USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Past and present of Adams County, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 11
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MARY LANNING MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
One of the notable institutions of Hastings in the matter of ap- pointment and beauty of structure is the Mary Lanning Memorial
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Hospital which was opened January 21, 1915. It was erected by William II. Lanning in memory of his only child, Mary Lanning, who died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lanning in Hastings, January 21, 1910. Before erecting the hospital Mr. Lanning visited all the notable hospitals in the United States and embodied his observations in the plans. For the excellency of its adaption to its purpose the Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital is unexcelled.
At the time of her death Miss Lanning was a student at Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
The management of the institution is vested in a board of seven trustees. The first board began to serve March 24, 1914. They were George H. Pratt, James N. Clarke, Charles G. Lane, Charles F. Morey, William H. Lanning. Thomas Frahm, Christian Koehler. The trustees selected by lot who should serve for one year, who for two and so on the longest term to be for seven years. The articles of incorporation provide that the trustees are to serve without emolu- ment and that no two shall at any one time be members of the same church or religious organization. The officers are a president. vice president, secretary and treasurer.
THE CLARKE HOTEL
The Clarke Hotel, which was opened for service February 1, 1914, was the solution of the hotel problem that had confronted Has- tings in an important way for a dozen years. The building was erected by an organization of local business men, the Citizens Hotel Com- pany. The officers elected for the first year were: President, A. L. Clarke; vice president. C. E. Higinbotham; secretary, James N. Clarke: treasurer, George II. Pratt.
The committee chosen for the organization of the hotel company were elected December 12, 1911, and were A. L. Clarke, Karl Kauf, Herman E. Stein, J. N. Clarke, W. M. Dutton, C. E. Higinbotham and A. H. Farrens. The plans for the hotel were made by the C. W. Way company assisted by Westcott, Ronneburg & Co., of Chicago, consulting engineers. The building committee was A. L. Clarke, George B. Tyler, C. E. Higinbotham, A. H. Farrens, Karl Kauf and H. E. Stein. 'The general contract for the erection of the build- ing was let to John Hempel of Hastings. When opened the hotel contained 120 rooms and had been built at a cost of $182.000, ex- clusive of furnishing. In 1916 a fifty room addition was constructed on the west end which brought the total cost of the structure to $275,- 000. The addition was opened November 1, 1916. The proprietor,
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John M. Teeling, came from Watertown, South Dakota, to conduct the hotel at a rental that would pay 6 per cent net to the stockholders. The hotel was named in honor of A. L. Clarke. The appointments, decorations and accommodations of the Clarke place it in the ranks of the best hotels in the West. There are many stockholders of the Clarke Hotel, some holding only a single share of $100.
MOVING PICTURES
The first moving pictures exhibited in Hastings was during the street fair of 1899. The first moving picture theater was opened at 214 North Hastings Avenue, the present location of the clothing store of Harry Proffitt, by Fred Hayter, associated with Mrs. C. S. Epley, the present proprietor of the New Edison. This theater was called The Nickel and the opening date was June 3, 1907. Mr. Hay- ter continued in the business about two years and then went to Cali- fornia where he was engaged in the same business. In the fall of 1916, he purchased the Plaza, which is the continuation of his original house.
The Brach Theater was erected by William Brach and is the first elaborate, exclusive moving picture theater to be erected in Hastings. The house was opened October 8, 1916. Charles A. Beghtol is the proprietor.
Next to the Plaza, the Wonderland is the oldest moving picture house in Hastings. It was opened at the present location on Second Street about a year and a half after the opening of the Nickel. by B. F. Livengood who managed the house for an Omaha man. For about two years the Gay Brothers, Stanley C. Gay and Sidney F. Gay were the proprietors. It was bought from the Gay brothers by W. A. Walden who was the owner for several years. Since the spring of 1916 Mrs. Walden has been the owner of the Wonderland.
TEMPERANCE CAMPAIGNS
In 1908 U. S. Rohrer inaugurated a campaign for the non-licens- ing of saloons in Hastings. A civic federation was formed headed by Mr. Rohrer and closely associated with him were the pastors of the English speaking churches. In the spring of 1908 the vote in the council was a tie, the mayor casting the deciding vote in favor of license. The non-license forces questioned the mayor's authority and the question was carried to the Supreme Court which sustained the mayor's action.
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The following year the non-license forces nominated John Mc- Kenzie for mayor. He, however, was defeated by Mayor C. J. Miles. For several years following the subject was alive and there was much litigation. In the spring of 1915 the question of license was voted upon under the initiative and the referendum. Those in favor of license won the election.
FIRES
As narrated previously the first great fire in Hastings was on September 14, 1879. The next large fire was on July 2. 1881. This fire destroyed every building in the block in which the German National Bank is located except the Forgy building on the east corner where the J. H. Haney harness factory stands and a little building ad join- ing it on the west and a livery barn on the north. Cole Bros.' circus was exhibiting in Hastings that day on a lot south of the Burlington tracks. There was great excitement at the circus when the fire alarm spread, and to avoid accident the management ordered the circus hands to drop the canvass and so no one was injured. The circus men then gave good assistance in fighting the flames. The postoffice burned in this fire. The postoffice was again burned in 1886 in a fire that burned a large part of the east side of Hastings Avenue between First and Second streets.
In July, 1890, the dry goods store of II. A. Fyler & Co., located at 715-717 West Second Street, was destroyed by fire. The Gazette- Journal plant suffered a disastrous fire, July 29, 1889. The fire that originated in the basement of Stein Bros.' store, 606-614 West Sec- ond Street, on the night of November 3, 1905, probably caused the greatest property loss of any fire in the history of Hastings. The total damage was estimated at $140,000. Besides the Stein Bros., J. H. Spotts, who conducted a clothing store, and the millinery store of Miss Stewart were badly damaged. The stores occupied by Miss Stewart and Stein Bros. were the property of Charles H. Dietrich and the store occupied by Mr. Spotts belonged to Dennis Cormier. The present buildings were erected as soon as the debris could be cleared away and preparations made.
March 3, 1911, a large sale barn belonging to Ed Tanner was destroyed by fire on the south side of Second Street between Colorado and Kansas avenues. The barn was full of horses in readiness for a large sale to be held the next day. Forty-eight of the animals were burned to death. Early in 1913 the livery barn of Will Heffron on the north side of Second Street and between the same avenues as the
HOTEL CLARKE, HASTINGS
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Tanner barn, burned to the ground and nearly sixty horses were burned to death.
On December 26, 1913, the Gaston music store on the southwest corner of Second Street and St. Joseph Avenue was destroyed by fire and has not been rebuilt. This building was the property of Mrs. Herbert Knox Smith, daughter of Senator Dietrich, and contained two store rooms with the Knights of Pythias hall upstairs. Many Hastings lodges suffered loss in this fire.
The Hastings Milling plant was destroyed by fire August 18, 1916. The mill of Humphrey & Edgerton at the same location had been burned to the ground in the summer of 1894.
The first fire which caused any considerable loss in Hastings was on January 1, 1878, when the Thompson Hotel, a very creditable structure that stood on the east side of Kansas Avenue between First and Second streets, was destroyed.
LIBERAL HALL
Liberal Hall, called after January 1, 1886, Germania Hall, was a large frame structure that stood on the southeast corner of St. Joseph Avenue and Third Street, from the fall of 1878 to Decem- ber, 1916, when it was purchased by Fred Schouburg and wrecked for the lumber. The hall was built by the contractor, Tom Scales, for the Hastings Free Religious Society, the leaders of whom were R. A. Batty, Dr. J. N. Lyman, M. K. Lewis, and II. C. Renfrew. All of those named are dead. Doctor Lyman died late in the fall of 1916 in California.
The founders were liberal thinkers in religious matters and for a period of about eight years from the erection of the hall, brought many lecturers on educational and philosophical subjects to the city. The hall became historic, however, because of the many purposes for which it was used. On December 3, 1886, Judge Pound opened a term of the district court in the hall and it was used as a court room until quarters were obtained in the Stone Block.
It was here that the notable trial of I. P. Olive was held. It was here also that Senator Dietrich was in attendance upon a dance upon the night that he heard that the slayers of Cassius Millett were to be lynched. Later that night he saved the life of John Babcock by cut- ting the rope around the man's neck just as the lynchers were about to push him off the railroad bridge.
For years the hall was the social center where dances and other functions were held. It also served as a theater. Once it was fitted
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as a gymnasium, and boxing exhibitions were given. In 1892 it was leased by the board of education and used as a school room. It was used for the same purpose at a later period both by the public schools and the parochial school of the Catholic church. Seven times it was the Salvation Army Hall. It was purchased by the United Brethren Church of Hastings at one period and used by them as a house of worship. The church sold it to the Knights of Columbus, who used it for a lodge room for a time and it was this organization that sold it to Mr. Schouburg, the building having become unsafe. It served at one time as the lodge room of many lodges and was for a time the home of the G. A. R. Post.
It was leased in 1886 by the Germania Society, an organization devoted to mutual benefit among the Germans of the community. William Breede was the president of this organization. It was at this time that the name was changed from Liberal Hall to Germania Hall.
PRESIDENTS VISIT HASTINGS
The first president of the United States to visit Hastings was Benjamin Harrison, who made a speech from the rear platform of his private car at the Burlington Station on Bellevue Avenue at 6:30 in the morning, May 13, 1891. The G. A. R. headed the procession of about two hundred men who stood in line to greet the chief execu- tive.
James N. Clarke and William R. Burton stepped upon the plat- form and greeted the President when the train stopped and Mr. Clarke presented him to the assemblage. The president made a speech of ten minutes' length. In the presidential party were Mrs. Harrison, Postmaster General John Wanamaker and Secretary Rusk of the department of agriculture. Secretary Rusk had not yet arisen so the speech for which he was scheduled was not given.
President Roosevelt stopped in Hastings April 27, 1903, and delivered a speech and later turned the first spadeful of dirt for the laying of the foundation of the Carnegie Library. President Wil- liam Howard Taft visited Hastings in the fall of 1911 and delivered a speech of two hours' length, beginning at 4 o'clock, at the Kerr Opera House. Later in the evening the president was tendered a banquet at Brandes Hall. William McKinley delivered a speech in Hastings while campaigning for President Harrison's last term.
HASTINGS COUNTRY CLUB
The idea of forming a Country Club in Hastings originated with George Kirby in 1889, when he called a meeting to discuss the feasi-
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bility of instituting golf as a regular feature of Hastings' outdoor life. Not very much enthusiasm was manifested and only three at- tended the meeting, Mr. Kirby, Charles G. Lane and George W. Tibetts. Nothing daunted by the lack of interest, the three went ahead with the business and elected Mr. Kirby president, Mr. Lane treasurer, and Mr. Tibetts secretary of the Hastings Country Club. Mr. Tibetts has been secretary and Mr. Lane treasurer ever since. That year golf was instituted by the three officers.
The original golfers were soon joined by several others, among whom were George H. Pratt, C. K. Lawson, C. F. Morey, John Rees, R. B. Wahlquist and C. B. Wahlquist. Some time later came S. L. Stichter, who was an enthusiastic golfer until the time of his death. About 1905 G. J. Evans took the clubs. These are the old players around whom the present golf players, nearly fifty in num- ber, gathered, and the original members are still in almost daily evidence on the links.
The game was first played upon grounds leased at about the same location as is now used, and upon a six-hole course. For several years a nine-hole course has been used. The Country Club was incorporated March 1, 1902, for a period of twenty-five years, with a capital stock of $5,000, divided into shares of ten dollars each. The incorporators were George H. Pratt, Charles G. Lane and George W. Tibetts. Immediately thereafter the club purchased forty acres of land border- ing Heartwell Lake and three lots from Senator Dietrich. The club house stands upon one of these lots.
The first club house was a small affair erected at a cost of seventy- five dollars and stood on the east side of California Avenue across the street from the present club house, which was erected in the spring of 1902 at a cost of one thousand dollars. C. D. Richey drew the plans and A. J. Kammerlohr was the builder. Since 1902 dances have been given on Friday evenings throughout the summer, and Tuesday evenings have been ladies' reception evenings. The membership at present is one hundred ten. John Rees is president. Golf was played in Hastings as early as anywhere in Nebraska. An interesting side- light upon the price of land in Hastings is found in the fact that the forty acres owned by the Country Club was acquired and the club house built, all from a capital stock of five thousand dollars.
November 27, 1916, the stockholders of the club voted to pur- chase fifty acres lying east of the present grounds and to erect in the summer of 1917 a new club house at a cost of about ten thousand dol- lars. It was also decided to raise the capital stock to $50,000 and to increase the shares from ten dollars to fifty.
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The following is the roll of members during 1902, the year of incorporation :
W. D. Abbott, F. G. Babcock, F. C. Babcock, A. M. Bernhardt, A. J. Binderup, D. P. Blankenbiller, H. A. Blenkiron, William Brach, Adam Breede, William Brookley, A. L. Clarke, J. J. Con- oughly, Dr. John Cooke, A. H. Cramer, W. II. Davis, F. C. Day, F. B. Dauchy, W. H. Dillon, F. C. Drummond, H. S. Dungan, W. M. Dutton, M. D. Eames, W. J. Falk. W. H. Ferguson, Georgie Fowler, C. H. Hansell, George S. Hays, W. J. Hynes, L. A. Kin- ney, C. H. Kipp, C. G. Lane, W. H. Lanning, C. K. Lawson, J. S. Logan, W. M. Lowman. W. H. Lynn, Rev. William McDonald, F. A. McElhinney, D. B. Marti, George H. Mead, C. O. Metzler, A. F. Meyers, C. J. Miles. C. F. Moery, H. B. Norris, J. N. Norton, Oswald Oliver, C. A. Phillips, Fred Pickard, A. Pickens, George Pinneo, Rev. John Power, John T. Powers, G. H. Pratt, John Rees, C. W. Schmitz, J. M. Sewell. L. J. Siekman, Sewell Slueman, Wil- liam Smith, S. S. Snyder, J. H. Spotte, E. H. Stein, S. L. Sitchter, G. W. Tibetts, A. R. VanSickle, C. B. Wahlquist. R. B. Wahlquist, Mrs. F. C. Wood.
CHAPTER VIII
POLITICAL HISTORY
Politics has been a subject of interest in Adams County through its entire history. The political movements that have been felt in Nebraska and the United States are duly reflected in the votes of the county. Prohibition, populism, the free silver theory, woman suf- frage, socialism and other labor theories, all these have been passed upon and the judgment of the electors is preserved in the record of elections.
In addition to the vote for president of the United States shown in table at end of chapter. other candidates have been voted for. In the election of 1888 230 votes were cast for Alson J. Streeter, the Union Labor candidate. Charles II. Matchett, the candidate of the Socialist Labor party, received four votes in 1896. These were the first socialist votes to be cast in the county. Eugene V. Debs was the social- ist candidate in 1900 and received five votes in Adams County. In 1912 the Adams County vote for Debs had increased to 187, but it dropped to 101 for Benson in 1916.
The political revolution of Nebraska in 1890 was felt in full force in Adams County, which had hitherto been strongly republican. It was in 1890 that the farmers of Nebraska broke away from the old parties and at one swoop elected a majority in both houses of the Nebraska Legislature. John H. Powers, who lived on a farm a few miles north of Hastings, was one of the leaders in the organization of the Populist or Peoples' Independent party in Nebraska. Mr. Powers had come to Nebraska from Illinois and was a wide reader and close student of political subjects.
The Farmers' Alliance, which had been organized in Adams County February 26, 1882, had prepared the way for a farmers' political party. While the alliance was organized primarily to give to the members the advantage of co-operative marketing and buying. it also discussed such subjects as monopoly and the oppression of railroads. In 1882 there were twenty-five subordinate alliances in Adams County with an aggregate of 600 members. A. M. Hall was
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the first president of the county organization, and William Van Allen, secretary. By 1890 the membership of the alliance was greatly increased. Each subordinate alliance was entitled to one delegate to the county organization to each ten members, and one delegate at large. The alliance was well organized.
In 1890 came the great drought that prostrated Western Nebraska until about 1900. The hard straits in which the farmers found them- selves assisted in bringing them under the banner of the populist . party, which represented the political action that resulted from the political study made by the alliance. The first populist convention to be held in Adams County was called to order at 10:30 in the fore- noon, July 26, 1890. The convention was held at the Kerr Opera House. H. J. Straight, of Verona Township, presided, and H. B. McGaw of Blaine, and F. J. Taylor of Denver, served as secretary and assistant secretary.
It was a determined convention, and many of the demands there made have since been enacted into law. It was the day that marked the beginning of much political unrest in Adams County. Resolutions were adopted pledging the populists to support no candidate that was not squarely opposed to monopoly. The Government ownership of railroads and the loaning of money directly by the Government to farmers at a low rate of interest were further demands. The delegates to this momentous convention were the following:
West Blue, W. J. Huxtable, II. M. Palmer, I. W. Payne, C. W. Brown, and George Le Barron: Highland, L. W. Short, Jobn S. O'Brien, W. B. Fox, Martin Perkins and D. A. Chriswell; Verona, J. L. Blue. D. R. Bigelow, W. J. Wellars. T. L. Gibson, H. J. Straight: Kenesaw, John Nelson, M. L. Eastwood, Lee Willis, John Dilley and Thomas Cain: Wanda, Francis Phillips, Gotlieb Lahr, S. M. Davis, Israel Spindler and S. Miller: Juniata, J. W. Robinson, Ed P. Hubbard, William H. Robinson, Ed Creiger and J. W. Harris; Denver, D. C. Kerr. F. J. Taylor, J. Doty, M. F. Wallace and C. M. Lamphear: Blaine, B. B. Snodgrass, Charles Painter, J. W. Coulter, J. P. Hoagland and E. T. Winter; Hanover, Henry Miles, George Colling, W. M. White, J. W. Crissman and C. Neissen: Ayr, J. S. Way. J. F. Hill, William Hubbard. W. E. Hart and M. B. Foote: Roseland, J. F. Merrill, P. L. Boyd, Alfred Johnson, S. Isabell, T. J. IIoffman; Cottonwood, C. A. Larsen, G. Fischer, Fred Wagner, Samuel Peterson and George Slay; Logan, G. W. Parks, M. Stoetzel, G. W. Maxwell, Martin Lawler and E. S. Minnix ; Silver Lake, L. C. Kieth, G. W. Munson, W. P. Clawson, William Johnson, and James Hines: Zero, L. Blumenthal, R. M. Ratcliff, Ed Meyers, L. War-
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muth and William Kelley; Little Blue, F. C. McCormick, George Estep, Martin Best, G. Evans and Parker Anderson; Hastings, R. J. Arnold, C. L. Kincaid, S. J. Williams, Oscar Dilley, C. W. Pease, J. M. Houser, I. W. Tobie, Joseph Story, Clarence Shumway, Joseph Marian, J. L. Cline, A. H. Bowen, Jr., Ernest Hoeppner, J. W. MeReynolds, J. B. Ingraham, J. B. Koch, George Lynn, Rev. T. W. Sample, Fred Van Horn and S. L. Milner.
At the state convention of the populists, in 1890, John II. Powers received the nomination for governor. In Adams County, 1,527 votes were polled for Mr. Powers; 861 for James E. Boyd, the democratic nominee: 1,331 for the republican candidate, Lucius D. Richards, and 65 for B. L. Paine, prohibitionist. Mr. Powers was not elected, but polled 70,187 votes; the official count gave James E. Boyd 71,331 votes. Mr. Powers went from Adams County to Hitchcock County, where he still resides.
In the campaign of 1892, W. E. Andrews, who previously for some time had been a professor of Latin in Hastings College, was the republican nominee for Congress from the Fifth District. Before this date, Adams County had been in the Second Congressional Dis- triet, and when Mr. Andrews entered the race, W. A. McKeighan of Red Cloud was the representative in Congress. Mr. MeKeighan had been elected in 1890 by a combination of the democrats and populists, and the congressman was a fluent and able exponent of populism. He had been elected to succeed Gilbert L. Laws, who filled the vacancy caused by the death of Congressman James Laird, in 1889. Mr. Mc- Keighan was reelected in 1892. Adams County gave Mr. Andrews 1,685 votes, and MeKeighan, 1,591. The same year, Adams County gave the republican candidate for governor, Lorenzo Crounse. 1,507 votes. The congressional race was hotly contested that year. A joint debate between the candidates at Hastings drew many thousands of listeners.
In 1894, Mr. Andrews and Mr. MeKeighan were again pitted against each other in the fight for Congress. and this time Mr. Andrews was victorious. Adams County polled 1,915 votes for Andrews, and 1,604 for McKeighan. Mr. Andrews' race for re-election came in 1896. Fusion of the democrats and peoples' independent party was at its height, and Mr. Andrews lost in the contest to his opponent, R. D. Sutherland. Adams County gave 1,757 votes to Mr. Andrews, and 2,050 to Mr. Sutherland. Following his service in Congress, Mr. Andrews was appointed auditor of the United States Treasury, at Washington. He filled that post for fourteen years. In the 1916 primary he was defeated in the race for the congressional candidacy, Tol. I-8
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losing to Silas R. Barton, who died upon election day, November 7, 1916.
While the rise of populism gave new interest to politics in 1890, the issues were further complicated by the submission of the prohibi- tory amendment. The vote in Adams County, upon the amendment to prohibit the liquor traffic, resulted in 1,708 votes being cast for the amendment, and 1,777 against. The prohibitory amendment was again submitted in 1916, and the vote resulted in 2,553 for the amend- ment, and 2,033 against. The "wet" majority of 69 in 1890 became, in 1916, a "dry" majority of 522.
The climax of political excitement in Adams County was reached in 1896. For weeks before the election Hastings was the scene of almost nightly parades. Torchlight processions, with long lines of torch-bearers, bands and negro choirs, and other musical organizations, were of almost nightly occurrence. On Lincoln Avenue, near Third Street, was a grandstand and platform, where night meetings were held. Here Roswell G. Horr of the New York Tribune spoke, ex- pounding the folly of free silver; John V. Farwell also spoke to the same end, and the "Five Generals," headed by General Sickles. On the afternoon before election, William J. Bryan spoke on the old East Ward school grounds to the largest political andience ever as- sembled in Hastings or Adams County.
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