History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 103

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 103

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*Adapted from the Omaha Bee.

CHAPTER V.

PIONEERS AND PIONEER TIMES.

The pioneers of South Omaha-" ye an- cient pioneers"-are those who were dwell- ers here a few months after the farms within the city's present limits were sold to the syndicate, or who had previously been resi- dents within what are now its established boundary lines. We may mention of the class first named, the following heads of families, each home having, as nearly as can be remembered (including hired help), the number given: J. Bagley, Sr., 4; J. Bagley, Jr., 5; Q. O'Reily, 9; Ed. Cassady, 6; Philip Cassady, 4; B. Jetter, 7; Thomas Ryan, 7; J. J. O'Rourke, 5; Patrick Hoctor, 4; Chas. Williams, 6; Ferdinand Wendt, 6; Michael Dee, 5; Jacob Jetter, 6; Mr. Shipright, 6; Wm Schmeling, 5; John Schwenck, 5; Christian Sautter, 5; Mr. Thomas, 5; Fred. Drexel, 10: total, 110. But there are othi- ers, also, to whom belong the title of pio- neers: Those who came here after the Union Stock Yards Company began work upon their stock yards, but before the vil- lage of South Omaha was organized, which event took place, it may be premised, in October, 1886. " The pioneers of the ter- ritory included within what is now its incorporated limits, came not to form a city, but to secure themselves farms; and some of them came early, even when Omaha was only known on paper. And they continued to live, until a recent period, in 'Douglas Precinct'- a division of Douglas County not yet wholly wiped out by the on ward march of a 'metropolitan city,' or of a 'city of the first class, having over eight and less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants."*

West of the Union Pacific tracks, in 1875, and for ten years previous, was a county road, commencing in Omaha near the north end of the present Sixteenth Street viaduct, running thence westerly near to what is now the " government corral;" thence to what was then, and is now known as Quealey's Soap Factory; from there it took a south- westerly course, reaching the present north-

ern limits of South Omaha at the north end of South Omaha Boulevard, near blocks 203 and 204 of the syndicate survey; thence to the northwest corner of block 237; thence south on what is now Thirty-sixth Street, to the Sarpy County line. There was also a traveled road leading south from the " poor farm " in Omaha, which reached the north- ern boundary of South Omaha, as afterward defined, at the northwest corner of block 3, of Thomas and Sears' addition to South Omaha, running thence on the present For- ty-fourth Street, south, leaving it at about the crossing of Spring Street, in IIascall's sub- division; running thence in a southwesterly course to Papillion. These were the only two roads west of the Union Pacific tracks at the time the syndicate began their pur- chases. Nearly all country travel, coming in from the southwest of Omaha, came in on these two roads.

In the present Thomas and Sears' addition there lived Mr. Thomas, at the time of the syndicate purchases, at a point north of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Rail- road track, on the country road last traced in the preceding paragraph. lle is still a resident there.

John Bagley, Sr., resided at what is now F Street, blocks 256 and 257 being a part of what was his orchard, the house he lived in being now known as the " Savage Ilouse," west of the Union Pacific tracks. Mr. Bag- ley is now a resident of Papillion. While living here on his farm, he had a private road, leading from the county road, to his house.

John Bagley, Jr., had his home at what is now Thirty-sixth and F Streets, on block 266, now known as the “ Johnston home- stead." Mr. Bagley now lives at Springfield, Nebraska.

Mrs. Cornelius Smith lived in a small frame house on the present Spring Street and Thirty-ninth on what is now known as " Smith's Reserve."

Philip Cassady dwelt in a large frame

*The Drovers Journal, December 31, 1892.

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HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

farm-house (still in good repair) east of what is now Forty-fourth Street, and just north of the present Fowler Street. None of his farm was purchased by the syndicate.

Edward Cassady, son of Philip, lived about a block west of what is now Thirty- sixth Street, and just south of the present " Burlington Square " addition, east of the Omaha & North Platte Railroad track. His dwelling was (and the house still remains) a small frame farm-house.

Just over the western boundary line of South Omaha (now Forty-fourth Street) two blocks south of Q Street, was the farm- house of Mrs. Ann Corrigan, which was built several years prior to the beginning of South Omaha, and still stands. The Corri- gan farm is now platted into several addi- tions, some in and some outside the city, all south of Q Street.

The farm-house of George Ilolmes stood about a block south and a little east of the west end of the present L Street viaduct, on the property now covered by the stockyards. It was a log house and was torn to pieces by a cyclone about the time his farm was sold to the syndicate.

Then came the "Fred Drexel house," on the syndicate tract, afterwards, purchased by the Union Stock Yards Company, which house is described in a previous chapter.

The house of Balthas Jetter was situated north of what is now () Street, immediately west of Twenty-seventh Street. It is still there-a large frame building-a farm house, and is still in good repair.

Thomas Ryan's farm house was located about one block southwest of the present G. F. Swift & Co.'s packing house plant, and one block east of Twenty-seventh street. The building is a large frame, and is still (Janu- ary, 1893), occupied by Mr. Ryan.

A honse at St. Mary's (Catholic) Ceme- tery, south of Q and east of Thirty-sixth Streets, has been built about twelve years, and was first occupied by Francis Toner, and subsequently by one having charge of the cemetery.

Michael Dee's house still stands; it is about one block west of Thirtiethi Street, and about a block northwest of Jetter's brewery. This farm house was built about 1879. Dee sold his farm to Jetter, and moved to Omaha.

The farm house of Mrs. Mary O'Rourke stood (and still stands) two blocks west

of Thirtieth Street, and three blocks nortlı of the Sarpy County line. It is now owned and occupied by her son, John J. O'Rourke.

Michael Melia lived in a frame farm house, two blocks west of what is now Thirty- sixth street, and two blocks north of the Sarpy County line. The building is still habitable.

Not later than 1880, a Polish Catholic priest, Rev. Father Strupenski, built a small frame cottage, just west of the present Thirty-sixth Street, and about eighty rods north of the Sarpy County line. It still stands.

The farm house of George, Frank, and Mary Sautter was built before 1880, in what is now known as "Albright's Annex," a half block west of the County Road, and about the same distance south of the Union Pacific Railway tracks. The building is still stand- ing, and is occupied.

The building now occupied by Patrick Iloctor, which was erected after the burning down of the original farm house, in 1883, is situated just north of the Sarpy County line, and immediately west of Twenty-seventh Street. The first house was built by Dennis Dee, in about the year 1857, and the build- ing and farm was purchased by Mr. Iloctor in 1875. It is a frame farm house, in good repair. Mr. lloctor came from Minnesota where he settled, in 1855 .*

The appearance of things upon the east side of the track of the Union Pacific Rail- road, was much like that on the west side. First, there was the "Old Bellevue Road," which came in from the north, following what is now Twenty-fourth Street to F Street, running thence in a southwesterly direction to what is now Twenty-eighth Street, between J and K Streets; thence following along the east side of the Union Pacific Railroad track to what are now the southern limits of the city. The first farm house to be seen, in going south, after enter- ing the present limits of South Omaha, was

*" Those pinneer times just antedating the founding of South Omaha are well remembered by those who are now living, of the Bagleys, the Cassadys, Lhe Corrigans, the Holmes, tbe Thomases, the Melias, the Sautters, the Drexels, the Jetters, the Ryans, the Dees, the ()'Rourkes, the Hoctors, the Kennellys, * * * and others. But how many of them, ten years ago, for a moment imagined that, of some one of their farms, a single acre might be picked out, which, if cleared 0: s]] nf its buildings, would, on the 1st day of January, 893, be worth $100,000? But the future was not open to the scorenf farmers in this goodly portion of Douglas Precinct, who, in the spring of 1883, sowed their grain and planted the curo on land worth, as they belleved, fifty dollars an acre, although one or more, gifted with a far-seeing eye, would not he anxious to sell ar four limes that figure."- The Drovers Journal, December 31, 1892.

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PIONEERS AND PIONEER TIMES.

that of John Kennelly, situated in the present Twenty-fifth Street, near the inter- section of G Street. The house is still standing, and is occupied. It is a story-and- a-half frame. A log house, built by Fred- erick Drexel, stood on what is now the southeast corner of Twenty-sixth and M streets, and was torn down about 1882. It was occupied as a dwelling house. Then the Drexel School house was next seen, stand- ing in what is now block 76, east of Twenty- seventh street, and south of M street. It was a frame one-story, about thirty by sixty feet. It is still used as a school building, it having been removed to the fourth ward of the city.

The next building reached going south was what was called the " Widow Brown Ilouse." It was situated just south of the present Q Street and west of Twenty-fourth Street, in what is commonly known as " Brown Park." It was a two-story frame building occupied as a farm house. It was burned down in 1892. The next build- ing was the "Bohme" farm house, located on what is now block A, in Morrison's addi- tion to South Omaha, between Wyman and Milroy Streets, just east of Twentieth Street. It was a large two-story frame and is still standing. There was also what was known as " the Half-Way House," standing on what is now block C, in Potter and Cobb's second addition, east of the old Bellevue Road and north of Armour Street. It was a one-story frame, occupied as a dwelling and saloon. It got its name from the circumstance of its being situated half way between Omaha and Bellevue. It still stands, and is occupied as of old. The next was Christian Sautter's farm house-a large two-story frame (now known as the " Sautter llomestead ") in what is the present "Albright's Choice," east of Bellevue Avenue and west of Nineteenth Street.

The reason why the eastern portion of what is now South Omaha was not built upon was that, owing to the fact that it was a wooded district, the land was divided up into small parcels and used by the farmers for their supplies of wood.

After South Omaha was founded-after work actually commenced on the Union Stock Yards-the first person to settle here was Martin Spoettle, who located on lot 14, block 78, southeast corner of Twenty-fifth and M Streets, where he built a one-story

frame house, in which he subsequently started a saloon. Mr. Spoettle is still a resi- dent of South Omaha. Others soon followed him to the new city-that was to be.

In the first number of the first paper printed in South Omaha, the following is found:

" Wonderful growth of South Omaha. A brief eighteen months of time metamorphoses a large tract of cultivated land into a busy mart of trade. Sketch of the progress of the enterprise from its inception to the present. Personnel of the land syndicate, stock yards company, waterworks, etc.

"A year and a half ago [in the spring of 1884], what is now a beautifully laid out town site, ornamented with trees and parks and enlivened with the hum of industry, em- ploying millions of money, was simply a se- ries of grain fields grown too valuble for farming purposes on account of their prox- imity to the great and growing city of Omaha. A number of prominent resident capitalists, forecasting the future value of this large tract of land, both as a residence and business place, formed a syndicate and purchased 1,400 acres, lying one-half mile south of the southern limits of the city. About one-third of the tract was at once platted and laid out in town lots 60 by 150 feet in size, with streets eighty feet and alleys twenty feet in width. Trees were planted on either side of each street, twelve feet from the lot line, thus giving ample room for sidewalks between the trees and lots. Near the north end of the town plat, two entire blocks were reserved for park purposes. This has been fenced and planted in evergreens, shade trees and shrubbery. In the near future a fountain of pure water will be playing in the center of the park, supplied from the splendid water works, of which further mention will be made in this article. In the meantime, the same men who to-day [fall of 1885] form the land syndi- cate, organized the Union Stock Yards Com- pany, the operations of which, in this brief space of time, has commanded the attention of live stock markets and stock men all over the West."*

In May and June, 1891, J. B. Erion, pub- lished. in The Eagle, some of his recollections of "ye olden times" in the " Magic City." He says:

"In 1885, there were no dummy trains on * From the South Omaha Glohe, October 30, 1885.

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HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

the Union Pacific, no street-car lines, [in South Omaha] and no paved streets nearer to the [stock] yards than Thirteenth and Hickory Streets, Omaha. Thirteenth Street was then the route between the yards and the city, and the hill was as steep as ever, no grading having been done between Hickory and Vinton [Streets]. The reader can easily imagine, though not realize, the difficulty of doing business in South Omaha, which was itself a mud hole the greater part of the time, the streets not graded, no side- walks, and all supplies to be brought down from the city [of Omaha ].

"W. G. Sloane, present mayor of the city,* was the pioneer store-keeper of the packing town. Ile came to this place June 22, 1884, and built a small frame business house in the midst of a wilderness of cornstalks and jimpson weeds, on the spot where now [May, 1891], stands the drug store of A. W. Saxe. Ilis stock of goods consisted of drugs and medicines, groceries and provisions, butchers' jackets and overalls, and other things too numerous to mention. The writer has seen the narrow space between the counters so blockaded with barrels of potatoes, sacks of beans, sides of bacon and cow-boys, as to make it extremely difficult, if not utterly impossible for a modest man or woman to get farther than a molasses barrel. All the same, Mr. Sloane can testify that, even under such difficulties, as high as four hundred dollars in cash has been ' fired' at him as the proceeds of a single day's business. Mr. Sloane-he was plain 'Mr.,' then-was also the first postmaster, having been appointed in October, 1884, and served for over three years, with Mrs. Sloane as deputy post- master, and Al. Carpenter as chief clerk. The records show that the first day's busi- ness of the new postoffice amounted to twenty-three cents, and involved the hand- ling of at least a dozen letters.

" Frank Pivonka, the now wealthy Bohe- mian, is entitled to the distinction of selling the first goods in South Omaha, and they were wet goods. Frank opened up a beer hall on the same block where his saloon now [May, 1891], stands, and sold pale lager to the thirsty adventurers without even asking for a license. 1Tis hall was not a palace. It consisted of a shed-roof shanty, a plank fastened to posts driven into the ground for a bar, and his first stock of liquors was two

kegs of beer with a wet blanket thrown over them. The beverage was hardly as cool and palatable as it is now served over the bars of some of the sixty-odd saloons of this city, but it was beer, and seemed to have more fight in it to the gallon than a whole keg has now-a-days. But, Mr. Pivonka did not have a monopoly of the beer trade very long. In a short time there were five saloons on the ground, and only one provision store. Then, J. C. Carroll, seeing that the fluids and solids were out of proportion, started another grocery store in a patch of jimpson weeds, cornstalks and dog fennel, at the corner of Twenty-sixth and N Streets. John was, at that time, a sin- gle man, and his sister, now Mrs. T. Geary, was unmarried. Miss Carroll was the district school ma'am, and trained the susceptible minds of a small squad of pupils in the little old frame school house near the rail- road. When her term expired she went be- hind the counter in her brother's store, or, more properly, her own, as she had an in- terest there.

" During the summer of 1885, the popu- lation increased rapidly. Chicago trans- ferred a large number of her commission men to this city, placing them in charge of branch houses here. Already they saw the inevitable coming, but accepted it with any- thing but good grace. Most of them cursed the new town, called it anything but pet names, and swore long and loud that it would never be anything more than a feed- ing station, and not much of that. The opening of the Hammond house, though a small affair, brought in a few hundred butchers, who assisted materially in making the place lively, especially at night. Most of them were young men, without family ties here, living in boarding houses, or, rather, eating there and living in the saloons. There was no police, no local authority, no organization, no legal restraints, except that of county and state. The reader can im- agine that the ' boys' made it very lively at times. It was an unusually quiet, lonesome evening when there was not, at least, a half- dozen fist-fights, and a shooting-scrape or two, and yet nearly all the heroes of that day still live to tell the tale.

"On December 20, 1885, ground was broken for the first brick building, on N Street. Clark & Laufenberg, of St. Paul, brick masons, having faith in the town, laid

*Written May 23, 1891.

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the walls of the building with their own hands, working all through the winter, some- times when the mercury was knocking at the back door of the thermometer.

"The following mention of it, in the South Omaha Globe, of Christmas day, 1885, will give an idea of the importance attached to such a wonderful improvement at that date. The item was headed,' A New Brick Block for South Omaha,' and read thus: ' Ground is broken, and laborers are now at work on N Street, between the postoffice and Carroll's grocery store. Clark & Lauf- enberg, a St. Paul firm, are the proprietors, and, being masons, propose to do the brick work themselves. The building is to be 40x50 feet, two stories high, the upper story to be finished off for families or furnished rooms, the whole for rent. Mr. G. Voth, a rising young architect, formerly of Cleve- land, Ohio, but late of Salt Lake, where he took the prize on drawing plans for the grand Masonic Ilall, drew the plans, and will assist in the work. The firm say they base their judgment of the enterprise on their faith in South Omaha, and are not in the least afraid of the result.'

"The 'brick block' was a small, low building, very plain, and, later, an eye- sore to the street. The grading of N Street left it below grade, which added to its squatty appearance. Two years ago [that is, in 1889], it was torn down and re- placed with the Pioneer Block, a fine brick, finished in modern style, and is a perfect hive of industry. John Ritchhart had the original building rented before it was fin- ished, and leaving the Stock Exchange llotel, of which he was the landlord, moved into the 'brick block,' and opened it as a hotel and saloon. Mr. Ritchhart seems to be wedded to the spot, for he continued to occupy the old building until it was torn down, and the new building was built under his supervision. Ile still occupies it, but instead of selling whisky and beer, and making plenty of money, he now [1891] publishes the South Omaha Daily Tribune. *

* * *

* *

" George W. Masson, now a wealthy busi- ness man, came here from Michigan in a very early day, with a large stock of am- bition and a very small amount of cash. With the latter, he purchased lots 5 and 6 in hlock 12, on Twenty-fourth Street, the same being the first sold by the syndicate.

Mr Masson afterward purchased block 47 entire, and built thereon four tenement houses, in one of which Doctor Miller has lived ever since it was a honse. The Masson block on the hill on Twenty-eighth Street, is known to everybody. The two lots on Twenty-fourth Street were purchased in April, 1884.

" Doctor Glasgow was the pioneer physi- cian of South Omaha. lle came to the new town from Auburn, in June, 1886, and is still here. The first practice of the new doctor was principally sewing up scalp wounds and probing for stray bullets, with occasionally an obstetric case. Dr. Overton came soon after, followed by Dr. Ernhout, and the latter by Kirkpatrick. Overton was soon shelved, while the others men- tioned are still [May, 1891], the leading physicians. Dr. Glasgow has always stood at the head of the profession here in spite of all comers; and although he has virtually quit practicing, being now postmaster, he is still obliged to respond to more calls than he cares to have.

" There are now [1891] fourteen physi- cians in the city doing regular business. At one time when there were only four or five doctors in the town, and rivalry was quite sharp, with not enough practice to go around, the doctors themselves carried guns for each other, and threatened to make work for the coroner, and at the same time cut off competition among members of the pro- fession. However, the guns, knives and hatchets have all been long since buried, and the brethren now dwell together in unity. * *

" All the old settlers will remember the little frame shanty near the Exchange cross- ing [wherein was] a bar which was always, night and day, lined in front with a row of thirsty customers; but that was nothing, as there were several more in town of the same kind. The remarkable part of it was, that, in addition to the bar, there were two real estate offices and a lunch counter in the same room, which was narrow, short and low. The lunch counter man had six stools and many a time while six were eating, a dozen hung around awaiting their turn to pay twenty cents for liver and bacon. The real estate men did a business, which, at the present, time would make the entire Real Estate Exchange of Omaha happy.

" The building stood alone, almost directly

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HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

opposite the crossing, and, as the mud was generally knee deep in that vicinity, the continnal procession of humanity which passed that way, walked in at the front door of the saloon and out at the back, to avoid the mud. * *

" The mud was something fearful in those days. It must have rained every day and some at night. Teams and wagons at times went out of sight on N Street, and the writer has seen a dozen rails or broken plank stuck up in dangerous holes on every street to mark a bottomless mire. One day a green-looking granger with haysced in his shaggy beard, got off the train and started .for the city hotel, which was only a few yards from the depot. Somehow he did not take the saloon route, and consequently, he stuck in the mud, and there he stood, pull- ing first at one foot and then the other. Seeing the writer wading along with gum boots on, he accosted him with, ' Say stran- ger is this a good town?' Receiving an affirmative answer, he continued, 'Well, 1 haven't seen much of it yet, having just got off the train and got this far, but by - I'm stuck on it,' and he again made an un- successful effort to extricate his brogans.

" At that time what is now a nicely graded site for cattle pens, bounded on the west by the Exchange building, north by the L Street viadnet, east by the Union Pacific tracks and south by Exchange Avenue, was a lake, from the bosom of which, in winter, the supply of ice was cut for the use of the then small packing house. It was called Lake Pivonka, becanse Frank Pivonka cut ice there.

"In warm weather the lake was generally full of bathers in the evening time, the pro- prieties being less observed then than now. On the evening of October 10th, 1886, Daniel Kilroy, an employe of Fowler and Company, who had just arrived from Chicago, went in bathing and was drowned. * * ** * * * *

"The old district school house, a little dilapidated frame building without a lock for the door or shutters for the windows, was the only school house in the place, when on June 5, 1886, a tragedy occurred there. For a long time the school house grounds had been a rendezvous for tramps, although the police repeatedly run in the gang. In sum- mer the motly crowd lounged, slept and insulted passers-by, beneath the shade of

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History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 103

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020