Creating a sense of pride and place

There is no doubt that McCook has a sense of pride. Just look at all the people, young and old, wearing McCook Bison shirts and jackets every day of the week; or the Bison Alumni Newsletter, which keeps those near and far connected to their hometown: or the giant M on the hill south of town. (At some point, can we talk about lighting up the M somehow? During a recent vacation, I saw several similar “giant” letters, shining from the hillside during the late-night drives, and was inspired.)

But I digress...

If a visitor asked a McCook resident to describe their community, would everyone tell the same story? Would the person have a story to tell? Would they have a positive story to tell?

To create a sense of pride and place, a community must know itself. It must know where it has been. It must know what it is today. And it must know where it is going.

McCook has a good sense of where it has been, thanks to those who have dutifully recorded its history since its inception in 1882 and taken the steps to share those stories.

There is everyone from Walt Sehnert with his columns and books about the well-known and lesser-known McCook residents to Sue Doak and the members of the Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society capturing McCook’s past. The McCook Heritage Square Walking Tour has captured McCook’s rich political history and other unique or historical locations. And you can spend countless hours at the Museum of High Plains Historical Society learning - or relearning - about the history of the area, especially since the museum has expanded its hours as it undergoes a revitalization.

The next question is what are we doing today to create a sense of pride and a sense of place.

Next month during McCook’s Heritage Days, we will have visitors in town who likely haven’t been here in a year or two because of the pandemic or who haven’t been here in decades simply because time slips away quickly. Will things have changed since they were last here? Or will they say, this is exactly the same as when I graduated 30 years ago?

Even when there isn’t a special occasion, have we created a welcoming and inviting community? Have we made improvements which would make a person or family want to live here?

And as we work to determine the story of today, are we recognizing all that which helps tell McCook’s story?

Part of the reason the Norris Institute is developing the outdoor plaza, Norris Alley, in downtown McCook is to bring recognition to perhaps McCook’s greatest asset, George W. Norris. Just like Willa Cather is connected to and celebrated in Red Cloud, Norris will forever be tied to McCook and that is something we should be taking advantage of on a regular basis. He was a true statesman, willing to work with others while holding steadfast to his beliefs. He has towns and dams and bridges named after him. He is recognized as one of the best United States senators...ever.

Yet, there are many in McCook and Southwest Nebraska who don’t know who George Norris is or what he accomplished. And if we don’t know who George Norris is or what he stood for, how can we expect others across Nebraska or across the country to know who George Norris is?

McCook is fortunate to have the George Norris House and the Norris Institute working to keep Norris’ legacy alive. The next question is how to take it to the next level and get the entire community engaged in collaborative thinking.

After all, McCook was willing to change the name of its Main Street to Norris Avenue. At the time, the community recognized the importance of George Norris. Could you imagine proposing that today? Getting a consensus about the merits of one person? And think of the headache for those on Main Street, who had to change their stationery?

But again, I digress...

The hardest work for a community may be the part about “where it is going.”

It is easy to get swept up in the day-to-day operations, putting out “fires,” or responding to the immediate crisis with little thought of 5, 10 or 20 years down the road.

But a community without a plan will just maintain the status quo - if it is lucky. More likely, the community will slowly - almost imperceptibly - dwindle away without knowing it or even seeing it coming.

And even if a community can just stay the same, do we really want to just be adequate? Is that the story we want to tell others? Is that the community we want to live in?

We all have dreams for ourselves, for our families, for our community. But dreams without a plan remain just that...a dream.

As we work to make McCook an even better place to call home, we need to have a plan for where we are going. We need to take the time to actually think about what we want our community to look like. We need to have a vision for what kind of place we want for ourselves and for future generations. And we need to be willing to invest our time and our money into creating a community with a sense of pride and a sense of place.