I remember the population was 10,297 in 1936. We were blessed with 3 railroads, the ROCK ISLAND, UNION PACIFIC and the BURLINGTON.
Each railroad line had its own depot.
Beatrice had a round house which is called this because
train engines were transported there for
repair. There was a round house track table that could
be switched any set of incoming tracks,
to pull the train in for repair. These operations employed many people of Beatrice.
Beatrice had
one large rather lovely library where we used to spend some time as kids.
There were three
movie theaters where we would dream away life on the silver screen, when we could afford to
go.
Beatrice was a small, moral town to grown up in and was one of the richest towns for its
size in
the United States.
I remember that HENDERSON FORD CO. sold new Ford cars for $985.00 at that time.
DEMPSTER'S manufactured the famous “WIND MILL” sold all over the United States which
created a lot of jobs for the area.
During World War II the plant converted to a facility to
manufacture Anti-Aircraft Shells for the Government.
KEYS made the BROWNING'S first
Ballbearing Roller Skates.
BEATRICE STEEL TANKS made corragated pipe for irrigations
and grain bins for the Government.
STORECRAFT manufactured hardward for windows,
furniture and developed a process fo finishing desk tops that was very well respected.
There
was a long structure where shirts were manufactured for distribution but it went out of business
in late 1920 or early 1930s.
There were 3 HOTELS in Beatrice, THE PADDOCK HOTEL,
THE BRUNWOOD HOTEL AND THE BEATRICE HOTEL.
THE FIRST HOMESTEAD in the United States was about 9 Miles from Beatrice and
occupied
by THE FREEMAN FAMILY. THE KILPATRICK FAMILY CLAIMED A HOMESTEAD
at
the same time and area as the Freeman Family.
The Kilpatrick family were
very active in the growth
of Beatrice in its history and throughout Nebraska. They were the
owners of several large ranches
and lived in big lovely homestead ranches.
THE BLUE RIVER ran through Beatrice East, West and South directions, at one time 20 feet
deep. A dam constructed to devert the Blue River as it turned South, to help create power
for the BLACK BROTHER'S FLOUR MILL. INDIAN CREEK joined the Blue River
where it turned southward. Many times the Blue River was high and it flooded homes in the vacinity.
Curbs in
Beatrice were 1 foot high and water would run over them when it rained
hard.
Court Street, the
main street of Beatrice was paved with red brick for 2 or 3 miles.
Many religions were represented
and worshiped in Beatrice. The Catholic Church had a
Parochial School where students started
in the 1st grade through the 8th grade, before attending public school. In retrospect the students graduating through the Parochial School system were more educated and better students.
Beatrice had about 4 or 5 grade schools, one junior high school and one senior high school (both where I attended school).
There were 3 parks in Beatrice at a time that families embraced outdoors activities.
THE
RIVERSIDE PARK had a swimming pool, an open air dance hall and an ice skating rink.
THE OLIVER PARK had a band stand for music concerts and a boat house pier.
THE CHITOQUA PARK had a tabernacle, horse shoe pits for tossing horse shoes and a
playground with swings and teeter-tautters.
The Blue River ran by or through each of the
parks.
Summers in Beatrice were very hot to 114 degrees. I remember many thunder storms and a
few storms that developed into cyclones that we had to go into the storm cellar dug into the
ground
to escape from.
The YMCA was a favorite gathering place for people in Beatrice. It was managed by
YMCA
Directors James and Vera Infelt. They provided not only activities for the boys of
Beatrice but
also the girls.
Snooker, basketball, swimming, and Friday Night Dances were provided weekly. Summers were spent producing musicals which were performed by local
talent and toured to the near-by Military Facilities and the Hospitals. The Director of these
musicals was a very talented
man named Richard Wood (my good friend), where I was also
one of the local performers.
One
of the young supporters and actresses was Lynn Sherwood
(A KILPATRICK), who was known
to us as the nine o'clock girl, because she had to be
home each night at 9 o'clock. Her mother died, giving birth to her and she was raised by
Hanna the House Keeper, her eldest sister Kathryn and
her father, along with her older brother Robert and older sister. Her father died the night of her
senior play. She was my dear friend and I named my daughter Lynn after her. She went on to
Vassar College and married a man from Spain where she now lived. Years later I was told that
it was her father who paid the tuition for me to attend college at Nebraska Westlyn. The Kilpatricks lived in very impressive homes and were known as Big Sheep People all across
the United States.
Among the long list of FAMOUS PEOPLE that were born in Nebraska, there are three
that
stand out as having come from Beatrice.
ROBERT TAYLOR (Born Spangler Arlington Brugh) the son of a Doctor was born in Filley, Nebraska in 1911 but was raised in Beatrice, Nebraska. He went on to Hollywood to work
his way through the celebrity circle to star in Motion Pictures. Spangler Arlington Brugh went
to
Doane College in Crete, Nebraska where he performed in plays. Known for his good
looks,
Spangler was first discovered there performing in a play, which led to hollywood,
where he
changed his name to Robert Taylor. My husband's sisters used to play with him
as a kid and
his mother used to baby sit him. Robert Taylor married Barbara Stanwyck..
He came home
one
year and businesses and schools were closed for the big parade that
was held in his honor.
He rode through the street in a convertible, dressed in a trench coat to tremendous cheers of the
crowds and waved at everyone.
GENE L. COON began (Our First Cousin) was born in Beatrice, Nebraska the son of
Merle
“Pug” Coon who worked for Dempsters (a foundry that made Wind Mills, Tanks,
etc.). His
mother was Erma Noakes Coon and the Noakes family was famous for their
annual reunions.
Gene became a radio broadcaster and had great interests in writing and
later became a novelist
and screenwriter. Following his interest in writing, Gene enrolled
and graduated in a writing school
and went on to write screenplays for “Wagon Train”,
“Have Gun Will Travel”, “Mr. Lucky" and “Startrek” (The original series). Joining his friend
Gene Roddenberry on the “Startrek” series,
Gene became one of the primary producers
and writers of the series. Gene's novels were
published and his feature film script was made
into a motion picture starring Chad Everett: “First
to Fight”.
EVERETT “PID” PURDY (A relative of the Kilpatrick family) was one of the greatest
atheletes to come from Nebraska. He went on to play Football for the Greenbay Packers
and Baseball for the Cinncinatti Reds.
“THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON NEBRASKA CAME FROM THE BOOK:
“IT'S ALL IN BLOOD” BY AUTHOR CHRIS MILSPAUGH AND JEAN
SWARTLING.
THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862:
In 1862 DANIEL FREEMAN, an adroit of Union Secret Servicemen was detailed for
duty in Nebraska territory. While there, he built a log cabin and moved his family on some
land near
Beatrice Nebraska. THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF MAY 20, 1862 was due to
become effective immediately after midnight on 1, 1, 1863. Freeman, an insider
was well aware of the provisions.
While attending a New Year's dance in Brownville, Freeman
met a man employed by the
Government Land Office.
Following the stroke of Midnight, the obliging official followed by Freeman, went to the
Land
Office where his application for Homestead entry was completed for a portion of
Section 26,
Township 4, Range 5, Application 12 and Certificate 2, thus becoming the first Homestead. When
the Land Office opened the next morning Samuel Kirpatric stood in a
long line of Applicants to
hear that Freeman's application was filed as the first under the
Homestead Act. Kilpatrick's
application was recorded Certificate 12.
INDIANS IN NEBRASKA:
There were various TRIBES OF INDIANS that also occupied
the Nebraska Territory, but
the most dominant were the Algonkian and Siouxan. Decendants of
the ALGONKIAN AND SIOUXAN were the SIOUX, CANNACHES, IOWAS, WINNEBACOS, OTOES,
MISSOURI, PAWNEES, PONAS, OMAHO, CHEYENNE AND APPAPAHOS. The
Pawnees, Otoes and Omahas who were in the territory when it was
first settled were generally
regarded as friendly to pionees but soon had to be placed on the reservations
under supervison
of Government Agents. Between 1855 - 1882 the Southern half of
Gage County was stipulated
as RESERVATION FOR Otoe and Misouri Indians.
In 1864 the Sioux and Cheyenne broke the shaky peace, rampaging along a 300 mile
3 stretch
of THE PLATTE and LITTLE BLUE RIVERS, burning, raping, massacreing
pioneers and
stampeding cattle. It took two days for the news to reach Beatrice. When
news came, they
feared for their lives.
THE KILPATRICK FAMILY AND THE RAILROAD:
One of the well known pioneer families of the Beatrice neighboring towns was SAMUEL
AND RACHEAL KILPATRICK who left VENTON BENTON COUNTRY, IOWA
and in 1859
setteled on track of land 10 miles west of Beatrice. There they raised 6 boys,
JOHN D, WILLIAM
H, ROBERT J, SAMUEL D, JOESEPH M AND HENRY CLAY.
The brothers worked closely together to achieve success in many endevors. THEY WERE
VERY INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING THE RAILROAD across the several states
including: Kansas, Texas, Nebraska,
Utah and Colorado, to mention a few. The
BURLINGTON RAILROAD had stopped westward construction at ALLIANCE
NEBRASKA for lack of fuel. The Kilpatrick Borthers and Collins
Family found Coal in Wyoming and construction resumed, completing almost 5,000 miles of railroad. Some of
their other interests were logging, raising sheep, farming, coal mining, horse breeding and
real estate. At one time, they owned 86,000 plus acres across Nebraska, Wyoming and
Idaho.
They also established the Largest Construction Company in the World.
All of the brothers had large mansions in Beatrice at some time in their lives. Beatrice
always
remained their home base. They were always willing to help anyone in need,
often taking children
in to raise.
The Authors Chris Milspaugh and Jean Swartling held many interviews collecting information
on
the family. A trunk was discovered in the basement in New York City beloning to Bill
Purdy,
a mem ber of the author's family, containing 900 documents, photos, newspaper
clippings and
letters to reveal the family history. Picabo, Idaho is a town the Kilpatricks
helped to establish in
early 1900s.
Contributed
by: Elaine Edgerton
