Seward City (part 2 of 2)

Dr. H. B. Cummins has practiced his profession in Seward for thirty-one years, was for some time associated with Dr. J. H. Woodward. Has served on the pension examining board for many years, has held a prominent place on the state medical board, and laid aside his M. D. in 1900 and became a politician and was elected to the state senate where he served one term and then returned to where he was the most needed, the practice of medicine. Dr. J. Morrow, successor to Dr. J. H. Woodward, built an up-to-date hospital in 1 901 and has associated with him in practice his two brothers, Drs. M. and B. Morrow, the former in J 907 and the latter in 1913. Dr. S. E. Ragan entered the practice as a physician in Seward in the spring of 1902. He also has a hospital. Dr. C. E. Stockert and Dr. R. S. Hirsch commenced practice in the city in 1913. Dr. (). H. Kent, Osteopath, commenced practice in Seward in 1907. Drs. R. P. Belden and C.K.Porter, dentists have practiced since 1904. Drs. S. D. Atkins and C. D. Kenner since 1905.

The business buildings of Seward are nearly all modern structures, some of them having been erected at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, while there are many less expensive houses which are of value to the city.

There are one hundred and twenty-five artistic dwelling houses in Seward, built at a cost of several thousand dollars each, one recently built by John Zimmerer, cost thirty five thousand dollars. It is modern in every respect, entirely fire proof and is one of the most beautiful dwellings in the state. The city has an estimated number of six hundred less

Mil Ford

Although Milford can not be called a city, it has retained its place upon the map as the second largest town in Seward count}7 and one of the most beautiful places in Nebraska. In view of this fact two of the state institutions are located there, the Soldiers Home and the Industrial Home, both of which will receive more attention farther along in this work.

The town is doing a large business in the general lines of trade. The mill, which from the earliest pioneer days to recent years was a popular flour producer, has been transformed into a factory of corn products, and as such is undoubtedly7 one of the largest in the United States if not in the world. The business houses number forty. Modern residences thirty, while there are about two hundred comfortable and pleasant but less expensive homes. There are three churches; Methodist, Congregational and Evangelical. Three grain elevators. Two banks, Farmers & Merchants, and Nebraska State Bank both occupying special bank buildings of modern design and construction. Two hotels and two restaurants. It is estimated that the town has several miles of cement sidewalk. A centrally located park, town hall and opera house, fine high school, good system of water works and fire department.

Milford has a very fine third-class post office, the fixtures costing one thousand dollars has two hundred and forty-nine private mail boxes. In addition to this there are four rural mail routes go from the office every day. Number one and two of those routes were among the first established rural routes in the state. They were established July 15, 1899, with Chas. W. Funk as carrier on No. 1, and H. J. Matzke on No. 2. The third route was started November 1, 1900, and the fourth November 1, 1904 with William Smiley as carrier. The present carriers are Ed. Bishop on route No. i,

The town has two lumber yards, both handling coal; four general merchandise stores run by Kenagy & Kensinger who have been there twenty-rive years; Warnke & Haverstock; Findley Mercantile Company and D. G. Erb. One exclusive grocery store is conducted by Roth & Co. One variety store. Bakery conducted by S. A. Langford. Two drug stores furnish medicine for the village and vicinity, one run by W. D. Alaxander who has been in the business over twenty-five years; J. F. Bruning having been there since 1906. There are two furniture stores, one run by the Troyer Furniture Company and the other by Joseph Mauel. David Boshart deals in poultry and feed and S. T. Sweasv is a dealer in poultry and cream. Babson, Dickman Implement Company and George Fosler sell harness. The pump and wind mill business is conducted by A. J. Weaver. The two hardware stores are managed by Joe Kribill & Co., and W. C. Klein. Real estate and insurance offices are conducted by J. H. Perkinson, and E. E. Ely. Charley Funk, Web. Wright and C. Smith are each running a barber shop.

Like all other towns in the present day of death dealing automobile craze, Milford presents a prevalent popular front with three automobile garages, run respectively by the Milford Garage Company, Schweitzer Brothers, and Fosler & Sanders. It is to be noted that Seward county has a greater number, at the present time, of this kind of business houses, or as might be called shops, than any other one line of trade or business in the county, whether it is a mark of progression or digression from the pioneer lumber wagonspring-seat days. It is to be remembered however, that no one of those old, homelv conveyances ever "turned turtle" and killed the driver or anybody else therefore those who enjoyed their comforts were a longer lived race of people

Of professional men Milford has three doctors, and one dentist. It has two hospitals; also the Shogo Litha Springs the water of which is bottled and sold in some localities as being beneficial in the treatment of some chronic afflictions humanity is subject to.

Dedication Of The Soldiers' Home At Milford

The dedicatory exercises which marked the beginning and opening of a new home for the honorable defenders of the cause of freedom, and a grand manifestation of the Nebraska peoples' appreciation of their services, took place at the Home in Milford, at 3 o'cloclk p. m., Tuesday, October 8, 1895, in presence of a large gathering of patriotic citizens from various parts of the state.

The exercises were opened by Rev. O. R. Beebe, G. A. R. Department Chaplin. H. C. Russell made the opening address, after which Department Comander Adams made the address of dedication.

Informal addresses were made by Congressman x\ndrews, Senator Sloan, Representatives Cramb and Roddy, Judge Wheeler, Mrs. W. A. Dillworth and Captain Henry.

Patriotic music for the occasion was furnished by the Lincoln, Dorchester and Seward drum corps, and appropriate vocal music by a Milford quartet under the direction of Prof. Warner, editor of the Milford Nebraskan, and the vetrians quartet of Lincoln.

An enthusiastic camp fire was held in the evening, the hall being filled with veteran comrades and their friends. Timely speeches were made by Chaplain Beebe, H. C. Russell, Rev. F. J. Culver of San Francisco, G. E. McDonald, of Lincoln and others. The Home has answered the purposes for which it was intended in a satisfactory manner. Many of the old comrades have found a pleasant home there, enjoying its comforts to the end of life. There is at the present time one hundred and thirty-two soldiers and fourteen lady occupants of the Home.

The Industrial Home

is a charitable institution of the state of Nebraska intended to aid wayward and indigent women and girls who have met with misfortune in life to a higher and firmer position, and to look after their offspring and see to it that their future life is properly provided for with homes. And no more beautiful place could be found in the state of Nebraska nor any other state than it occupies at, or near the village of Milford.

It is in reality as well as name an Industrial Home where the different home industries are taught, together with the science of nursing and the branches of common school education. It was founded by act of the state legislature in 1887 and dedicated in 1888.

Of this Home as well as the Soldiers Home I can sav I am reliably informed that they have, from their foundation to the present date, been generally conducted in a creditable manner by those placed in charge of them by the state, and it is not the mission of this work to record minute details of their management from year to year. They are state institutions of which the citizens of the state should justly feel proud.

The populotion of Milford during the pioneer period ranged from one to three hundred while it now reaches about twelve hundred, counting the east side settlement.

Milford is the only town in Seward count}7 to support two post offices, and it has been something of a mystery why such a condition should have been inaugurated there. The second office was established in 1884 under the name of Grover.supposably in honor of President Grover Cleaveland, and notwithstanding the fact that it was only about half a mile from the main post office of the town, it retained its place upon the map, becoming a money order office in 1900.

The Village Of Utica

The third largest town in Seward county was among the later laid out towns of the pioneer period. It was located in a favorable area of country and was blessed with an excellent business patronage, and had, for several years, but two competing shipping points and grain markets, Seward and Germantown, and while it had no advantages of a natural kind or institutions of popular favor, it has progressed to a greater extent than any other town in Seward countv outside of the county seat city. It is in point of time ten years behind Milford and seven years younger than Seward, all of which has been shown up in the pioneer town topics in this history.

Utica has a population at the present time bordering closely upon one thousand. Its business houses number thirty-four, several of which are up-to-date brick buildings. It has two banks and modern bank buildings; one hotel, two restaurants; one opera house. The amount of its business may be estimated from the fact that it has three grain elevators which are all doing a good business. Its residence buildings, modern and otherwise number two hundred. It has five miles of brick and cement sidewalks. The place has a modern high school building and supports one of the best twelve graded high schools in the county. It has four churches and church buildings of an excellent grade. The post office has two hundred and fifty private mail boxes and two rural free delivery mail routes, the carriers being John Mikkelson on route number one and Robert Hunter on route

There are four general stores, run by R.E.Davis, Herman Zumwinkle, Kath & Harms, and Mr. Rau; Hornady & Sons recently established an exclusive grocery store.

There are two drug stores reported, P. R. Wolf being proprietor of one and Dr. Homer Houchen runs the other; two implement houses, one conducted by Craig & White, and the other by Herman Mundt; three cream, flour and feed stations, one by J. K. Greenwood, one bv T. J. Shirley and the other by J. H. Casler; two blacksmith shops, John Hansen is the proprieter of one and Charles Bereuter runs the other; E. J. Bereuter deals in pumps and windmills; F. E. Patton is a dealer in poultry and eggs; T. L. Davis & Son manage a lumber yard; C. S. Shores keeps a livery and feed stable. There are three automobile sjara^es run respectively by Craig & White, Bereuter & Son and Bert Birket.

The Village Of Beaver Crossing

By referring back to the write-up of "pioneer towns, schools and post offices" in this work it will be noticed that Beaver Crossing was among the first places in Seward county to get a post office and store. And its future prospects to become one of the best towns in the county were bright and promising, but time soon dimned those prospects on account of its being several miles off from any rail road. And although it did a good "cross-roads" business through the pioneer period it did not keep up, as a town, with other towns which had the advantages of railway facilities. And it seems that in the later period after the closing of pioneer times, the town was doomed to blights and darwbacks to impede its progress and make it a dead one with all of its natural and valuable advantages. The C. & N. W., or as it was then called the F. E. & M. V. rail road was opened through the town in 1887 and just why the place should have been misrepresented and boomed as a coming metropolis at that time and what benefit such misrepresentation was expected to be to the future of Beaver Crossing, is and will remain a mystery. In fact the town was almost rode to its death by an over growth, extremely wild and unreasonable. Although the general trade of the vicinity was abundantly supplied previous to the coming of the rail road by two general mercantile stores, shops and other business houses, there was a general rush from all directions for the best business locations in the town. The racket of the saw and hammer was heard early and late in different quarters of the place, and business houses and dwellings were rushed up in short order. And Beaver Crossing like a stream of water in a flood season overflowed its banks and spread out over the low lands. Had those business men who were so anxious to get "in on the ground floor" in the new town with their business, stopped long enough to solve the problem of where the trade for so large an increase of business houses was coming from they would not made buildings to leave standing empty inside of a year. But the great newspaper, the "Beaver Crossing Bugle," with its six pages patent printed and two pages, constituting the Beaver Crossing portion of it, printed at Milford, was the spokesman for the coming greatness of the place, and strange as it may seem, it displayed such inducements that a number of people overlooked the fact that the enthusiastic publisher of the great seven column paper was booming a town that he had not got sufficient confidence in to put in a press to print his paper on.

The blasts from the "Bugle" were loud and long. It had several rail roads headed for Beaver Crossing and was very much alarmed for fear some undesiable road would slip in unawares. It also had the establishment of some kind of glass factory planed for the place, where the alkali and sand that was going to waste in the vicinity might be worked up into glass. But it boomed enterprises in one column while it devoted three columns to "Bugle" loud tunes for base ball. Two brick yards were established to produce brick for the coming "sky scrapers" of Beaver Crossing. And the building of business houses went on with alackerty,and the revelry of the modern time sport grew to such proportions that the little, weakly supported burg had a subject to discuss as well as recreation for leisure hours when not engaged in wrapping up goods for customers.

In viewing the outlines of the booming city (to be) and its business, I see the following new enterprises added to the place while others were expected to develope in almost the immediate future: M. Byington, general merchandise store; M. M. Johnson, general merchandise store; A. H. Parks, boots, shoes and grocery store; W. K. Davis & Sons, hardware, tinware and grocery store; McDougall & Callahan, hardware and tinware store; P. H. W. Corkins, drug store; W. J. Organ & Co., dealers in agricultural implements; J. H. Erford & Co., dealers in grain, coal and lumber; Nye, Englehaupt & Co., dealers in grain, lumber and coal; I. G. Chapin & Co., dealers in lumber and coal; F. M. Foster, new livery stable; J. VV. Leisure, new livery stable; J. F Cloud, meat market; Joe Kun-:e, harness shap; Mrs. A. H. Parks, milllinery; Mrs. Frank Horton, Millinery; The State Bank, T. E. Sanders, cashier; Dimery's Hotel, J. F. M. Dimery, proprietor; Willis Bentley, blacksmith shop; f. J. McWilliams, blacksmith shop. Dr. F. A. Greedy, physician and surgeon, Dr. J.E. Phinney, physician and surgeon, with Dimery's opera house, Horton s brick block, Erford s elevator and other business houses in course of construction. Is it any wonder such a bubble would burst and leave the place in a state of colapse? And that the town of Beaver

Crossing has not improved since that colapse is evident and the reason obvious. It is difficult to resurect a dead town, especially after such discouraging circumstances have driven the best and most enterprising business men from it.

Beaver Crossing passed through its pioneer period in a creditable manner after many years, but it entered and passed through its devastating booming period during the one year of 1887 leaving it in a more helpless condition than that of the former period. And it was doomed to still farther depressions as results of its being unable to overcome misfortune, but it was on a fair road to recover}' when along in 1904 and 1905 it got an undesirable apportionment of business individuals that would be as sure death to a town as a grain of strychnine would to a rat. There were five in this consignment and they did not hesitate to engage in any kind of dirty spite work that seemed the least popular and had a banker and state senator at the head of it. In fact their addition to that kind of element constituted about half of the spite engendering dirty gang of the place. But the "last grain of sand" more than the town could bear was the addition to the newcomers of the renouned editor Fred. C. Diers, a man that could not look a hog in the face, much less a man. And this sickning dose to the already distressed and weakly little place would not have been so blightening a curse to its interests and welfare had he and his foolishness not been indorsed by those who claimed to be the whole town. It was well known that there was a committee of the gang running to different towns in the country hunting just such a character until he was found. And they did not only indorse his folly in advance of his coming, but they poisoned his mind with their own sour and depraved dispositions, giving the fool the impression that the whole town was at his feet and ready to surrender its interests and good name to serve him if he would only do their low down work and help them destroy a hated man's business who had presumed to question the honor and ability of the august personage who was so honorably and abley leading the crusade of spite and was short just the amount it required to make up Diers to complete the list of assistants. And Diers was no worse than the others, but his part of the program was more open to the public. He acted in accordance with their wishes and in doing so gave the honest citizens of the place a shamed face by calling himself and his silly paper their "Pride," or what amounted to the same thing "The Pride of Beaver Crossing."

Now this matter may seem small and unworthy of notice, but it is history and I see no way to avoid the issue. And it is large enough to amount to *a dark page of damaging effect upon the prosperity of the beautiful little village of Beaver Crossing. As the scheme did not result as it was intended and expected to, in the injury of a private citizen, that individual being found amply able to stand by his rights and take care of himself, what else could the treachery, intrigue, and low trickery, continued in for months by one-half or more of the so called business men of a town, amount to but serious injury to the prosperity of the place? To briefly state the case I will say that because one man had chosen to exercise his right as an American citizen and failed to support a young ignoramous for an office he did not cosider him fit for, the young aspirant for ever office in sight, commenced a fight against the aforesaid citizen and the element known as the gang took sides with him. The despised citizen was editor of the home paper and the work of spite progressed in the aforesaid search for a printer to - as they termed it - run said editor out of the business. Some of the more rash ones would not even consider a proposition to buy him out. They were after his scalp and nothing but the raising of his hair would appease their wrath. In their search the only speci- men of humanity they found that would engage in such an undertaking was this man Diers. But he had no money. In order to supply this deficiency they started a stock conspiracy, the object of which was publicly stated, to be the boycotting and destruction of the said offensive citizens business. And each member of this conspiracy was required to put up fifty dollars or more to raise the funds to aid Diers in starting his part of the good work. He got the money and bought the printing plant from the former editor as he thought it was easier to buy him out than to run him out. And now the fun opens up in earnest. Diers had been led by the gang to think that they were the ruling element and that there was no possible chance for the other fellow to rise from the wreckage of his business, and Mr. Diers felt safe in the bosom of his admiring benefactors. But "it is a long road that has no turn," and the former editor purchased a new printing plant and started another paper called "The Independent Examiner, " which examined too close to the skin for the gang and they slowly but surely withdrew their incouragement from Diers and one by one sold and disposed of their business and sneaked out of the town, tour of the later arrivals having made their exite in about a year, Diers turning the paper over to his brother to close out, followed shortly after. And it is a matter worthy of note that the entire outfit that composed that gang, with the exception of one, and possibly two have found it to their interest to hunt another location. Why? Because their own ignorant conduct had brought upon them and the town an unaccountable depression in business as compared with any other town in the county. "What you sow you shall reap. " This became apparent, the "running out" scheme took on a back action and amid the prevailing quietness a lot of sneaking out was in order.

all of which were established in 1903 with Lucian Wash carrier on route number one, Pierce Dygert on route number two and W. A. Wilsey on route number three. Routes number two and three were established with carriers who had circulated the petitions, but after P. G. Tyler had succeded in getting sufficient petitioners fcr the establishing of route number one he was turned down, perhaps through advice of some of "the gang" and a very unqualified young man given his route. The carriers now are Roy Huffman on route one, Pierce Dygert on route two and Al. Caswell on route three. These routes raised the post office from a fourth to a third class office and has done more good for the town than any other three things in it, although their establishment was contrary to the wishes of nearly every business man in the place, opposition to them being based on the grounds that with routes carrying mail to their doors farmers would not come to town. This was an opinion shared in to a large degree by other towns in the county which miidit be named, where the posmaster, following the requests of their tradesmen, threw the petitions when presented for the postmaster's endorsement and forwarding to the proper department, into the waste basket. The result of this was that rural routes from other postoffices ran up so close to the limits of their village there was no room for them to get a route. And when they saw farmers, residing right close to them, driving away on Saturday evenings and othor times when they were expecting mail that they wanted sooner than the carrier would bring it, to the town their mail was delived from, the desire for routes was an increasing torment to them. Some of them got a short route or two, close round their town and some of them are still on the anxious seat for "just one route." The postoffice has two hundred and fifty private mail boxes, the same number it had twenty years ago, the increas in this branch oi the service having been

The town has several substantial, and up-to-date business houses, and quite a number of the less portentious, chaper wooden buildings, relics of the previous mentioned boom.

The amount of. business Beaver Crossing is doing I am unable to state, but feel safe in saying that it is still doing a good "cross roads" business. There are many excellent men in the different branches of business and some of the other kind too, just like any other town. I. L. Dermond is still in the mercantile trade and conducting it in the manner he has for twenty years; \V. O. Johnson & Co., recent comers, are running a general merchandise store in the Eager building; one hardware and harness store is run by W. L. Cook; one hardware and grocery store by Earl Eager; one drug and grocery store by Chas. Simonton & Co. ; one drug store by T. H. Lyon; one furniture and implement store by James Evans; one furniture and implement store by Danskin & Lowe; one grain elevator run by the Nye, Schnieder, Fowler Company, and one by the Farmers' Grain Company; there are two banks, the Citizens State Bank and the State Bank of Beaver Crossing, both located in modern bank buildings; one lumber yard conducted in the name of the Barstow Grain Company which recently sold their elevator to the Farmers Grain Co. , and the Nye, Schnider Company runs a lumber yard; both grain companies sell coal; Chas. E. Gentry is the undertaker and sells pictures, frames, glass and notions; Chas. Luce keeps all kinds of jewelry; a new electric shoe shop is run by Oliver Hess; Ed. Warnke runs a first class bakery; there are two barber shops, two ten cent stores, one opera house, one skating rink, one hotel, one livery and feed stable, two hospitals; one by Dr. C. O. Petty and the other is conducted by Drs.Doty & Hickman; two blacksmith shops; Jacob McCord runs the east shop and John Witter runs one on Mill street. Dr. Hewit is the dentist, and Judge A. Leavens, attorney at law. James Barnes deals in fresh and salt meats and ice. The town supports four automobile garages, and half supports one news and job printing office. E. A. McNeil is the editor and has been giving the town the usual heaping and running over measure of local newspaper support for the past ten years, and he at least has the author's sympathy. (The statement, which has already gone in print on page 238 of this work, that the Beaver Crossing rural mail routes were established in 1903 is an error. They started December 1st, 1902.)

Beaver Crossing has a population of about eight hundred, contains many modern residences, two pioneer residences, one occupied by George Winand and family was built in 1872 by Grand father Nichols, later becoming the property of Edward Maul, father of Mrs. George Winand; and the second pioneer building was built by Ross Nichols in 1869 upon his homestead, and is now the Beaver Crossing Hospital, and many other good and comfortable dwellings. It has several very beautiful streets and shady lawns. Cement sidewalks extend throughout the town. It has a twelve grade high school and five churches, the Evangelical, Methodist, Catholic, Christian and Church of God.

Village Of Germantown

Germantown in -H- precinct in the north part of the county is a pioneer town. It has had a fair share of the general prosperity of Seward county towns since the closing of the pioneer period. It has a population of about five hundred; has one rural free delivery mail route, Charles Wyant being the carrier, and there are one hundred and twenty private mail boxes in the post office; it has a ten grade high school and two churches, the Lutheran Congregational and Evangelical.

tains one hundred residences. The Folley Theater, owned bv Louis Meyers, is a modern structure fine enough for a city. The hotel is owned and managed by Paul Kafke; one restaurant is under the management of Henry Zimmerman; one lumber yard, the Home Lumber Company, proprietors; two general mercantile stores, one run by Robert Beckman who has been in the business fifteen years; and the other is conducted by Meyers & Haus; two coal dealers, one the Home Lumber Company, and the other Louis Meyers, who runs one of the two elevators, the second elevator being managed by the Farmers Grain Company; James Blackwood deals in pumps and windmills; Wm. Gannon runs the one barber shop; one furniture and hardware store conducted by Wm. Groats; one state bank, August Beckman cashier; one meat market, Adolph Haas proprietor; one blacksmith shop run by Carl Koch; one harness shop by Fred Roehorkasse; the town has two automobile garages; it has one of the best creameries in the state.

Germantown was one of the early towns in the county, having been laid out in 1873, just after the B. & M. railroad was run through to Seward.

The Village Of Pleasant Dale

This is one of the most correctly named villages in Seward county. Its location in the narrow vale between the undulating hills of Middle creek, forms a shady nook, while the scenery up and down the valley is pleasing and attractive. A postoffice was established there in the early seventies by James Her, under the present name of the place, but the town was among the latest established towns in the county. The B. & M. rail road, first called the A. & N.,came through the dale in 1879 and the townsite was laid out in 1883, the post office was moved to town and a store opened. The school was later moved to town also, and a market for grain opened up and the town of Pleasant Dale was on the map.

Pleasant Dale at the present time is a busy little village of about two hundred inhabitants. Its post office has one hundred and fifty private mail boxes, and two rural free delivery mail routes are in operation from it. W. L. Wallace is the carrier on route number one and Percy peterson on route two.

The town has a graded high school, and two churches, the M. E. and Lutheran; it contains ten business houses and thirty-five residences. It has one elevator, managed by E. J. Newton; one bank, A. F. Akerman, cashier; one lumber yard, W. C. Newman proprietor; one hotel, managed by C. H. Oxbery; one restaurant run by C. McGowan; one harness shop by F. C. Thomas; one livery stable, A. C. Castle proprietor; one implement and hardware store, E. J. Newton proprieter; one grocery store run by J. W. Dillenbeck; one general mercantile store by C. Uthe; one drug store by C. McGowen; one meat market; one physician, Dr. Wm. Sandusky; J. A. Gammell conducts a pump and windmill business. The town has about two miles of cement sidewalks. It is located in -I- precinct.

Village Of Stapleiiurst

Staplehurst is in -C- precinct, in the northern portion of the county. It has developed a notable advancement in progress since the pioneer period. In fact it can hardly be called a pioneer town. It was founded in 1879, but was backward in growth for some time. Along about 1883 an addition to the village was laid out by Goehner & Company and business houses and numerous dwelling houses were corrected. Two grain elevators were built, and the place begining to show signs of coming importance as a shipping point, started upon a healthy and prosperous career.

Staplehurst has a population of about four hundred. It has two good banks; a ten grade high school; three churches; one rural mail route; three general merchandise stores, one lumber yard, two meat markets, one hardware store, two blacksmith shops, one livery stable, and several other business establishments of more or less importance, indicating that the town has shared in the general new era prosperity of the county.

Village Of Tamora

Six miles west of Seward, in -F- precinct, is located one of the latter day pioneer towns of Seward county. It was founded and laid out in 1879. P. G. Tyler was its first post master and built the first residence in the town. The grain market of Tamora was started in 1879 by J. W. Scott who built a small grain warehouse and commenced. the purchase of grain. A store was opened the same year by William Butler. An ellevator was built in 1881 by Morrisey brothers and T. W. Lowery built another the next year. It has at the present time about three hundred inhabitants, numerous dwelling and business houses, a good, 12 grade high school, three churches, several stores, one lumber yard, three elevators and one bank, the Farmers Exchange. Tamora has no rural mail route.

A small boom was started at Tamora in 1893. A large business building, covering nearlv one business block in the village was commenced. It was to be almost a "sky scraper," to go four stories high above the basement. And the basement was built in fine shape, made of stone or cement, which was divided into several seperate store rooms by stone walls. The foundation for an immense structure could not have been excelled in any city, and it was currently reported that the project was being pushed by city capital, with a view to the removal of the county seat to Tamora, as it was near the center of the county. But it developed finally that the whole affair was originated and planned by a young man whose brain was upset with success in a deal on the board of trade, and the castle never got higher than the foundation.

I have now concluded the details of conditions of Seward county towns at the present time, 191 6, which were written up in the beginning of this work as pioneer towns, and a comparison of their present situation with that of the former period may show the general advancement of prosperity throughout the count}7.

Village Of Bee

This village is located in a prosperous farming district, in -B- precinct in the north-eastern portion of the county. It was founded in 1887; is on the Chicago & North Western rail road, has a population of about two hundred and fifty, and is as busy as its name indicates. The post office is fourth class and has one rural free delivery mail route. It has a good high school and two churches. Minnie Dunigan was Bee's first postmistress, and her father, Michael Dunigan was one of the founders of the place. There are a number of substantial busines houses, and about seventy-five dwell, ing houses.

The general criterion of the business of a town in the west is its grain elevators and stock market. Bee has two large elevators and its stock market is second to no village in the county. It has one bank, one hotel, a blacksmith shop, one hardware store, a drug store, one lumber yard, one implement store, two general mercantile stores, two grocery stores, and other minor business enterprises.

Village Of Goehner

This is the second modern time town laid out on the F. & M.V. rail road in Seward county. It was founded in 1887 and bears the name of one of Seward's most prosprous business men, Hon. John F. Goehner, who represented this senatorial district in the state senate in 1884, and did very much towards securing the C. & N. W. railway line through the county, the town of Goehner being named in his honor. It is located in -K- precinct, almost in the center of both the precinct and the county, is seven miles north-east of Beaver Crossing and nine miles south-west of Seward. Its population is about one hundred and fifty. The business of the town is similar to that of Bee. It has a graded school and three churches. Two elevators, one bank, two general mercantile stores, one hardware store. It has no rural mail route.

Village Of Cordova

Cordova is located in the south-west quarter of Seward county, seven miles south-west of Beaver Crossing. It was founded in 1887, the third new village on the line of the C. & N. W. rail road in the county. It was first called Hunkinsville- in honor of Benjamin Hunkins, an enterprising and respected early homesteader of the vicinity, but there being a town and postofrice of similar name in the state the town was renamed Cordova. Situated in an excellent area of farming land, and a prosperous community, the early enterprises of the place soon placed it upon the map as one of Seward county's lively and growing towns.

The early business establishments of Cordova were two Elevators; three general stores, managed respectively by Rodeman & Son, C. W. Hunkins, and Vaughn & Peterson; one drug store, Dr. C. W. Doty proprietor; one hardware store run by Graff & Goodbrod; one furniture store, one agricultural implement house, one harness shop, one lumber yard, one hotel, a bank, a barber shop, one blacksmith shop. Among the early public improvements was a good, graded school, and three church buildings were added in due time. In 1888 Joshua Warren, of Friend, erected a large wooden building from the wreckage of the old M. E. church building at that place; the lower part of the building was divided into three store rooms, and the upper part was used as an op-

On a visit to Cordova in 191 3 the writer was much surprised and pleased by the apparant change and improvement in the town; especially the residence portion with its many neat cottages, attractive lawns and clean streets. The old Warren's Opera House, which was sold to Dr. E. G. Watson, and known in later years as Watson's Opera House and finaly destroyed by fire, had been replaced by an imposing, two story brick building. This building has several store rooms on the lower floor, a finely arranged opera room, lodge room, and other rooms on the second floor, all of which are reached by broad, modern stairways from both the front and rear part of the building. There are several other improved buildings in the place among which is the State Bank which is certainly a beauty for a town the size of Cordova. Aside from the improvements two familiar objects are to be seen - the little 8x10 shanty post office and the hotel.

Cordova has a population of about three hundred. It has numerous business houses centered among a hundred residences, with cement sidewalks extending throughout the town. It has no rural mail route.

Village Of Ruby

This little vill is scarcely on the map, but holds a place among the business centers of Seward county. It is located on the B. & M. rail road, about half way between Seward and Milford, in -J- precinct, and has a rich and productive area of farming land surounding it, but the two larger towns draw much of its business away from it. However it is not a dead town as it shows many signs of life and activity. It has a grain market supported by two grain elevators; two stores, a post office and such other places of business as are required to provide for the wants of the patrons of the place.

By looking over the foregoing historical record of modern achievements in lines of trade in merchandise and farm prodocts in the towns of Seward county together with the advantages of public schools, churches and places of social and public entertainment, and comparing them with the condition in the early pioneer days, the extent of the great progress which had its origin in the gloom of pioneer sod houses and its growth through the many long years of hopeful enterprise, will become plainly apparent. In those early times markets for any kind of farm products were forty and fifty miles distant, while one little store and postoffice in a sod or log house within an area of fifteen miles was considered a priceless blessing. Sod and log school houses in about the same area answered the purpose for churches, public halls, election booths and court houses. In the towns of Seward county at the present time there are twelve grain markets, supplied with twenty-six large grain elevators, any one of which could handle and store the amount of grain raised in Seward county in 1870. In those towns there are fifteen opera houses and public halls, thirty-eight churches, thirty general stores, thirty-five exclusive stores, handling groceries, hardware, furniture, clothing etc. And there are twenty-one rural free delivery mail routes delivering mail daily to ever farm in the county, while farmers are in touch with neighbors and the local markets of the county by telephone.

The general reader of this work is invited to examine the conditions of the two periods as they are presented, bearing in mind at the same time, the fact that the advancements in the towns are the results of improved conditions throughout the rural districts. The improvements of farms and their products have made Seward county's prosperity.