Looking Back 7.17.24

1886There was some opposition to issuing the Rock Island Railroad bonds here, but this was overbalanced by the fact the Burlington had bypassed Fairbury, and this town didn't want to miss out on an east-west line.1893First indications of the 1893 money panic came in farm product prices: Hogs $5.30. cattle $5-$5:50. butcher cattle $1.50-82, wheat 45 cents. corn 25 cents, oats 25 cents, butter 15 cents and eggs 10 cents.Ed Munger was elected to succeed L.W. Goodrich, who had resigned as captain of Company D of the state militia.Albert Hammond, then editor of The Journal, offered to sell 120 acres of wheat and 90 acres of corn in western Kansas for $1.50 per acre.1896Farm product prices were low and times hard here. However, crops were good, boosted by a two-inch rain June 25.W.F. Cramb, later to become editor of The Fairbury Journal, was principal speaker at Rock Creek community's July Fourth celebration. Following him to the speaker's stand was Peter Gill, who took issue with some of his views.1903Hard coal was selling in Fairbury for $11.25 a ton.1906John Shea had picked 14 bushels of cherries from three trees at his home on H Street.A party of Fairbury young people went into camp on the Kesterson Ranch southwest of town. Before the days of the automobile, this was far enough for such an outing.Rainfall had kept crop conditions looking good up to midsummer.1905Fairbury had a lady’s band, and a concert was given in the streets of Fairbury.The Rock Island Railroad announced that the chair cars and sleepers on its best trains would be lit by electric lighting.Fairbury received rain for 12 days in succession.1907A new law required that $2.50 annual pool tax be paid in cash. It had been possible to work out the amount.Fred Diethehn sold his quarter section near Reynolds to Emmanuel Cerveny for $7,500.W.R. Leighton's Hygienic Dairy, next door to The Fairbury Journal office; made and sold 500 gallons of ice cream one hot day.1913Hot winds with temperatures up to 111 degrees crimped corn crop prospects. Wheat yields ranged from 15 to 25 bushels per acre, at 71 cents.The new Fairbury Baseball Association had leased ground near the flouring mill, west of F Street and south of Third Street, for a diamond.1917Fairbury raised $4,000 and Plymouth $1,200 toward the county quota of $17,900, $1 per resident, for the Red Cross. F.R. Shelley of Beatrice took over the defunct Fairbury Business College.1918Thirteen bushels to the acre was the top wheat yield reported to The Fairbury Journal. Market price was $2 a bushel. 1923Two hundred persons patrionized the Harry Evans-Ben Whysong swimming pool at Second and H Streets on its first clay.No oil was found in a Well drilled to 3.875 feet near Haddam.New monthly rates for Daykin telephone patrons were to be $1.50 residential and business $2.50. That town was to have a brick community building, donated by selling stock shares.1933R.B. Beals, light and water commissioner, reported the department pumped a record amount of water in June, 1933: 57.354.000 gallons.Retail prices for beef had increased about 25 percent, but the cattle market hadn't advanced. Speculation was blamed for drops in September futures on the Chicago grain market: wheat $1.17 to 92 cents. corn 70 to 53 cents.1943Thirty-six Jefferson County men had been called for Army induction physical examinations.1953Major and Mrs. Don Tippin and four children left for a two-year assignment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he would be a U.S. advisor to the Ethiopian Air Force. “Short-cut Herb-Seasoned Chicken Breasts” won a state championship in a recipe contest for Mrs. Sam Bervin of Fairbury.1963Names of nine Jefferson County servicemen killed in World War II servicemen were added to a memorial plaque in the American Legion Hall, which had listed seven WWI fatalities.The Fairbury school district total of residents between the ages of five and 21 years had decreased from 1,726 in 1938 to 1.257.Sheriff Clyde Kellie reported collection of 96 percent of delinquent personal property on warrants handed over to him.1974Fairbury's municipal utilities set electricity and water production records during the summer drought, even providing some current for the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).1983Father Paul A. Fuessel was installed as vicar of Episcopal chruches in Fairbury and DeWitt.Top awards in the “Super Reader” program at the public library went to Daniel and Melissa Moler, Tony Pierce, Jane Scarrow and Josh Weichel.Ron Starr won the Fairbury Country Club members golf tournament.Construction of pioneer cabin replicas began at Rock Creek Station State Historical Park, directed by Park Superintendent Wayne Brandt.The Kiwanis sponsored team won the Fairbury Little League baseball tournament over the Lions-sponsored team. Doug Carstens and Rick Blatny pitched lot Kiwanis, Eric Dragoo for the Lions.1993At least five possible tornados rumbled through Jefferson County, causing a massive amount of structural damage to area properties.

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