8.24.22
1893
The Ed Hawkes 100-acre grove near Endicott was selected as a good place for the old settlers’ picnic.
George H. Bailey was chairman and Billie Crane of Steele City was secretary of Prohibition party convention in Fairbury; Peter Speenburg was chairman of the central committee.
1884
The Jefferson County Teachers Association had its first meeting.
1899
A new Nebraska law compelled all convention-nominated candidates to file a list of their expenses. It also applied to defeated candidates.
1903
Will Paetit, playing the snare drum at the Sells 85 Downs show in Fairbury, had his drum ruined when a circus horse jumped out of the ring.
C.F. Steele bought the Hough-ice lot on the south side of the square, ending a disagreement over construction of an opera house.
Olive True, Democratic nominee for county superintendent, was the second woman to run for a county office, and the first to be elected.
Corn and alfalfa crops were “doing fine.”
1906
Fairbury schools opened with 25 teachers and 1,000 students.
1913
August temperatures in Jefferson County were ranging from 98 to 108 degrees, more often the latter, in a summer that set records for heat and lack of rainfall, .20 inch in July, 1.28 in August.
Wilson Shoebotham had cut 22 tons of millet hay from 14 acres, and refused $10 a ton for it.
A.D. Moody bought the Palace Grocery and meat market from Durand and Garber.
J.D. Ireland, 77, who had filed on a homestead six miles northeast of Fairbury in 1869, died. He had hauled the first load of lumber for the Baptist Church in Fairbury a year later; had served one term as county commissioner and one as sheriff.
1919
Creamery butter was selling for 64 cents a pound and “country” butter for 50 cents, with more demand than supply for the latter. The Fairbury Journal believed farmers could make a grade of butter equal to the creameries’ and get the same price.
1923
The retail price of gasoline dropped from 23 ½ cents to 17 cents. This was before gasoline had state and federal taxes.
Paving started on F Street, north from Fourth.
Arthur H. Richardson and Herbert F. Holstein dissolved their partnership, Richardson taking the undertaking business and Holstein the furniture. Their enterprises were located diagonally from each other at Fifth and D Streets.
1926
A program of religious education was started in the Fairbury school, following what was known as the “Gary Plan.” The schools gave a half day each week for religious education in the middle grades. Churches were opened for these classes. The four Protestant churches, Methodists, Baptist, Christian and Presbyterian, took part.
1933
Opening of a new wheel at Crystal Springs increased Fairbury’s water supply by an estimated million gallons daily.
New retail bread prices in Fairbury: 12-ounce loaf to 8 cents, one-pound to 10 cents, 10-ounce to 15 cents or two for 25 cents.
Income woes for most people made steaks at 12 cents a pound, roasts at 7 ½ and bacon at 15 cents. A “wash dress” for 69 cents was still expensive.
In spite of hard times, many people made it to the World’s Fair in Chicago.
National and Nebraska prohibition ended, and 3.2 percent beer was on sale here.
1934
The State Bank of Morrowville was robbed.
Nineteen men were taken from federal relief rolls to construct houses on what was known as the “farm-stead project,” southeast of Fairbury between the Little Blue River and the Union Pacific tracks. It was theorized production from the small acreages would supplement other family income. Civilian Conservation Corps young men were building farm dams to control soil erosion. Their camp buildings occupied the present fairgrounds.
1936
The Helvey family reunion was held at the City Park in Fairbury. About 150 members of the Helvey family gathered.
1943
R.B. Felton won the Jayhusker golf tournament at the Fairbury Country Club, 3 and 2, over Frank M. Rain of Fairbury in the finals.
The will of Mrs. Hattye Warren of Fairbury left 540 acres of Jefferson County land and residence property at the northwest corner of Seventh and G streets to the Fairbury Baptist congregation.
1944
Oliver Stull and Wilbur Ewers formed an electrical sales and contracting partnership.
Lt. Wesley Helvey, son of the Milton Helveys of Fairbury, missing in action since February after a bombing raid over Germany, was reported killed in action. He is buried in the U.S. Cemetery at Margraten, in the southern part of the Netherlands.
The Clyde Moores of Fairbury visited his grave there in 1970, bringing back photos for his mother.
Local market prices were butcher hogs, top, $14.15; stock hogs, $16; best beef cattle, $12.50; stock cattle, $11.50; white corn, $1.15; yellow, $1.01 ½; wheat, $1.37; oats, 65 cents; bar-ley, 96 cents; alfalfa hay, $20; butter, 45 cents; eggs, 31 cents; butterfat, 48 cents; and hens, spring, 21-23 cents.
1954
George Newton was Community Chest drive chairman. Chest officers were Warren Jones, president; Mrs. C.J. Galbraith, vice president; and Mrs. Clyde Washburn, secretary-treasurer.
New report cards were introduced by Fairbury Superintendent Don Maclay, intended to give parents better knowledge of their children’s progress.
Corn ear worms were damaging milo heads, eating the shoots on which the kernels grew.
1964
The Diller Community High School annual was dedicated to Mrs. Dora O. Miller, whose Diller Record page in The Fairbury Journal had always featured the schools.
Charles Juricek received a $100 award from the National Elks Foundation in addition to the “Most Valuable Student” award from the Fairbury Lodge. The son of the Lester Juriceks of Jansen, he had been valedictorian of the 1964 FHS class.
George P. Burger, 56, former city and county attorney, died.
1974
“Third strike” and “last straw” described crop losses in Jefferson County. A survey committee estimated almost $16 million from drouth, $2 ½ million from a mid-August hail storm and almost a half-million dollars from a Labor Day freeze that dropped temperatures to 28 degrees.
The Natural Gas Pipe-line Co. of America re-placed its six-pipe crossing under the Little Blue northwest of Steele City, with a single 24-inch line weighted down with 200 tons of concrete.
Jack Porter, formerly of Hubbell, was named sales manager for NC Hybrids.
1984
Rebuilding of the Ed Hawkes-Billy Smith cabin on Endicott’s Main Street began with the arrival of 30 oak logs. The original cabin stood on Smith Creek at the west entrance of Endicott.
Emma Milius was recognized for helping make 800 quilts since 1948 for the Grace Lutheran Church Ladies’ Aid group.
“The Guild,” a new studio gallery owned and operated by Ralph and Depke Andress.
1994
Ryan Koenig of Daykin was named a winner in a national livestock judging contest sponsored by “Farming Magazine.”
Some of the winners at the Nebraska State Fair were Josh Carpenter of Diller exhibited the junior champion Brown Swiss; Carrie Nolte of Fairbury won the advanced showmanship champion-ship at the 4-H dog show; Adam Engelman of Diller exhibited the junior cham-pion Holstein; and Dennis Brown Jr. of Fairbury won the beginning showmanship championship in the 4-H Dog Show.
Five ordinances designed to reshape the boundaries of the city of Fairbury r-ceived initial approval from members of the Fairbury City Council.
2004
Americorps members spent a month earlier this year helping with the remodeling of the Fairbury Youth Involvement Center.
