Clatonia Township

Clatonia Township

Tucked away in the northwest corner of the county is the substantial village of Clatonia, located on a creek of that name, in Clatonia township. The original townsite comprises a forty-acre tract, in sections 22 and 27. Henry Albert and J. PI. Steinmeyer, both highly esteemed pioneer residents of the county, were the proprietors of Clatonia, and having caused the townsite to be surveyed and platted in the spring of 1892, they filed the plat for record in the office of the register of deeds, December 3, 1893. Some additions have been made to Clatonia and the townsite now includes about eighty acres of land. It is a station on the main line of the Rock Island Railway from Chicago to Denver, via Omaha, Lincoln, and Jansen. It is about twenty miles northwest of Beatrice and about the same distance southwest of Lincoln. Prior to the construction of this line of railroad and the founding of Clatonia the farmers of this section were without immediate market facilities for the produce of their lands, and Clatonia township and other portions of the northwest corner of the county divided their trade with Cortland, DeWitt, Wilber, and Crete; but since the founding of the village, that scope of country has been given an excellent market.

Trains began operating on the railway line in May, 1903, and Clatonia quickly grew into a thriving country village. It was incorporated as a village about 1893, with one of its founders, J. H. Steinmeyer, as chairman of the village board, and J. I. Moore as clerk. At present the village board is composed of the following well known Clatonians : E. J. Chittenden, president; J. E. McCormick, clerk ; and C. A. Miller, J. H. Meyer, and H. Suders.

The first family to establish a residence in the village was that of Frank W. Jones, and Mr. Jones was also Clatonia's first postmaster. The first merchant in Clatonia was a Mr. Jacquith. The first child born in the village was Gladys Berkheimer. The first church was the German Methodist Episcopal, an organization which as early as 1871 had erected a church building on the tract of land which afterward became Clatonia. In 1903 the English-speaking Methodists organized a church and erected a house of worship.

About 1893 John H. and William Steinmeyer organized the Farmers' Bank of Clatonia, and about 1900 erected a substantial, brick, bank building, which it now occupies. Henry Albert is now president of this bank; J. H. Steinmeyer, vice-president; and E. J. Chittenden, cashier. Eater the Steinmeyers built a substantial village inn, and in 1894 J.

The school district of Clatonia was organized in 1894, at the house of Henry Albert. The district has a frame, two-story schoolhouse of three rooms, employs three teachers and has an enrollment of about sixty pupils. In addition to the usual eight grades it offers a two years' high-school course of study.

In addition to the various business and other interests here mentioned, Clatonia has two general stores, two hardware stores, a lumber yard, drug store, hotel, elevator, privately land township, within a mile of the north line of the county. It is a station on the Union Pacific Railway line from Valley, Nebraska, to Manhattan, Kansas. The original townsite comprises the east half of the northeast quarter of section 11 in this township. The land was bought from Alfred Gale by Joseph H. Millard, of Omaha, in 1883, about the time of the construction of what was then known as the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad, a branch then, as now, of the Union Pacific system. Millard caused the tract to be surveyed and platted and the plat was filed for record February 4, 1884. Mr. Millard, owned electric-lighting plant, two garages, a blacksmith shop, and such other business enterprises as are common in Nebraska villages of its population. The village also owns its waterworks system.

The postofifice, with Mr. G. M. Ludick as postmaster, gives rural free delivery to Clatonia patrons, a service performed by a single carrier.

Clatonia has a population of 180 by the federal census of 1910. It is substantially built, many of the business houses being of brick, and is the center of a large German-American neighborhood, some of whose members were pioneers in Gage county, - notably Henry Albert, J. H. Steinmeyer, Henry Steinmeyer, and William Steinmeyer.

CORTLAND The village of Cortland is situated in Highwho was afterward United States senator from Wisconsin, was at that time a director in the Union Pacific Railway Company. The station buildings and the railroad yards at Cortland are situated on this tract of land. The depot was built in the spring of 1884. A strip of land in section 12, east of the railroad right-of-way, platted in 1884 by the owner Frank H. Oberman, and Malone's Addition, on the north, also platted in 1884, have been added to the original townsite.

The first merchant in Cortland was Henry Spellman, who hauled lumber from Firth, in Lancaster county, and erected a building upon the townsite in the winter of 1883-1884, where he conducted a general merchandise store. In the spring of 1884 Wallingford & Masterman established a farm-implement store in Cortland, Downs & Hickman a general store, and Fred Wittstruck erected a building used by him as a boarding house or hotel. In the winter of 1883-1884, L. A. Simmons, now sheriff of L,ancaster county, erected the first residence on the townsite. Some of the early merchants in Cortland were LaSalle & Fisk, J. C. Warner and Kurtz Brothers, who conducted general stores ; I. M. Scott, a hardware merchant; and Baum & Scott, druggists.

In its early history Cortland acquired banking facilities, James Scanlon and J. H. Ballard having established the Bank of Cortland about 1885. They were succeeded by Jacob Bond. During the great panic of 1893 this bank failed; but later Thomas Burling reopened it, and after conducting it for some one of the first settlers in Highland township, having located on a homestead in 1872. In 1889 he was one of Gage county's representatives in the state legislature and he was always recognized as a citizen of sterling worth. At the present time Mrs. Martha Gletty is postmistress. The rural districts at Cortland are supplied with free mail delivery, this service being performed by two carriers.

The churches at Cortland are the Congregational church, the Methodist Episcopal church, the Catholic church and the Seventh Day Adventist church. The Congregational and the Catholic churches were organized in 1885 and the Methodist Episcopal church was time he was succeeded by his son, F. A. Burling. Recently the bank has been sold to R. A. Nickell. About 1912 the Farmers State Bank of Cortland was organized, with C. P. Potts, president, and E. E. Pothast, cashier. Both of these banks are well patronized and doing a lucrative business.

A postoffice was established in Highland township about 1872, with J. P. Clough, postmaster. It was located on his farm, six miles southwest of Cortland and was known as Highland Center. On the founding of the village of Cortland this postoffice was discontinued. Among those who have served as postmaster at Cortland was A. B. McNickle, now a resident of Ashland, Kansas, who was for many years justice of the peace and postmaster in the village, and who was one of the first men to locate there. Mr. McNickle was

The benevolent and fraternal orders at Cortland are the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Modern Woodmen of America, Royal Highlanders and Knights and Ladies of Security.

Since 1884 Cortland has supported a weekly newspaper. Its founders were Conant & Bloom ; it has had numerous editors and proprietors. Until quite recently it was known as the Cortland Sim, but it is now called the Cortland News.

The first school in Cortland was an ordinary district school, with the school-house located on the Union Pacific right-of-way. Latei this building was moved to a better location, and it served several years as the village school-house. Cortland now possesses a fine two-story, brick school-house, with basement, which was erected in 1916 at an approximate cost of $20,000. The district employs seven teachers and there is an enrollment of one hundred and twenty-five pupils. It offers a four years' course of study in the high school, which ranks with those of Beatrice and other large cities.

Cortland has two general stores, a grocery store, drug store, three garages, blacksmith shop, meat market, two restaurants, two elevators, a lumber yard and a small private electric-lighting plant.

Although without fire protection except a volunteer brigade, the village has never suffered any disastrous fire. The federal census of 1910 gives Cortland a population of three hundred and ninety. Its present population is somewhat larger, as the village is in a prosperous, growing condition.

Cortalnd was organized as a village undei the laws of Nebraska many years ago and has been one of the most efficiently governed municipal corporations in the county. Its present village board consists of K. Slot, Thomas Sargent, C. H. Pfeiffer, F. H. Bear and J. A. Johnson.