Bare bricks and bright lights

Nearly every morning, just before dawn, I drive southeast around Country Club Drive. As I turn south onto East 7th Street, I find myself staring into bright lights. They aren’t the headlights of an oncoming car. They are flood lights inside what will become McCook Community College’s East Campus.

I had read in a Gazette article that our old Elk’s Club was being gutted down to bare bricks, and they weren’t kidding. What’s left of the old building is stark and barren. It’s an empty shell, and it makes me feel a bit gutted myself. There are many old memories inside that building. A half-century as the home of the Elk’s Lodge, a hub of McCook’s social scene, and the host of many birthdays, anniversaries, and wedding receptions. I was fortunate enough to land in town just in time to catch the tail-end of that glorious era.

When I first moved to McCook, I was told that the Elk’s Club had been our premier nightspot and a place of elegance. The stories told conjured up images of fur coats, prime rib, and martinis. It had once been a swanky place bustling with activity, but by the time I arrived, membership was in decline and the fare was more likely to be an offering of red beer and bull fries.

That didn’t even begin to dampen my enthusiasm for the place. It was still a grand building loaded with history. It had a professional kitchen with an elevator linking the floors, locker rooms in the basement, offices, and a nice little stage with a dance floor that could be opened up to the adjoining restaurant. It was clearly designed as a multi-use facility, suitable for the club’s activities, conferencing, a reception hall, and a neighborhood bar. The many movable walls allowed multiple configurations.

Just off the lobby was a coat check room, which is something we don’t see as often these days, and the staircase leading down to the building’s third bar always struck me as being elegant in a very clean-looking mid-century way. Most of the time I spent in the club was before there were efforts to bring the golf course back to life, but we had some very nice parties on the patio and hosted Fourth of July fireworks for many years before that event was moved to the fairgrounds.

As a member of the lodge for a time, I tried to remain as active as my wallet and my liver would allow. I even occupied a couple of the lower “chairs,” but as I started raising a family, other obligations took precedence, and participation in things like the diabolical ritual they called “Sunday morning services” didn’t comport with family life.

The real joy of that place was, of course, the people. Most of the regulars were a generation or two older than me, but there were some genuine ladies and gentlemen among them. If I started naming names, I wouldn’t know where to stop, but the old manager Doug Bernard always comes to mind. Doug and Ursula. I think of them when I drive past their old house on the corner, across the street from the club. Good folks. Good memories and lots of laughs.

Well, that’s all hollowed out now. The room where the floodlights shine no longer holds roulette tables. For now, it’s dust and saw horses, but it will soon see desks, lecterns, and the rarified air of academia. I can think of no more noble use for that old building than to be a place of higher learning. It will be a win for the school and an economic engine for the community, but it might be tough on parking in that neighborhood. Time will tell.

With regard to the school, I would like to dredge up a brief but ugly bit of history. Back around 2002-2003, Mid Plains had a President named Dr. George Mihel, who some might remember as the reptilian who unilaterally separated us from the name, “McCook Community College.” Not to be confused with the lead singer for Wham!, Mihel was said to have made no secret of his desire to close the campus down entirely. I have no way to confirm that, nor do I know the circumstances surrounding his sudden retirement. What’s important is that our community rallied around the institution and it wasn’t long after his departure that the venerable name was restored.

I wish the gentleman no ill, but wherever he is, I hope he knows that the McCook campus of Mid-Plains Community College is still here. It is still open, and it is still known as McCook Community College. Our school has done more than survive. It is growing.