‘Who’s Who’ for 1940 Red Willow County contains interesting facts

In 1940, the Nebraska Press Association published a book entitled: Who’s Who in Nebraska 1940. You can view the listings in this collection by going to: www.usgennet.org.

The beginning of the publication covers what the editors called: 1867-1940 True Story of Nebraska and then provides a searchable list of Nebraska Counties and the people who were considered to be important enough to make the cut. Most counties are available to search by clicking on their name which gives you a brief history of how the county came to be and then lists important residents who were alive in 1940.

What is extremely interesting about the people included is all the facts that follow their names: hobbies, full employment histories, parent’s names, spouses, children, businesses owned, World War I service, residence and location of business, just to name a few.

One of the facts that popped out at me was the listing for Lawrence Stayner. Now I had already known that along with McCook Junior College, there was also a private business college in McCook located on Main Street (Norris Avenue) but I knew little about it’s owner, Mr. Stayner. His lengthy bio included the fact that he had invented a new type of shorthand writing and published a teaching manual for the same. The fascinating bit of information was that he had kept a diary since 1887 (53 years) all written in shorthand and that diary had been featured in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Wouldn’t it be fun to see that diary even if you couldn’t read it! Mr. Stayner’s office was at 201 ½ Main and his residence was at 501 East 2nd.

Here are a few more of the listings found, but I really recommend that you go to the web site and take a look at the people contained in it yourself.

Rex A. Bagley, Red Cross Secretary living at 907 West 1st; Ted Barnes, Publisher, McCook Republican, residing at 602 East 3rd; Mrs. Ellen (Dudley) Barnett, widow of Albert Barnett, whose home was located at 604 East 1st; Garnet Bash, C B & Q Railroad, living at 708 Main Street; Earl Boyenton, 811 East 1st, who was the manager of the McCook Co-op Savings & Loan; Edward and Mary (Fitzgerald) Brady, bankers, McCook National Bank and residing at 1102 East 1st. Frank James Hamilton, 1107 East 1st, who was the manager of Northwestern Bell Telephone.

As an example of the information other than employment history we find Don Brooks, owner of Don Brooks Jewelry located at 107 West B Street and living at 607 East 4th. According to the writeup, Don joined the 321st Machine Gun Battery, 82nd Division, AEF. Don worked for Sutton Jewelry prior to opening his own store.

More listings include: Mrs. Mabel (Hunt) Curran, Red Willow County Clerk, living at 510 West 3rd; Charles E. Hoyt, Jennings & Hoyt Hardware, whose store was at 117 Main and residence of 401 East 1st; James Rene Jaquet, manager of the Light & Power Company, who was born in St. Imier, Switzerland and had a home at 802 East 1st; Mrs. Blanche (Clark) Jones, an insurance agent whose home was located at 1012 East 2nd.

One business that has been mentioned in the Remember When in McCook Nebraska Facebook page is Ogier’s Service Station, the building directly south of the old post office at 323 Main Street. Robert Ogier was the owner and his residence lay behind the station at 312 East 1st which is now a city parking lot.

Mrs. Mary E. Morland (widow of W. S. Morland) lived at 802 Main Street and her hobbies were reading and writing. How appropriate that our public library now sits on that site!

Several people still remember the White House Grocery that was located at 310 Main Street, which I believe was the south half of Sehnert’s Bakery today. Marion Reid owned that store and lived above it at 310 ½.

Finally, Max Merrell was listed as the owner/operator of the Keystone Hotel, with his residence, of course, in the Keystone!

Library hours remain on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 PM, 110 West C, Suite M-3.