“When we see a spire from the road, that sight ought to make our hearts beat like the heart of a lover at the sight of the roof under which his lover dwells. We ought to be unable to take our eyes off it.”
I'm not sure if I have many local readers or not, but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be leading a class, sponsored by Northeast Community College, in about a month that will examine the rural churches of Cuming County. All the pertinent information is below. Hopefully I'll see some of you there!
The Rural Churches of Cuming County: An Historical & Architectural Tour
Delve into the unique and fascinating architecture and history of Cuming County's six rural churches. Associated cultural and religious connections will also be explored. Meets Saturday, April 17, 1-5 p.m., West Point, Cuming County Fairgrounds, St. Matthew's Church. Transportation not provided. Preregistration required. Cost: $15.10. (HORC0616-30)
Churches on the tour include: St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Cuming County Fairgrounds, West Point St. Anthony Catholic Church, St. Charles St. Boniface Catholic Church, Monterey St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Aloys Zion St. John Lutheran Church, Rural Wisner Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rural Beemer Zion Lutheran Church, Rural Bancroft
To register for this class, call Northeast Community College at (402) 372-2269
I must apologize for the major lack of posts lately. Along with the Independence Day holiday, I've been rather preoccupied with a project: salvaging the pressed tin ceiling from the old Aloys Store in Aloys, NE, which was torn down on July 8. The Aloys Store was a very interesting place with a fair amount of known history, so I thought it would be worthy of its own post here.
It's believed that the wood frame portion of the Aloys Store was constructed in about 1898. The brick addition was completed in 1924.
The portion to the far left housed a residence for the proprietors. The middle was a grocery and general store; the brick addition to the far right was a bar. This photo was taken when the store closed in 1996.
The interior of the bar portion of the Aloys Store before I removed the ceiling. The elements had taken a pretty good toll on the building, especially since it closed 13 years ago.
The design of the bar ceiling. It was rather difficult to successfully remove this ceiling without bending it beyond repair. A HUGE "thank you" to Bob from The Czech Cottage in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for his advice on this project! He was even kind enough to send me a few of the tools he used when he removed and restored a similar ceiling. Read his fascinating story here.
The interior of the bar after removal of the ceiling. Most other interior items were removed by this time as well.
A view of the bar area (after ceiling removal) facing the front door. The bar was located across the road from St. Aloysius Catholic Church and school. Locals tell about the men of the parish who would attend "Benediction" here while their wives and children taught and attended religious instruction!
The grocery / general store portion of the building prior to the removal of the tin ceiling.
The design of the ceiling in the grocery / general store area.
After the removal of the ceiling. The roof had leaked considerably more in this portion of the building, making the work of salvaging the ceiling much less pleasant and much more difficult. The locals told me the store had suffered a fire at some point, though they didn't know when or where. After removing the tin panels from the walls of this part of the store, the wainscot underneath was charred black. Part of the mystery solved. This fire was likely the reason why the ornate tin ceiling and wall panels were added in the first place.
Towards the front door of the grocery / general store area. I'm told that the post office was originally housed in the corner to the right, where the restroom is located.
In many ways, the Aloys Store was a precursor to the modern truck stop. It had, of course, a bar and general store; a full service gas station, truck scale, and dock for loading cattle.
There was even a combination water tower and bathhouse behind the store.
While it's difficult and perhaps even unfortunate to see these local landmarks disappear, what does one do with a building that is already thoroughly ravaged by time and the weather? I suppose the best we can do is save what we can, document, photograph, and keep telling our stories.
Well, it's more about the clocks than the bells... I was recently asked to provide some information about the clocks and bells of St. Mary in West Point and St. Boniface in Monterey for a piece in the Fremont Tribune. The article covers the history and workings of the clocks pretty well. Read the full article here. This quick research project has peaked my interest in the builder of these clocks: Hoffmann & Pollhans of St. Louis, MO. Information is scant on this clockmaker who produced clocks for churches and civic buildings throughout the Midwest. If things ever slow down, I'll have to delve into the history of this company a little more.
Being installed in 1929 and 1930, the clocks at Monterey and West Point may have been some of the last fully mechanical clock installations of the company, as electric clockworks were beginning to come in vogue at that time.
Some historical snippets from the December 24 edition of the West Point News:
December 18, 1908
W.T.S. Neligh, whose father John was one of the founders of the Queen City of the Elkhorn, imbibed his father's spirit of enterprise and is preparing a skating rink in the lake bed in Sherman park. In order to meet the expense merely of running it, he is offering season tickets at a dollar for the whole family. He contemplates constructing a tobogan slide on the ball park.
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We are much pleased to note the prosperity of the West Point Butter & Creamery, the only institution of its kind in the country, established only a little over a year ago. The company has placed a large order for new cream cans to meet the enlarged capacity which will be double that of last year.
I was in Hastings this past weekend for a wedding, so I allowed myself a little extra time to do some exploring. With a little preliminary research, I was able to locate the address of the former Hastings Brewing Co. building. Much to my surprise and delight, it's largely intact!
Hastings had a brewery as early as 1878 and the Hastings Brewing Co. came to be in 1908. The brewery building itself was constructed in 1906. An Italianate style architectural influence can be seen in the arched windows and decorative brickwork.
After prohibition forced the brewery to close in 1917, the Kauf and Rinderspacker meat packing company used the building. The economic woes of the Depression caused Kauf and Rinderspacker to go out of business, leaving the former brewery building to be converted into the Hastings Cold Storage Company. I'm unsure of when the Cold Storage Company closed.
According to a 1999 study commissioned by the Nebraska State Historical Society, the brewery building is historically significant and eligible to be placed on the National Historic Register. I'm not sure that much has come of this designation, however.
Another rare aspect of the Hastings Brewing Co. plant is that the original brewery office building is still intact as well.
The brewery office in relation to the actual brewery.
A look down the alley behind the brewery reveals an abandoned rail line. Perhaps this was used for the shipping and receiving of ingredients, spent grains, and possibly even the beer itself in short distances.
Overall, what an exciting find! I only hope that the locals will take the historical designation of this building seriously and begin a movement to have the brewery and its office building preserved. For a historical photo of the brewery, click here and let the photo slideshow cycle through - there is a picture of the brewery in there!
I recently had the chance to attended the annual Camp Creek Threshing Show near Waverly on July 19. It was hotter than blazes, but it was a great time! This was the first time I'd been to this particular show, and the thing I was most impressed by was the wide variety of demonstrations as well as the fact that the organization maintains a permanent exhibition grounds with several restored buildings. The demonstrations included threshing, corn shelling, baling, a steam shovel, vintage combines, and many more that I didn't get a chance to see.
I was very fascinated by the combines - both the self-propelled and pull-type. Tractor restorations are pretty common, but it's rare to see fully restored combines. I can't imagine the labor and the parts hunting that had to have gone into a project like this. I'm glad that people are starting to preserve this area of farm equipment as well.
I would highly suggest attending this show next year, as they will be featuring the large steam and prairie tractors. The Camp Creek Threshers must be commended for organizing an excellent show and for their hard work and dedication in preserving our rural heritage.
My hometown of Exeter, Nebraska will no doubt be the subject of numerous posts here at The Steeplechase. I became fascinated by Exeter's history at a very young age. I have very destinct memories of pouring over the thick, green cover Exeter history book from 1976 that my parents had. I was going through some family photos this afternoon and ran across these two the caught my attention. What an image! Two wagon loads of corn are visible and pens are set up in the middle of the dirt street for livestock. There's no identification on the back of the photo, but perhaps an auction is taking place? Or a market or show of some type? If you have any suggestions, let me know! In any case, whatever was going on attracted a pretty good-sized group of people. You're looking at downtown Exeter facing west. The building on the upper left is Smith's Tag Factory (they produced organizational items, mainly for banks), the lower left is where the Public Library and Storybook Park now reside. The building on the upper right is currently part of Greg's Grocery Store (it was a bank at the time when this photo was taken), and the building at the lower right is now part of Murphy's Plumbing. Another photo give a nice close-up of the livestock pens and gathered crowd, but still gives no hint as to what the event is.
I've recently begun the massive project of researching Nebraska's former breweries. I came across this dandy of a book, which lists every brewery that existed in the United States up to 1995. I now finally have a comprehensive list of Nebraska's breweries and the names under which they operated. Fremont had brewery as early as 1874 and the Fremont Brewing Co. came to be in 1891.
As one can see from these historic photos, the Fremont Brewing Co. was a massive operation. According to the book 100 Years of Brewing, this brewery produced 30,000 barrels of beer in 1902. A barrel is a measurement of 31 gallons, so nearly a million gallons of beer were produced here on a yearly basis. This is more beer than all the breweries in Nebraska combined presently make.
900 East Factory St. was the address listed for the Fremont Beverage Co. in the 1918 Fremont City Directory. (Note the company's name change from "Brewing" to "Beverage" to reflect the new law of prohibition.)
900 E. Factory is an empty lot, however, this is the building that resides at 700 E. Factory. Obviously, the former brewery was a huge complex... could this building have been a part of it? The place is for sale and I've contacted the realtor, who is in the process of putting me in touch with someone who knows more about the history of the building. Until then, I will anxiously await a response!
This building is also close by. Could it have had a place with the former brewery too?
I always enjoy reading the historical snippets that appear weekly in the West Point News. There was one entry from July 10, 1908 that particularly caught my imagination:
Anton Psota, ingenious man, skillfully constructed a water wheel, adjusted it properly in the current of the stream and connected the turning wheel with a musical instrument on the bank which played "Marching Through Georgia" for the Fourth
I have no idea what sort of "musical instrument" this must have been but in any case, here's a clip from YouTube of the song it played:
I'm not sure if I have many local readers or not, but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be leading a class, sponsored by Northeast Community College, in about a month that will examine the rural churches of Cuming County. All the pertinent information is below. Hopefully I'll see some of you there!
