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PAGES 7 TO 12
SF.MI-WEFJCLY
HOMECOMING EDITION
you XXXIV.
PLATTSMOUTH. NEBRASKA THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1916.
No. 127.
WELCOME TO
YOU OLD TIMERS
Your Home Folks of Former Days Greet You and Bid You
Look Over Haven of Peace and Plenty in
Dear Old Plattsmouth.
Those pioneers of Nebraska coming
from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi
nois, Iowa and other localities, who
settled the Missouri river counties in
1S53 had good cause never to regret
their choice of location. In most
cases wealth and happiness have been
the lot of the first settlers and nearly
nil are well to do.
The counties into which came those
early adventurers after fortune, were
Nemaha, Otoe, Cass, Sarpy and Doug
las. Of the five named Douglas with
Omaha as its county seat takes the
first place in importance and after
that comes as of second consequence,
Cass, with Plattsmouth as its chief
city.
The Union Pacific and other rail
roads made Omaha while Plattsmouth
and Cass county have attained their
position by the energy, pluck, patience
and ability of the citizenship of both
town and county. In the selection of
their new home the pioneers of Cass
were the most competent, for Platts
mouth has by far the best of any
other city in Nebraska in every nat
ural and essential quality.
For excellence of location, health
f ulness of climate and the !eauty of
its scenery it is away ahead of them
all. Its tree clad hills, rising ma
jestically from the river plateau,
forms a landscape not equalled in this
country except possibly by the pal
asades of the Hudson river.
Some of those men who came in the
first days here have gone hence to
their x-eward; some are still living in
and around Plattsmouth and some who
moved to other localities, are again
with us, meeting with their old friends
und cronies at Plattsmoutr's first fall
festival now under way.
The welcome to those who at vari
ous times, left their first Nebraska
home will be given them by the Wiles,
the Todds, the Herolds, the Parmeles,
the Pollocks, the Doveys and many
others of the stay at home old timers,
and you can bet your bottom dollar
they will talk it over to a fare you
well.
These home comers, as they move
around the city looking up their old
haunts and homes, will see some new
things, and many great changes in
Plattsmouth. The town will look dif
ferent to them; they will recognize
5me of the old land marks here and
there, but the great improvements
that have taken place since their time
will cause them to wonder and at the
same time applaud, for all of them to
a man, retain their affection for the
old home town. Why not, for here in
the best days of their youth and lives
they had their homes, their friertds
and all their worldly possessions.
Let us walk around and see with
them what thev find that is new to
them. First of all most '.of them
recollect no street pavement at all,
others remember only that on Main
street and none can recall the brick
way they now see on Vine and the
intersecting streets from Third west
to and including Sixth.
Many of the old timers have come
to town over the Missouri Pacific and
as the auto bus loaded with home
comers made the familiar turns down
along Washington avenue this morrv
ing, the old timers speculated upon
what the piles of sand and concrete
As ohe auto bus turned south on
Sixth street, at Vine, another old
timer, sitting on the left hand side of
the car put his head out of a window,
as though he were looking for some
thing that had been familiar to him
in the days gone by. He seemed to
be disappointed as he drew in his
head and again sat erect in his seat.
"I thought I would see the old Neville
building there," he said to an old
time friend who had gone to the
train to meet him, "but instead of
I that there is a big fine brick building,
that looks like a hotel or a million
aire's home on the same spot where it
used to stand."
'The old building was there all
all right," said his friend, "but it was
torn down some three years ago and
the Elks' new home is where the old
building used to be when you were
here."
"You must remember that Platts
mouth is not behind any town in the
state for modern features and our
Elks' home is the finest in Nebraska,
outside of Omaha."
The rejuvenation of Plattsmouth as
a business point began about ten
years ago, and although slow at first,
has gathered strength year by year,
until 191G shows the city a young
giant among the chief towns of the
state.
There is today an air of confidence
and alertness among the business men
that is born of a confidence in an as
sured future for the town, only to be
confidence which inspires confidence
in others.
The town sits sqlidly on a founda
tion of material wealth seldom enjoyed
by places of equal size. It is located
on two of the greatest railroad sys
tems in the United States the Bur
lington and Missouri Pacific. Through
these two systems Plattsmouth is
.connected either directly or indirectly
with all the great centers of the
country. It is possible to ship prod
ucts from our farm or factory to
any point in the United States at
equitable freight rates, governed by
the same conditions that our big
neighbors, Omaha and Kansas City,
enjoy.
Of settled elements of prosperity
Plattsmouth has the shops of the Bur
lington railroad within her borders.
The road has invested here over $2,
000,000 in buildings and machinery.
More than 700 men are employed in
making and repairing rolling stock
for the road, and the shops' capacity
is constantly being added to. This
source of the city's growth will never
be less than at present, but will grow
as the great system grows. The
monthly pay roll runs well over $50,
000. Besides the Burlington shops,
Plattsmouth has the M. E. Smith &
Company shirt and overall factory,
with an average of fifty employes;
the Olson Photograph company, the
product from which is distributed all
PROMINENT FACTOR
IN THE EARLY DAYS
OF PLATTSMOUTH
Mrs. Anna M. Livingston, widow of
former General R. R. Livingston, who
served in the civil war and was a
prominent factor in the upbuilding
of Plattsmouth immediately after the
war, as well as a live wire in poli
tics, is still living in our midst, at the
mature age of 80. While Mrs. Liv
ingston was not one of the earliest
pioneers of Plattsmouth, yet she has
seen it grow from a town of about
1,000 inhabitants to its present pre
tentious state. She came in the year
18G4, up the river from St. Joseph, by
steamboat, with her husband and his
regiment, he then being colonel of
the First Nebraska, having the dis
tinction of raising Company A of that
regiment here in Plattsmouth. Mrs.
Livingston did not have the severe
experience of the earlier pioneers, but
with others shared the responsibility
incident to a growing frontier town".
After coming to Plattsmouth she first
lived in the house originally built by
F. S. White on the lot where her son,
Dr. T. P. Livingston, now lives, and
since that time has lived continuously
across the street at the southeast cor
ner of Sixth street and Oak street.
Mrs. Livingston came here, was the
Platte Valley, situated where the
Waterman block now stands, the land
lord being C. II . Parmele. Among
the leading citizens of that time she
mentions Major D. H. Wheeler, John
Shannon, the two Butterys, the two
Dr. Blacks, Father Hayes and his
son, Newton; Shephard Duke, and
Judge Chapman, just then starting
into the practice. Mrs. Livingston's
children were all born in Plattsmouth
trAi-ejji. Lfr. i. j-. Lavingsion. it is a
pleasure to all her friends in Platts
mouth, who are a multitude, to know
that she is enjoying life and good
health in her advanced vears.
INTERESTING LETTER
FROM PIONEER LADY
OUT IN CALIFORNIA
A very interesting letter has been
leceived by Misses Lizzie and Mary
Hobson of this city, from their cousin,
Mrs. R. M. Bates, now residing in
California, and who is a daughter of
' Stephen B. Hobson, deceased, one of
the pioneer residents of Cass county
located in Mount Pleasant precinct
In speaking of the early days, Mrs.
Bates says:
"I'd dearly like to be in old Platts
mouth, 'Home Coming' week myself.
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"53
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Main Street, City of Plattsmouth, as it Looks Today.
scattered along the way were to be
used for.
They were told that the Monarch
Engineering Company of Fall City,
another Nebraska town south of here,
has the contract for the work and is
now getting ready to begin paving
the thoroughfare with brick, all the
way from the Missouri Pacific. to town.
"Well, well, the old town is going some
ain't it now," one old ex-Plattsmouth-ian
was heard to say to himself. .Yes,
indeed,-Plattsmouth is going-some,
has been going some and will still
continue to go some.
measured by the growth of Nebraska.
The state being one of the most fa
vored in the' union, it is a safe predic
tion that Plattsmouth will grow in an
equal ratio with the rest of the com
munities within its borders.
At the present time there is an air
of prosperity, and a brightness of ap
pearance about Plattsmouth that at
once inspires the stranger within our
gates, and the impression is favora
ble. That is what counts. The stran
ger makes inquiry and finds among
all classes of citizens that spirit of
over the entire country; the Western
Machine and Foundry company, mak
ers of engines and other steel prod
ucts; the Plattsmouth Ice and Cold
Storage company; five cigar factories;
a broom factory, soda water factory,
a wholesale liquor house, a large
flouring mill and a number of smaller
concerns.
The Masonic Home for Nebraska is
located in Plattsmouth, and adds ma
terially to the disbursement of money
through different local channels.
The public improvements now un-
At the time of moving into the White
residence, which at one time contained
four families, which, she said, got
along without quarreling; this locality
was practically the out edge of the
residence district. Some time after
the return of Colonel Livingston's
regiment from the south, they were
ordered to the frontier to fight the
Indians. Mrs. Livingston went with
the regiment, and experienced fron
tier life for nine months, the soldiers
being stationed at Fort Kearney. The
leading hotel in Plattsmouth when
I would like to tell the folks how the
town looked one evening in Septem
ber, 1856, and of how we crossed the
treacherous Old Muddy in a hand fer
ry boat. Of how mother and we
children sat on the lonely Nebraska
shore and watched the boat with my
father in it, go back for the cattle
and household goods. How the rising
wind beat the boat down the river so
far mother thought they must be
drowned. At last, when it was all
over and we drove up the riverside
bank to Plattsmouth it was nearly
HOME AGAIN
"1
The old town.
The home town,
We come at
Her call.
From near land,
From far land.
From cottage
And hall.
To old friends.
To true friends,
The best friends
Of all!
The old streets,
The child streets.
By schoolhouse
And mill.
The same streets.
The loved streets,
That clamber
The hill .
We'll find them
And walk them
And wander
At will.
The old days,
The child days,
Before we
Were men,
The boy days.
The girl days.
When forty
Was ten
We'll tell them
And dream them
And live them
Again!
pppcpppppppppppoooftp pppS
sundown, and we, a dozen miles from
our new home in the country. A real
estate agent (I can't recall his name),
told my father to go into an empty
frame house to camp for the night.
There was no doors or windows yet
in the house, and other campers wen
there before us. Mother gave us u
picnic supper and made our beds on
the new laid floor. Stephen A. Davis
(then 13 years of age) helped father
with the cattle and young horses.
Next morning, early, all we campers
were astir. The men set tip a cook
stove, called a slip stove there was
no chimneys built in the house, so
they put an elbow joint on the stove
pipe and let the smoke go out of a
window. But a Nebraska wind was
raising and the smoke blew back so
the two campers and mother could
not see, even how to make coffee, so
the men lifted the stove, fire and all,
and carried it to an opposite window.
and somehow, we got eggs, ham and
coffee ready for a lap breakfast, and
soon we were out on the wild, rolling
prairie bound for our new home. This
picture has always been a clear one
in mv memory.
Mrs. A. L. Graham and sister, Miss
Ruth Graham of Lincoln, who were
here for a few days visiting their
grandmother, Mrs. Louvica Kinn:;
mon, departed this morning on the
early Burlington train for their home
in the capital city.
-v NN
.
The Great Burlington Shops and Bridge
der way include a $50,000 high school,
a Carnegie library, a $60,000 apart
ment building and other large build
ing projects. It has the largest and
Jest theater in the Parmale that any
kown in the state owns, outside of
l Omaha or Lincoln; it has a fine hotel
and in fact every attribute of civic
life is as well developed here as in
fnany towns two and three times as
large.
During three years past, two miles'
of curbing and guttering has been laid
in the residence districts, besides
brick pavement in practically all of
the business district.
. At the present time, Washington
avenue, the thoroughfare leading
northward from the business center
to the Missouri Pacific passenger sta
tion, is being paved with brick, and
when completed will give the city a
continuous paved way from the Bur
lington station to the first named
road's station, a distance of well over
a mile. Plattsmouth has a live wire
Commercial club, whose membership
comprises the best men in the town,
and the organization's efforts are
constantly directed towards the bet
terment of the business and social
life of the community.
The fact should not be overlooked
that some day the Big Muddy, the
turbid stream that flows down along
the east side of the city, will become
a vital adjunct in the growth and
importance of not only Plattsmouth.
but the whole Missouri valley. Al
ready freight lines of boats carry vast
quantities of grain and other prod
ucts between Kansas City and St.
Louis, thence to the gulf, and it is
only a question of time when the up
per river will have been given the at
tention it deserves at the hands of
congress and others interested in the
growth and development of Nebraska.
No longer can our envious contem
poraries say that Plattsmouth is a
back number, laid by for younger
towns to pass- and laugh at, for the
truth is otherwise; and as "truth is
mighty and must prevail," we have
come into our own by natural advan
tages, by mere force of circumstances
and with the contributing efforts of
live business men, of whom we have
,a large and diversified assortment.
FILES SUIT TO QUIET TITLE.
A suit has been filed in the district
court by Fred Patterson against the
iieirs, assignes and legatees of John
Carroll, deceased, and others to the
numbor of 105 defendants. The suit
is to quiet title to property situated
in the former town of Rock Bluffs
and which is now owned by the
plaintiff.
Willard Clapp and A. F. Turk, two
of the enterprising residents of Elm-
wood were in the city today for a few
hours advertising the Farmers' Union
picnic to be held in that place next
Saturday and while in the city called
at the Journal office.
VIEWS
FROM PLATTSMOUTH,
NEB.
Main Street Looking East.
Cass County Court House.
Elks' Building.
Government Building.
Masonic Home.
Pollock Wagon and Auto Bridge.
7. W. J. Streight Residence.
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