USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Past and present of Adams County, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 10
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The Improvement Company operated a line on Second Street from St. Joseph Avenue west, and when the Citizens' Company sought to build a second line upon the chief thoroughfare legal and other warfare followed. Jacob Fisher finally obtained a court order that prevented the construction of the second line. There was an exciting race in constructing the lines to Cole's Park in the southeastern part
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of the city and during these strenuous days bodies of workmen tore up during the night what workmen of the opposing lines had built during the day. Street car lines extended as far as the Academy of the Immaculate Conception, the Fair grounds in the northwest part of the city and Cole's Park in the southeast, and as far west on Fifth Street as Briggs Avenue. The car barns of the Improvement Com- pany were located at the corner of Bellevue Avenue and C Street.
In 1889 the Improvement Company's lines were taken over by Jonas F. Proffitt and F. B. Thompson, who after operating them for about four months turned them back to the Improvement com- pany. The line struggled along until September, 1890. It was at midnight in that month that Mr. Proffitt stopped in front of the Lepin Hotel to discharge his last fares, and when he drove his car to the barn the career of the street car line terminated. The Citizens' Company continued to operate a little more than two years longer. It was reincorporated, in 1892, with R. A. Batty, as president, and Mrs. Rose E. Shedd, as vice president. Shortly afterward the enterprise was abandoned. Of the street car drivers, J. F. Proffitt and F. B. Thompson still reside in Hastings. Another driver was John Hall, now a Burlington engineer running between Hastings and Lincoln.
While conditions making for the boom had been shaping them- selves for a number of years, the boom proper lasted from the early spring of 1887 until about the first of the following July. The price of city lots soared to unreasonable heights, and finally the holders realized that the values were fictitious. The reaction was rapid. Transfers which some days had totaled a hundred, suddenly ceased. There was no market for city lots. Several efforts were made to keep the wheels moving, but it was to no avail. Shortly afterward prop- erties which during the boom had sold for upwards of $2,000, were offered for less than $500, and found no buyers. Many houses were sold to farmers in the years following and removed to the country. The recovery from the boom as reflected in the price of city lots did not begin until 1904. In some instances the purchasers of boom price lots who held them during the reaction have in recent years disposed of their holdings at a profit.
City lots that were offered for sale in February, 1887, for prices ranging from $300 to $500, advanced, before July, to from $1,200 to $1,800 each, and suburban property increased from a price of $100 per acre to $500. Hastings was filled with speculators from the East, and when the collapse came many of them returned home richer only in experience. One Hastings business man, who now resides in the city, possessed a forty-acre tract, for which he was offered $20,000,
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$6,000 cash down. He refused the offer, and after the boom disposed of the tract for $2,400. His is only one instance of many. This particular tract is not located where it will advance as rapidly as some other parts of the city, but for the last two or three years it would sell easily for $12,000.
Generally, during the boom property advanced from 300 to 500 per cent, but when the collapse came, in July, 1887, the decrease in value ranged from 300 to 700 per cent. Many creditors accepted a deed to property in lieu of a settlement of mortgages by borrowers. Still others foreclosed and took a deficiency judgment for from 25 to 75 per cent, which in most cases was never collected.
The recovery dates to 1904, when values began to rise, not rapidly, but with a steady movement. At the present time lots in the business section, many of them, are worth a higher price than was reached during the boom, but the fact does not cause a single flutter of excite- ment, because the values now reached are normal, in the judgment of business men. One lot in Bostwick's Addition well reflects the recovery from the boom. It was bought in 1904 for $300, sold in 1906 for $600, and sold again in 1916 for $1,700.
CHAPTER VII HASTINGS -- MODERN DEVELOPMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The activities of Hastings today as we are familiar with them may be said to have begun with the administration of Clarence J. Miles who was elected mayor April 1, 1902. A large portion of the time between the middle of July, 1887. and 1902 was characterized by the depression due to the stagnation of real estate values that persisted long after the boom. Beginning with the Miles administration the businessmen, reinvigorated by new blood, and assisted materially by good crops and advancing prices for farm products, set about to make use of the possibilities that were clearly confronting the city. Early in this administration "Twenty thousand inhabitants by 1910!" became the rallying cry of the business forces. The mark set was not reached but the effort made contributed not a little to the ushering in of a period of substantial growth in industrial and commercial lines.
The Legislature of Nebraska in 1903 provided for the location of a new normal school in the western part of the state and Hastings entered the contest with several Western Nebraska towns to secure the location. This concerted effort was the first team work that the business men of Hastings had engaged in since the boom. At this time the Commercial Club was formed at the instigation of the mayor. The mayor was the president of this organization and City Clerk Bratton the secretary during the eight years of the club's existence. Among the accomplishments of the Commercial Club may be men- tioned the reopening of the Catholic educational institution, the Academy of the Immaculate Conception which had been closed and the building vacant for years, and the bringing to Hastings of the Nebraska Sanitarium. The Adventists had decided to remove their headquarters from Lincoln and the committee was undecided as whether to locate in Grand Island, Kearney or Hastings. It was the effort made by the Commercial Club to show the advantages of Hastings that was largely responsible for their choice.
In 1904 the Commercial Club induced the Emerick Bros., who
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were conducting a foundry in Blue Hill, to move their plant to Hastings, and that was the inception of the present Hastings Foun- dry & Iron Works. The Emericks had invented a trip hammer which they wished to manufacture and they desired a location more favor- able than Blue IIill for distribution. They filed articles of incorpora- tion in Hastings December 15, 1906, and about that time commenced their foundry and manufacturing business.
The Emericks conducted their business for about a year and then were bought out by A. H. Farrens and C. B. Hutton. The Hastings Foundry & Iron Works was incorporated with a capital stock of $30,000. The incorporators were A. L. Clarke, C. B. Hutton, C. G. Wallace, George Wilkes and A. H. Farrens. In 1909 the first of the group of six brick buildings which the plant now occupies was erected. The other buildings were erected in rapid succession the greater number of them within the first eighteen months. In 1910 the Western Land Roller Company began the manufacture of their land packer which has grown steadily, the sales in 1916 having reached 2,000 rollers, four of which were shipped to Buenos Aires. The plant was established by Mads Anderson and sons who are the proprietors.
The manufacture of flour began in Hastings in the early '70s when C. G. Ingalls and some others operated a burr mill. Not, how- ever, until 1887 was the business established in a large way. In that year Humphrey & Bird built a mill on South Denver Avenue at the present location of the Hastings Milling Company. The mill had a capacity of 100 barrels of flour per day. In 1889 Mr. Bird, who still resides in Hastings. sold his interest to Gordon H. Edger- ton. In the summer of 1894 the mill was destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt by Humphrey & Edgerton. Mr. Humphrey is now in the Klondike. In 1895 The Hastings Milling Company was formed, the principal stockholders being J. C. Hedge, C. E. Dinsmoor and J. S. Hamilton. They erected a plant that year with a capacity of 125 barrels of flour per day and ten years later increased the capacity by 25 barrels per day. January 19, 1904, the plant came under the control of the Lincoln Milling Company but only for a short time when control was reassumed by the Hastings Milling Company. The principal stockholders continued the same until 1915 when Mr. Ham- ilton withdrew. August 18, 1916, the Hastings mill was completely destroyed by fire and is being now rebuilt.
Reference has been made in another chapter to the brick business of early days and the manufacture of brick continues to be one of the most important industries of Hastings. The connecting link between
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NEBRASKA SANITARIUM, HASTINGS
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the early brick plants and the present is Peter Hempel, now a firm member of Polenske Bros., Schellak & Company. Mr. Hempel as a boy worked in the yard of McElhinney & Johnson, beginning at a wage of 50 cents a day, which after awhile became 75 then $1 and so on until Mr. Hempel became an employer of brickmakers himself.
In 1885 a man by the name of Cooper operated a small test plant at the location of the east yard of the Polenske Bros. & Schellak Company's yard on the St. Joseph & Grand Island and at about that time the plant was bought by A. S. Hurley. In 1886 Samuel Collins and P. A. Stewart came from Illinois and started a plant just beside that of Mr. Hurley. Through changing ownerships both plants became merged in what is now the Polenske Bros. & Schellak yard. Mr. Hurley operated his plant about one year.
Samuel Collins of the firm of Stewart & Collins died about 1892. It is probable that he made the first experiments looking to the manu- facture of paving brick in Hastings with a small kiln which he built for that purpose. But Mr. Collins did not live to see the result of his experiment. Just a few hours before he died he asked that the brick be brought from the kiln to his bedside. Peter Hempel brought two of the bricks to the dying man.
"How are they?" he asked. "I want to hear how they sound." Mr. Hempel knocked them together. Mr. Collins shook his head in disapproval. They had been removed, Mr. Hempel says, too soon from the kiln and also the hearing of the sick man was blunted. They were better than he thought.
After the death of Mr. Collins, P. A. Stewart continued the business about a year alone and then took in as his partner Robert Klose of Doniphan. Mr. Stewart died after taking in Mr. Klose, and shortly afterward W. H. Ferguson became a partner in the business. In 1895 Emil Polenske bought out Mr. Ferguson. The firm of Klose & Polenske continued until 1900 when Mr. Klose sold to Emil Polenske, Doede Smith and William Schellak. In 1899 what is now the south yard of the Polenske Bros., Schellak & Com- pany, was bought by the Hastings Brick Company which was composed of Hugo Polenske, Emil G. Polenske, John Puls and Fred Butzirus. This yard was started some ten years previously. and is now merged in the larger firm. In the winter of 1915 William Schellak died suddenly of heart failure and in January, 1916, the firm was reorganized with the present name. The incorporators at the reorganization were Hugo and Emil Polenske, Mrs. William S. Schellak. A. A. Lembach and Peter Hempel.
The Western Brick & Supply Company was organized in 1900 by Vol. 1-7
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A. L. Clarke, C. B. Hutton, W. II. Ferguson, George Burchard, George Wilkes, Peter Hempel, A. H. Farrens and others. In 1910 this firm bought out the Hempel yard which had been organized by Peter Hempel in 1904. This company operates also plants in Nebraska City and Holdrege. The two Hastings plants employ 120 men when the season is in full blast and the total output, both tile and brick, is 30,000,000 annually. The Western Brick & Supply Com- pany has two plants in Hastings.
CIGAR INDUSTRY
The cigar industry which was inaugurated in an early day as previously narrated received a new impetus in 1900 when the factory of Sink & Bloom was instituted by John Sink and Frank Bloom. G. J. Evans who has pushed the cigar business with unusual vigor came into this firm in 1902, though the name of Sink & Bloom was retained until 1905. John Sink disposed of his interest in the factory in 1904 and went to Grand Island where he is still engaged in the manufacturing of cigars. In 1905 the name was changed to the present firm name of the Evans-Bloom Cigar Company.
The firm of Snyder & Brewer, one of the earliest factories to be established in Hastings, was purchased by L. A. Kinney in recent years and is now the Kinney Cigar Company. For the last several years Harry Brewer has been a resident of LaJolla, Cal. His business partner, S. S. Snyder, died about two years ago in Chicago. W. E. Riggs was an extensive manufacturer of cigars from 1911 to May. 1916, when he disposed of his plant to the Kipp Cigar Com- pany.
John HI. Kipp, head of the Kipp Cigar Company, conducts one of the largest cigar manufacturing establishments in Nebraska. This factory was established in 1909. Other cigar factories operating at present are those of William Gay & Sons, George Bauer and John HIart. The industry in its various branches employs about two hun- dred workers, many of whom are women and girls. The total output for the year ending June 1. 1916, was 7,014.285 cigars.
MANUFACTURES IN LEATHER
The J. H. Haney harness and leather goods manufacturing estab- lishment is of interest because it has grown to be one of the largest plants of its kind in the United States but it also serves as an index of the community's possibilities in manufacturing. The plant origi-
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nated in 1886 at the present location on the corner of Second Street and Denver Avenue. William M. Dutton was engaged in the manu- facture of harness in Iowa at that time. Mr. Dutton sent J. H. Haney and W. A. MeKay to Hastings to establish the plant. At that time he did not intend himself to come to Hastings but the success of the venture changed his plans. The output of the plant in 1886 amounted to $17,800. The growth of the plant is indicated by the output of 1916 which was slightly more than $600,000 in value. The plant started wtih six employes; they are now more than one hundred in number.
In 1895 a branch was established in Omaha, with Mr. Haney in charge. The output of the Omaha plant is about one-half that of the Hastings establishment. The total of the output of the Hastings plant in 1916 was slightly more than that of the first twelve years combined. The output of the first fifteen days of 1916 was greater than the total output of the first year in the firm's history.
With the coming into use of the automobile this firm began the manufacture of accessories and there has been an enormous increase in this line necessitating the establishment of a warehouse in New York. Branches are maintained in Canada for the distribution of this line, and inquiries have been made this year from Spain and other European places. In 1914 the firm took over the manufacture of the Rose air pump, the invention of Frank E. Rose of Hastings, also the inventor of the Rose gasket cutter. The output of the air pump has inereased 1,000 per cent sinee 1914 and at the close of 1916 the firm was behind 50,000 pumps with its orders. In 1915 the firm manu- factured and delivered a large order of six-horse-team harness for the use of the English artillery. In December, 1916, the factory eommeneed to operate twenty-four hours in the day.
GRAIN BIN FACTORY
The Hastings Grain Bin Manufacturing Company is one of the present important manufacturing plants. Grain bins and many artieles of sheet metal are manufactured and widely distributed. The company was incorporated February 7, 1910, with a capital stock of $25.000. The following were the incorporators: John Mckenzie, L. Chambers, A. E. Williams, T. L. Gibson, H. N. Martin, II. F. Carson, Thomas R. Varah, M. N. Bair, C. G. Lane, C. C. Kieth, U. S. Rohrer, R. R. Morledge, C. C. Christopher, W. D. Devereaux and Fred Blake, Jr.
The Blue Valley Creamery plant was established in Hastings in
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1911 and within two years had doubled its output. Bulletin No. 31 of the Nebraska State Department of Labor places the output of butter of the Blue Valley Creamery Company for 1915 at 1,000,000 pounds.
HOME PRODUCTS EXPOSITION
Much interest in local manufacturing was stimulated in Hastings in 1909 by The Hastings Tribune Home Products Exposition which was held at the Auditorium on the corner of Denver Avenue and Third Street May 4th to 7th, inclusive. At that time thirty-three makers of local products had their wares on exhibition and many of them had improvised miniature plants to exemplify the process of manufacture. The exposition was conceived by Henry G. Smith of the staff of The Tribune and managed by him.
Bulletin No. 30, issued by the Nebraska Department of Labor in December. 1915, gives the following information about the industries of Hastings at that time:
CENSUS REPORT
"The census excludes the hand trades, the building trades, and the neighborhood industries, and takes account only of establishments conducted under the factory system. Statistics are not included for establishments having products for the census year valued at less than $500. except that reports were taken for establishments idle during a portion of the census year, or which began operation during that year, and whose products for such reason were valued at less than $500.
"It is estimated that the population of Hastings on July 1, 1914, was 10.252. There were forty-six establishments reported located within the corporate limits of the city during the year.
"The capital invested was $1,384,000. In this connection it should he stated that the inquiry contained in the census schedule calls for the total amount of capital. both owned and borrowed, invested in the business, but excludes the value of rented property, plant or equipment which was employed in the conduct of manufacturing enterprises.
"The cost of materials used was $954,000. In addition to the component materials which enter into the products of the establish- ment for the census year, there are included the cost of fuel, mill sup- plies, and rent of power and heat. The cost of materials, however,
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does not include unused materials and supplies bought either for speculation or for use during a subsequent period.
"The census inquiry does not include amounts paid for miscel- laneous expenses, such as rent of offices, royalties, insurance, ordinary repairs, advertising, traveling expenses, or allowance for depreciation.
"The value of products, which amounted to $1.610,000, repre- sents their selling value or price at the plants as actually turned out by the factories during the census year and does not necessarily have any relation to the amount of sales for that year. The values under this head also include amounts received for work done on materials furnished by others.
SUMMARY FOR HASTINGS
"Number of establishments. 46
Persons engaged in manufactures. 544
Proprietors and firm members 52
Salaried employes
76
Wage earners (average number) 416
Primary horsepower
958
Capital
$1.384,000
Services
315,000
Salaries
80,000
Wages 235,000
Materials
954,000
Value of products
1,610,000
Value added by manufacture (value of pro-
ducts less cost of materials) 656,000"
BUILDING SINCE 1902
Since 1902 hundreds of new residences have been erected in Hast- ings, the last ten years having seen the erection of a greater number of dwelling houses than any other period. In 1902 Clarence J. Miles built the "Miles Terrace," between Fifth and Sixth streets on St. Joseph Avenue. This may be reckoned as the beginning of the mod- ern building period. These flats were built with modern conven- iences and subsequently were purchased by F. L. Gauvreau. The St. Joseph Avenue flats were the first of their kind to be erected in Hast- ings. They were built in 1887 by John E. Gant. Something of the advance made in building site properties may be gleaned from the fact that when Mr. Miles purchased the lots upon which the Miles
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flats stand, the purchase price was $2,000 for the three lots with a dwelling house upon one of them.
The increase in the assessed valuation of the city for the last sev- eral years are of interest in the matter of advancing values. The figures represent one-fifth of the actual total valuation and all were made under the same legal provisions and, hence, are pertinent. The valuation in 1905 was $1,433,344; 1906, $1,523,359; 1907, $1,605,- 412; 1908, $1,831,000; 1909, $1,816,000; 1910, $1,878,902; 1911, $1,967,942; 1912, $2,108,449; 1913, $2,147,400; 1914, $2,177,385: 1915, $2,204,218; 1916. $2.233,288. The total valuation of taxable property in Hastings is therefore $11,166,440.
The Fraternity building was erected in 1909 at a cost of $30.000. The builders were C. C. Kieth, E. J. Herring, O. R. Palmer, J. H. Vastine, J. F. Heiler, U. S. Rohrer and M. B. North, E. A. Brandes purchased the property in 1913. The Madgett Building was erected in 1907.
INDEPENDENT TELEPHONE COMPANY
The Hastings Independent Telephone Company was incorporated June 13, 1904, by Dr. J. N. Lyman, R. A. Batty, H. H. Hender- son, George F. Keefer and George H. Pratt. Other prominent stockholders were W. A. Taylor, G. J. Evans, Herman Stein and William S. Schellak. The authorized capital stock was 6,000 shares of $50 each, the company to commence doing business when 400 shares had been subscribed. The company did much to promote the use of the telephone among the farmers of Adams County. Until this period the number of farm subscribers was very small. The telephone building at the corner of Denver Avenne and Third Street was erected by this company. The automatic service was used.
The Independent Telephone Company was purchased by the Lincoln Telegraph & Telephone Company February 6, 1913, at which time the subscribers of the Independent had increased to 3,200. The purchasing company had for years had their office in the Clarke- Buchanan Building. When the independent plant was acquired the purchaser remodeled and enlarged the building.
HASTINGS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Chamber of Commerce which filed articles of incorporation April 15, 1911, is the successor of a long line of organizations, prom- inent among which was the immediate predecessor the Commercial Club. Before that there was the Union Club and at an earlier date,
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MARY LANNING MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, HASTINGS
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAMS COUNTY
1887, the Board of Trade. The present incorporated organization enrolled the greater number of Hastings' business men. J. N. Clarke is the present president. Former presidents are Herman Stein and C. G. Wallace. It is the first organization to maintain a paid secre- tary which it has done almost from the beginning. The secretaries have been C. II. Disbrow, H. B. Howell, George Middleton and the present secretary. R. A. Blake. Will S. Trites was acting secre- tary between the terms of Mr. Disbrow and Mr. Howell.
In a summary of Hastings in 1916 the Chamber of Commerce enumerated among others three wholesale grocery houses, two whole- sale fruit houses, two wholesale poultry, butter and egg houses, one wholesale hide and tallow house, three wholesale bakeries, one whole- sale paint, glass and wall paper house, three wholesale lumber com- panies, two wholesale coal companies; one horse collar factory, three harness manufacturing establishments, six cigar factories, four brick vards. foundry and iron works, brass and aluminum factory, one broom factory, three sheet metal works, one lightning rod factory, two auto and bicycle tire pump factories, one windmill factory, one ice cream factory, three large candy factories, four cement block manu- facturing plants, one corrugated culvert factory, one artificial ice plant, two transfer houses, one brewery. The Hastings Brewing Company was incorporated January 30, 1907. There had been an earlier brewery in Hastings or near Hastings, operated by Martin S. Shellak and L. Bauersacks. The firm incorporated June 19, 1889. The plant was operated on section 23 in Denver Township and ran for about two years when it was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt.
Continuing the list of present day industries there are one canning factory, one large flour and feed mill, eight automobile distributing agencies, three tire and rubber distributing agencies, one furniture polish factory, one packing house, one cold storage plant, three grain elevators, one planing mill, two steam laundries, three momnent and granite works, one daily and two weekly newspapers, one business college, one music conservatory, two resident building and loan asso- ciations, four photograph houses, four green houses, four moving picture theaters, one blank book manufacturing plant. In the retail business Hastings has unexcelled grocery stores, exclusive ladies' tailoring stores, men's clothing, boots and shoes, hardware, lumber yard, coal yards, meat markets, drug stores and many other lines.
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