branch of industry is just sufficiently represented to induce good, healthy competition, which is the life of trade and hence the very life of the town. Shubert is fortunate in possessing a class of business men who are not only progressive and up-to-date, but who are accommodating and congenial. Their stores are all large and well kept and are stocked with a sufficient variety of merchandise to meet the demands of an ever increasing trade.

What is true of the business section of the town, as to appearance, applies to the residence section. There are many substantial homes, whose appearance stands as evidence of the prosperity of the owners and their pride in living well and in the appearance and beauty of the town.

The Nebraska City Branch of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad passes through Shubert and in the course of a year immense amounts of stock, grain, etc., are shipped out. Shubert is also reached by the county telephone lines.

Shubert people may well boast of their public school building, which

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is a large two-story brick structure and as fine as any in the county. The schools are kept ever in the front rank, and no teachers but the most compe- tent are ever employed. In the way of churches the town is supplied with a number of creditable edifices and all churches are largely attended and are in a prosperous condition.

One newspaper, the Shubert Citizen, is published there by J. L. Dalby, who is a veteran newspaper man of the county, and his paper has always championed the best interests of Shubert.

TOWN OF RULO.

The town of Rulo, might well be termed the "front door of Richardson county." It is located on the eastern boundary of the county on a series of high hills that overlook the Missouri river and at a point where the old Atchison & Nebraska, now known as the Burlington & Missouri railroad, enters the state.

There is much of historical interest connected with the town of Rulo, and much of the earlier history of the county was formed in the vicinity of this place. It was originally one of the many settlements that were made along the Missouri river at the time when the flood of emigration first met the flood waters of this river and rested a moment as it were, before sweep- ing westward to inundate the great plains that lay beyond and to ulti- mately sweep away the last vestige of all that was aboriginal and uncivilized. The land upon which Rulo now stands was originally part of the lands granted to the wife of Charles Rouleau under the terms of the treaty of Prairie Du Chien. It is from her that the town takes its name and it should be so spelled, but time has brought into use the shorter form of spelling.

It was first laid out in 1856 and incorporated in 1859, at which time part of the lands belonging to Mrs. Bedard, a sister of Mrs. Rouleau, was included in a plat of the townsite. The location is one that must have com- mended itself strongly to the pioneers, as a better site for a town could not be found. It stands on a cluster of hills from the top of which the eye may follow the graceful curves of the Missouri river for miles and miles, and may gaze across the bottom land upon the opposite side until vision is shut out by the veil of distance. The person standing on one of these hills may look into three states for he is standing in Nebraska and to the south loom the hills of northern Kansas, and to the east the spreading flats of western Missouri.

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The older residents of this county will recall many names that are closely linked with the history of Rulo. Charles Rouleau, Eli Bedard, E. H. Johnson, Charles Martin, Eli Plante, F. X. Dupuis and scores of others have long since gone to their last long rest, but it seems as though their spirit still dwells amid the familiar haunt of the hills. The earlier settlers of Rulo came with the various expeditions that set out to explore the mys- teries of the then unknown West, but who stopped to cast their lots on the banks of the turbid Missouri. The Rulo of today is a far different place and the finger of time has so marked it, as it has the whole West. Many of the descendants of the pioneers still reside there and have shared in the foresight of their ancestors, who knew a good thing when they saw it, and founded the town of Rulo.

When the Atchison & Nebraska railroad was built (the first rail of this road was laid across the Nebraska-Kansas state line on May 12, 1871), a station was established a few miles west of Rulo known as the "Rulo Y." and from there a stub line was built to Rulo. But in 1885 the rail- road company found that this arrangement was unsatisfactory and accord- ingly a magnificent steel bridge was built to span the Missouri at Rulo and the line built to connect with what is known as the Kansas City and Council Bluffs line on the other side of the river. This line connects at Napier, Missouri, and thus rail connection was had with Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri, on both sides of the river. The bridge is one of the largest spanning that stream. The Missouri at this point is quite treacherous and the cutting by the current has given the government and the railroad com- pany much trouble and large sums of money have been expended in trying to curb it. The bridge was more than two years in process of construction and cost more than a million dollars. "The bridge came to be the subject of warm legal controversy soon after its completion, when it came to be assessed for taxation. Richardson county wanted it taxed (i. e., that is, the west half of it, ) at its value, independent of the other part of the company's roadbed in the county. The case was carried to the supreme court and in course of time a decision was rendered adverse to the county, which in effect allows it to be taxed the same as other mileage of the railroad in the county. The company, however, has always charged an additional sum of fifty cents extra for each passenger carried over it, and the same is true as to freight, which is burdened with an extra charge for transport over the structure.

The early days, with their thrilling history, have passed away, and where lawlessness once reigned in a rough river town of the border, a thoroughly

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modern little city now stands, inhabited by more than a thousand prosperous and contented people. The town is well built, the business blocks for the most part being two-story brick structures and occupied by successful mer- chants, who enjoy a good trade and a patronage that is merited.

The rugged topography lends a peculiar beauty to the town and neat and comfortable homes nestle in the valleys and on the hill sides, hidden beneath a veritable forest of trees. Above the tops of these trees the spires of many churches testify to the religious sentiment that prevails and on the quiet Sabbath morning the sound of the bells float out on the air that once bore the red man's war song or the cry of wild animals, succeeded first by the weird song of the steamboat whistle, followed by the song of civili- zation, the church bell. Rulo boasts of as fine a public school building as may be found in the county. It is a large, brick building, equipped with all the modern appliances and capable teachers are always employed. Rulo is also a good market, having a large territory to draw from and affording good shipping facilities. A large grain and stock business is transacted here and a great deal of all kinds of produce is shipped out.

TOWN OF PRESTON.

The town of Preston was laid out and platted on land bordering the edge of the great Sac and Fox Indian Reservation, which comprised thousands of acres of land lying in the southeastern part of the county. It was for many years one of the principal shipping points of the county. Jefferson precinct, in which Preston is located, is one of the most fertile and productive precincts in the county and the great majority of the products is shipped to the outer world from Preston. The town is located about a mile south of the point where the Muddy flows into the Nemaha and six miles southeast of Falls City. Its existence dates from 1881, when the town was first platted by a man from Hiawatha as "Bluffton," but as there was at that time another town in the state having the same name, or one very similar, the postal authorities made objections and the name was changed to Preston.

The construction of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad line marked the beginning of an era of development and prosperity for the surrounding country and rendered imperative the need of a station with adequate shipping facilities. Around this station the pretty little town of Preston sprang up. . \ big elevator was constructed to take care of the grain that was to be shipped while the railroad yards furnished accommodations for the stock raisers who desired to ship stock to the markets of Kansas City and St. Joseph. The

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HIGH SCHOOL AT RULO.

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STREET SCENE AT RULO.

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BANK

NEW BUSINESS BUILDING AT VERDON.

ST. MARK'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, NEAR VERDON.

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town was very nicely located on the high banks that adjoins the Nemaha bot- toms on the south and overlooks the rich lands that stretch away on every side.

The close proximity of the large tribe of Sac and Fox Indians was a great source of revenue to the merchants of Preston. Here a great portion of the Indian annuities were paid and spent and the presence of the red man on the streets was a very common sight.

Preston was well supplied with stores, a bank, an opera house, school building and many homes as beautiful as might be found in the county.

NIMS CITY.

This little inland town was located several miles south of the town of Dawson, in Nemaha township, on the southwest quarter of southeast quarter of section 17, township I, north of range 14 east of the sixth principal meridian, by Mrs. Betsey U. Nims. The little place occupies the space of about one city block and was regularly platted and the same duly recorded. The plat bears the date of July 20, 1903. Its promoters probably started it as a rival of a much older little place to the southwest of it, which was known as Middleburg. The latter had been a little mail station from the very early days, and was in the same township. Nims City was at its best in 1906-7-8, and boasted of a church, several stores, a blacksmith shop, barber shop and a large public hall and hotel. The hall, or opera house, was and is still used much like a town hall and was a very popular place for many years past for the young people who desired to gather there in the winter evenings to dance away the hours. Frank Nims of Falls City, a son of the founder, was the moving spirit in the place and resided on a farm nearby. Since his departure and that of others prominent there, the place has not continued to prosper as formerly.

VERDON.

Verdon is the second station north on the Missouri Pacific line from Falls City ; Strausville, being the first, and is eleven miles distant. The land on which stands the village is the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 10, township 2, north of range 15, east of the sixth prime meridian, and was patented to William McK. Maddox, under date, September 15. 1860. The land was later owned by Mr. and Mrs. John A. Hall and it was they who founded the town. The plat, signed by John A. Hall and his wife Julia, was (16)

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filed in the office of the register of deeds on February 22, 1882, at the time of the building of the Missouri Pacific railroad north and south across Rich- ardson county. Since the original plat was made a part of the official records of the county a number of additions have been added to the village as follows : By Joseph H. Meyers and wife Maggie A., on the west, being a part of the west half of the southeast quarter of section 10, township 2, north of range 15, dated November 10, 1884. This addition was surveyed by Creighton Morris, of Humboldt, on October 6, 1884, and the plat was filed on November 12, 1884 ; and another addition by Miss Camma Hall, being the southeast one- half of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, filed on September 1, 1885. This addition was also surveyed by Creighton Morris, October 8, 1884 ; and another by the Lincoln Land Company, on the east side of the town.

The town is beautifully located on a hill overlooking Muddy Creek val- ley and occupied a most picturesque location. The town has a village gov- ernment, a board of trustees, constituted as follows: G. C. Goolsby, chairman ; C. H. Wear, H. J. Corn, trustees ; C. G. Humphrey, clerk ; H. N. Timmerman, treasurer, and Frank Waggner, marshal. The population of Verdon has been reported as follows, according to the United States government census : 1890, 253; 1900, 340; 1910, 406. The town has electric lights and a good system of local telephones, and nearly every line of business is well represented.

There was for a time much uncertainty as to where the town which we know as Verdon would be located. This uncertainty was the result of the railroads, or the uncertainty of the location of the railroad. Prior to the location of the Missouri Pacific right-of-way, the Republican River Valley Railroad Company, which is the Burlington Line, now extending from Salem to Nemaha City, had surveyed a line from Salem to Nemaha City, by way of the present line, and had graded the road from the north down to Muddy creek, just south of the town of Verdon. As Salem was the trading point of that entire community in those days, the community was anxious that the Burlington be extended to tap the main line of the Burlington at Salem. It was at this time that John A. Hall, then one of the foremost men and progressive citizens of that section, together with other public-spirited citizens of that community, worked up an interest in the matter and the precinct voted bonds, the proceeds of which were to be used in the construction of a railroad. The line was to be run to Salem, but after the bonds were voted the railway company changed its surveys and turned the road down Muddy creek. from the point where Verdon now is located, and ran the line to Falls City by way of the Muddy valley and over the divide east of Freeling Switch, which is now, or was, located on the Missouri Pacific. John Hall then brought an injunction suit,

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enjoining collection on the bonds. This suit was successful and accounts for the fact that Liberty precinct was relieved from paying the bonds that were voted. All the other precincts involved in this action were parties in the suit and escaped liability for payment on the bonds with the exception , of Muddy, which, in default of appearance, was held and obliged to pay, which it did. The Republican River Valley Railway Company's project was then abandoned; this all being prior to the building of the Missouri Pacific.

·The Missouri Pacific then acquired its right-of-way and J. E. Houtz, of Omaha, located the towns on that line. It is alleged that his methods of doing so were by going to different landowners along the proposed line of right- of-way, and undertaking to work up a contest between them for the location of the towns on the line. In this way the farmers of one section were induced to bid against one another. They knew that they were reasonably sure that it was only a question of time until the Burlington would build a cut-off from Salem to Nemaha City and knew that the point where Verdon was afterward located would be the junction between the two roads, but, nevertheless Houtz got Captain Ewing interested and it is said that the latter offered thirty acres of land if he would locate the town at a point designated by him, about two and one-half miles east of the present location of Verdon. John Hall gave to the Missouri Pacific, or to the representative, J. E. Houtz, the undivided half of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of sec- tion 10, township 2, north of range 15, in consideration of the location of a depot and depot facilities at that point. Besides this he granted a right of way north through the north half of that section.

August Schoenheit, of Falls City, was at that time local representative or attorney for the Missouri Pacific and when the townsite was platted he made a visit to the home of Mr. Hall (near Verdon) for the purpose of making a division of the lots between Mr. Hall and the railway company. Mr. Hall was away from home at the time and was represented in the division by his son, Thomas L. Hall, now chairman of the Nebraska state railway commission, who was familiar with the lay of the ground, and who proceeded to assist in dividing up the lots. The division was made by each in turn taking a lot, Mr. Hall taking the first and Mr. Schoenheit the second. This procedure was continued to the end. The action on the part of the younger Hall was made subject to the approval of his father on his return, and was later ratified by the elder Hall. In 1883 or 1884 the Burlington built its line down from Nemaha City to Salem and established its depot, which location has remained the same until this day.

This matter becomes interesting from the fact that such methods could not

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now be used in the location of depots and townsites in the state of Nebraska. The state railway commission would not now allow the railroads to become entangled in real-estate deals and locate the depots and arrange station facili- ties for their sole satisfaction and profit. The public, which patronizes such places, is now considered to have an interest and the same is protected by the commission. In this connection is worthy of note that the commission has compelled the removal and change of several depots in the state of Nebraska that had been located by the railroads without taking into consideration the interest of the community and the traffic in each particular community in locating the roads, or rather the depots, on account of some real-estate entan- glement. This was true of Gering, Flinchville, Gandy and a number of other places, so it is said.

Verdon is just one of those little centers which serves its own particular community and is typically representative of a great class of this size towns in the county and state. There are those who believe that it is much better to have a great number of small towns serving each community, rather than to have great cities. It tends to better moral and civic conditions in every respect. It tends to a more economic way of living. It tends to prevent peo- ple in general from getting the wanderlust. People in the smaller towns are often happier and more contented than those in the larger cities.

STRAUSVILLE.

Strausville is the youngest village in the county and was laid out by its founder, Gustave Strauss, and his wife on land owned by them and bears his name. It is located on parts of the southeast quarter of section 29 and parts of the southwest quarter of section 28 of township 2, north of range 16, Ohio township. The little village, which contains four blocks, was sur- veyed and platted by M. N. Bair, at that time a resident of Falls City, May I, 1901, but the plat was not filed for record in the register's office at Falls City until June 1, 1912. Straussville has always been quite a grain-receiving station for the farmers in that section and boasts of a store and blacksmith shop.

Falls City Brond Axe.

Vol. 5

Falls, City, N. T. Nov. 7th., 1863.

No. 13.

PROADATE

Falla PHy. N. T.

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RAILROAD

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FIRST NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN FALLS CITY.

SITE OF OLD ST. STEPHENS AS IT APPEARS IN 1917.

SCENE IN OLD ST. STEPHENS CEMETERY, 1917. MONUMENTS, SET IN 1855, 1856 AND 1859. STILL STANDING.

CHAPTER \.

SERIES OF FIRST EVENTS.

ST. STEPHENS.

St. Stephens was the first city of Richardson county. In 1861 it was the largest, most flourishing and only town of any consequence in the county. Today it is known only to the old settlers. Even the precinct which once bore that name now forms a part of Barada, and twenty years hence St. Stephens will be known only in the archives of the court house and to the historian. The townsite was laid out by Gen. Ben F. Loan and Stephen Story in the spring of 1855, on land belonging to Israel Price, Henry Dukes, Stephen Lyons and Stephen Story. S. F. Nuckolls & Company conducted the first store. A Mr. Archer kept the first hotel. The late William R. Cain, of Falls City, built the third dwelling house in town. In 1856 Israel Price started a blacksmith shop and in the next year J. W. Crane, of St. Joseph, Missouri, started the second store. During the years 1857, 1858 and 1859, the town grew rapidly, reaching the height of its glory in 1861, at which time it had two general stores, one kept by Crane & Lewis, and the other by D. J. Martin; two saloons, one kept by Henly Price and Henry Dukes, and the other by George Cooley. Henry Smith was the blacksmith and Allen Gleason ran the ferry across the Missouri river. In 1857 Huston Nuckolls, Stephen Story and W. P. Loan started a general land office and in the spring of 1858 they held a public sale of land and town lots. Father Thomas, as he was called, a Baptist preacher, living near Rulo, preached the first sermon ever preached in the town. John McFarland was the first justice of the peace; Stephen Lyons, the second; William Morgan, the third ; S. G. Lewis, the fourth and William R. Cain, the fifth, who held the office for eight consecutive years, without an appeal from his decisions. Israel Price was the first constable. The first school was taught by William Bell and the second, by William McMurren. The first school board was elected in 1859. with William R. Cain as president, and for twenty-one years Mr.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Cain held a position on the school board and only resigned when he removed to Falls City. Mr. Cain was the father of Hon. J. R. Cain, president of the Bank of Stella: C. Fred Cain, now of Miami, Florida, and for years a merchant of Falls City; John Cain, of Boseman, Montana; Mrs. Laura B. Paxton. of Falls City, and Mrs. James Smith, of Butler, Missouri. The first postmaster was T. C. Sicafoos. The first doctor was David Whitmire, and W. P. Loan was the first lawyer. The prominent citizens of St. Stephens, when at the height of its prosperity, were Aury Ballard, Doctor Whitmire, J. W. Crain, William M. Morrison, D. S. Phillips, Press Martin, Huston Nuckolls and W. P. Loan .- "Pioneer Record."

SOME OF THE "FIRSTS."

The first mill in the county at which grist was ground was located at or near Salem and was built by the Hare boys.

The first white man to settle on the Muddy was John Harkendorff, who located there in 1854.

A. H. Sloan claimed the credit of having cast the first vote recorded in Liberty township.

The Goolsby district in Ohio township had the first public school in Richardson county. Mr. Bartlett was the teacher.

Jane Cooper taught the first school in the "Cupolo" district in a house later occupied by Reece Williams, as a dwelling.

William H. Crook disputes the generally accepted story that the first school of the county was taught at or near Falls City. He says that he remem- bers going to a good school in a little log house that stood on the banks of the creek, a little west of old Archer, before Falls City was ever laid off ; and that the second school was taught by a one-armed lady, whose name was Samuels. He also recalls that she was great on "lickin' and larnin'." She was a teacher of the "old school," who believed that to "spare the rod was to spoil the child;" hence, it was a large factor in her method of discipline, and good traits in the character of Mr. Crook are some of the results of that first school.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 22

Author: Edwards, Lewis C Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1742

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742