History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 51

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

USA > Nebraska > Richardson County > History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions > Part 51

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The building is heated by steam with a down-draft boiler. Ventila- tion is carried through the roof to ventilating duck. In the rear of the building is a mailing vestibule, which can be shut off from the rest of the building for receiving and delivering mail without disturbing the main part of the postoffice. The auto-trucks run on a concrete driveway, which extends from front to rear, and has a large open space in the rear for parking anto- mobiles. The total cost of the building, which is fireproof, is $43,195, exclu- sive of the site, which cost $5,600, and is considered the ultimate word in postoffice equipment.

The building is a product of the new policy the present administration has adopted. Previous to this, Congress appropriated money only for post- offices in the larger cities, leaving the postoffices in the smaller towns to get along as well as they could by renting a store or some other building not adapted for postal service. The gradual growth and civic importance, however, of Falls City, demanded improved postal facilities and the federal authorities proceeded with the erection of the building, which now meets all the needs of the city and neighborhood.

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS IN FALLS CITY.

A considerable portion of the city sewer improvement is hid away in the ground in main and lateral sewers that do not make a show or impress the casual visitor, but it is a splendid investment, just the same, and will return dividends in health and usefulness for generations. There are two main-line sewers, aggregating 35.168 feet, that cost, complete, about $22,200. There is a lateral sewer for the alley of nearly every block in town. The total length of these being thirteen miles and 1,261 feet. The contract price of this was $45,000.

Water mains were laid into some of the newer portions of the town and many dead ends were connected up in all parts of the city, thus giving patrons in all parts of the city the benefit of fresh water. The extensions were into Evergreen Heights, Boulevard addition and Weaver's two addi-

FALLS CITY ROLLER MILLS,

UNION HOTEL, FALLS CITY.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH, FALLS CITY.

STS. PETER AND PAUL'S CHURCH, FALLS CITY.

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

tions, and into the southeastern part of the city, where many new residences were built to accommodate the railroads. There were, in all, 17,217 feet of water mains laid at a cost of $8,000. In addition to furnishing water for domestic consumption these extensions brought nearly every building within the corporate limits within the protection of the fire department, which was an item of considerable importance when it is understood that no build- ing worth saving has been lost that could have been saved by the fire depart- ment.

Four new wells were put down in the old first ward water station. The wells proved to be good and are capable of producing 200,000 gallons of water in twenty-four hours. The water is forced out of the wells by con- pressed air into the large storage reservoir having a capacity of 100,000 gallons. The air compressor is operated by an electric motor, the power being transmitted from the light plant in the city park a mile and a half away. There is, also, at this plant a large pump operated by electricity that transfers the water from the reservoir into the mains having the ability to transfer 30,000 gallons an hour under eighty pounds of standpipe pressure. The cost of rejuvenating the first ward plant was $3.700. The whole equip- ment there is new. The steam plant there was abandoned, although there was a good boiler there, and one that had been condemned, as it was found that it was cheaper to generate all the power that was needed at the light plant situated near the Missouri Pacific depot. This rejuvenated plant is an efficient one and is operated with more economy than its predecessor.

The improvement of the streets undertaken for 1912 was largely per- manent work. A contract was let for the paving of three blocks around the court house and six blocks on Stone street, which would make a brick street continuous from Eleventh street to Twenty-first street. This contract was let to P. A. Johnson, of Kansas City, at $1.93 per square yard and twenty- seven cents per lineal foot for curbing. Considerable difficulty was experi- enced at that time in getting brick that would stand the test. Since the above work was done more than eight miles of the best kind of paving has been laid on the streets of Falls City, connecting both depots with the city and the business and resident sections of the city. Work during the past year ( 1917), will connect Stone street east with the Sunnyside greenhouses in the east part of the city, this latter extension being deemed necessary as connecting one of the main lines from the east in the direction of Rulo with the business section.

The city government, in 1912, required property owners to build side- (34)

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

walks aggregating 8,524 lineal feet, mostly of cement and concrete. The city government in order to connect up these new sidewalks built fifty-four concrete crossings at a cost of $1,653.

The City Park, which is one of the prettiest in southeast Nebraska, was purchased in 1907, and was placed under the supervision of the park commissioners in February, 1909. It cost the city originally as follow :

Original price of ground from Park Company $ 7.000.00 Improvements, including iron fence, fountain, lamps, closets, walks, etc. 2,785.05

Labor

1,387.05

Salary of commissioners

300.00

Incideutals, painting, etc.

225.00

Interest on bonds

925.00

Total $12,622.87

The park board received to offset this, from earnings from the

park itself and donations:

Chautauqua

875.00

Base ball

659.88

Trausfer from park bond fund 1

711.20

Entertainments

40.85

Hay, rents, etc.

342.43

Sale of house to Metz

1,500.00

$3,995.41

Net cost of park to city (up to 1913)

$8,627.46

The present value of the property composed of twenty-three acres, growth of trees, lawns, etc., may be conservatively estimated at not less than fifteen thousand dollars. The property included in what is now known as the City Park was formerly the home and grounds of Mrs. Thirsa Roy. The prop- erty was at first bought by a company of public-spirited citizens composed of Messrs. William A. Greenwald, John Lichty, John W. Powell, W. W. Jenne and T. J. Gist, who held the same until the city could arrange legally to take over the property for park purposes.

FALLS CITY WATERWORKS.

On Saturday, May 7, 1887, the citizens of Falls City voted at an elec- tion to determine by ballot what system of waterworks should be voted for at a later election. This course had been determined upon because the mein- bers of the city council did not care to assume the responsibility of following their individual inclination in this particular. Their desire was to voice the will of the majority, and the ballot was the only way in which the matter

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

could be clearly expressed. The election was held from three o'clock p. m. to seven p. m., at the James Casey shoe store, two doors south of the post- office on Stone street.

On the evening of May 12, 1887, the council passed ordinance No. 100. This ordinance submitted to the voters of the city the privilege of deciding by their ballot on the 16th day of June ( 1887), whether it was their wish to bond the city for the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars for the building and maintenance of a system of waterworks. The bonds carried and work was at once commenced on the construction of the system, which has from time to time been improved and extended until at the present time the city boasts of as good water and as ample a supply as can be found in any part of southeast Nebraska.

MAYORS OF FALLS CITY.

The first to have the honor of presiding as chief executive of Falls City was John A. Burbank. He was followed successively by Sewell R. Jamison, David Dorrington, William Bradford, J. J. Marvin, Edwin S. Towle, August Schoenheit, C. L. Keim, Jacob G. Good, George P. Uhl, Robert Clegg, Thomas Brannin, James L. Slocum, Thomas Brannin, J. C. Yutzy, Wil- liam E. Dorrington, T. C. Shelley, Robert Clegg, Henry C. Smith, J. J. Horner, Joseph H. Miles, W. H. Keeling, G. W. Marsh, P. S. Heacock, Frank Clegg, Henry C. Barton, G. W. Barrett, W. S. Leyda, W. H. Keel- ing, W. S. Leyda, John H. Morehead, W. S. Leyda, Roy Heacock and W. S. Leyda. The latter, Wilber S. Leyda, has served more terms than any of the mayors of Falls City, and as an official has always taken a very keen interest in the strict enforcement of the law and ordinances and has labored unceasingly for the best interests of Falls City.

VANISHING WATER POWER.

The settlers who came into this country soon after the Territory of Ne- braska was formed and opened to settlement in 1854, were greatly hampered by the lack of grist-mills. They found this county well supplied with streams and water-power, but it was some time before a miller came along and put a dam in any of the streams. In the meantime the settlers went for flour to the nearest points in Missouri and Kansas, where mills had been estab- lished. It is believed that a Mr. Horner was the first white man to harness a stream in this county for a saw-mill. He built a dam in Muddy creek

533

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

about two and one-half miles northeast of Falls City, about 1858, and oper- ated a saw-mill for a few years by water power. This saw-mill was on land now owned by William R. Holt.

The first flour-mill was at Salem on the north fork of the Nemaha river and was built by Thomas Hare in 1856, at the same location, in the southwest quarter of section 3, township 1, north of range 15, as has been used in all the years until quite recently-just east of the village of Salem. When the buhr-stones were brought up from the Missouri river to Salem, there was great rejoicing throughout the county, even though the first mill did not more than crack corn for several years. The second mill established was that of Merit Wells on the south fork of the Nemaha, about four miles west of Salem. In 1864 the Stumbo mill was opened on the Nemaha at the falls two and a half miles southwest of Falls City. It was the best natural waterfall for natural waterpower in the county, as a ledge across the stream about four and a half feet high made a fall and furnished a foundation on which to build a dam. By the early settlers this was called the "Cowhide mill," as the belts used were made of cowhide with the hair on the same. Mills multiplied with the growth of the county until 1880, when there were ten water-power mills distributed along the streams that were built in the years, as shown in the following list :

On the Muddy creek-Thacker mill, east of Falls City, 1869: Hinzelman mill, near Verdon.

On the Nemaha river-Hinton mill, east of Falls City, 1871: Stumbo mill, southwest of Falls City, on site of old Nemaha Falls, 1864.

On north fork of Nemaha river-Salem mill. 1856; Dawson mill. 1868; Wells mill, west of Humboldt, 1873; Sopher mill, at Humboldt, 1875: Luthy mill, near Pawnee-Richardson county line, 1878.

On the south fork of the Nemaha river-Wells mill, about 1860.

At the time these mills were established they enjoyed a good trade. Their water-power was sufficient for their needs. After 1870 the county developed rapidly and the lands were placed under cultivation and largely in corn and crops that required the land to be plowed and subjected to the action of the winter frosts and summer rains. The prairie fires disappeared. The timber along the streams was protected and flourished. Some summer seasons the rains were torrential in character and carried much soil from the fields into the streams, which were not open as formerly, but were blocked by mill dams and the sediment was thrown down behind the dams and raised the level of the river beds. As years rolled by the river beds became more clogged as over- hanging trees fell into the streams with caving banks. Drifts were formed

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

which, together with the mill dams, during rainy seasons produced destructive overflows. At last it came about that the Nemaha and the Muddy were useless as water-power sites. In some places the river bed, as it existed before the mill dams were placed in them and the country was farmed, is ten feet below the present level of the bottom of the stream. The rivers became clogged sewers. The farms in the valleys were almost ruined by the over- flows that were caused by them and the mills went out of business because their wheels were flooded by backwater and filled with mud. The Salem mill was the last to give up the ghost. There is no water-power flour-mill in operation in Richardson county today. There are but two flour-mills now in the county, and both are situated on a railroad sidetrack, and are operated by steam. Times change-the water-power mills on streams in this county are gone never to return. The farm lands in the river valleys are being re- deemed and the streams are being supplied with new channels free from ob- struction.

LOCAL INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS.

The industrial concerns doing business in Falls City and employing labor are the National Poultry and Egg Company; the Falls City Bottling Works, established by and operated by the late W. H. Putnam and now operated by his son, John J. Putnam ; the Putnam Glove Factory ; the Falls City Roller Mills, operated by P. S. Heacock & Son; the Leo Cider Mill, managed by Alex Leo; T. J. Gist ; the Hermes Creamery; the Southeast Nebraska Tele- phone Company ; the Western Cereal Company, and a poultry concern oper- ated by E. E. James.

The National Poultry and Egg Company was established in 1910, and employs from twenty to sixty-five men, according to the season. The amount of capital invested is fifty-five thousand dolars. The concern is a distribut- tng center for a number of other stations located in Nebraska, and a vast amount of business is done through the Falls City plant, which is located near the new Missouri Pacific depot. The annual business done will exceed two million dollars.

The Falls City Bottling Works is located near the Burlington depot and is kept constantly in operation supplying the outlying towns with soft drinks and extracts. The business has met with a striking success under the management of the late W. H. Putnam and his son, John J. Putnam. The Putnam glove factory employs a number of hands in the making of cotton gloves and is operated by Miss Putnam.

The Leo Vinegar Factory was started in 1906 by A. Leo, Sr., an expe-

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RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

rienced cider-vinegar manufacturer, who came here from Alton, Illinois. and looked over the ground with a view to locating a cider factory. He was so impressed with the extent of the orchard industry in northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska that he conceived the idea of building a vinegar factory and tried to interest local capital. Inasmuch as the project was a new one to local capitalists and something with which they were not familiar, he had considerable difficulty in securing financial support. After much effort, however, he succeeded in interesting a few men, who invested their money in the venture and have never had cause to regret their action. The judgment of the veteran cider-maker has proven to have been sound in selecting an ideal location from which has grown a very important industry. The first small plant was located along what is known as the Rhine, in block 157, but the business soon outgrew the quarters and a tract of five acres was purchased southeast of the City Park and a larger plant erected. to which several additions have since been built, as the growth of the business has demanded. John Leo, a son of the founder, came to the city and supervised the erection of the new factory and some time later. the present manager, Alex Leo, Jr., took charge. Apple-grinding stations have been estab- lished at Hiawatha, Kansas, and Forest City, Missouri, and the factory takes the output of most of the cider mills in this section of Nebraska and Kansas. The mill serves as a depot for the culls and windfalls of the many orchards within hauling distance of Falls City, which otherwise would be wasted on the ground. Hundreds of carloads of apples are shipped into the plant from northeast Kansas, northern Missouri, southern Iowa and from all points in this section of Nebraska. The output of this concern in the year 1916. exceeded one million gallons of the purest apple-cider vinegar, the quality . of which is unsurpassed and is recognized by the government as a pure food article, the manufacture of which was given a decided impetus upon the enactment of the pure food laws, which effectively classified the various makes of vinegar and placed the grain and spurious imitations of vinegar in their proper class. The founder. A. Leo, managed the factory for a few years. and then established another vinegar factory at Odell, Nebraska. After placing another son in charge of this plant he went West to Pullman, Wash- ington, and there built another mill, which he placed in charge of another son. and has now retired to a home in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Peerless Stock-Powder Company was established in 1904. with Mr. E. O. Lewis as manager. Associated with Mr. Lewis are local capitalists. The capital of this flourishing concern is ten thousand dollars. The number of men employed, including salesmen, will number ten. The Peerless Stock-

535

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Powder Company are manufacturers of high-grade condition powders for live stock, stock dip and insecticides, the output of which is sold in Nebraska, Kansas. Iowa and Missouri, and some shipments have been made to Texas points. The output has been increased from the first year to over five hundred per cent. and the total shipments and sales in 1917 will exceed seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds. It is a very successful, growing concern, which has a live and active manager in charge.

The late Philo S. Heacock was one of the pioneers in the milling and grain business in Richardson county. He established an elevator at Falls City in 1876 and gradually widened his operations until he had a chain of grain elevators to the number of twenty in southeastern Nebraska. In the spring of 1905 his Falls City elevator was destroyed by fire. In the follow- ing September Mr. Heacock purchased the Douglas flouring-mill, which was built in 1902. Since that time the mill has been operated by the Heacocks, father and son, the senior Heacock being joined by his son, R. A. Heacock, who is now managing the business. Two elevators, the Falls City and the Preston elevators, are now operated in connection with the Falls City roller mills. The concern handles over three hundred thousand 'bitshels of grain annually. The P. S. Heacock & Son's flouring-mill has a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five barrels of flour daily. The mill is operated by steam power and is fitted with modern equipment throughout, its owners having constantly added to the buildings and equipment until it is now one of the best-equipped flouring-mills in this section of Nebraska. The space covered by the buildings and grounds exceeds one and one-half acres and is reached directly by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad. The payroll of this industry will exceed ten thousand dollars annually and twelve men are employed in the operations of the milling, grain and coal business of the concern. The well-known brand of flour, the "Sunflour" is pro- duced and is consumed almost entirely as a domestic product in the local territory within direct reach of Falls City.

At this writing (August, 1917) a company has been organized with Falls City and Richardson county citizens as stockholders for the purpose of promoting a company to engage in the manufacture of cereal foods, under the title of the Western Cereal Company, with a capital invested of sixty thousand dollars or more. The formation of the company has passed the initiatory stage and the factory will be installed in the Gehling brewery building, which has been purchased by the new concern, at a cost of thirty- five thousand dollars. The company is incorporated and actual operations

536

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

in the manufacturing of cereal foods will be soon under way. Edwin F. Durfee is president of the new corporation.

The Monarch Engineering Company, contractors and builders, of Falls City and Denver, is a Falls City institution, begun and pushed to a place of prominence and influence in the industrial world by two young Falls City men who were born and reared in that city, namely, John .\. and Guy .1. Crook. This important concern does an immense amount of bridge con- struction, paving, irrigation-dam work and erection of public buildings. It was established in 1908 by John A. Crook, who was joined by his brother, Guy A. Crook, in 1910. Fifty men and upwards are constantly employed by the firm, depending upon the amount of work under construction by the firm. The construction and building work undertaken by the company is going on in several states. Much bridge work is being done and has been completed by them in Oklahoma and Nebraska. Only recently they have finished three miles of brick paving in Falls City and have done and are doing a great deal ot county work, such as highway bridges in Richardson, Nemaha, Otoe, Cass and Sarpy counties, Nebraska. One of their notable undertakings was a bridge across the Platte river at Sutherland, Nebraska. costing $30,000. Another was the bridge across the Elkhorn river at Gretna in Sarpy county, Nebraska, costing $25,000. They have construction work going on in Missouri, South Dakota and Wyoming. The Monarch Engineer- ing Company is erecting the new court house at Basin, Wyoming, at a cost of $60,000, and are at present building two dams across the Big Horn river at Moreland, Wyoming. A big government bridge, costing $26.000 is in process of construction in their charge, also in Wyoming. Another govern- ment bridge is being built by them at Salt Fork, Oklahoma, between Noble and Kay counties. Only recently they have finished a government bridge at Wyoming in Otoe county, Nebraska. They are erecting two largs bridges in Calhoun county, Iowa. This concern maintains offices at Falls City, Ne- braska, Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado. At the latter city they purchased. in February, 1917, the Denver Steel and Iron Works, which are in charge of John A. Crook, the senior member of the firm. This plant is the workshop of the Monarch Engineering Company and contains a com- plete structural-steel fabricating plant, machine shop, blacksmith shop for heavy forging and culvert shop.

The Falls City Exchange Mills was a building thirty by forty feet, four stories high-with four runs of forty-eight-inch buhrs and propelled by a fifty-two-horse-power turbine wheel. It was built by Levi Thacker in 1870, and was furnished with all the improvements of that day at a cost of fifteen

RICHARDSON CO.,COURT HOUSE

FALLS CITY, NEB.

HIGH SCHOOL

MAIN ST.

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

M.E. CHURCH

VIEWS IN FALLS CITY.

MISSOURI PACIFIC SHOPS, FALLS CITY.

SLAVIS

DAVID DORRINGTON, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF FALLS CITY.

ISHAM REAVIS, ON ARRIVAL AT FALLS CITY. 1858. BUILDING STOOD ON STONE STREET, AT THE PRESENT SITE OF THE WANNER DRUG STORE.

537

RICHARDSON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

thousand dollars. These mills were situated on the banks of the Great Nemaha river, almost directly south of the town of Falls City.

The Hawk-Eye Mills, by Downs & Son, were established by Stringfiekl & Stumbo in the very early days of the county. They had thirty by thirty- six inch buhrs propelled by a thirty-six-horse-power turbine wheel. The mills were located at the Great Nemaha falls, about two and a half miles southwest of Falls City.' They enjoyed a good business for many years.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CITY OF HUMBOLDT.

Humboldt is the second city in Richardson county in point of popula- tion and importance, and is located near the western boundary of the county in the midst of the most fertile section and is a model city of its size. According to the last census the population of Humboldt was one thon- sand one hundred and seventy-six. That the people have the true Western push and enterprise is at once apparent to the visitor who makes even a flying visit to the town.

Humboldt was incorporated as a town in 1875, but the visitor would hardly take it to be that old, for unlike so many Western towns it has kept abreast of the times. New buildings have been erected and there are few dilapidated places to mar the beauty and detract from the general good appearance of the town. Owing to the fact that it is situated in the fairest farming country that the sun ever shown upon, it has natural resources that have been gradually brought into play in building up the town and con- tributing to its prosperity. It is pre-eminently a city of homes, and the condition in which they are kept, and the pleasing appearance they present testify to the fact that the town is inhabited by an intelligent and progressive class of people.

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 51

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