USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume I > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
In 1885 Walter Hoge of Streator, Ill., purchased a third interest, the paper then being issued from the third story of the block at the southwest corner of Tenth and O streets. Later it was moved to North Tenth Street, and then to 125 North Ninth Street, where it remained until purchased by the Journal. Mr. Hoge withdrew in 1888, and the paper passed into the hands of the Lincoln News Company, with T. H. Hyde, E. B. Hyde and J. W. Jordan as the principal stockholders. In December, 1891, the newspaper was purchased by a stock con-
173
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
pany composed of IT. T. Westermann, Fritz Westermann, Max Westermann, Sam E. Low and H. T. Dobbins. W. Morton Smith became its managing editor. Later he was succeeded by Sam E. Low and when he resigned, because of ill health, he was succeeded in 1893 by H. T. Dobbins, who has remained as editor ever since.
In March, 1807, the News passed into the hands of HI. H. Tyndale, of New York, an uncle of the Westermanns. Two years previously the company installed the first linotypes in the City of Lincoln, and the heavy expense, followed closely by the hard times, compelled the mortgaging of the plant. Mr. Tyndale purchased it in foreclosure proceedings. He ran it for six months through his brother, T. H. Tyndale. In August, 1897, J. C. Seacrest purchased the newspaper and a few weeks later disposed of it to the State Journal Company, which operates it as a newspaper independent of other publications, with a distinct staff and news service.
The Journal and the News are both independent republican in politics and maintain a large influence throughout the eastern part of Nebraska. Will Owen Jones, who has been connected with the paper since 1892, is managing editor of the Nebraska State Journal. H. T. Dobbins, editor of the News, has been with the paper for twenty-eight years. Under the guidance of these two news- paper veterans the Journal and the News have maintained a strict policy, edi- torially, and have won popularity through honesty and fairness in giving the latest news to the public in the shortest time.
In May, 1902, there started in the City of Lincoln a daily newspaper, inde- pendent democratic in politics, which was destined to gain an enviable position in the newspaper field of Nebraska. This was the Lincoln Daily Star. The Star Publishing Company, which issues the publication, was incorporated on May 22, 1902, by D. E. Thompson, H. F. Rose, W. B. Comstock. The company was reincorporated on September 26th of the same year, with D. E. Thompson, president, and C. D. Mullen, secretary. A handsome building was constructed on the southeast corner of Eleventh and MI streets in 1902. On September 13, 1910, a change of ownership occurred, D. E. Thompson, the principal stockholder. disposing of his interests, although he still owns the building occupied by the paper. Herbert E. Gooch now owns the principal stock of the company. J. W. Cutright is the editor of the Lincoln Star at the present time. Mr. Cutright started in newspaper work in Lincoln as early as 1892, having been a member of the News staff at that time.
The first German newspaper published in the city was the Staats-Zeitung, which was owned and edited by Dr. F. Renner. This paper was afterwards removed to Nebraska City.
The Germans residing in the city in 1880 contributed certain sums of money and the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger was first published in May of that year by Peter Karberg, who had come here from Dubuque, lowa. The paper became very influential in the state. Mr. Karberg died on July 2, 1884, and it became neces- sary to dispose of the paper, the plant finally going to Henry Brugmann. In October, 1887, however, financial difficulties compelled the foreclosure and sale of this publication.
The Lincoln Freie Presse was first published on September 1, 1884, by G. 7 .. Bluedhorn, who afterwards sold it to J. D. Kluetsch. The Freie Presse is still
174
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
published in Lincoln and is very prominent in the State of Nebraska as well as in surrounding states. The circulation is large among the German people in this territory, and, both mechanically and editorially, the Presse is of high standard.
The Nebraska Farmer was the first agricultural paper to be published in Lincoln, having been established in 1872 by Gen. J. C. McBride and J. C. Clark- son. At the time this publication was established the farming and live stock in- terests of Nebraska amounted to very little in comparison to their present status, but the main reason for establishment of the Nebraska Farmer was to promote, by its influence, the success of certain land deals in the state in connection with a railway project. It was not many years until the farming interests of the state began to gain appreciably and the paper became more successful. It is now being published in Lincoln and is one of the most successful farm and livestock papers in the Middle West.
The Commoner is a monthly paper which has gained national reputation, owing to the prominence of its owner, William Jennings Bryan. Mr. Bryan established the Commoner in January, 1901, and it has been published regularly since that time. The first office of this paper was in the building on the east side of Twelfth, between L and M, but it is now housed in the Press Building at Thirteenth and N. Mr. Charles W. Bryan is the editor of the paper, which has an extensive circulation over the whole country. Bryan democracy in all its phases, even to ultra-pacifism, 1916, is the editorial tone of the sheet.
Numerous other publications are now issued from Lincoln, including the various university and college papers, and many more have been established in the past and died for want of support. The ones mentioned, however, are the leaders in a field of much varied journalism.
DAVID MAY
LE THIN .
By courtesy of G. R. Wolf of Lincoln
BEGINNING OF THE ERECTION OF LINCOLN POSTOFFICE, 1873
CHAPTER XVII
THE LINCOLN POSTOFFICE
Mr. C. N. Baird, the third postmaster of the City of Lincoln, wrote the fol- lowing in regard to his postal experiences here :
"I arrived in Lincoln March 22, 1868, when the postoffice was in a small building made of brown sandstone, located on the corner of Tenth and O streets. Jacob Dawson was then serving his termi as first postmaster of Lincoln, but re- signed in the summer of that same year. W. J. Abbott was appointed the second postmaster and was removed a short time afterwards for rifling the mail. About November, 1868, the office was removed to a small frame building, 14 by 16 feet in size, north of the Humphrey Hardware Store. My first appointment was January 8, 1869, signed by A. C. Randall, postmaster-general, on recommendation of John M. Thayer.
"On coming into office I found a great amount of mail that had been forwarded from both houses of the Legislature which was to be stamped and mailed. There was not a stamp or an envelope in the office, so I marked the bunch of mail paid and shipped it out. I did not know what would be done with me for doing this, but I was not going to be caught with all of that mail upon my hands. I wrote to the officials at Washington explaining the situation and kept an account of the mail sent until I could receive a supply of stamps from Omaha. At that time all of the office supplies were brought from Omaha on the stage, mail being delivered three times a week.
"One morning as I was cleaning out a box of old papers I found a long envelope addressed to officials at Washington, D. C. It was quite evident that the postage stamp had been pulled off and the letter thrown away, so I opened it to see what it might be. It was an application for the postmastership which had been mailed at the time of Dawson's administration. Abbott, who was appointed his successor, was working in the office at that time and had thrown away this application without mailing it, after taking off the revenue stamp, which at that time was worth one dollar, and placing it on his own application. As no one else had applied for the office this young fellow thought it would only be a matter of hearing from Washington until he would be postmaster. Meanwhile he built a nice set of cases for the letters and rented a room for the office. As time rolled by no word was received from Washington until Abbott was appointed post- master. The boy had told me his story and when I found his application thrown among the rubbish in the office, it explained all. I had recommended the boy and was very sorry he did not get the office as he was a good, honest fellow. The postmaster's salary was then $300.00.
"In 1870 I removed the office to a room on Eleventh Street, south of the
175
176
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
Harley Drug Store. The next move was to the west side of Eleventh Street, into a frame building owned by Walsh & Putnam, which stood next to the alley. Afterwards I moved to the north side of the square just east of the Atwood Hotel, which was located on the present site of the State Journal Building. The last move I made was to the Hallo Opera House, at Twelfth and O streets. All the moves made were for more room and better facilities for handling the mails. Mr. Ilallo tendered the free use of the corner room and as others had made the same offer I asked the postoffice department to send a special agent to make the selection. They ordered Maj. John B. Furay of Omaha to come, he being at that time a special agent. He came down and visited the various places that had been offered me and gave a hearing to all interested parties, after which he asked me confidentially where I wanted to go. I told him and in a few days I received a lease from the department and I was instructed to pay $u a month as stated in the lease.
"I was succeeded by Gen. Otto Funke. While he was there the building burned down, but the mail was saved. When I took charge of the office we had 110 railroad. Our mail was carried by stage coaches, spring wagons, buckboards and upon horseback. I received the first mail brought into Lincoln by railroad."
At the time of the laying of the cornerstone of the present magnificent post- office building. Mr. E. R. Sizer, then postmaster, read a paper in which was an account of the building of the first postoffice building, now the city hall of Lincoln. This excerpt follows :
"Governor Robert W. Burns conveyed the market space to the City of Lincoln on March 31, 1873, and Acting Mayor John J. Gosper, with City Clerk Cantlon, attesting, on the Ist day of April, 1873, conveyed the present Government Square to the United States of America, in accordance with an ordinance of the city council, dated March 31, 1873.
"Senator P. W. Hitchcock, of Omaha, was mainly influential in securing the original appropriation for the old Government building. He had succeeded Gen. Jolın M. Thayer as senator in 1871 and General Thayer was also influential in urging upon the Government the actual instituting of the work of excavation and erection of the building, and in getting other necessary preliminaries arranged and thereby preventing the appropriation from lapsing. As the remaining time was very short during which the appropriation would be available, and as Sen- ator Hitchcock was at that time in Europe, General Thayer made a trip to Wash- ington and saw Hon. A. B. Mullett, the supervising architect of the treasury, who was a personal friend of the general and who took immediate steps toward the adjustment of the title of the site and the erection of the building. W. H. B. Stout is also said to have been influential locally in urging the original appropri- ation for the Government building.
"Senator Hitchcock had Col. O. II. Wilson appointed a superintendent of the Government building. Mr. Wilson served in that capacity for about one year and was succeeded by a Mr. Beals, who served a shorter period. Mr. Beals was in turn succeeded by Mr. Tyler, who continued as superintendent of construction until the building was finished.
"The survey for the excavation of the old building was made May 25, 1874. and ground was broken on Tuesday, May 26, 1874. One of the newspapers of that date mentioned that it was very difficult to plow the ground, due to its being
E
VIEW OF POSTOFFICE IN 1875 Old Capitol Building in the distance
50
*
By courtesy of t. R. Wolf of Lincoln
VIEW OF LINCOLN POSTOFFICE IN 1873 Now City Hall
ـد
م
2
-
UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE AND POSTOFFICE, LINCOLN
177
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
packed by reason of its being a market. The State Journal of May 28, 1874. notes that Colonel Wilson had given the preference to married men over single men in employment on the postoffice building. On June 30, 1874, the announce- ment was made in the local press that the excavation was completed. The contract for stone work on the Government building was let three different times, the last being to W. H. B. Stout. The Beatrice Cement Company was awarded the contract for furnishing cement. C. H. Gould and a Mr. Sawyer furnished the sand and brick. The building was finally built of gray limestone, said to have been taken from the Gwyer Quarries on the Platte River. No exercises appear to have been had in connection with the laying of the cornerstone of the old build- ing and it was completed in 1879."
Immediately after the abandonment of the old postoffice building in 1906, the new one being completed, the city took steps to utilize the building as a city hall. Plans were made and the interior rearranged and refinished for the accommoda- tion of the city offices and council rooms. The building now serves the purpose of a city hall.
The new $350.000 postoffice building was erected just north of the old struc- ture, upon Government Square, and was secured largely through the efforts of Congressman E. J. Burkett. On September 2, 1904, the cornerstone was laid and in the fall of 1906 the building was formally opened to the public. The corner- stone was laid in the forenoon by the Masonic Grand Lodge of Nebraska, with Grand Master Charles E. Burnham, of Norfolk, in charge of the ceremonies. An escort of Knights Templar in uniform and Blue Lodges Nos. 19 and 54. gave the ceremonies a picturesque appearance. The program included a prayer by Rev. J. Lewis Marsh, chaplain of the Grand Lodge; addresses by Governor J. H. Mickey, Mayor George A. Adams, Congressman Burkett and Postmaster E. R. Sizer. The brass band of the Bittner Stock Company, which was then fill- ing an engagement in Lincoln, furnished the music, the Hagenow Band being obliged to play at the State Fair then in progress.
In 1915 an appropriation of $100,000 was secured for an addition to the post- office building, in order to give more room for the work of the office. This appropriation has since been raised to $225,000. Work upon the addition to the west is now in progress, during which time the postoffice occupies temporary quar- ters in the improvised building at the corner of Tenth and N streets, southeast.
The postmasters who have served in the City of Lincoln have been : Jacob Dawson, appointed when the capital was located here and served until the fall of 1868, when he resigned : W. J. Abbott, served a few months only ; C. N. Baird, January, 1869-April. 1875: Otto Funke, April. 1875-June, 1881 ; J. C. McBride, June, 1881-November, 1885: Albert Watkins, November. 1885-January, 1890; C. H. Gere, January, 1890-March, 1894: J. H. Harley, March, 1894-February, 1898; H. M. Bushnell, March, 1898-February, 1902; E. R. Sizer, March, 1902- November, 1914; F. W. Brown, November, 1914-died July 7, 1915 : J. G. Lud- lan, July 8th-September 18; A. S. Tibbetts, September 18th-died September 25th : Frederick Shepherd, September 27th-November 15th ; Samuel G. Hudson, No- vember 15th -. Ludlan, Tibbetts and Shepherd were acting postmasters only. Mr. Hudson is the first regular postmaster since F. W. Brown.
To give one some idea of the amount of business done in the Lincoln postoffice the figures for 1915 are used. The total postal receipts for the year amounted Vol. I-12
178
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
to $465.328.75 ; stamp sales amounted to $384,851.54; there were 20,929 parcel post packages delivered; there were 24,891 insured parcels dispatched; there were 2,866 insured parcels delivered; there were 19,941 C. O. D. parcels dis- patched ; the outgoing mail of the first class by machine count totaled 15,296,000 parcels ; the money order department handled the sum of $3.485,633.23; in the postal savings department there was on deposit $22,617.00. The postal business of Lincoln has been increasing every year. There are 169 employes of the Lin- coln office.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE LINCOLN LIBRARY
For the early history of the public library in the City of Lincoln the account written by Mrs. S. B. Pound and read before the Nebraska State Historical Society on January 10, 1893, is quoted. It is as follows :
"The Lincoln Public Library and Reading Room Association, the embryo of the city library, was organized toward the close of the darkest period in the his- tory of Lincoln, the year 1875. No just conception can be had of its early struggles and privations without a review of that period.
"As is well known to those who lived in Nebraska at that time, the summers of 1873 and 1874 had been dry, the crops were poor, and what the drouth and hail had spared was taken by the grasshoppers. The winter of 1874-75 was se- verely cold, the thermometer during the months of January and February stand- ing for many days at a time below zero. It was a time most painful to remember. There was the long and constant appeal for help from the poor and suffering during the winter, and the gloomier prospects of the coming spring. Who can picture to himself today the Lincoln of 1875? Upon the square was a pile of stones and an excavation, the beginning of the United States Courthouse and Postoffice ( now the Lincoln City Hall). On each side of the square were a few business houses-perhaps a dozen in all. Three or four of these were of brick or brown sandstone, the rest hastily erected frame buildings, which seemed illy adapted to withstand the strong winds that would blow with increasing fury from the south, and then with a sudden veer, would come with a redoubled energy from the north.
"At the southeast corner of O and Tenth streets, the eye, wearied with the unpleasant repetition of square front, white frame grocery stores, found rest ; for there, in all its fresh, new beauty, stood the First National Bank Building, called the State Block. O Street, between Tenth and Eleventh, had begun to assume something like symmetrical proportions. It contained five or six brick blocks, the finest of which was the Academy of Music. Business ended at Twelfth Street where stood Hallo's Opera House; and the croakers-of whom there were many-wondered why he had located it so far east, and said that business could never stretch beyond that distant point. A few of the more sanguine said it might possibly reach Fourteenth Street. The high school building recently finished was thought by some to be too large, who advised turning it into a Meth- odist Seminary and building two smaller ones. There were five hotels, some of them very good for the times ; the Atwood, the Metropolitan, the Clifton, the Commercial and the Tichenor. The churches were all frame structures and occu- pied their present sites with the exception of the Presbyterian, Baptist and Chris-
179
180
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
tian. Residences were scattered promiscuously over the prairie, apparently by accident. The most thickly settled part of the town lay between F and R streets and Eighth and Seventeenth. \ very few were sufficiently aristocratic to own brick houses, but the majority were either square cottages or the regulation four-room, story and a half structures. The title to the disputed eighty had not yet been settled and on this barren looking spot stood one lonely house, the un- finished brick built by George Smith, the jeweler. There were few well defined streets. The roads ran as best suited the convenience of the public and that might be directly across one's front or back yard. This was Lincoln of Janu- ary 1, 1875, looking ahead with gloom and foreboding at the approaching session of the Legislature, yet brave enough to celebrate New Year's Day by keeping 'open house.'
"The new year opened badly. There was first the mutiny at the penitentiary, which brought that institution into unpleasant prominence at an unfortunate time. Next stalked forth the grim spectre of Capital Removal, which stayed con- stantly by and never vanished until the adjournment of the Legislature. Once during that dreary time, the local editor of the State Journal had the courage to record the following 'magnificent improvements' that were to come with the approaching spring : the building of the Holmes Block on Eleventh Street between O and N. the Lamborn and Wittman blocks on the east side of the square, and then he breaks forth into the following pleasant refrain : 'All these things speak well for the future of our beautiful new city, and we advise those who wish to make good investments to come early and secure good seats.'
"The spring was cold, backward and rainy, but not cold enough to destroy the young grasshoppers or retard their growth. Yet one reads with pleasure in the old files of the State Journal that through the energy of Mr. H. J. Walsh a subscription was raised and the citizens celebrated Arbor Day, May 3d, by planting trees on the capitol grounds. One also finds about the same time a published statement of the expenditure of $59.25 raised by the same gentleman to plant trees on the university campus. Beside the rain and the grasshoppers fresh troubles were in store for the citizens of Lincoln. These came May 9th with the meeting of the constitutional convention. First and foremost was always the question of capital removal and now in addition to this was the agita- tion suddenly sprung by the Omaha Republican, which advised the closing of the state university for five years, in order to give the high schools of the state a bet- ter chance and to save expenses. This, perhaps, might be called the turning point in the history of Lincoln, for it was at this crisis, through the untiring energy of the Lancaster delegation, that by the submission to the people, of what is known as the capital coupon, the question of capital removal was finally laid to rest.
"The summer of 1875 was probably the rainiest ever known in the annals of Nebraska. The rain gauge at the college farm registered for June alone 5.88 inches. Salt Creek was out of its bounds the most of the summer, and once during the month of June the high water reached nearly to the Metropolitan Hotel.
"By July Ist the last hopper had flown, the continuous wet weather hurried along vegetation, and where a few weeks before starvation seemed to stare one in the face now crops promised abundance. The fall was probably warm and
-
AM
PUBLIC LIBRARY, LINCOLN
181
LINCOLN AND LANCASTER COUNTY
dry, for in the State Journal of September 20th the editor warns the people against the danger of prairie fires, and very soon after the fire company burned a cordon around the town. The greatest calamity of the year was the burning of Hallo's Opera House on the evening of October 5th. With characteristic energy the people immediately subscribed $10,000 and on October 12th Mr. Hallo began tearing away the old walls preparatory to rebuilding.
"It was about this time that the people began to agitate in earnest the subject of a public library and reading room, and to urge the consolidation of the Young Men's Library and Lecture Association and the Ladies' Library and Reading Room Association. These two associations, organized at nearly the same time, were working in different directions to accomplish the same end. The first had, during the winters previous, given the people the benefit of many excellent lec- tures. The second, organized immediately after the temperance crusade, had maintained for a time a reading room on Eleventh Street, just south of Harley's Drug Store. This, on account of hard times, was discontinued in April of 1875. The ladies, however, did not relinquish the project, but held a meeting on May 8th in the interest of their association. The earliest mention that one finds of the plan of consolidation is in the State Journal of July 27th. The editor says, 'We hope those who have been agitating the city library question will not give up the undertaking, but will see that the library becomes an assured fact the coming fall. By a union of the Ladies' Reading Room Association and the Lincoln Lecture Association, the matter can be accomplished without extraordinary effort.'
"About November 15th things took a definite shape and a meeting was called at the White Schoolhouse on Eleventh and Q streets for the purpose of 'establish- ing and maintaining a public library and reading room.' The following persons were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws : E. J. Cartlege, J. C. Ellis, II. W. Hardy, T. H. Leavitt, O. A. Mullon and L. J. Bumstead. Their report can be found in the State Journal of December 9, 1875. In this report they state that they 'have held eight lengthy sessions,' that they 'had extended an invitation to the officers of the Lincoln Lecture Association to meet with them,' that 'the invitation had been cordially accepted,' and that at one of the meetings N. S. Harwood had presided. They further state that 'impressed with the pro- found sense of the importance of the interests under consideration, not only for the present, but for the future citizens of this city and vicinity' they 'had applied themselves to the matter accordingly, and with the purpose to suggest and pro- vide for such a plan of association and operation as should serve for a good foundation on which to build safely and surely, and with reasonable prospects of steady growth and permanent endurance.' They called attention to the diffi- culties which beset the enterprise, on account of the newness of the town, the complex character of its inhabitants, and the difficulty of providing ways and means, especially at a time when it would seem most difficult in view of the disasters of the two previous seasons. In submitting a constitution they strongly recommended to the citizens that no hasty action should be taken, and above all that no division of interest should be allowed. They commended the work of both associations and suggested a way by which they could be united.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.