USA > Nebraska > York County > York County, Nebraska and its people : together with a condensed history of the state, Vol. I > Part 52
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THIE TEMPERANCE STRUGGLE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF YORK
In the spring of 1876 an application was filed with the city board for a license to open a saloon in the City of York to sell malt, spirituous and vinous liquors. At that time the city board consisted of five members, H. C. Kleinschmidt, J. A. MeKillip, J. A. Eatherly, F. J. Greer, and C. LeCount, who was chairman. Three of the board, Kleinschmidt, LeCount and Greer, were for temperance, and two, MeKillip and Eatherly, were for saloons. The board was to meet in the evening of the day the petition was filed. That day a son of Mr. Greer's, who was attend- ing school taught by Miss Etta Beecher (afterwards Mrs. Dr. Wmn. Knapp), com- mitted a misdemeanor that anyone thought he ought to be nearly killed for, and his teacher gave him a severe whipping. IFis father, as foolish parents sometimes do, took the boy's part and wanted Mr. Kleinschmidt, who was also a member of the school board, to use his influenee to prevent Miss Beecher getting the school for another term. Mr. Kleinschmidt said she was an excellent teacher and had already promised her his support for another term. Mr. Greer flew mad and said he would vote to grant saloon license. The temperance folks hardly knew what to do; the time was to short to get up a remonstrance, but they thought about Mr. Greer practicing medicine. A short time before he had been in the country to visit a sick woman whose husband they saw in town, and they made arrangements with him to give Mr. Greer an urgent call to come and see his wife, who lived a good way out, and paid him the usual fee the doctor would charge. The man who got Dr. Greer to go and see his wife at once went on ahead and had his wife get in bed and she was apparently very sick when the doctor got there. The council adjourned their meeting till the next night and then the temperance folks were on hand with their remonstrance with George B. France as their altorney ; Edward Bates was attorney for the whiskey element. Charles LeCount was chairman
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and Mr. Greer promptly made a motion that the license be granted to the applicant and the motion was seconded. Counsel for the remonstrators objected to the motion and called attention of chairman LeCount that the motion was out of order, and requested that the motion be not put or acted on, and the chairman sustained the objection and refused to put the motion. The meeting continued in session with more or less wrangling till seven o'clock the next morning, when the ladies brought in an excellent breakfast. Mr. Kleinschmidt and Mr. MeKillip agreed to pair off and go home to breakfast neither to return without the other : but Mr. Kleinschmidt was a little suspicions and had his little boy waich and tell him if he saw Mr. MeKillip going to the court house; he had no more than got down to the table when the little boy called out, "There goes McKillip, father, on the run to the court house," and up jumped Kleinschmidt and raced to the court house just in time to head him off, so they all ate the nice breakfast furnished by the temperance ladies.
George B. France and John A. Eatherly, a member of the eity board, were well acquainted, having resided in the village of Milford, Seward County, Neb., together for five or six years. While there they spent much time and money attending the singing schools of the early days held during the lonely hours of the winter. When the term closed the teacher always gave a concert, and it was understood that the teacher could call on any two to sing any one of the pieces which were learned and sung during the winter. Eatherly and France at one of these concerts were ealled on to sing and they immediately arose and endeavored to sing the music arranged by the teacher, but made a complete failure.
Mr. Eatherly during this night session of the eity board commenced saying rather abusive things about the attorney for the remonstrators, George B. France, and he was headed off in his effort to create a disturbance by Mr. France saying. "John, let us sing." This remark caused good feeling again, and Eatherly proceeded to tell of the incident of the singing school, ending with the remark, "George, what do you want?" France replied, "Adjourn the meeting for two weeks and set the application and remonstrance down for trial as provided by law." This was finally done. The following day Mr. France and F. A. Bidwell drove to Central City and obtained from George W. Post, then judge of the District Court, an injunction restraining the city board from granting a license to the applicant, when the board next met the injunction was served.
The member of the board who changed his views was a druggist and six viola- tions of the liquor law were obtained against him wherein he had illegally sold intoxieating liquors, and he was informed that if he ever voted to grant a license to the applicant he would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. One of those in favor of a saloon met the Rev. C. S. Harrison, who was fighting strong for temperance, and told him that unless a saloon was forthcoming in York they intended burning the houses of the temperance people one by one until such a license was granted. Ile was informed at once by Mr. Harrison that for every building of a temperance advocate destroyed there would be a building of a saloon advocate destroyed. The man then threatened to flog Mr. llarrison and immediately the coat of the Reverend was off, and the gentleman was cuffed till he was entirely satisfied.
The good people of York were not molested again by the whisky element till after the B. & M. Railroad was built to the city and the depot located worth of
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the city limits. A Mr. Woolley, who owned the land north of town, conceived the idea of laying out a town just north of York, leaving a strip of land between the two towns which was afterward called "The Dead Line." This was done, and the new town was called New York, the village board was organized and saloon licenses were granted ; the temperance people of York organized, raised a fund of $1,500 to aid in fighting the saloons of the new village, employed detectives, and had the saloon keepers up before the justice of the peace and District Court till life with them was a burden, and their business very unprofitable. While these conditions were going on the saloon men had it in especially for Mr. Creehnan, a leader in the antisaloon fight. Mr. Creelman worked, together with Mr. Heury Seymour, in Mr. Chessman's elevator on the railroad in New York. Mr. Creelman was sent to Eatherly's store in the old town for some repairs for the elevator. Two saloon men learned of his trip and decided to follow him and lay him out. They were talking their plans as they passed the elevator and Henry Seymour overheard them and as soon as he could leave the elevator followed them hastily, saw them go in the Eatherly story where Creelman was and rushed in after then. They had knocked Creelman down and were on top mauling him. Seymour grabbed a hickory pick-handle and began beating the saloon men. The hickory club came out first best ; the saloon men were glad to get away, and left town for fear of arrest. The saloons soon quit the unprofitable fight and there has never been a saloon near York. Since New York had no other excuse for being a separate town it soon united with and became a part of the city of York; the dead line was surveyed and platted and the fight ended.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY (DATA FURNISHED BY MISS AUGUSTA ITTNER)
Several unsuccessful attempts at founding a Library in York were made prior to the spring of 1885, when the ladies of the I. C. Society (now the Pi Beta Phi fraternity) decided to make the effort. The ladies of the society at that time were Mesdames I. N. Jerome, C. A. McCloud, F. B. Daggy, C. M. Boynton, R. V. Ilunter, W. A. Ilarrison; Misses Vinnie Harrison, Anna llarrison, Rilla and Flora Wyckoff, Mae Baldwin, Maud Chilcote, Nellie Woods, Minnie Freeman and Nell Hackney. The town was canvassed and the sum of one hundred dollars was obtained.
The officers chosen from the ladies of the city to assist the society were Mrs. F. O. Bell, president, Mrs. W. M. Knapp, secretary, and Mrs. C. M. Cowan, treas- urer.
The money donated was expended for books, and as there was not enough to pay rent for a room, the offer of Dr. Hatfield of a book case in his office to use as a city library was gladly accepted. The library was open Saturday after- noons and the first afternoon there were thirty books given out. Soon after this A. D. Wyckoff gave the library the use of a room in his building, rent free. This room was afterwards occupied by Mr. Meissner's cloak room. The library filled three cases of books while occupying this room, and when they outgrew this place they moved to a room on the west side of the square, over II. Behling's store, which they occupied until in 1894, when the city council appointed a com- mittee consisting of D. Y. Heislar, H. Reader and Geo. R. Reed to confer with the ladies of the library board as to organizing a free public library. The council for
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that year consisted of JJ. O. Steinbach, mayor ; councilmen, D. Y. Heislar, N. M. Ferguson, H. Reader, W. A. Miller, Geo. R. Reed, J. W. Wood, Jos. Collier and A. Bissell.
The council decided that the city needed a library and the library needed the support of the citizens, and thus the York free library was opened to the public in a room in the City Building in February, 1894. In January of that year the York public library was considerably rejuvenated by a donation of 800 volumes from the Pi Beta Phi Society, 200 volumes from the city schools and 147 volume- from the Y. M. C. A.
Three members were chosen from each organization to constitute a board of directors and were as follows: Mrs. C. A. McCloud, Mrs. W. A. Harrison, Mrs. Geo. E. Chilcote, Mrs. W. F. Reynolds, Miss Eunice Coy, E. A. Gilbert, II. R. Corbett, F. A. Hannis and C. J. Wightman.
Mrs. C. A. MeCloud has served continuously ever since. The following have been members of the board in the order named : Miss M. A. Hill, B. G. Moulton, J. E. Evans, Dr. D. E. Sedgwick, Mrs. Etta Harrison, Mrs. S. A. Myers, Miss Belle Reynolds, C. C. Cobb, Mrs. C. M. Cowan, Geo. M. Spurlock, J N. Kildow. Rev. Thomas A. Maxwell, W. L. Kirkpatrick, W. W. Stoner, W. W. Wyckoff, Geo. II. Holdeman, C. C. Boslaw, Miss Augusta Ittner, Mrs. L. P. Owen, Mrs. J. W. Little, Mrs. E. W. Williams, James B. Crable, and Dr. Geo. P. Shidler.
July 1. 1919. according to a law passed by the Legislature of 1919, the entire board retired and a new board of directors with tive members was elected by the city council. These members were Mrs. C. A. MeCloud, Mrs. W. H. Harrison, Mrs. E. W. Williams, Miss Augusta Ittner and Geo. M. Spurlock. The board is composed of the same members at the present time, with Mrs. C. A. McCloud, president, Geo. M. Spurlock, vice president, Miss Angusta Ittner, secretary.
The faithful librarians have been: Miss Grace Hurlbut, January, 1894, to February, 1904: Miss Estella Detrick, February, 1904, to April, 1913: Miss Lorena Wilson, April, 1913, to October, 1915: Miss Olive Allen, October. 1915, to Feb- ruary, 1918; Miss Ada Haggard, February, 1918, to date. In January, 1901, a bequest of $10,000 was received from Mrs. Lydia A. B. Woods for Library pur- poses, of which $8,000 was to be spent for site and building and $2,000 for books. With this money the present site was purchased and the building erected and opened for use November 4, 1902.
In 1914 the basement was remodeled and furnished for use at an expense of approximately $2,000.
Since then the auditorium and small room in the basement have been used constantly by various organizations for meetings and committees.
In 1920 the library has been redecorated, new lighting system installed, new shelving placed and floor covered with battleship linoleum. Outside, the walk has been lowered to grade and a new walk and steps put down, shrubbery set out and grass planted. These improvements have cost about two thousand three hundred dollars.
In the library on June 1, 1920, there were 10.412 books, and during the year ending on that date there had been 13,024 visitors to the library.
There has probably been no event in the history of York which caused more universal rejoicing than the news of the totally unexpected gift of Mrs. Woods. The following press tribute to this enterprise appropriately details its progress :
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2
PUBLIC LIBRARY, YORK
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY
The work of erecting the new Woods Library building was begun by secur- ing plans for the building. Of the plans submitted, those of Morrison II. Vail of Dixon and Chieago were decided upon as best for all purposes, particularly as offering promise of cheap administration. Mr. Vail is considered a library architect, having visited three hundred and seventy libraries before planning his first one, and the board felt it could not err in adopting the plans of such an expert.
The furniture and staeks for the building cost $800. The room in the south- west corner of the building, known as the librarian's room, was beautifully furnished by the City Improvement Society and the clubs of the city are permitted to hold their meetings there. The ladies of the board held a bazaar for the purpose of obtaining funds for the book stacks in which they were aided by the ladies of the city. The amount they realized in cash and from the sale of articles was $200. and the Fourth of July Committee gave the ladies a nice balance of $50. The council has granted the full levy allowed by law for the support of the library but it will take it all to pay cost of administration and the future of the library depends on the manner the citizens support the enterprise.
It was said at the opening of the library that this was a woman's enterprise inasmuch as it was started by women, sustained through its first doubtful years by women and at last by the generous thoughtfulness of a good woman was made possible the glorious future of- the library of York. But the readers are as many men as women; and in the juvenile department, that part of a library which makes its impress on the growth of a city, there were more boy readers than girls.
Let us hope then that the free use of this beautiful building, made possible to us by the gift of a woman, will inspire some one to liberally endow this good work and thus secure forever to the ('ity of York the need of good that Mrs. Woods had in mind when she gave us the bequest.
COMMISSION GOVERNMENT
York has stayed by the councilmanie form of city government and in December, 1912, frowned upon a proposed change to the commission form, whereupon one of the papers commented as follows upon this election :
"The commission form of government was so severely frowned on in York yes- terday that it will probably take it some time to hold up its head again, in this community at least. The vote cast, 199 for and 392 against, indicates that the measure suffered more from the neglect of its friends than from the persecutions of its enemies, for while a majority of 193 against is decisive enough for any prac- tical purpose, a total of 591 votes is about half the number which may be polled in the city, and indifferenee as to the outcome of the election is plainly written in the record. The petition went before the people with 301 signers and if these electors were really in favor of the measure it seems that a little hustling would have won the day. However, it may be that some of those who were in favor of sub- mission changed their minds before election day and that others never intended to support the measure, but merely wished to make possible its consideration. Anyway, York will have to wriggle along with a mayor and eight councilmen for a while longer and it is now up to somebody to start something else before life gets too dull in this vicinity.
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY
The vote by wards was as follows: First Ward: for 76: against 106.
Second Ward: for 44; against 111. Third Ward: for 51 ; against 72.
Fourth Yard: for 38; against 103."
BAD FIRES
History is a record of events, usually those somewhat out of the ordinary. Like current news, it will pass by many notable things somewhat usual in their nature, and pounce upon those more unusual. York is a city which has paid faithful attention to its fire department, as will be evidenced in these pages, and has had but few really destructive fires. But detailed accounts, as given in the local press at the time, will be included of some of these few fires.
First, in November, 1887:
The citizens of York were awakened from their slumbers at seven o'clock on Sunday morning by an alarm of fire. The blaze was discovered to be in the billiard hall next to the postoffice owned by Daniel Smick. When the hook and ladder company arrived on the scene and broke open the front doors of the bil- liard hall the whole interior of the room was found to be a seething mass of flame and entirely beyond the control of any available means at hand to extinguish il. The Lincoln department was at once telegraphed for but did not arrive until eleven o'clock when the Union and Masonie blocks were both in ashes and the fire under control. The Lincoln boys were under command of Chief Newbury and brought with them the steamer T. P. Quick. The water in the cisterns back of Grippen's and Chilcote's was utilized and a stream turned on the raging fire in the basements of the destroyed buildings and what remained of York's greatest conflagration was soon drowned ont of existence. The origin of the fire is and will probably remain a mystery. Doctor Farley reports that he was going home between four and half past four on Sunday morning and saw four or five men in the billiard hall with a light and were apparently seuffling about the room. The generally accepted theory is that these men either accidentally dropped a lamp or a lighted cigar or else fired the building purposely. The firemen all agree that the room burned when the doors were burst open as if the floor and walls were saturated with oil. Postmaster Whedon organized a gang of men and proceeded to remove every- thing from the postoffice and succeeded in getting every piece of mail matter and everything of valne ont of the building before the fire entered the room. Mr. Whedon deserves great credit for the presence of mind displayed in securing the contents of the office with so little damage. The large crowd fell to work with a will and removed the stocks of Carl Zimmerer, Baer Bros., Vail & Greene, Singer Manufacturing Co., Ewen & Butler, and Coles & Thomas. The goods were piled promisenously in the square and streets and a considerable amount was carried off. The occupants of the upper rooms removed such of their property as they could. The Masonic hall was broken open and nearly all the valuable carpets, furniture and paraphernalia saved, but the beautiful hall, which was the pride of the Masonic fraternity was doomed to destruction. The York Times office was directly over the billiard hall and was lost, everything being destroyed including sub- seription lists, files, books and accounts, not a serap of anything being saved.
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The firemen and citizens were as well organized as was possible under the circum- stances and fought the fire every inch. The Opera Block appeared to be sure to go with the Masonic hall but after one of the severest fights ever made by a body of men with nothing to work with, was saved. The county officers moved out all the records and all occupants of rooms on the second floor moved out their property. W. K. Williams, Reader Bros. & Co., Ira A. Smith, John S. Gardner and the Citi- zens State Bank also moved out everything into the street. The Democrat office on the west side of Lincoln Avenue and Bagnell Bros. were prepared for the worst and had moved ont nearly everything before the flames were under control. The property destroyed consisted of two of the finest business blocks in the city or in central Nebraska and comprised seven fine store rooms each 100 feet deep. The losses as compiled by the Democrat and received from the losers themselves amount to about $96,000 and is divided as follows :
LOSS ON BUILDINGS
C. J. Nobes, $13,000, insurance $6,000 ; damage on Opera House $500, fully insured.
MI. D. Einsel, Postoffice Block, $2,500; insurance $2,500.
Anton Zimmerer, Union Block, $10,000: insurance $5,000.
Hamlin Bros. Masonic Block, $15,000 insurance $8,000 and loss on furniture and fixtures $2,000; no insurance.
STOCKS AND FIXTURES
C'arl Zimmerer, general merchandise damage to goods and fixtures moved into the streets and partially burned, $6,000; insured.
W. K. Williams, clothing damaged by water and removal and goods missing, $1,500; insured.
Reader Bros. & Co., confectioners, damage to stock and fixtures $500: insured except $125 destroyed in postoffice room.
Ira A. Smith, jeweler. damaged, lost and stolen $300 ; no insurance.
M. C. Frank, postotlice news stand $700; insured.
Citizens State Bank, damage to fixtures by removal, $50; no insurance.
York Times, power press, engine, printing material of all kinds, large stock of paper goods, subscription list, accounts, $9,000; insurance $3,200.
W. M. Cowell, law office, $300; insured.
Masonie Temple, blue lodge, $1,500; chapter, $1,000; commandery, $500, making a total of $3,000 with a partial insurance.
Baer Bros., furniture and undertakers. loss and damage. $6,000; insurance, $3,000.
Coles & Thomas, groceries and queensware, loss and damage. $4,500; insurance, $3,500.
Jasper Huffman, real estate and insurance office, $25; no insurance.
Mrs. R. L. Snodgrass, dressmaker, lost all her furniture, together with models, sewing machine and fixtures of the shop, and nearly all her clothing, $400; no insurance.
Jolin S. Gardner. billiard hall, damage to tables and fixtures, $100; no insurance.
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY
Vail & Greene, boots and shoes, loss and damage, $3,000: fully insured.
Ewen & Butler, dry goods, loss and damage $2,000; fully insured.
F. L. Whedon, postmaster, loss and damage to postoffice property and fixtures, $1,200; insurance $1,000.
Singer Manufacturing Co., loss and damage on sewing machines and stock, $600; no insurance.
Joseph Keilbert, tailor, $25, no insurance.
Fritz Garternicht, room furniture, $25: no insurance.
Nebraska Telephone Co., damage to central office, poles and wires, $100: no insurance.
Daniel Smiek, billiard hall where the fire started, entire loss $3,000; no insur- ance.
Mrs. Sarah W. Clark, room furniture and clothing $100: no insurance.
R. W. Hacker, all his furniture and family clothing, $300: no insurance.
Sheriff's office, loss and damage to office fixtures, $50; no insurance.
County judge's office, $25; no insurance.
The calamity falls very heavy on some of the most publie spirited and enter- prising men of our city and as such is a loss which affects the entire community and becomes a public disaster. Some of the men who are now nearly ruined have done much to make York the. city it is today. This disastrous sequel to the water works agitation is something that the Democrat has held up to the view of the citizens and taxpayers of this city for the last three years. It will be remembered that the Democrat has fought and begged for some kind of fire protection for the past two or three years. If the water works had been in operation, one stream of water would have saved everything on the south side except the billiard hall and that building would not have burned down. The smoldering pile of brick and mortar stands as a monument to the shortsighted, rule or ruin policy of certain men who have been hitherto prominent in city affairs. The lesson which has been learned may last the people of this city a lifetime. The price which was paid on Sunday morning for this costly lesson was large enough to justify leaving an impression never to be forgotten.
Another very destructive fire epoch in York's proud business district was that of February 2 and 4, 1913, described as follows by the press of York :
By far the most disastrous fires which York has seen since the business houses on the south side of the square burned twenty-five years ago occurred Sunday and Tuesday mornings, February 2 and 4, 1913. On Sunday, after a hard fought battle the flames which threatened for a time to destroy all the buildings between Grant Avenue and the alley east, and from Sixth Street north to the city hall, were conquered, but the frame buildings occupied by the C. D. Shreck Co., and the Singer Sewing Machine Company were burned to the ground and the Chas. Baer Building which was the home of the Baer Furniture Company, was left an empty shell, blackened and charred inside, while the Chain Building was seriously damaged. People in the immediate vicinity of the fire are still wondering how they managed to escape and appreciate the fact that they owe their good fortune to the hardest kind of hard work on the part of the fire-fighters.
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