PAGE nVL
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1936.
PIATTSMOUTH SEMI - .WEEKLY JOURNAL
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SPiUTH
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Text of Page Article from Sunday Bee-New
of November 15th by Don Hollenbeck
"Seeing yourself a.i others see you" was the unique experience of
I lattsmouth readers of the Omr.ua Bee-Xews last Sunday, when that paper
tcntained a page write-up of the town by Den Hollenbeck, feature writer,
v.1.0 was here a couple of days the preceding wee!:, accompanied by the
I aper's Candid Camera photographer. They spent the time "just visitin" "
i nd talking with "the folks," snapping numerous pictures of interesting
people of the town, some of which were published and some not. The full
lage story was the net result of their visit. Through courtesy of the Bee
Xews, the Journal has been provided with a mat of the story and pictures,
v hich we reproduce for- the benefit of our readers who do not take the
Cmaha paper. Tomorrow the Bee-Xews will carry a similar page on the
town of Weeping Water. The honor of being the first in this series of
"Omaha's Neighbors" was accorded to Plattsmouth, a town that has in
cars past occupied as much front-page space in metropolitan newspapers
:. any town in the state.
The text of Mr. Hollenbeck's story, interwoven with the pictures the j
Pee published in connection therewith is as follows: !
meet is the chief of police. If your
conscience is clear, greet him hear
tily, for it's Joe Libershal, a Flatts
mouth boy, at whom his one-time
playmates gaze a little awe-struck j
If there is any town in Xebraska larger side of the ledger, the side,
with a dream of its past and a vision that has names and faces on it. I
of its future inextricably bound up Plattsmouth's Pride !
in the daily lives of it3 inhabitants.; First, what has Plattsmouth the'
that town is Plattsmouth, about 20 most reason to be proud of? Prob- j
miles south of Omaha, near the con- aDiy the Masonic home would cover i
fluence of the Piatte and Missouri that item. Everybody knows what a j
rivets. great institution the Masonic home
Plattsmouth dreams of Its past is how it takes care of aged and in- j
glory, when it was one of the most t;jgent members of the lodge from all :
important cities of the state, with a over the state. xBut you wouldn't ;
bustling river harbor, and street cars know the story of Plattsmouth if you
"before Omaha had them." It glories didn't know the story about Bill
fn its vision of the future, when the Evers, who as a kid U3ed to play on
river again will echo to the haunting tK9 spacious grounds of the Masonic
toots of steambr.at whistles, and home and later grew up to become
Plattsmouth will once more taks its superintendent. Bill has been super
place as a river port of parts.
That vision is taking shape now. 1
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HILDA VLLENGREN
She's just about got everybody's number in Plattsmouth
The docks are under construction,
and, when the river is opened to reg- !
ular traffic, the proudest town along
the stream will be Plattsmouth. j
whoso rite has been transportation,
by river and by rail. j
Confident. Vtizz Shrcvrd j
You can"t spend 10 minutes in the
town before the fact strikes you that
here is a community that is well nigh
sufficient unto itself, confident in its
ability to prosper, wise in holding
last to what is good, and shrewd in i
adopting what is new. j
Take the cass of Fred Ileisel. Fred
runs the riattsmouth roller mills,
which you pass as you drive into
Plattsmouth on Highway 75. Fred
was born in Plattsmouth in 1S69, and
he's just the same age as the rail
road in Xebraska. That wouldn't be
so unusual, but Fred lives in the
house in which he was born, ut a
block or two from the mill. They used
to grind flour there but, as Fred says,
baker's bread sort of put the small
flour mills on the blink, and so now
he handles mostly grits, and other
"Mnfls of feed. But he's happy,' living
in the old house with his sister,
Anna, doing a little business with the !
u Iks that live around Plattsmouth, ,
remembering when there were three
steamboats busy on the river (that
was in 1S79) and when the ferry
used to cross to a place called Bethle- j
hem, on the Iowa side. j
Fred's catalpa tree, which stands
near the well on the old Ileisel place,
is probably the biggest catalpa tree
around here.
Fixed Eoots
Fred's case is typical of Platts
mouth folk. They have roots that are
hard to pull up. Fred's father started
the mill in 1856, and Fred started
working in it as a youngster. You
might think he'd had enough of it,
especially when things tightened up,
but Fred's perfectly contented. The
cars go pretty fast along the smooth,
hard Xo. 75, past Fred's mill, but
speed isn't a factor in his life.
As you enter Plattsmouth, coming
from Omaha, the state highway de
partment's road marker credits the
town with a population of 3,793.
While true in 1930, when census fig-
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the youngsters in Plattsmouth the ling just about everything1 in
early mysteries of the piano. Mrs.
Roberts used to be Kitty Cummins,
member of a pioneer Cass county
family. She lives opposite the new
high school in a square, two-tone
house, with tan predominating
the
vegetable line.
As BEEX Goes, So
The packing plant and the Burling
ton Refrigerator Express company
occupy the buildings once occupied
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t Her brother. Dr. Frank L. Cum- entirely ny tne liuriington s coacn
and freight car shops. Plattsmouth
calls the latter outfit "BREX" and
Plattsmouth thrives as "BREX" sur-
min?, ic the p;stmar;ter, just ap
pointed. He succeeded James V.
Ilclrnes, who's nov.- in the insurance
business. As they say in Plattsmouth,
everybody that's out of office goes
'. into the insurance or real estate
I business, and the real estate business
hasn't amor.nted to much of late.
But we meet a lady who denies the
: real estate business is in the dol
drums. It's Mrs. L.. W. Egenberger,
the only lady in Cass county to be
; engaged in the insurance aiul real
'estate business. In her sunny offices
'over Main street, she says there's no
JOS JLIBEESHAL,
Chief of Police of the City of
Plattsmouth
reason to complain about hard timeis.
I The Chief Operator
i litre's Hilda Wal'?ngren, the chief
j telephone operator. Hilda's been!
I working on -the board for eleven'
j years, but she hasn't been chief op-j
jerator that long. Hilda's quick think- i
ling had a lot to do with the dis-
r.ow, because Joe sports a natty tan ' fom fit lire of the bandits during the
: figured EO largely.
Working with Hilda are Mrs. Har-
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Dave Pickrel and Jarvis ban- "tu. n . uusk ma,
caser, who handle the night trick, ! J"". iu.ay, m.
Uviin- .Tno hinAif inn',:s nftpr thin Krien. Hilda Epler, Margaret Long
'during the day. There's quite a story i?d Mrs. Ruth Koukal. Pretty gooel
uniform, complete with Sam Brown
i belt
t ii i; e t a.
, nuiKJii iur jue aie iwu iiuiiue- j .
i about Jarvis. Two or three years ago
sized hoard for a town the size of
' 3.
W. H. "BILI
F.VF.RS
Superintendent of the X'ebraska
Masonic Home
PLATTSMOUTH
. POP. 3733
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If the first figure was a 4 in
stead of 3, it would come a lot
closer to giving the facts in
the case. Plattsmouth has been
growing in "pop" since the
census of 1030.
intendent of the home since 1920,
but as he says, he's known every
body that came into the place since
1903, which about dates Bill's faculty
for remembering names and faces.
The Masonic home is Bill's dream
and although he's had almost every
honor that a grateful and proud com
munity can pay him, it looms largest
in his hopes and plans for Platts
mouth. Just last season, Bill was
king of the King Korn Karnival,
which corresponds to Omaha's Ak-
Sar-Ben.
j A very fine king he was, too, al
though the biggest kick he got out of
;the whole affair was seeing the trick
moving pictures of him putting the
crown on the queen. They ran the
film slowly, thus making the projec
tion about 10 times as fast, and it
looked like Bill was trying to brain
the queen when he placed the crown
rn her head. Bill, bluff and hearty,
roars when he tells about that.
Eight Churches
Take the churches of Plattsmouth.
There are eight in the town, which is
a pretty stiff average for the average
community to shoot at. There's the
Presbyterian, of which the Rev. Dr.
H. G. MeClusky is pastor and by far
the eldest in years of service of all
the ministers in Plattsmouth; the
Methodist, presided over by the Rev.
V. C. Wright; the Christian church,
lied by the Rev. J. W. Taenzler; the
Evangelical, pastor, G. A. l'ahl, and
the two Catholic churches, whose
flocks look to the Rev. Fathers
George Agius and Adolph Mosler for
guidance. There is also a Christian
Science congregation, and an Episco
pal church, Father Lane of South
111 - A. A. ATU 1. ..A J.'n
some bandits took picks on a Platts- ' 1 lall5l:lulu"' "Ul u 1UL ul
mouth bank, and Jarvis. then a dep- tance calls go through, and every pro
uty sheriff, proved himself the hero jgressive Plattsmouth merchant as
of the occasion. well as most of the residences have
a telephone.
Not the Measles ! This fellow with the "I'll beat the
His pictures came out in the Om-world" stride is Art E. Stewart, who
aha papers, and it looked like Jarvis ruils the Norfolk Packing company,
had the measles. But the spots on 1 You might wonder why it's located
Jarvis' face were there because he Plattsmouth and still called by the
had daubed mercurochrome on the j na!r'e of another Nebraska town, ana
places where he'd been cut by flying ' there's a story about that,
glass. Bullets pumped by Jarvis thru ; Cliff Wescott. who's the chairman
the plate glass door of the bank into 'of one- of the Chamber of Commerce
one of the bandits, caused the glass ; committees, read a two-line item in
to spatter his face. Jarvis was re- a Xebraska paper that the Xorfolk
warded for this fine piece of work by Packing Co. was considering moving
a job as a deputy state sheriff in its location from the town of that
Bryan's administration, but was let name. Cliff got busy and spent two
out later. years persuading the firm that Platts-
If we're early enough, we're more mouth was the place for it to expanel.
than likely to come across Mrs. J. M. And they're glad they took his ad
Roberts, who has taught about half vice, doing a fine business and pack-
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urcs were taken, that's far from ac
curate today. The Plattsmouth Jour- j Omaha supplyin
nal, a daily and senn-weekly, claims j Suppose we go for a stroll down
4.S00 for the town, and the most , Main street in Plattsmouth on anv
conservative estimates put the popu
lation at about 4,500 souls. But facts
and figures don't tell the half of a
town's story. Let's take a look at the
weekday morning. Let's meet a few
of the folks as we pass their way on
a sunny fall day. v
One of the first you're likely to
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Optician MI:e Trilsrh comes from bis office down the hall
to fix' a pair of specs for Sirs. L. W. E'aenbereer, Cass county's
only woman real estate and insurance stent.
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has led the Methodist choir for 35
years, or her husband, Vho has play
ed the organ for 4 0 years and taught
the men's Bible class for 31 years.
Hilt is secretary of the Chamber of
Commerce, and with his brother, runs
the only exclusive men's clothing
store in riattsmouth. Of if a long
beanpole-like sort of chap meets our
eye, it is more than likely Fred I.
Rca. never without a cigar. Fred is
district manager of the Iowa-Nebraska
Light and Power company.
Nose for Hews
The rather mournful looking fel
low is Frank Smith, news editor of
the Plattsmouth Journal, which is
owned and published by Mrs. Ii. A.
Hates. The paper was published for
many years by her husband, Robert
A. Bales, who dicfi in 10 3 4.
Saturday nights don't amount to
so much in Plattsmouth any more
since the merchants started their
Wednesday stunt. Throughout the
week they all give coupons free you
don't have to buy anything to get
one, and then on Wednesday nights
the coupons with their owner's names
thereon are clumped into two boxes on
the street corner, and two drawings
are held, one for the folk3 who live
out in the country, and another for
those in town. Lucky winners get
scrip worth $20 in trade.
It really brings the folks to town.
A half hour of entertainment is offer
ed before the drawing, and Saturday
night just can't hold a candle to
Wednesday night any more when it
comes to crowds.
(Ed. Xote -Mr. Hollenbeck evi
dently thinks Saturday' nights are
dull in Plattsmouth and we hasten
to enlighten him on this fact, as a
trip here any Saturday night with
cars parked several blocks back off
Main street would promptly do. lth
and Farnam is seldom more crovded
than Plattsmouth's Main Street eith
er on Wednesday or Saturday nights.
Come down nd see us, sometime,
Don. )
Liquor Question
You can't buy liquor by the drink
n Plattsmouth, only by the packace,
from two stores. Plattsmouth folks
didn't want repeal very badly, and
some of them would be pleased to see
prohibition again. But the liquor
Continued on Page Six.
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"inLX" HESCOIX
Caught in an oh'-guard p.:e by
the Bec-Xews Cameraman
EDDIE SCHILIIOFJ'
Piano Tuner and former Band
Director at Plattsmouth
vives and vice versa. Just now there
is talk of a large refrigerator car
building program that may add extra
men to the force.
This jolly looking chap with the
geld toothed grin must be Eddie
fc-chulhof. Eddie used to be the lead
er of the C. B. & Q. band, when the
shops were doing locomotive, coach
and freight car work, and they went
to puff away for Bryan at the Kan
sas City convention in 1900, but the
band has been disbanded long since.
Now Eddie is a piano tuner, and is
doing what most piano tuners do
nowadays not much. So he's orga
nized a brass qartet.
Like most band leaders, Eddie plays
the baritone horn. Other members of
the quartet are Lee Knolle, who
teaches musi in the public schools,
C. E. Ledgway, clerk of the district
court, and Sheldon Giles who works
for his father in the Coryell oil sta
tion. Knolle's another baritone play
er, and Giles and Ledgway perform
on the trombone. The boys are pol
ishing up some Christmas carols.
The Itotary Club
About noon or a quarter after,
we'll probably see Frank A. Cloidt of
the Plattsmouth State bank dropping
his work and rushing acros3 the
street to the Plattsmouth cafe, where
the Rotary club meets on Tuesday.
Frank, an energetic, highly strung
chap, with a fine tenor voice, is pres
ident of the club.
Just about everybody in town be
longs to the club. There's the barber,
Clayt Rcscncrans, who puts grayy on
pie and loves it. That's gospel. Just
ask anybody in Plattsmouth.
After the Rotary meeting, we
might meet Mrs.' Hilt Wescott, who
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MARIAN OLSON
High school's just like it always was. Here's Marian O!son
reciting in business English class.
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Plattsmouth barber who likes to eat gravy on his pie. He iin'f do
ing that however in this picture taken at a Rotary cluU luncheon.
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