USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Past and present of Adams County, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 38
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The postmasters who have served in Pauline are Will Jeffries, the first postmaster, followed by Samuel Bechtelheimer, Pat Cronin, Charles MeCulloch, R. O. Slater, Dan MeCleery, Nellie Jones and the present postmaster, Carl McCleery.
During the drought years, from 1893 to 1897, both the railway stations at Pauline were closed because of the almost total falling off' of business. The K. C. & O. depot at this time was moved from Pauline to the K. C. & O. junction with the Red Cloud line of the Burlington, where it later was destroyed by fire. The present Bur- lington station at Pauline was moved from Leroy to its present location.
The first blacksmith shop in Pauline was built by James B. Me- Cleery and rented to Jerry Allen.
James B. MeCleery died in 1889.
There is only one church in Pauline, the Methodist Episcopal. which was organized in 1884. Among the first members were Mr. and Mrs. Sherman, Mr. and Mrs. Bauder, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Jones. The first church house was ereeted the same year that the elass was organized. The new church, within the village,
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was built in 1907, at a cost of $6,000. A partial list of the pastors who have served the church is as follows: R. M. Hardman, 1884 to 1887; Almon Gore, E. L. Wolff, J. M. Correll, each one year suc- cessively after Mr. Hardman; T. W. Bean, 1890; W. C. Swartz. from 1897 to 1900; A. G. Blackwell, 1900 to 1902; L. F. Harman, 1902 to 1904; W. M. Brooks, 1904 to 1905; E. N. Tompkins, 1905 to 1908; W. H. Shoaf, 1908 to 1911; T. C. Priestly, 1911 to 1912; J. W. Bair, 1912 to 1913: R. B. E. Hill, 1913 to 1915; Alfred Chamberlain, 1915 to 1916. The present pastor, the Rev. Mr. Thomas, has been the pastor in 1916.
AYR
The Village of Ayr, situated about twelve miles south of Hastings, in the valley of the Little Blue River, was established in September, 1878. It was named in honor of Doctor Ayr, of Iowa, who was then one of the directors of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad.
The land at that time was the property of private parties, and portions of it had previously been obtained from the railroad com- pany, having been included in the land grant. Those owning the land were John Ratcliffe, who owned section 33 of the railroad land: east of this a quarter section, property of A. C. Moore; one quarter section on the east belonging to Ayers Goble; while south of Goble's land and west of Moore's joines the quarters owned by Professor Meyers.
The town started after the building of the railroad in 1878, in consideration that the parties owning the land were to donate every other lot, or half of the townsite, to the company, providing they locate a station at that point.
O. D. Barras built the first house on the village site. a small frame dwelling, in October, 1878. The next improvement was the erection in November of the same year of a two-story frame hotel, by R. C. Fleming. The same fall, T. C. Fleming and A. L. West built a storeroom and opened a business house with a general stock of merchandise. Immediately following, R. C. Gregg also built a storehouse and opened the first drug store, which he afterward sold to Koehler & Pahr. Pahr later bought the interest of his partner and had control of the business. Late in the fall of 1878, John S. Richards opened a grocery store, McMillan & Hull a general store, and M. S. & T. J. Edgington started a business, dealing in hardware. In the summer of 1879, Henry Gund & Company built a large grain elevator, and John Robinson opened a livery barn.
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In 1878, A. Peck and Henry Howe put up a building, which was used for a saloon for a time, but, as the business did not flourish, the saloon was closed and the building later used as a schoolhouse. In the fall of 1879, Isaac Vanderwart built a blacksmith shop, and the same fall the Commercial Hotel was built by A. J. Pate and Rev. J. Fleming erected a building known as Church Hall, to be utilized for religious purposes. in the building of which he used his own capital.
The educational facilities of Ayr were about equal to those of the average country district, and the school was kept in a building situated about half a mile north of town. The first school was taught in the winter of 1878-79, by John Gainor, a true son of the Emerald Isle. Gainor was generally considered an excellent teacher, having had a splendid education, and, with that anmusing manner so charac- teristic of his race, he won the good will and admiration of all his pupils, his only crime being an excessive love for the intoxicating bowl. He was employed by the school board to teach a second term, but at the close of school, in the spring of 1879, he "went on a big spree," which lasted several days. Chagrined and mortified by his conduct, he secretly left the place and did not return.
A postoffice was established at Ayr in 1879. Previous to this date it was kept at a place called Gilson, about two miles north of the townsite. E. H. Scott was postmaster, and it was through his efforts and influence that the office was moved from Gilson to Ayr. Scott held the position of postmaster up to the spring of 1881, and was succeeded in office by James Bovard.
The first religious services were held by the Rev. J. Fleming, a Presbyterian missionary laboring under the auspices of that denomi- nation. The church was organized in the winter of 1878-79, with a membership of thirty. The services were held in Church Hall, a building erected by Mr. Fleming.
In the spring of 1879 a Methodist congregation was organized under the direction of Elder Lemons, then presiding elder of the district. The Rev. John Holland was their first regular pastor, remaining with the congregation one year.
Dr. S. A. Bookwalter was the first practicing physician to locate in the village, having made his advent in the summer of 1879.
A lumber and coal yard was started in 1879 by William Laugh- lin and Cyrus McMillan. In 1880 Mortimer Kress and W. S. Moot moved a large two-story building from Millington to Ayr, using the first story for a storeroom and fitting the upper floor for a town hall.
The first deaths were those of Henry Harm's twin infants, in
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October, 1881. The first child born was Harvey Fleming, son of T. C. and Esther J. Fleming.
Notwithstanding the excellent location of the village, its growth. although promising at first, deelined rapidly.
Only one attempt was made at journalism at Ayr. A paper called the Ayr Times was established in January, 1882, the first issue of which was made on the 14th of that month. In size, the sheet was a six-column quarto, was republican in polities, and had a regular issue of 360 copies. The paper was edited and published by Watkins Brothers, the firm being composed of three brothers-C. L., G. M. and F. A. Watkins. The journal was of patent inside. Besides the editorial work, the firm did considerable job work.
Ayr was incorporated May 1, 1883, the corporation embracing the following territory: The southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 33, the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of sec- tion 34, the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 3. and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 4. The portions in sections 33 and 34 are in Ayr Township and the remainder in Zero.
The first trustees were H. P. Rowe, A. C. Moore, W. W. Phar, S. E. MeMurry and J. S. Richards.
The grain elevator which Henry Gund & Co. built in 1879 was destroyed by fire in 1902. The building moved by Mortimer N. Kress and W. S. Moot still stands in the town and is the property of the A. O. U. W., who have their hall in the upper story.
The I. O. O. F. have a well-appointed hall in the upper room of the brick building in which the general store of C. F. Matheny is located.
Previously Mr. E. H. Seott and James Bovard have been men- tioned as being the postmasters. Subsequently Mortimer N. Kress was postmaster from 1889 to 1883, Henry Howe from 1893 to 1897, Robert Rateliff'e from 1897 to 1913. The present postmistress, Mrs. Robert Zachary, has served sinee 1913.
Ayr now has two general stores, one conducted by Henry Howe. who has been in business in the village since its founding, and the other by C. F. Matheny, who was in business in Hansen at one time. Mr. Matheny purchased the business from George Overstreet in the summer of 1916. Mathew Ureling conducts a hardware store and Harley Jeffers has a restaurant and confectionery store. Frank Fehringer has a barber shop and Mr. Ratcliffe a blacksmith shop. John Helmann manages the lumber yard for the Coon Lumber Company, and Lon Davis has a livery barn. The implement business is conducted by H. Roeder, with whom is associated his son, Arthur
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Roeder. The elevator is owned by the Farmers Grain & Supply Company and is managed by Guy Bonham.
The Methodist Episcopal Church erected a house of worship in 1893 at a cost of about $1.200. George Moore was the contractor. The present church, which was erected at a cost of about $2,200, was completed in June, 1910, Jay Gobel being the contractor. Among the earliest members of the Methodist Church in Ayr were Adam Reader, George Eastwood, George Parks, W. W. Philleo, Mrs. Josie Scott, Mrs. Laura Easter, John Giddings and A. M. Jeffers. Rev. Rex Barr is the present pastor.
The brick store building in which the general store of C. F. Matheny is located was built in 1910 by the I. O. O. F., but came into the possession of Sherman Woodworth about two years ago, the lodge retaining a 99-year lease upon the lodge room on the upper floor.
PROSSER
That Prosser, located eight miles west and six miles north of ITastings, turned out to be a town and not a sheep ranch was a sur- prise. At least it was a surprise to George S. Parks, who was among the first to be interviewed by agents of the Pacific Railroad looking for a townsite. The railroad was built into Hastings in 1887, but was not pushed through to Prosser until the following spring. Before the grading of the road had reached Adams County, even before the $125,000 bonds had been voted, Cameron Yeazel was looking for a townsite in the vicinity of Prosser.
Mr. Yeazel left Mr. Parks under the impression that he was rep- resenting some eastern capitalists who desired to start a sheep ranch in that part of the country if they could find some cheap land. It was after a survey had been made that Mr. Parks learned that at a point where a white post had been set on the southeast quarter of section 3, Verona Township, a town was to be established, Juniata was considerably disturbed about the location of Prosser, and Juniata had to be satisfied that the new town would be located at a safe dis- tance from their town before they would support the bonds in aid of the Pacific Railroad.
In the spring of 1888, L. J. Ware built the first general store in the new town. At about the same time B. F. Barr opened a lum- ber yard and E. G. Collins built an elevator. The second grocery store was built by E. L. Price. The hotel which was built early in the history of the town by a Mr. Dietrich and which was called for many years the Pacific Hotel, still stands near the station.
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A second hotel, a very creditable hostelry, was built by Fred Stoelting a few years before a fire destroyed the hotel. J. G. Heart- well's drug store and the store which had been erected by E. L. Price, but which at the time of the fire was occupied by Morledge & Blake, and the first blacksmith shop, which had been erected by Joseph Philbrick, were destroyed in the same fire about 1902.
Shortly after the fire a general merchandise store was built by the brothers, J. G. and M. R. Jones. The Jones Bros. sold to F. R. Daggett and Charles W. Manahan. Mr. Daggett bought the interest of his partner and now operates the store alone. Mr. Manahan resides in Hastings.
The general merchandise business which G. W. Pratt now con- ducts had its origin when S. W. Smith purchased the first school- house built in Prosser and converted it into a store. Mr. Smith sold to Charles A. Porter, of Heartwell, and Mr. Porter disposed of the business to. Mr. Pratt. The first store was started by Mr. Ware, and James Bacon later purchased the interest of Mr. Ware, who went to Illinois. The business was successively operated by Charles McCul- loch and John Stoner. Mr. Stoner managed the business for 'Trimble. Blackman & Alexander, of Hastings, until the grocery was discon- tinued, when B. J. Symonds moved into the store and there conducted his drug business.
For several years before he became superintendent of the Ingle- side Hospital for the Insane, Dr. M. W. Baxter was located at Prosser, succeeding Dr. C. J. Yates.
Prosser was not incorporated until August 13, 1907. Those peti- tioning for incorporation were F. R. Daggett, P. J. Robinson, T. E. Bowlin, F. H. Schafer, Charles Moritz, L. Katzberg, W. H. Schu- mann. L. P. Burnham, T. J. Killion, H. F. Moore, August Katzberg, J. W. Benge, J. C. Pratt, G. W. Pratt, D. L. Hare, William Flower- dew. George F. Miller, A. L. Gilmore, J. G. Kent, S. W. Smith. D. C. Hinds. C. C. Robinson, S. G. Moore, D. W. Miles, R. O. Wirfel, C. H. Hudson, Charles Stanley, Frank A. Kuehn, J. B. Symonds. D. M. MeMakin, M. W. Baxter, M. P. Creager. The first trustees were M. W. Baxter, Charles Moritz, F. R. Daggett, F. H. Moore and T. J. Killion. The incorporated area embraced 210 acres on parts of sections 5, 8 and 9.
The administration of the second board of trustees is notable for initiating the building of cement sidewalks in Prosser against a spir- ited opposition. But though received at first with much disfavor, this improvement has been extended until Prosser has as good sidewalks as any town of its size. The trustees when this movement was begun
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were G. W. Pratt, Charles Moritz, C. H. Hudson, M. W. Baxter and HI. F. Moore. E. H. Grounds was the village clerk.
S. W. Smith was the first postmaster at Prosser. He was suc- ceeded by George S. Moore, who in turn was succeeded by James Crow, who also conducted the first hardware store. After Mr. Crow, Henry Moore became postmaster, holding the office until his death. Mrs. Moore was then postmistress until succeeded by the present postmaster, R. L. Woods.
The hall which is used for a lodge room and general social center was erected by the A. O. U. W.
The elevator now operated by the Verona Grain & Lumber Com- pany was originally operated by W. H. Ferguson, who sold it to the Farmers Grain & Stock Company. Charles Moritz was the man- ager under this company. The Farmers Grain & Stock Company sold the business to the present owners, the Verona Grain & Lumber Company. Earl Grounds is the manager. This company was incor- porated March 28, 1911, with a capital stock of $10,000. The incorporators were E. E. Binfield, G. H. Geddes, Bert Mott, William Conroy and G. C. Gilmore. In the early days of the grain business in Prosser, Simon Bechtelheimer bought grain on the track.
Prosser was named in honor of T. J. Prosser, of Concordia, Kan., who was superintendent of the construction force that built the Pacific road into the town.
There is only one church in Prosser, the Methodist Episcopal. The first Sunday school was conducted in the Pacific Station, with L. J. Ware acting as superintendent. Within a year the church had organized and erected a church house at a cost of about five hundred dollars. That church, with additions and improvements, is still in use. Among the first members were J. Morgan, L. J. Ware, George S. Parks, Dow Steadman and Miles W. Knapp.
CHAPTER XXVIII GREAT STORMS
THE EASTER STORM
There are many stories current about the "Easter Blizzard." the great storm of 1873 that caused great loss of property and of lives particularly in rather more than half of Nebraska. The narratives of the storm selected are by Dr. A. D. Williams of Kenesaw and George Huling of Bromfield, now Giltner, in Clay County. Doctor Williams was a national figure in religious affairs and was also an anthor and publisher. Both narratives were written while the inci- dents were fresh in the minds of the writers and may be relied upon as portraying with accuracy the details of the great storm.
"The winter 1872-3," writes Doctor Williams, "was very open and mild. Plowing was done in this vicinity (Kenesaw) in each of its months. There was not only no rain during the winter, but none of any account from October to April. The ground was very dry and hard, and settlers began to ask each other if it ever would rain again. Sowing, what little there was, began in February, and was mostly over before April. But it did not come up, except as birds -- mostly snowbirds -- picked it up.
"Sunday, April 13, Easter day, was a very bright, beautiful day until a little after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then, all at once. every- one began listening to the stillness. Not a breath moved. Not a sound was heard, but the stillness was both audible and impressive. In- stinctively everyone felt, he knew not why, that something was the matter. But what? whence? Presently, rapidly rolling clouds ap- peared low in the northeast, but hurried up and on, like billows on a stormy sea. Then an apparently onmoving darkness appeared in the southwest, like an inky curtain, that at length was discovered to be rapidly coming on without internal movement.
"Still more impressive became the silence-until, suddenly, a roar filled the whole heavens. Almost simultaneously, the two storms.
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approaching from opposite directions, came together, apparently just over head, and then the tempest struck us with terrific force from the northwest. Everything movable hurried away most unceremo- niously. The air became immediately filled with dust, so thick and whirling and blinding, that sight could not penetrate half a rod away, and persons in the house could not see each other even before the windows, while the roar of the elements was well nigh deafening.
"People felt their way to their north windows to keep them from blowing in, the family sometimes keeping them in place by their hands and bodies, and in some instances they were not kept in, and the house filled with wind. The roof, and sometimes the whole struc- ture, went before the storm like so many feathers. In a short time Ed Moore's house was moved from its foundation, turned partly around and unroofed, and was probably kept from all going before the gale by reason of a lot of hardware and grain being stored in it. The roof of Mrs. Norton's house, just finished, went kiting towards Florida, and not much except splinters was afterwards found of it.
"When the storm began Captain and Mrs. Knapp, living where Mr. Long now lives, were sitting by the stove, on the tool chest. The next they remembered they were sitting unharmed on the reversed under side of a piece of their roof-stove, tool chest, and house alto- gether having deserted them. Chairs, bedstead, clothing, everything suddenly started on a journey, much of which was never found, and most of what was found, was in rags and splinters. One bed-quilt strack the west side of our house, and George Williams slipped around the south side and arrested it at the southwest corner. A pair of pants was afterward found in our woodpile, and a feather bed in the ditch on the south side of the railroad, a quarter of a mile east of the resi- dence of L. W. Parmenter. A large quantity of splinters of shingles and boards from the wreck struck our house and one piece of 2x4 scantling struck our north window amidship. but fortunately sidewise. or our house would have been added to the ruins.
"D. R. Rockfeller's house, near Mrs. Osler's homestead, was blown to smithereens. He was at our house when the storm began and during the subsequent lull, tried to reach his own. But he had not proceeded far before the returning violence of the storm. ac- companied by the last 'sand storm' of the vicinity, stinging and cut- ting every exposed portion of his skin, until he was compelled to lie down flat on the ground, with his face to it, and hold on to the tufts of sod and grass with his hands and fingers.
"Mrs. Norton was still living in one of the company's houses at the station, but was out of fuel, and the family kept warm by going
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to bed, and staying there. The three other houses (the four were the first houses to be built in Kenesaw), only a few rods distant, blew down and into kindling wood, but Mrs. Norton knew nothing of it until the next Wednesday. She was the deputy postmistress, but there wasn't much postoffice business done on those days. Her house was probably saved by being sodded up on the north and west sides.
"In a little less than an hour the storm abated a little and our pony, 'Puss,' carried us pretty lively to Captain Knapp's. Finding nothing there, we went to Mr. Moore's, where Mr. Coplin afterward lived. No one was there. On we went to Mr. Chenowith's (Bert Moore's) and found that the Knapps and Mr. Miller must have been in the sod hen house. Mr. and Mrs. Moore were at Mr. Chenowith's. But by this time the heavens had gathered blackness again, and Puss' hest paces availed to land her rider at home before the storm was upon us again, with apparently increaesd fury. This time, it began to snow furiously, and it was as blinding and bewildering as the dust had been, rendering it impossible to follow any direction unless it had been blindly before the storm.
"At the beginning of the storm, two Stonehocker families, seven- teen in number, were camped beside our house. At the first approach of the storm, they fortunately staked down their 'prairie schooner' with log chains, and hurried into the house. And there they all stayed the storm out. Early in the storm Mr. Rockfeller had returned, filling up a complement of twenty-three persons in the three small rooms of the house.
"In order to reach the stable, less than a hundred feet distant, the well rope was drawn, and with it in hand the stable could be found- we could not see the stable at one-quarter of the distance. W. Z. Par- menter and A. C. Parmenter came in from Thirty-two Mile Creek on Wednesday near night to see what had become of us.
"It was Wednesday that the storm abated. Immediately after noon, traveling when I could see and remaining still when I could not, and following a well defined track from my house to the depot, it was found that Mrs. Norton and her children were safe. Return- ing, a relief party was formed to see what had become of the Knapps. Mr. Rockefeller and one of the Stonehockers accompanied me, taking along a shovel and some food and coffee. We at length reached the place and found Captain and Mrs. Knapp and Mr. Miller banked up in the sod hen house with the hens. They had come here when the house blew down. So cramped were the quarters that they could neither stand erect nor recline at length. During their stay there, from Sun-
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day afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, they had had a two-pound can of peaches, a raw potato and what eggs the hens laid.
"When dug out, neither of the party could stand alone. But two of the rescuers formed a seat with their clasped hands for Mrs. Knapp on which she partly rode and partly walked, while after a little, Cap- tain Knapp and Mr. Miller walked by leaning on each shoulder of the other man. One of the Stonehockers' teams was cut loose and drifted before the storm towards Red Cloud, but fortunately was found alive on Thursday.
"The train passed the Kenesaw station without the trainmen ob- serving it. It had gone to Kearney on Saturday the 12th and stayed in Kearney until the next Saturday, when it dug its way with difficulty through the hardened drifts in the cuts. As the train passed the sta- tion without observing it, Puss was again brought to the rescue and overhauled the train in a cut below, and the mail was delivered, the conductor remarking that it was the first time he ever knew of an express being overhauled by an Indian pony.
"At no time did the thermometer fall more than two degrees be- low freezing, and most of the time it was above. Yet so rapidly did the wind absorb the heat of the body that only a few hours' exposure would produce death, and quite a number did perish at different places, though none in the immediate vicinity of Kenesaw. The snow completely filled the air through constant blowing, though the fall itself was probably considerably less than a foot. There has been no storm like it since those who experienced the 'Easter Storm,' did not hanker after any more of the same sort."
George W. Huling's version :
"We left our Missouri home some time in March, 1873, and ar- rived at our new home six miles northwest of Harvard, on the West Blue in Clay County, on the 10th of April. At our destination we found everything as the Creator had made it, save the timber along the stream, which had been culled off by settlers who had come the vear before.
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