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1877Cornerstone of Fairbury College was laid with elaborate ceremonies. The Rev. M. Westley was in charge, prayer was by the Rev. Mark Noble and an address on education by Col. Thomas Harbine. The Fairbury Gazette contained a detailed description of Col. Harbine's new $4,400 brick residence. The two-story eight-room house had no interior plumbing, furnace, hardwood floors nor other comforts of modest houses nowadays. Every livery rig in Fairbury had been engaged to take people out to the Fourth of July celebration at Rose Creek City.1887The Fairbury postmaster's salary was $1,600 a year. That had doubled by 1927, when the office became “first class.”New towns along the K.C.&O. Railroad between Fairmont and Fairbury were Milligan, Glenary, Tobias and Daykin. Fairbury's importance as the trade center of the area was “diluted” by stores in new towns at stations on the C.K.&N. Railroad extensions at Harbine, Jansen, Gladstone and Gilead, also Plymouth, and a little later, Thompson and Helvey.Edna Babcock, teacher in District No. 43 (a mile west of Plymouth) cited as honor pupils Mary and Tilda Berg, John and Mary Gerth, Ilda Orth and May Zulauf.1897The Fairbury City Council appropriated $1,000 for bridges and culverts and $1,800 for street lights.A prophecy that didn't mature was that corn stalks soon would be worth $25 to $30 a ton through a new use that had been found for them.Priorities might be evidenced in the advertising “card” running in the Journal. “W.F. Cramb, attorney at law, office with The Journal.” The newspaper had been in dire straits when the young lawyer took it over at the start of 1897.1907A new law required that $2.50 annual pool tax be paid in cash. It had been possible to work out the amount.Fred Diethelm sold his quarter section near Reynolds to Emmanuel Cerveny for $7,500. W.R. Leighton's Hygienic Dairy, next door to The Journal office, made and sold 500 gallons of ice cream one hot day.1917Fairbury raised $4,000 and Plymouth $1,200 toward the county quota of $17,000 , $1 per resident, for the Red Cross.1927The Fairbury Gas Co., of which Ben G. Dawson was manager, sold to an Iowa firm. It had made and sold artificial gas, used primarily for cooking, since 1908.A half-acre of strawberries on the Clark McCurdy farm near Steele City brought in $300.Wheat combines were first used in Jefferson County. According to the late J.L. London, at that time an implement dealer in Fairbury, the first users were Joe Brown, Fred Busing and Ernest Kriesel. The machines, in one operation, replaced the former cutting and bundling with a binder, handsetting into shocks, and threshing, either from shocks in the field or after still another operation, from stacks.1937An eight-year traffic safety record in Fairbury ended with the death of a Lincoln youth.The local Veterans of Foreign Wars Drum and Bugle Corps of 35 members and the post's Auxiliary drill team each won first place at the Nebraska VFW convention. E.T. Schobnover coached the youthful Drum and Bugle Corps, whose drum major was Marjorie Thompson. Mrs. M.I. Humphrey led the Auxiliary group.State Senator Frank Wells of Fairbury just returned from the first session of Nebraska's new Unicameral Legislature, said it was designed to save time and expense. He favored a membership of 100, however instead of 40.1957Cold and rainy weather interfered with the schedule of swimming classes at the Fairbury pool. A total of 410 were enrolled. Torrential rains sent the Little Blue River over Highway 3 west of Fairbury, and traffic was halted for a time.1967A 63-unit parade marked Gilead's participation in the Nebraska Centennial. Capt. Richard Walburn of Endicott received the Distinguished Flying Cross as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam.Frank Rose won the Fairbury Country Club open golf tournament with a total 10 strokes under par.Wheat from the Glenn Powell and G.E. May farms was the first of the 1967 crop to reach Fairbury on June 27, 1967.1977The Jefferson County chapter of the American Association of Retired Citizens received its charter. Officers were Mrs. Loren Sinn. president; Mrs. Maurice Ward, Grace Holloway and Leah Thaller.Jesse Graham bought the Gaughenbaugh Home Service Store. He had been a Light and Water employee for 32 years.Nebraska Roads Department approved installation of four-way traffic signals at 14th and K streets. Mayor Robert Lammers and Police Chief Robert Gerhardt had represented the city in seeking these and other changes along Highways 136 and 15 within the city limits.District Judge William Rist ruled that Clarence Rost had a valid contract as Diller High School principal, “signed and turned back to the board,” before the board voted to terminate his employment.1987A resolution requesting that the Southeast Community College Board return “all SCC-Fairbury campus property and buildings east of K Street” to District 8 was passed unanimously at a special meeting of the District 8 School Board.Ray Wendlandt of Fairbury retired as a driver of the Fairbury to Well Star Route after more than 30 years.Congressman Doug Bereuter was in Fairbury to listen to his constituents, hear their problems and find ways to help them. The Fairbury stop was just one of many Bereuter made in the 1st District.

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