Hangers were a precious commodity

Hans Horachek, the proprietor of McCook Cleaners issued a plea in June of 1943 to his customers to please send hangers along with their garments so they could deliver them properly. Hans said that he was unable to buy hangers of any kind because of the wartime conditions.

Checking the Want ads in the June 15th Gazette of 1943 I found several items of interest. The railroad was advertising for brakemen, track workers, porters, store helpers, shop laborers, coach cleaners, ice handlers, coal miners, machinists, carmen, electricians, telegraphers, signalmen, boilermakers, blacksmiths, stenographers and comptometer operators. The cafes were also still looking for help...King Fong and Modrell's wanted waitresses, Modrell's wanted a dishwasher and Cecil's Cafe in Indianola wanted a cook and a waitress.

Several people had tomato plants for sale. They were available at 901 East G Street at 50c for 100 plants. We had some absolutely beautiful tomatoes at the Farmer's Market last Saturday...and they were 50c a tomato. Those first ones of the season are worth every penny though!

There was a small ad for an engineer in that paper but by the June 17th Gazette, Davis and Wilson who were the architect-engineers for the Indianola Internment Camp were placing a large framed ad in the paper. They were looking for architectural draftsmen and engineering personnel. You could find them at the Caine Building in Indianola.

The McCook Rotary club sold three rides in one of Uncle Sam's jeeps when they were raising funds for the second War Loan drive. Two men, Ben Hormel and Myatt Volentine paid $700 for each of theirs. Hormel and Volentine took their ride up and down Main and through Kelley park after a Rotary meeting with Capt. Leo Mellon at the wheel.

Ben Hormel described the ride, "He took us up and down a couple of hills on the drives out in the park, and then he forgot where the road was. He just took off across the canyons. I never saw that fellow Volentine laugh so much in my life. What a ride!"

Eli Bollerup was the other winning bidder but he was nowhere to be found for his ride at that time.

The building had been chosen and an official hostess hired for McCook's Service Men's Center. Chosen to run the Service Center was Mrs. Charles DeForest and Mrs. Roy Harris was appointed her assistant.

The center was located in the 25' x 140' Morris building at 115 Main Street. Back in 1931 this location was the home of the E.H. Ridnour Piano Company, then it became Modern Appliance from in the 1940s to about 1972 when it became the north part of McCook Floor Covering & Furniture (Larry & Carol Samway). Mayor Kleven made a trip to Denver to purchase furniture, which was the same as the service men's center in and around Denver. There was a lounge at the front of the building with davenports, comfortable chairs, desks and reading lamps. A snack bar was at the rear. There was a separate room containing pool and ping-pong tables and a card playing area. The McCook Service Men's Center was sponsored by the city and financed through the Federal Works agency. The Womens' club of McCook sponsored a USO dance at the McCook Air base in one of the hangars on June 18, 1943. Cokes were served to the soldiers and their guests. A "juke box" provided music for the dance.

The Bystander column of June 19, 1943 talks about the heat in McCook...it was about 97 degrees in the daytime. He also talks about the humidity being so bad. I thought maybe this humidity was a relatively new thing around here with all the irrigation and lakes.

The manpower shortage on the farm was an acute one in the summer of 1943. The very first member of the "Women's Land Army" in Nebraska was an 18 year old Fremont rural schoolteacher, Audrey Eckerson. She quit her teaching job to help her father run his 400-acre farm, and hopefully encouraged other girls to stay on the farm.

Right next to that article in the June 19th Gazette was a full-page ad for the Waves (Women, Too, Wear Navy Blue!). The Navy Seabees were also advertising for recruits...construction men!

The McCook Main Street Farmer's Market had a successful opening. As I already mentioned, the beautiful tomatoes caught my eye, but the onions, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, kohlrabi and a few potatoes and pie cherries made it a success. This next week there should be sweet corn so come on down and see what you can find. There was a great choice of cherry, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb and blackberry pies too. Each Saturday morning at 8:00 (or before), come down Main Street (Norris) where there's a traffic light and on over to the city parking lot behind Peterson Jewelry and Eakes Office Plus . If you come that way, the construction's no problem at all. See you there.

-- Linda Hein is Site Supervisor of the Sen. George W. Norris State Historic Site, 706 Norris Ave. Her e-mail address is lindalea@usa.com. For more information on Nebraska history, check out the web site: http://www.nebraskahistory.org