USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Past and present of Adams County, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 9
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EARLY BUILDING PERIOD
A period of building followed the great fire, and the business activi- ties of Hastings increased in volume and ambitions until the climax was
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reached in the boom of 1887. On the northeast corner of Second Street and Lincoln Avenue, the present location of the 10-cent store, Morris and Eugene Alexander erected a brick building two stories high in 1881 at a cost of $10,000. In the corner building was located the grocery store of M. J. Lumbard. For many years this store was one of the important stores of the city. The rooms above this store were occupied as the offices of the Benevolent Union, an early Hastings mutual life insurance company, which by 1887 had written $2,500,000 of life insurance for 1,400 members.
During the same year, 1881, F. J. Benediet & Co., erected a brick building adjoining the Alexander Building on the east. This, too, was two stories high, 44 by 110 feet, and cost $10,000. It was in the west store room of this building that the Benedict grocery store was located.
In 1881 also was erected the brick building adjoining the Benedict Building on the east. This was known in the early days as the Reed Building. One of the store rooms was occupied by Burger Brothers, who conducted a wholesale and retail hardware store and in the other store room was the delicatessen dining hall of Messrs. Noyes & Baird, a very popular restaurant of that period. The building was erected by a Mr. Reed at a cost of $5,000.
The Kerr Opera House was not erected until 1884. For several years it was the most imposing building in Hastings. The building was erected by the Hastings Opera House Company at a cost of $61,000. The board of directors of this corporation elected, in 1884, were D. F. Naulteus, James B. Heartwell, M. L. Alexander, William Kerr, T. J. Dowd, George H. Pratt, L. B. Palmer, R. A. Anderson and C. E. W. Struve. A long list of citizens in addition to those named were stockholders. The house was named in honor of William Kerr, one of the principal stockholders, and who eventually became the sole owner of the building. The stage is 66 feet wide by 38 feet deep and the procenium 32 feet wide and 28 feet high. The original curtain, scenery and decorations were by Noxen, Albert & Toomey, of St. Louis. The Kerr was first under the management of F. D. Taggart. William Shellack was manager for a time. Subse- quently Manager Stevens conducted the affairs of the Kerr and was succeeded by Thomas Kerr, son of William Kerr. William Lowman came after Thomas Kerr, and is the present manager.
October 18, 1885, Miss Nellie Boyd appeared in a dramatic pro- duction at the Kerr, and was very enthusiastic over the new opera house. Miss Boyd first appeared in Hastings in 1874. She was the first actress to appear in Hastings, and she was much impressed with
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the change that had been wrought in eleven years. In 1874 she ap- peared in Millett Hall. There were neither stage nor seats. For opera chairs the citizens supplied benches made of rough pine planks laid across nail kegs. The stage was constructed in a similar manner. For the drop curtain two patchwork quilts were kindly lent, and candles did service for footlights.
Prof. John Rees was the director of the first Opera House orches- tra. Will Rees, first violin: Ben Urquhart, second violin; Gus Bind- erup, viola; Elgin Gilbert, bass viola; C. F. Royce, clarinet; Walter Chapman, first cornet: Al Boyd, second cornet; M. L. Averill, trombone; William Bates, drums. Alex Murray was the first stage director. Among the notable actors and actresses who have appeared at the Kerr are Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Florence, Thomas W. Keene, Mlle. Rhea, Sol Smith Russell, Maggie Mitchell, Patti Rosa, Louis James, Lewis Morrison, Robert Mantell, Blanche Walsh, Mrs. Fiske and Walker Whiteside.
The Kerr Opera House was greatly improved in 1913, a new fireproof curtain was installed and the interior completely redecorated, new boxes built and the stage was greatly improved.
The Bostwick Hotel block was built in 1884-85 by a corporation, the principal members of whom were Harrison Bostwick, A. H. Cramer. T. E. Farrell, George M. Mowery, John Ballinger, G. J. Evans, Dr. J. N. Lyman and J. C. Kay. The block was erected at a cost of $65,000. W. H. Dildine was the first manager of the Bost- wick Hotel, and from 1889 to September 1, 1904, W. H. Dillon was in charge. He was succeeded by J. D. Mines, who remained in charge for a few years. Mr. Mines was followed by H. C. Haverly, who was manager to within a short time of the opening of the Clarke Hotel, in 1913. C. H. Dietrich has been the owner of the block, except the store room on the west side, for a number of years. In 1916 the Bostwick Hotel was extensively improved and the name changed to the American House. It was originally named in honor of Harrison Bostwick. The Lindell Hotel was built four years before the erection of the Bostwick, by N. F. Damron. For about the first ten years this hotel was called the Commercial.
In 1883 Charles II. Dietrich erected two brick business buildings on the northeast corner of Hastings Avenue and Second Street at a cost of $21,000. In 1905 the corner building, occupied by the German National Bank, was completely remodeled and brought to its present form. The corner building was the home of the dry goods house of Pickens & Hanna, of which the firm of Pickens & Bratton are the descendants. The same year in which Mr. Dietrich built these two
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buildings, 1883, saw the erection of a two-story brick building by J. W. Davis adjoining Mr. Dietrich's building on the east. This structure cost $12,000. In the same year Charles Cameron erected the Exchange National Bank Building, including the store room immediately north of the bank, at a cost of $25,000. For many years Mr. Cameron conducted a large dry goods and clothing store, the store fronting on both Hastings Avenue and First Street.
The "Stone Block" standing on the south side of Second Street between Denver and St. Joseph avenues was erected in 1881 by T. E. Farrell and George M. Mowery. The stone for this building were brought from Mr. Farrell's stone quarries in Colorado. The corner store room of this block was the early home of the J. Il. Ilaney harness and saddle business.
In 1884 Claus Frahm erected the building now occupied by the A. H. Brooke drug store, on the southeast corner of Hastings Avenue and Second Street. For several years it was occupied by the drug store of Frahm Bros., and later by Kay C. Roberts. The building immediately south of the Frahm Building is called the Curtis Block, after the original owner. It was erected in 1886. At about the same time the building adjoining the Curtis Building was erected by George Tyler.
The Masonic Temple was erected in 1886-87. The building as originally built was 66x125 feet and three stories high. It cost $26,000 to build. This building was remodeled in 1913 at a cost of nearly $65,000.
A brick building has stood on the southwest corner of Second Street and Denver Avenue since 1881. In this building the City National Bank was located.
The building ad joining the old City National Bank on the west was erected by M. Stern in 1883 at a cost of $5,000, and in the same year Jacob Fisher erected a brick building immediately west of Mr. Stern's. It should have been stated also that in the store room immediately west of the City National Bank, between the latter and the Stern Building. the meat market of Charles Doyen was located for many years. In 1886, Jacob Fisher completed the erection of his second brick store room at 609 West Second Street. The third brick business building to be erected in the city was by Wolbach Bros., at the same location as that of the present site of the store of Wolbach & Brach. Wolbach Bros. commenced the erection of their building in 1879, but not quite so early in the year as the First National Bank. About the same time A. W. Cox erected a building facing on Hastings Avenue and immediately south of the First National Bank. Mr. Cox
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had come to Hastings in 1873 and at the time of the erection of this building was in partnership with M. Reed in the furniture business.
In 1883 C. K. Lawson and Carson J. Hamot ereeted the store room at 704 and 706 West Second Street, now oceupied by the J. II. MeGrath Hardware Company. The builders occupied the room at 704 for their hardware store, which was conducted under the firm name of Lawson & Hamot. The building on the northwest corner of Hastings Avenue and Seeond Street was built in 1884 by R. R. Morledge and J. H. MeWade. For many years the firm of Morledge & MeWade was one of the important general merchandise establish- ments of the city. The firm occupied the corner store room. In 1885 this store beeame the location of an important dry goods store, "The Bee Hive," of which A. J. Unna was the proprietor. It might also be noted that 706 North Hastings Avenue, was the original location of the New York & Boston Clothing Company, of which Mr. Mark Levy was the proprietor. The building at 702 West Second Street, adjoining the Morledge & MeWade Building on the west, was ereeted by Moses Stern; the building is now occupied by the Barnes Clothing Company. In 1886 Mr. Stern also erected the building which is now the location of the A. F. Meyer Hardware Company, at 615 West Second Street. At about the same time Henry Gross erected the building immediately east, 613 West Second Street, now occupied by Kauf & Rinderspacher. The building was bought by Kauf & Rinder- spaeher from Messrs. Stern and Gross in 1894 and completely remod- eled by them in 1910. The meat market of Kanf & Rinderspacher was established by Karl Kauf and George Rinderspacher, in 1887. their first loeation being 216 North Hastings Avenue, the present loeation of the Hastings Bakery.
The meat market now called Blake & Son has borne the name of Blake since 1874. Fred Blake and wife arrived in Hastings from Oxfordshire, England, in 1873. Mr. Blake beeame associated the following year in the meat business with William H. Stoek, whom he soon bought out. This business was located at the present site of the James A. Benson barber shop, 621 West Second Street. In 1886 Mr. Blake erected the brick building standing at the northwest eorner of Lincoln Avenue and First Street, and at the same time the store room adjoining on the north was erected by Charles Plamondon, who was engaged in the grocery business in Hastings for many years.
Charles Kohl and John Yager ereeted the building containing the store rooms 212 and 214 North Hastings Avenue in 1885. Mr. Yager was a homesteader and a veteran of the Civil War. He conducted
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the G. A. R. sample room in the Kohl & Yager Building for a number of years. Mr. Yager always maintained that his child was the first to be born in Adams County. That honor is also claimed for John Babcock, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Titus Babcock of Juniata. Mr. Yager arrived in the vicinity of Hastings some time during 1871. IIe died at the Soldiers' home in Burkett (Grand Island), in 1915.
The Central Block comprising 713, 715 and 717 West Second Street, or the present location of A. M. Clark's drug store and the dry goods establishment of Pickens & Bratton, was completed in 1886. The building at 713 was erected by Samuel Alexander and J. B. Heartwell, while the remaining store rooms were built largely by eastern capital under the management of E. C. Webster. Dr. Francis Naulteus, L. M. Campbell and others, however, were joint owners in the building. It was in this building that the important dry goods house of Fyler & Wing, afterwards II. A. Fyler & Company, was located. This establishment continued from 1886 to 1890. In July of the latter year the Fyler stock was destroyed by fire entailing a loss estimated at the time as amounting to between $90.000 and $100.000.
The Nebraska Loan & Trust Company Building was erected in 1884 at a cost of about $33,000. This building is three stories in height and has a frontage on Second Street of 44 feet and upon Lincoln Avenue of 125 feet. The trust company was the outgrowth of a partnership formed January 1, 1881, by James B. Heartwell and E. C. Webster. The original firm name was J. B. Heartwell & Com- pany. By May 1, the following year other capitalists became inter- ested in the business, and the Nebraska Loan & Trust Company was incorporated, with a capital stock of $100,000; this was increased May 1. 1883. to $250,000, and in August, 1885, to $500,000. The business of the company consisted largely in loaning money on mort- gages : they also dealt in school bonds and municipal securities. Of the early organization, James B. Heartwell was the president; A. L. Clarke, vice president; E. C. Webster, treasurer; C. P. Webster, cashier. These with Samuel Alexander, Oswald Oliver, George H. Pratt. D. M. McElhinney and J. J. Wemple comprised the board of directors in 1887. February 1, 1906, the Nebraska Loan & Trust Company made a voluntary liquidation, an action which was brought about through the placing of loans on western Nebraska and Kansas lands situated in the arid regions which became a burden. In 1907 the Clarke. Buchanan Company was formed with J. N. Clarke and W. F. Buchanan of Hastings at the head. This firm does the same character of business as the Nebraska Loan & Trust Company and occupies the
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same building. W. F. Buchanan is now a resident of Huntington, West Virginia. In 1882 the Gazette-Journal Company ereeted a building on the southwest corner of Lincoln Avenue and Second Street which the following spring was oceupied by their newspaper and job printing plant. In 1886 the publishing company built an additional building joining the first on the west and which gave them a frontage of sixty-six feet on Second Street. The entire building was oeeupied by the Gazette-Journal plant. During the same year Oswald Oliver ereeted the building which bears his name and which adjoins the building erected by the Gazette-Journal on the west.
The building operations narrated indieates something of the strides taken by Hastings in the period between 1879 and 1887. In this period the whole aspect of the business section was changed. The western town with its frame business buildings was transformed into a eity of briek blocks. C. C. Rittenhouse was the arehiteet that prepared the plans and specifications for a great number of these buildings, while D. M. MeElhinney and Sven Johnson under the firm name of Me Elhinney & Johnson were the contractors that ereeted the majority of the business buildings.
It is interesting to note that when the eity was built in briek it was from briek manufactured in Hastings, and thus the foundation was laid for the extensive brick industry which yet characterizes the town. The contractors McElhinney & Johnson were incorporated as brick manufacturers July 28, 1880. Their briek yard was located on ten acres, which they owned in the southwest portion of the city immedi- ately west of the present residence of Mr. Johnson, 623 South Bur- lington Avenue. The same firm established briekyards in Holdrege and St. Francis, Kansas. Their payroll reached a total of $1.000 per week for labor, and their output of red briek reached 2,000,000 a year.
The years 1885 and 1886 were the great building years of that period. During 1886 over 300 residences were ereeted. Among the notable dwellings erected that year were those of James B. Heartwell, E. S. Fowler, W. HI. Lanning, C. K. Lawson, George W. Kirby, and II. M. Oliver. The house erected by James B. Heartwell was an extraordinarily emphatie mark of belief in the city's future. Its dimensions are 40 by 70 feet, and the interior of the principal apart- ments are finished in bird's-eye maple, red oak, cherry and other elegant woods in natural color. The house is upon the most elevated site in the eity limits. This residenee was ereeted at a cost of about $30,000. It is now the property of Clarenee J. Miles.
Among the principal residenees erected in 1885 were those of Eugene Alexander, James Laird, E. C. Webster, A. L. Clarke and
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Alexander Pickens. The residence of James Laird was located at 1235 West Second Street. It is now the property and residence of Emil Polenske. The Gazette-Journal estimated that the total expen- diture for new residences in Hastings in 1886 was $395,875, while business buildings the same year had been built at a cost of $148,500. The same paper estimated that all the building operations and general improvements made by the railroads, etc., reached a total for 1886 of $857,375. While these figures are perhaps high, still it is the opinion of business men who were residents of Hastings at the time that they are not far off.
EARLY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS
The building operations narrated connotes a corresponding busi- ness activity of the city. A summary of Hastings in 1886 shows in addition to the brick factory of MeElhinney & Johnson a similar enterprise conducted by John and Henry Puls, who during the year manufactured about 500,000 brick. Near the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Second Street stood the extensive foundry and Header works of M. K. Lewis & Sons. This firm was incorporated July 10, 1885, and was composed of Frank S. Lewis and Edgar L. Lewis. In addition to headers the firm manufactured well boring and drilling tools and horsepowers. The header known as the "Lewis ILeader" was patented by M. K. Lewis and was one of the important harvesting machines of its type for many years. The firm employed about twenty men. Cigar manufacturing was already on a substantial basis. There were at this time four factories with thirty-two employes. Those engaged in this industry were Snyder & Brewer, Berry & Sons, C. A. Dunn and MeTaggart & McKeehan. The firm of Snyder & Brewer was comprised of S. S. Snyder and Harry Brewer. Their output was from 20,000 to 25,000 cigars per month, while the output of Berry & Sons was about the same. The newspapers of the period placed the output of all the factories to be 2,500,000 cigars per year. An industry that seemed to promise at the time was the manufacture of the HIot Air and Hot Water Heating Furnace. This was the product of the Hastings Manufacturing Company. M. K. Lewis was the president of this company; C. K. Lawson. vice president : L. B. Palmer, secretary, and William Kerr, treasurer. The Hastings Cornice Works, of which Mr. Louis Fricke was the proprietor, en- ployed ten men in the manufacture of cornice. There were two sash and door manufacturers that did an extensive business. These were B. Button and F. L. Pade. Mr. Pade's planing mill was for years
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the most important plant of its kind in a large territory surrounding Hastings. He continued to work in wood in the city until his death in 1914. There were in operation at the time two firms that manufactured buggies and wagons. Anstrom & Anderson conducted one of these plants, and the other was a joint stock company who were the proprie- tors of the Novelty Carriage Works. In all lines of manufacture including printing and book binding about 450 men were employed in the city.
The general dry goods trade was represented by Fyler & Wing, Charles Cameron, Pickens & Hanna, Wolbach Brothers, A. J. Unna & Company and George E. Brown. Exclusive clothing stores were operated by Barnes Bros., the New York & Boston Clothing Company and Stone & Son. Clothing was also carried by Wolbach Bros. There were fifteen retail grocery stores in 1886, and a statement made by them placed the retail grocery trade of the year at $321,000. A sim- ilar statement made by proprietors of thirty different lines in the retail trade placed the entire retail trade of Hastings for 1886 at $2,673,885.
Hastings has had a telephone system since 1881. On January 17th of that year the Hastings Telephone Exchange was incorporated. The men forming the corporation were Lyman H. Tower, Allison B. Ideson, Abraham Yeazel, John J. Wemple and John M. Ragan. This system had about forty subscribers. In 1886 the local company sold the exchange to the Bell telephone interests operating in Nebraska as the Nebraska Telephone Company. By this sale to the larger com- pany Hastings acquired trunk connections, and in a short time several hundred telephones were installed. On September 1, 1916, there were 2.952 subscribers on the Hastings exchange, while in the county the number of subscribers of the Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Com- pany totaled 4,170.
April 15, 1886, the citizens of Hastings voted bonds in the sum of $85,000 for the erection of a waterworks system, and on September 6th of the same year, the Aurora branch of the Burlington was com- pleted to Hastings. At this period the railroad anticipations of Hastings were almost unlimited. The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley as was the early designation of the Chicago & Northwestern operating in Nebraska, was expected to reach Hastings not later than 1887, and it was hoped that it would extend its line westward to Denver. It was about a certainty that the Missouri Pacific would extend its line from Superior to Hastings. The Chicago & Rock Island in 1886 extended its line from St. Joseph, Mo., to Nelson, and its articles of incorporation stated the purpose of the road to be
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to build through Adams County. That the line would reach Hastings was generally believed by the citizens. Not less certain was the belief that the Kansas City & Northwestern would build into Hastings. Charles H. Dietrich and A. D. Yocum were members of the board of directors of the latter road. It was the expectation of great rail- roads that would open new fields for commerce coupled with the great building activities that had prevailed since 1881 that brought on the boom that reached its height between February and June, 1887. City lots advanced steadily from 1882, and there was produced an eagerness on the part of investors. The abstractors Cramer, Rohrer & Robinson compiled the record of city transfers made between March 1, 1886, and February 22, 1887, and found the aggregate to be $1,565,616.
BOOM OF 1887
The business men's organization which had been organized Decem- ber 9, 1879, was supplanted by the Hastings Board of Trade, which was organized March 8, 1887, with 153 members. The 1879 organi- zation was called the Business Men's Association. A. D. Yocum was president : D. H. Ballard, vice president : A. B. Ideson, secretary, and C. K. Lawson, treasurer. G. F. Work, J. M. Abbott, A. L. Wigton, Samuel Alexander and W. A. Camp comprised the executive com- mittee. Of the new organization, Charles H. Dietrich was president; A. L. Clarke, vice president; A. D. Yocum, secretary; D. M. McEl- hinney, treasurer, and J. A. Casto, attorney. The committees estab- lished indicate the scope in prospect at this time. Besides the standing committee there was a railroad committee, a committee on commerce and manufacturing and a committee on advertising.
Attending the honest effort of many to build a substantial town, there came in a large number of real estate boomers and buying and selling became a craze. The spirit of the time is well embodied in a motion made by Councilman Charles Cameron in March, which pro- vided that "the city attorney be instructed to prepare an ordinance to extend the city limits as far as the law will allow us." At a meeting of the council held within the same month an area embracing 1,120 acres was annexed to the city. During the few months of the boom between 1,500 and 1,600 acres were added to the municipal area of Hastings. Among the additions made in rapid succession at that time on the north side of the city were Campbell's Addition, Lowman's North Side, Cottage Home, Volland's Second, Dawes & Foss and Pleasant Hill; on the east side there were Shockey's Ash Grove, Miles' Pleasant Hill, East Lawn, Pleasant View, Pleasant View Second,
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East Park, Bostwick's Second, Berlin, Spencer Bros. Park, South Park; on the south side were Woods & McCloud's, J. W. Davis', H. C. Dean's, Paul's, South Side, Heller's, A. H. Cramer's, Vieth's Park, Hampshire's South Side, Hastings Syndicate's First, Neill's, Kerr & Palmer's; on the west side were Catalpa Grove, West Side Improvement Company's First, Pollards and Pleasant Home. Be- sides these additions several others were platted, while considerable of the annexed area failed to be platted before the bottom fell out of the boom. The postoffice at that time was located near the corner of Hastings Avenue and First Street, and the nearest point of the Ca- talpa Grove Addition was two miles from the postoffice, while the most distant point of the addition was two and one-half miles.
An interesting development of the boom days was the construction of two street railway systems in Hastings. As early as December, 1885, the Hastings Street Railway Company was formed, Morris I .. Alexander and C. L. Alexander being the incorporators. This com- pany asked the council for a franchise, and although the council con- sented to call a special election the matter was dropped without any additional developments. In December, 1886, the Hastings Improve- ment Company was incorporated by James B. Heartwell, James Laird, J. J. Wemple. E. C. Webster. C. P. Webster, Harrison Bost- wiek, Charles P. Heartwell, Angus MeDonald and L. M. Campbell. At a special election held February 10, 1887, the Hastings Improve- ment Company were granted a franchise, not exclusive, to construct and operate a street railway. The vote at the election resulted in 656 votes being cast for the franchise and 207 against. Before the Hast- ings Improvement Company had more than begun the construction of their lines, the Citizens' Street Railway Company was formed by the Alexander brothers and others, and at special election held June 17, 1887, they, too, were granted a franchise, the vote this time resulting in 1,100 ballots being east for the franchise and 143 against. The Hastings Improvement Company constructed in all about sixteen miles of street railway and operated ten horse cars furnishing a twenty- minute service on some lines and a thirty-minute service on others. The Citizens' Company constructed between four and five miles of line.
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