Odds & Ends from the 1880s & 1890s
House moving
Three house movers listed in 1891-2 City
directory
Examples
Methodist church
Big houses from West Kearney into Kearney
Houses from around Hibbard Brickyard to cotton mill or to country
Armada to Miller
Stanley to Amherst
Pools Siding store owners
May 15, 1890 - "--The old Journal office is on wheels and out in the
street."
Gibbon depot to Shelton
Shelton depot to Kearney
Other buildings to T & R grounds
Boom Period Factories
Besides usual businesses in a town of 3,000
wagon & harness makers
blacksmiths
grocery, dry goods, clothing, jewelry &millinery
hotels & boarding houses
22 Industries (including 3 brickyards) -
Opened & Closed during Boom
19 did, 2 never opened but built
buildings
11 more opened during the Boom and survived past 1893
Two still in business
Kearney Hub
book bindery closed
Midway
Bottling est. 1888 by T. F. Memmon
Products listed in Dec. 21, 1889 ad:
Ginger ale
Root beer
Birch beer
Iron wine
Champagne
Crab apple cider
Different flavors of soda
Mineral water
Seltser on syphons
1903 sold to one of Cannon Bros.
they also made cigars and sold
tobacco products
1904 J. E. Keenan bought it.
Total 33 industries
Number open by year
1888 5 (1 opened, 1 closed)
1889 21 (17 opened, 1 of those closed)
1890 24 (1 opened, 2 closed)
1891 23 (1 opened, 5 closed)
1892 24 (6 opened, 2 closed)
1893 23 (1 opened, 11 closed)
---------
1894 13 (1 opened, 1 closed)
1895 10 (1 opened, 0 closed)
1896 13 (3 opened, 0 closed)
1897 13 (0 opened, 2 closed)
1898 12 (1 opened, 2 closed)
1899 10
1900 10
1901 10 (0 opened, 1 closed)
1902 9
Kuhn Bros.
Plow factory reason for one plow
Post Boom Businesses
Suspenders
Nebr. Suspender Factory Sweeley opened early 1898
Made suspenders, expanded to mens
leggings
1900 Went into partnership with Squire of Silver Creek
Moved to corner of 22nd & 1st Ave. (library & Wells Fargo?)
Dec. 1901 closed for repairs & improvements, planned to reopen Jan
1902
Jan. 1903 reopened, St. John Suspender and Glove Factory
Appear to have stayed in business for a couple of years.
Bicycles
Kearney Cycle Manufacturing
Opened Jan. 1895 on 2nd floor of power plant
Made a bicycle called the Kearney Special a racing wheel
Cheyenne tried to lure business away
Kearney promised free power & free
rent
Aug. 1895 built a tandem bicycle, displayed in a local store
Sept 1895 Moved to east half of Journal building
Machine shop in basement
General workshop and office on 1st
floor
Assembly, varnishing & enameling
upstairs
Nov. 1895 new model, Aksarben
Feb. 1896 made a gold wheel, sending to Denver.
All parts usually nickel were gold
plated
June 1896 Opened a livery & repair shop
A livery was
a rental business. Rent by hour, day, week or month
June 1896 T. H. Bolte invented a new style of bicycle.
Kearney Cycling made the prototype
Kearney Cycling Manufacturing disappeared may have moved to Denver
Jan 1897 Jakeway & Gillet formed a partnership and opened a bicycle
factory foundry
and machine shop in Metcalf Cracker
Factory building.
Gillet had a foundry business east of
town near the oatmeal factory
Jakeway had a hardware store.
Repair, re-nickel, re-enamel, make new.
Foundry and shop on ground floor
Bicycle department upstairs
Also reported
June 14, 1892 City council meeting
Councilman Cutting had several complaints including:
Defective lamp pole at corner of
corner of 22nd St. & 7th ave
Culverts to small to carry runoff
water on 29th St
Manure piles near high school
Sept 11, 1889
It is a strange fact that straw is not sold in small quantities anywhere in
this city. If you want to get sufficient to fill a bed tick, you have to buy
a wagon load.
|