Humboldt Commercial Historic District

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.

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 - 11,575 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.