Our July Road Trip in Nebraska – Final Post!

Finally…the end of our road trip from this past July… We explored a lot of beautiful country with few people and lots of little villages and towns, some hanging on by a thread.  The people of Western Nebraska were all friendly and helpful…and obviously resilient and resourceful as well.

Continuing in a southeasterly direction down NE Hwy 2, (the route of the old Potash Road), we came to the small town of Ansley.  The Flatwater Bank replaced the First National Bank which replaced the Security State Bank.  The Italian Renaissance style building was constructed in 1909 and was renovated in 2011.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ansley was founded in 1886 after the arrival of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad.  The town was named after a lady who had purchased several lots in the new town.  Within a short time, there were several houses, 2 hotels, a drug store, a general store and 2 banks.  FYI, Ansley was the first Nebraska town west of Grand Island to own a power plant and water system.  The current Municipal Light and Power System was built in 1911 and it is still capable of providing service to the town in an emergency situation.  Ansley has a population of 425, down from 817 in 1930.

I ran across this little story about Ansley and loved how casually descriptive it is… “While staying in Ansley this time, (ca. 1886), I boarded at the West End Hotel, a fine structure built of “B” select, with kitchen, dining room, office, parlor, bathroom and bedroom combined.  Everybody was good natured and the landlord expected his guests to ‘double up’ every night with whoever he saw fit to assign us…and at the first peep o’ day the clerk would come and shake us, saying, ‘Time to roll off them tables; the girls want to set the tables for breakfast, ‘with which request we cheerfully complied, pulling on our shoes as quickly as possible, going out of doors and leaning up against the knot-holes until the bell rang for breakfast, when we sat up to the table.”

Somewhere in my original research into our route and what to look for along the way, I’d noted that while in Ansley I should be on the lookout for a home that at one point had been a railway depot.  Given the roof line with the usual corbels and the stationmasters ‘kick out’ on one side of the home, I believe that this is what my source was referring to…

Our next stop was in Mason City.  It too was founded in 1886 as the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad came to town.  I’d noted that the 2002 Nebraska Historic Building Survey had included this former service station along the state’s historic highway 2, as being worthy of listing on the National Register.  Obviously, that never happened…  In the 1920s, Mason City’s businesses and services included 2 banks, a hospital, a flour mill and a cement plant..

I found the first old photo of Mason City, entitled “Shady side of the street” on-line.  It was taken in 1942 by a professional photographer named John Vachon. (1914 – 1972) What a difference 79 years makes…something I truly understand!

The second photo was taken by Laurie as we drove down the main thoroughfare in Mason City.  These days the town’s population is around 170 but back in 1930, residents totaled 487.  Mason City was named after a Nebraska Supreme Court Judge.

The next town…or in this case a city…that we came to was Grand Island Nebraska.   With an estimated population of about 51,300 residents in the city and a metropolitan area with over 84,000 people, Grand Island is the 4^th largest city in the state.  It’s also the County Seat for Hall County.

In 1857, 35 German settlers from Davenport Iowa arrived in the area with plans to build a settlement on an island known to French traders as La Grande Isle, which was formed by the Wood River and the Platte River.  They built houses using local lumber and set up farms.  When the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush began in 1858, Grand Island was the last place travelers could buy supplies before crossing the plains.

Then along came the Union Pacific Railroad and they laid out a new town nearby called Grand Island Station.  Many settlers living on Grand Island itself moved to the new town which was slightly inland from the actual island…but the original name stuck…

The 1915 Union Pacific Railroad Depot, which, in the 1930s received as many as 28 passenger trains each day was torn down some time ago.  However the old Burlington Railway’s depot remains in place adjacent to but separated from the BNSF line to Billings Montana.  This depot was built in 1911, it is listed on the National Register and it’s located at 603 North Plum Street. 

The Burlington Railroad’s entry into Grand Island broke the Union Pacific’s monopoly on local and regional rail transportation.  The last passenger train to stop at this depot was back in 1970.  Today, the passenger depot serves as an event center that can be rented and the former baggage and express freight depot is appropriately being utilized by the Tri-City Model Railroad Club.  See: Tri-City Model Railroad Association - Home | Facebook.

I found this old photo of Grand Island from 1867 on the Internet.  It was taken one year before the railroad reached the town and the town underwent a major growth spurt.

Grand Island was our last planned stop on our return trip to our son and his family’s home in Omaha.  I wanted to spot at least one other historic structure or place and I decided that the rather eye-catching Evangelische Lutherische Dreienigkeit Kirche…aka the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church Complex would be a good choice.

The complex includes a wood frame school, a parish house and this very large and historic church building.  This Romanesque Revival structure was completed in 1896 by two German immigrants.  The congregation served pioneers from Germany.  As of 1998, this church located at 504 East 2^nd Street, was renamed as the Cristo Cordero De Dios Iglesia Evangelica LCMS…from German to Spanish!  We love to see historic structures that are not only maintained but also used for their original purpose.

Note: both Dick Cavett and Henry Fonda were from Grand Island Nebraska.

This mural in Central City Nebraska is quite fitting as well as colorful…although it needs to have a few bricks replaced and the painting touched up.  The first pioneers passing through the area passed by a huge cottonwood tree that they used as a landmark.  They called it Lone Tree.  In 1866, the Union Pacific Railroad established the town of Lone Tree as they passed through the area.

In 1875 a petition was presented to the county requesting a name change for the town.  The feeling was that “Lone Tree” gave the impression that the area was desolate and the residents were poor and uncivilized.  The petitioners won the day vs the traditionalists and the name was changed to Central City.

Central City is about 22 miles northeast of Grand Island on US Hwy 30, which is also known as the Lincoln Highway.  With a population of about 2,900 residents, Central City is the county seat for Merrick County.  Back in 1890, with only 1,368 citizens, the town was described as a boom town.  It was serviced by 2 different railroads, had 3 banks, a hardware store, roller mill, 2 newspapers, 3 lumberyards, a cracker factory, an all brick school, 9 churches and a college.

For the remainder of our road trip and our return to our son’s family home in Omaha, we drove most of the way along the Lincoln Highway.  This historic highway basically follows the course of the Platte River for much of the route through Nebraska.  I just liked the image of the grain elevator down the road…but I have no idea where Laurie took the photo. 

The Lincoln Highway is one of the earliest transcontinental highway routes across the USA.  It runs from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.  This highway was America’s first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln…predating the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. by 9 years.  The Lincoln Highway brought great prosperity to hundreds of cities, towns and villages across the country.  It became known as “The Main Street Across America”. 

Upon our return to our family in Omaha, I found that they’d decided to celebrate my birthday…as the official date was drawing near.  I can assure you that anyone who tells you that age is just a number is either delusional or they’re still young!  In any case, David II, Amy, David III and Emmett Lee served up a nice banana cream pie for the occasion…one of my favorite pies and a tradition for many years.

This was just an overnight stay…and then Laurie and I were off to St. Louis Missouri to visit her family for a few days.  Of course, that means that there will be posts related to that visit in upcoming editions of my blog site.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave