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County
Firsts
First Postoffice
Without question the first postoffice on Pumpkin creek was at Redington. The first within the
present boundaries of Banner County was at Livingston with Mrs. Livingston the
postmistress.
In August, 1887, E. M. Cowen was appointed postmaster for the newly created office at Freeport. Mail was brought from Redington.
In October of the same year William Ashford was named postmaster for a new office at Ashford and the Redington-Livingston route was extended for the service. Practically at the same time Centropolis postoffice, the antecedent of Harrisburg, came into existence with C. H. Randall as postmaster.
Banner and
Hull soon followed in the call for mail service. A. B. Hull was appointed at the latter point and Mrs. Harvey Ransier at Banner.
Getting the mail from the railroad was the problem, but this was solved by a star route from Kimball to Gering in late 1887. Jones M. Clapp was the first carrier. For many years,
Emery Lewis who resides near Harrisburg in 1921, drove this route on the north end and also kept the route going from Ashford to Redington.
The Harrisburg-Scottsbluff division is now maintained by Roy Lewis, and a Dodge car has
superseded
the rattling old stage of years ago. The trip is made in an hour or two that
formerly took half a day.
Ham Lilly and C. A. Forsling for years attended the Harrisburg-Kimball portion of the
route, and the same is now operated by Eloyd Lewis, with the same improvement in
character of service.
Emery Lewis, the veteran stage driver, resides at Harrisburg, and is retired to his farm south of town.
First Stores
The date of the first mercantile establishment in Banner County I cannot give with certainty.
In 1887 A. S. Alexander had a store in the Lone Pine country where we used to go
seventeen miles for mail.
But I believe L. D. Livingston had the first store. It was running as early as June, 1886, the grout house being built the previous year. Lightning struck this grout house and cracked the walls soon after it was built and the family thereafter lived in the log house and used the new house for mercantile and postoffice and for the merry parties of the olden time.
Charley Wurdig opened a store in Freeport as early as 1887 and perhaps at an earlier
date.
Will Clampitt had a store in Big Horn the same year.
Dooley & Logan built the large store building in Ashford soon after and here was carried one of the most complete lines of merchandise in the county. In later years this building was torn down by John E. Logan and removed to Gering. The hall over this store was used for several years as a gathering place and for parties of all kinds.
Around Ashford were gathered in those early years a jolly set of young folks:
Logans
Dooleys
Schooleys
Eckersons
Smiths
Newt Sperry and others.
For some time Luft & Enderly conducted a Store at Ashford. Enderly Brothers had a store at Harrisburg for years and one of the present merchants of Harrisburg was associated
therein.
J. M. Wilson, familiarly known as "Doc" because he was first a druggist, was in the
Enderly-Harrisburg store which he later acquired. While he served the county in various capacities and Mrs. Wilson the government as postmistress for many years they have
always kept the main store of the town and at times fed the hungry traveler most excellent
meals.
J. M. Wilson is the Dean of Banner County mercantile life.
Of late years there have been other good merchants in Harrisburg—the Zorns among them; and there were others.
First Fire in Banner
County
The first fire in Banner county—outside of prairie fires—was when E. M. Cowen's
residence at Freeport burned to the ground with all its contents.
This occurred in June, 1887. The folks had little to subsist upon until the return of Mr.Cowen from Sidney. There were numerous fish in the creek and they were easy to catch. This was
the main source of provender for a few days.
First
Funeral
The first funeral was that of Mary Rose at Livingston June 25, 1887.
Dicky Brown had lost two children who had been buried near Wright's ranch at a date
prior to the coming of the grangers. Mary Rose was twenty-two years of age, and lived
with the Livingstons, and often visited for several days with Mrs. S. J. Robb at the head of
the creek, where the Bay State ranch was located.
She was buried at Livingston and her neglected grave is there yet enclosed in barbed wire.
First Weddings
The
first wedding in the valley or in
Banner County territory was that
of Miss Dude Wright
to
E. A. Boots which occurred at the
old Wright Ranch and Elder Leslie
Stevens came from Sidney
to perform the ceremony.
The
next wedding of Pumpkin Creek people
was that of Ellen Anderson and Chris
Streeks.
Elder
Stevens also performed this ceremony.
The wedding occurred at the Metropolitan
Hotel at
Sidney and cowboys from far and
near were in attendance. They
cleaned up the Thoelecke Jewelry
Store of all its supply of silverware
for presents to the uniting couple.
Miss
Oliver and Samuel Abbott were also
married at Wright's place.
Tom
Hughes (on the Niobrara) paid Judge
Robert Shuman $100 to come out
to
his place and perform a marriage
ceremony.
T.
D. Deutsch the present mayor of
Scottsbluff City went to Sidney
a distance of about
one hundred miles to get his marriage
license; then seventy miles to Kinball
to
get a minister As he puts
it, "I bought a couple "Hereford"
shirts and we were married in
a dugout."
Hampton
Golden Wedding
Some
years ago there was celebrated at
Harrisburg the golden wedding of
Mr. and Mr. W.
R. Hampton, the only event of the
kind that we know in Banner County.
The
affair was at Hotel St. James at
the northeast corner of the court
house square.
Many
of the friends of the pioneers of
Banner County attended this affair.
Since
then both of the elder Hamptons
have gone on to the New Country.
Source: History of Western Nebraska
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