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In her final story – “The Best Years” – author Willa Cather writes about the relationship between a school superintendent, Evangeline Knightly, and a young teacher named Lesley Ferguesson. Published posthumously, the story details the kindness and wisdom Knightly shares with the teacher before shifting to the future, when the superintendent returns to town to leave flowers on Ferguesson’s grave. Cather wrote “The Best Years” in 1945 – just two years before her death – drawing heavily on her own life and childhood experiences. “At the end of he...
Last week a reader asked The Express editor if he remembered the name of a school located about four miles east of Superior. The man said he attended the third grade in that school but had forgotten the name of it. The editor reported he thought the school was most likely Valley Home and cited a story published in the April 23, 1953, issue of this newspaper. That story reported the Valley Home School located three miles east of Superior would reopen for the fall term after being closed for several years. Miss Heral Jean Jensen of Cadams would...
On May 29, 1924, the Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota Highway Association (K-N-D) selected the highway's route through Nebraska. The route was to be nicknamed The Fisherman's Highway. The highway traversed the state beginning on the Kansas stateline nearly one mile west of where Highway 14 now enters Nebraska to the southwest of Superior. It entered Superior on Second Street. At Bloom Street it turned north and followed Bloom and Idaho streets north out of town. The highway would continue north...
John Scroggin was a visionary Oak businessman. He was one of the first Nebraska residents to see the potential in the new technology known as wireless radio. It’s difficult to believe but it’s been 100 years since his pioneering radio station launched its first broadcast. He was officially granted a liccense to broadcast by the United States Department of Commerce, the predecessor of today’s Federal Communication Commission. Scroggin was authorized to begin broadcasting June 16, 1923. There are reports he may have made the first broad...
Folklore tells us “If the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.” Here in the United States, Feb. 2 is Groundhog Day. James L. Morris, in his Feb. 2, 1840, diary entry, commented on Groundhog Day. That comment is the earliest known mention of Groundhog Day in the United States. But the roots of Groundhog Day go back much farther, perhaps to Roman times. There is a Latin couplet similar to the old English rhyme “If Candlemas is fair and clear, There’ll be two winters in the year.” The couplet also has versions in Fren...
The story of Kansas as it became a state of the United States of America is much like a page out of today's conflicts, voting controversies and hardships. Kansas had its start as property of France. In 1903, a treaty was made with President Thomas Jefferson to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France. This included Kansas lands. Kansas had been named after the Kansas River, that in turn had been named after the Native America Tribe of Kansas, meaning, "people of the wind." Jefferson decided...
Kansas Day is celebrated on Jan. 29. This year, Kansas will be 162 years old. Kansas has several nicknames "the Sunflower State" and "the Wheat State" being but two. Kansas also has symbols which represent the State in some way. To date, there are 22 such state symbols. Among those Kansas symbols: a state fruit – the sand hill plum, a state soil – Harney Silt Loam, a state rock – Greenhorn Limestone and a state fish – channel catfish. Most know about the cottonwood tree, honey bee, sunflower, "H...
This week area residents received various forms of electronic communication warning of a winter storm expected to impact the area. Based on those warnings the printing schedule for this newspaper was changed. As we listened to the forecasts, we wondered what the Superior weather flag would have been telling early residents of the community. The Superior weather flag served a useful purpose and was looked at daily by the people of the community just as today we turn on our radios or glance at our telephones for weather bulletins. The weather...
The Ionia Post Office, the seventh post office in Jewell County, was organized on April 13, 1871. It served the Ionia area until it was discontinued on Aug. 6, 1982. Seneca Sumner was the first postmaster; 12 other men and women would follow him. Sumner had been born in Ohio on March 7, 1846. He is found in the 1870 U.S. Census in Washington County, Kansas as an artist-photographer. He first appeared in Jewell County records when he was appointed postmaster on April 13, 1871. The story goes...
In 1621, following the first Thanksgiving, there were no Christmas traditions in what would become the United States. Neither the Puritans nor the Pilgrims observed or celebrated Christmas. In fact in 1659, one could be fined for hanging a decoration or having anything other than a church service related to Christmas. It was not until 1870 that Christmas was to become a legal holiday in the United States. 1870 was also the first year Christmas was celebrated by the pioneer settlers in Jewell County. In July of 1870, two hundred five persons...
A small non-descript “Record” book as recently resurfaced. This book, purchased for $1.00, contains the “Minutes of Missionary Society.” This Missionary Society was the women’s group of the Olive Hill Church. The first entry is simply dated, “Nov – 1919.” In 1919, the Olive Hill Church was already 53 years old. The church building was located in the northeast corner of what was and still is, the Olive Hill Cemetery. Ten years later a new church building would be built a half mile north. Today the 146-year-old congregation still worships in tha...
The Hebrew word “Pisgah” means summit. The biblical Mount Pisgah is in the Jordanian mountains east of Israel’s Jordan River and northeast of the Dead Sea. It is also known as Mount Nebo. Mount Nebo was the mountain from which Moses looked at the Promised Land and on which he died. That Mount Pisgah has an elevation of around 2,330 feet. The elevation of Jewell County’s little-known Mount Pisgah is about 500 feet. Our Mount Pisgah is located just to the northeast of Montrose and west of the long-gone town of Delta, both in Washington Townshi...
If a new community is being built and the people are to be taught about God, a congregation must be established. On Dec. 14, 1872, at Jewell Centre (Mankato), a meeting was called to organize such a congregation. Eleven voting members were present, electing John J. Aaboe, foreman, and Jacob Tonning, secretary. They resolved to affiliate with the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod. These intentions were sent to the foreman of the synod. In answer, a letter was received saying there would be a...
Every settlement on the Plains had several requirements. The establishment of a post office, securing, if possible, a location on a railroad, schools, churches and places of commerce. One often overlooked necessity was a resting place for deceased members of the community. Early homesteaders often buried their deceased family members on the family farmland as new towns were slow to develop. Superior was no exception to this practice. William Loudon arrived in the Republican River valley in 1871. He first visited the valley area on the Kansas...
Lovewell High School, Lovewell Rural High School, Sinclair Township High School and Sinclair Rural High School are all names used for essentially the same school. The high school located in the small town of Lovewell, in Sinclair Township, Jewell County, Kansas. Lovewell is located near the center of Section 22 of Jewell County's Sinclair Township. That section is bordered by V Road on the north and U Road on south, 290 Road on the east and 280 Road on the west. A grade school, Lovewell...
Going through a box of old photos, I ran across this letter which my dad, Verel Whitleley, wrote to the Nelson Gazette on April 9, 1944. I believe it was published shortly thereafter. He was 20 years old at the time, and was stationed in the Philippines during the big war. He came home in the spring of 1946, met my mother and the rest is history. This letter depicts the beauty of the country and some of the better conditions our soldiers lived through at that time. This was retyped by censors...
From Randall, Kansas, The Early Years, 1885-1888. Eclectic Excerpts from Randall Newspapers by Jan Menhusen Smock. Nov. 13, 1886 - Many farmers of this neighborhood use flag stone (limestone) for fences and fence posts. For fence posts the stone is split out six feet in length, holes bored in with a common brace-and-bit, plugged with wood into which the staples holding the wire are driven. It makes an everlansting fence. The post cost, delivered on the ground, about 25 cents....
Ed Nealy earned first-team All Central Intercollegiate Conference honors in each of his two seasons with the Pittsburg State University Gorillas in 1956 and 1957. Nealy averaged 15.6 points per game as a senior in 1957. He contributed 9.9 points per game while helping PSU to a school record 27-2 record and a third place finish in the 64 team NAIA National Tournament at Kansas City Mo., during his junior campaign. The Webb City, Mo., native averaged 12.5 points in 53 career games played for the...
Before the town of Ezbon (later Esbon) even began, there was Ezbon School District No. 98. The district was organized on Sept. 4, 1873. Little is known about the early years of the school as only a few comments survive. One, a comment in the Sept. 9, 1880 Jewell County Review, tells about a "special meeting" to repair the old school house. Then an Oct. 7, 1880 note in the Jewell County Review relates "a five month school begins in District No. 98...although a sod house, it is well fixed up."...
Coming up Saturday, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day. Constitution Day became a National Holiday with the passing of the Omnibus Spending Bill of 2004. It is also called “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.” Senator Robert Byrd proposed the amendment to the spending bill which created the special day. Citizenship Day had existed on its own since Feb. 29, 1952, when a bill, signed by President Harry S. Truman, became law. Citizenship Day was preceded by “I Am An American Day.” That holiday was advocated by newspaperman William Randolph Hearst...
Constructed in the 1890s the oldest frame building on Main Street in Lawrence ended its life Friday. The demolition of the little building nestled between the post office and old cafe building is no more. The building has most recently been used as an art studio, but has remained empty for a number of years. A bit of history of the building is taken from the Lawrence 100 year anniversary book goes as follows: The building was built in the 1890s and the use varied as follows: law office,...
The Lawrence Telephone Company ceased existence in 1958 when the business was sold to the Glenwood Telephone Membership Corp. However, a reminder of the business continued on in the presence of the phone company's office sitting on the north end of Main Street in Lawrence. The evidence of that building will soon go away as well as the Lawrence Fire Department used the building for a 'Practice Burn' on Sunday, Aug. 28. The building is gone but the remaining trash has to be cleaned up. After the b...
To date, there are thought to have been a total of 16 high schools which provided education for students in Jewell County. Of course, not all were in existence at the same time. But spanning Jewell County's history, from near the beginning in 1876 to the present day, an education "higher" than common school (eighth grade) was and is available in Jewell County. Today, Rock Hills USD 107, is the only high school in Jewell County. The first newspaper item about "high school" in Jewell County is...
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the building of the log cabin which became Superior's first post office. It was built by William Louden, the founder of Superior. The cabin was first located on the lower lands southwest of the former Mid-America Dairymen plant. There it served not only as the post office but also as an early store and residence. Tiny houses are not new. At one time it was divided and two families called the small structure home. The building has been moved at least...
The historical Beeler House, Mankato, has recently undergone a lot of restoration and unique updating. This 120 year old Queen Anne Victorian House was one of the several historic houses featured during the 150th Year Mankato Celebration held on Memorial Weekend. Located on Commercial Street, this unique house is thought to be built by L.C. Beeler, a farmer from the Ionia area. He was the son of the well known early pioneer farmer-stockman, Fredrick Beeler. He lived in the house until the...
