The "Roaring Twenties"

Found news release from 1995 Wagons West that featured the Roaring Twenties”
Buffalo Tales Nov-Dec issue features photos from 50th Anniversary parade in 1923.

[from the news release] This was the decade of prohibition and Al Capone, bobbed hair and the Charleston, the Teapot Dome scandal, the Scopes trial, raccoon coats, talking pictures and radio. Ford Motor Company was moving into mass production on the assembly line as cars became a necessity of life for the average American and there was a strong campaign to develop a nationwide road system.

photograph - INNER TUBE BALLOON 
            In 1928, Will C. Mueller of Amherst took this picture on Central ave., as a man with very strong lungs demonstrated his prowess. That's the Kearney High School band behind the entertainer, and members are very much interested, as one can see.
            The man cut his inner tube in two, and sealed the ends. Then he huffed and puffed trying to break the "balloon". It didn't break at the demonstration, but it did later in the Ford showroom, where a temperature change did the trick. The free show was part of the program heralding the arrival of the new Model A. Ford.

In Kearney a goat parade was held to promote the downtown businesses.
        "Goat Day" was a big success back there on October 21, 1922. There was a large crowd of people on hand to view the parade of vehicles, floats -- and goats.

The Ku Klux Klan held a big rally at the Buffalo County fairgrounds in Kearney, Oct. 1, 1925.

        The Kearney Hub gave the following account of the gathering:

"Led by a patrol of mounted men, both riders and horses enshrouded in the regalia of the order, between four and five hundred klansmen participated in the parade and demonstration Monday night....divided into two sections, one headed by a band, the second by a trumpet and drum corps....The line of march, from Klan headquarters [?where?] to the fairgrounds was kept open by city and county officers....

"Arriving at the fairgrounds the Klan conducted their demonstration and program, before and audience of perhaps ten thousand people. The formations of the hooded knights of the K. K. K. with a background of red flares, the flaming cross and the discharge of occasional rockets was spectacular....

"Zachary A. Harrris of Washington, D.C., Klan lecturer, of national repute, spoke, his subject being confined entirely to Americanism, with particular stress laid on the need for closing the doors to undesirable aliens....

"Those who expeced to hear bitter denunciation of any group, class or creed were perhaps disappointed in the speaker, for he dealt rather with facts....His entire address was more in the nature of an appeal for better Americanism...."

The last wood bridge across the Platte River in Buffalo County was replaced by a concrete and steel structure south of Gibbon at a cost of $55,000.

Jack Knight, air mail pilot, had engine trouble and landed at the Shelton air field to make repairs.

Shelton High School music program in the spring of 1926 included three quartets.
        The Sober Seniors was made up of Roy Loffer, Leland Cook, Everett Waddington and Francis Kelly.
        The Hoky Poky quartet consisted of Mark Hackman, Richard Taylor, Fred Hehner and Alex King.
        The Hayseeds included John Spahr, Fred Schroeder, Gale Allen and Franklin Finck.

The Nebraska Lincoln Highway Association held a state meeting in Kearney in April of 1925.
        By summer the Lincoln Highway through Buffalo County was all graveled as well as the road from Kearney to Pleasanton. This made Buffalo County "further advanced on gravel surfacing of state aid roads than any other county in Nebraska."

Schools
        The school at Amherst was set on fire to divert attention while the bank was robbed.

        The Normal School changed its name to Nebraska State Normal School and State Teachers College (1921).
                Degrees issued were: Bachelor of Arts in Education, Bachelor of Fine
                Arts in Education, and Bachelor of Science in Education.

                The State Normal School and Teachers College celebrated its 20th anniversary (1925).

                A. O. Thomas Building was constructed on the college campus. (1925-6).
                It is now the oldest building on the UNK campus

        The "new" Whittier School building was constructed in 1920-22
        The Junior High School building (now Central Elementary School) was constructed in 1925-26

        The Kearney Military Academy closed after graduation in the spring of 1924.

Clubs in Kearney during the 1920's and their meeting locations
        Elks Club - 3rd floor of City National Bank at 2023 Central Avenue
        Kearney Country Club - (had an office in the Opera House)
        Kearney Gun Club - Range at 1733 Amusement Park
        Kearney Women's Club - met at the Chamber of Commerce
        Kiwanis Club - 5th floor of Opera House every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
        Rotary Club - Midway Hotel every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Amusement Parks
The Midway Amusement Park (located on the site of the former cotton mill factory)
        Opened late in 1920 and was open during the 1921 and 1922 seasons.

        It had a swimming pool, dance hall, some game booths, and an area where movies were shown.
The 1733 Amusement park

        Opened on June 15, 1925.

        It had a pool, dance hall, picnic area and playground.

Good Samaritan Hospital

        Dedicated in July, 1924.
        (3 stories high)
        First expansion, addition of 4th and 5th floors, done in 1929

Construction
        Kaufmann-Wernert building was built on the northwest corner of 22nd and Central Avenue. 1922 –

        It was reported that excavation for the new Bodinson and Knutzen apartment house on 24th Street and 5th Avenue was well under way. April 4, 1923

        The Elliot Motor Lodge was constructed on West Lincoln Highway in 1927.

             It had two rows of individual cabins and a tearoom.

             The business was purchased by Dean Cannon in 1945 and renamed the Cannon Motel.

             The tearoom became the first location of Bico’s Café.

            The site was purchased by the Buckle and is now partially covered by the addition they recently added to their warehouse to accommodate their online business.