Omaha paper chronicles 1920s McCook

I written about the Omaha Daily Bee newspaper and its influence in Nebraska. If you go to www.chroniclingamerica.gov and bring up the Omaha Bee in the advanced search box, by entering McCook in the phrase box, you will find around 7,000 pages of results. The Bee covered sports quite thoroughly and McCook’s high school teams made the paper often including names of players or coaches. If you are researching early McCook athletics to 1922, you might want to check the pages. I found the following articles interesting.

Omaha Daily Bee, December 1, 1903: “McCook May Want Prisoner: Nebraska town will be interested in arrest just made at Salida, Colorado. Sherman Berlin, said to be wanted at McCook, Neb., on the charge of blowing open a safe in the McCook branch office of the Fidelity and Casualty association of New York City last June, has been arrested at Whitehorn, a mining camp in Fremont County.”

“A private census just completed of McCook develops a population in excess of 5,000.” Omaha Daily Bee, November 3, 1921.

“Joseph A. Jussel pleaded guilty in justice court here (McCook) to illegally manufacturing liquor. Waiving preliminary hearing, he appeared in district court before Judge Eldred pleading guilty. He was fined $ 1,000 and given a jail sentence of 30 days. This is the heaviest sentence imposed for a similar offense in this county.” Omaha Daily Bee, November 23, 1921.

Omaha Daily Bee, February 14, 1922: “McCook division headquarters officials are pleased with the performance of engine No. 2825 on passenger train No. 3. This was the first engine and train to arrive in McCook on the new schedule of running engines through from McCook to Denver and from Lincoln to McCook, without change. The train arrived here on time, for the first time in months.”

“McCook Golf Course to be Ready this Sunday. McCook’s golf club now has a membership of 40. Their grounds adjoining the city will be ready for playing July 30. The tennis club is arranging to amalgamate with the golf organization.” Omaha Daily Bee, July 29, 1921.

“Omahan Named Golf Pro at McCook Club. George Holbrook of Omaha has been appointed golf professional and instructor at the McCook Golf Club. He will assume his new duties on Monday. The life of his contract is nine months.” Omaha Daily Bee, February 19, 1922.

Omaha Daily Bee, January 8, 1922: “The country home of E.J. and B.A. Lofenburg five miles southwest of McCook was destroyed by fire, together with contents. It was one of the finest modern farm homes in Red Willow County.”

The McCook Tribune papers available at Chronicling America do not extend to 1922 so if you are doing a quick search of that era for McCook information you will need to access papers from North Platte, Omaha or Lincoln on that site. You can also go to the McCook Public Library and use the microfiche files available there, but your search needs to be specific to a date since those files are not indexed past issue date or searchable other than going from page to page.

However, if you are searching for an obituary, SWNGS library has the clippings from three McCook newspapers spanning the late 1800’s to 2019. Weddings, births and anniversaries are also available for some years.

Open from 1-4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (weather permitting), our library is located on the mezzanine at 110 West C Street, Suite M-3. We also have available a large collection of Mayflower descendants and early original marriage certificates.