From the record
One of 14 National Register listings published here for Custer County · listed in 2006 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
One of 14 National Register listings published here for Custer County · listed in 2006 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Algernon Township in History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919 names Mason City. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The third paper published in Broken Bow was the Broken Boie Times, established in 1885, by G. W. Trefren and S. I. MeserauU. Financially, the Times was for a short time a great success, as land notices were plentiful, but, owing to some misunderstanding between the proprietors of the Times and Mr. Higgins, register of the land office at Grand Island, where most of the land notices came from, the latter induced R. E. Martin, an ex-Confederate soldier and forcible writer, to establish another Democratic paper at Broken Bow. The paper was launched in March, 1886, by R. E. Martin and J. S. Bellinger, and was christened the Statesman. To it Mr. Higgins transferred his land-office patronage, and the Statesman prospered immensely. It established a branch paper at Mason City, named the Mason City Transcript.
Passage source: History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919.
The Times, not to be outdone, started a daily edition and christened it the Broken Boie Dailv Times. Messrs. Martin and Dellinger disposed of the Mason City Transcript to James Whittaker, and two or three weeks later Mr. Whittaker sold it to M. C. Warrington, who continued with the paper until 1917, when he disposed of it to James Pebles, the present owner. Martin and Dellinger dissolved partnership. Martin retained the Statesnian, while Dellinger and Walters established the sixth paper for Broken Bow, known as the Broken Bozv Jl'orld. The Daily Times and the Dailv World were soon consolidated, Mr. Walters becoming editor-in-chief and the mechanical work being done in the Times office. In 1888 Trefren and MeserauU disposed of the trood will of the Times to R. E. Martin, and about the same time the Jl'orld suspended. R. H. Miller then started the Dailv Reporter, and had the mechanical work done at the Republican office. In the course of three months the Reporter suspended and was succeeded by the Daily Republican, published by D. M. Amsberry, in connection with his weekly edition. The Daily Republican was continued until October, 1895, when the plant was leased to J. H. Chapman for one year and the daily edition was discontinued. In the fall of 1888 E. M. Webb and George S. Tappan established the Xebraska Citizen in Broken Bow. The paper continued until the following spring, when its publication was suspended. It was largely due to this paper that the .Alliance or People's Independent ticket was elected in the fall of 1889.
Passage source: History of Custer County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past, with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religous, and Civic Developement from the Early Days to the Present Time, published 1919.
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 Algernon Township - 2,346 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Mason City School between 2008 and 2013, burning about 15 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 June 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 3 March 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 29 March 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 28 March 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mason City, the town this property stands in, in 65 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 46 hail, 14 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | $50,000 | A full center pivot irrigation system was flipped over south of Ansley. Time estimated from radar. |
| May 2004 | Flash Flood | Mason City | $15,000 | Runoff from heavy rain accumulated quickly and washed out fences as it moved through low lying areas. Water rose up to the headlights of cars on Main Street. |
| July 2020 | Flash Flood | Mason City | $10,000 | Flood waters washed out the footers of a building. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Mason City | $6,000 | Hail quarter to golf ball size lasted for five minutes. Several vehicles received damage. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | $5,000 | The winds broke off numerous large tree limbs and sheared off the tops of trees. Shingles were also torn off homes in the area. |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | $5,000 | Large tree limbs down |
| June 2009 | Hail | Mason City | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Mason City | $4,000 | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | $3,000 | There were numerous large tree limbs knocked down by the wind. |
| April 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Trained spotter estimated 75 MPH wind gust at this location. No damage reported. |
| March 2023 | Hail | Mason City | - | Report received from social media. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Mason City | - | Emergency management relayed a report of quarter size hail near Mason City. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH at this location. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Mason City | - | Emergency management reported quarter size hail near Mason City. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Strong wind gust was from a heat burst. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | A trained weather spotter estimated wind gusts up to 70 mph near Mason City. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Mason City | - | Public reported quarter size hail in Mason City. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Large cottonwood trees were bending over due to high winds south of Mason City. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Cooperative observer estimated 60 mph wind gusts. |
| April 2013 | Hail | Mason City | - | Hail to nickel size covered the ground. |
| April 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Winds estimated to 65 mph. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Mason City | - | Very heavy rain also accompanied the hail. |
| August 2010 | Heavy Rain | Mason City | - | In less than an hour the Cooperative observer measured 3.60 inches of rainfall in Mason City. |
| June 2009 | Tornado (EF0) | Mason City | - | The tornado touched down very briefly in an open field. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | The strong thunderstorms also produced heavy rain with water running over roads. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | Numerous 6 to 8 inch diameter tree limbs were broken off along Highway 2 just east of Mason City. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| March 2023 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Heavy Rain | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Mason City | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
![]() | First National Bank-Steinmeier Building | 6.3 miles | 2011 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 06000103 in Record Group 79. |
| Custer County | All 14 listed properties in this county. |