Humboldt, Nebraska

Later, when the homestead law was put into effect, a number of liohemians came to Xeliniska. I'"irst among them was b'rank Skaiak. who was also tlie first to take a homestead on the prairie. Skalal< left Bohemia in iS(>5, coming- West by way of Chicago, where there was a flourishing Bohemian settement. At St. Joseph, Missouri, Frank Skalak with his farnily took a Ijoat for Arago, where they accidentally became acquainted with Zulek. On that day Zulek had come to Arago to secure, if possiljle, a loan to pa\- off an obligation he was owing a party in Missouri. Being a countryman he immediately secured the loan from Skalak, although they had never met before. Thereupon, Skalak with his family returned with Zulek to locate in this section of the country. Wenzel Skalak, then a boy, now one of the prominent Ijusiness men of Humboldt, declares that the loan then made was a most fortunate one indeed, as it was the means of causing- them to locate here. However, he does not advise so hazardous a method of curbstone banking as that was.

Passage source: History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917.

In recounting- those early clays he related that he hired out to Zulek for the munificent sum of forty dollars per year, Ijreaking sod barefooted in grass, waist high, using a twenty- four-inch plow and driving from four to six yoke of oxen. He had to walk to Arago or \eliraska Cit)- to have his plow sharpened. Their provisions were also secured at those places. In 1867 Ruel Nims & Company opened the first store in Humboldt, occupying the old stone store facing the old bed of the Long Branch, a short distance south of the present business section of Humboldt. Young Wenzel at once secured a position as a clerk with this firm, receiving five dollars per month salary. Being an efficient clerk his salary was soon increased to ten dollars per month, the following year. He afterwards was in the employment of various firms in the city until he engaged in business for himself, n(3w owning- the large hardware and implement business on the west side of the public square in the city. John Wohoun, another pioneer, setlleil on the prairie with the Skalaks and in\ited their friends (Bohemians) and soon had a nucleus, from which grew one of the largest settlements of foreigners in the county. Those who secured homesteads at this time were : Anton Eis, M. Nemechek, Ferdinand I'idermutz, John Petrashek. \'acia\ Prachal, Vaclav Holechek, Jan Janata, Ferd Blecha, Fr. Xemecliek, Jos. Musil, Jno. Cizner, and X'aclav Hlavaty. All of these men who braved tlie hardships of the early pioneer are n(jw dead, save one, b'rank Xeniechek, Sr.. who still resides on the place he chose when coming to the state. The Bohemian settlement at Hunijjoldt is without doubt the oldest of that peoi)Ie in the state. One of the chief factors in holding the settlement together was the organization of a fraternal society known as the C. S. V. S. (Bohemian

Passage source: History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917.

Inasmuch as the chief industry of the Bohemian in his native land was that of agriculture, so it has been here, and they are today numbered among the most industrious and successful of the farming community here. Vet all along the Bohemian has been well represented in the business circles of Humboldt. All are prosperous and well-to-do and more than ordinarily successful in the various occupations in which they may he found engaged. All along they have taken a keen interest in the upbuilding of the community to which they gave a large impetus for settlement. Although at first, many of the customs and traditions of the old world were adhered tn, yet they have now been discarded and even the most typical Bohemian immigrant has been transformed into a patriotic, peaceful, contented American. Although they still cling to their mother tongue, even that is giving wa\ to the language of the new world. It will be, too, only a matter of time when even this pioneer settlement will lose its Bohemian characteristics altogether and become thoroughly Americanized. Only the old Bohemian cemetery in the west end of the county will bear testimony to the fact that here the Bohemian settler had once found that haven which he sought and in return gave birth to a newer, happier posterity.

Passage source: History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Humboldt City - it names this place 1 more 1 time.