could be Buffalo's crossing the platte

 Research Papers


Today is:

Odds & Ends from the 1880’s & 1890’s


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
Pool’s 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 men’s 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.


 


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