McCook in 1948, compared to today

Linda Hein, a favorite and respected historian from McCook, gifted two boxes of City Directories to the SWNGS library this week with promises of more to come as she sorts through her many years of collections concerning McCook, Red Willow County, and Nebraska in an attempt, as many of us do, to make sure these things are preserved for everyone’s use.

Among those directories was the 1948 R. L. Polk issue for McCook. When I am following Remember When in McCook Nebraska on Facebook, I’m always struck by the fact that even though we all “remember”, those memories don’t always match reality so I though it would be fun to go through the book and match up some facts with some fallacies.

First to schools: East Ward Village located at 507 East 5th is the apartment complex located where in 1948 the grade school was called not East Ward, but rather Valentine School as it was named after a prominent early educator, William Valentine, who was the Superintendent of McCook Schools from 1889-1898. McCook High School was located at 608 West 1st with the Junior High sitting in the same block at 209 West F. When the high school was built on West 7th, the original building continued to serve the McCook School systems plus some college classes were held there. Today it is the site of Central Elementary.

Motor courts and auto camps were the predecessors of motels. McCook Auto Camp, Bert B McCarty, didn’t have an address but just a West McCook notation. The Cozy Camp, Henry Patzman, was located at 1411 East C Street while the DeLuxe Motel, Dale A. McCarty, sat at 1000 West B and advertised fire proof garages and steam heat! At 102 South 6th (Highway 83 south) sat the Modern Cabins, Fred Meier owner. None of those stand today, the south 6th location is an empty lot, West B location is now Outlaws and the East C location would have been one block east of the Cedar Inn. I’m curious as to if the McCook Auto Camp was located on the old highway and is depicted in some pictures on Remember When. Now for the one that still exists, the Chief Motor Court, 612 West B, Philip M Johnston and Wm G Shultz, Proprietors advertised air conditioned and thermostatic control heat assuring year-round comfort.

Here’s a few more just to tickle memories:

D & S Market & Grill, 308 East B, now a car wash. Bill’s Café, 115 East B, Eliz & Lowell Cooling, “Food as you like it”, now a parking lot. Loper’s Cash Grocery, 309 East B, now the Bottle Shop. 101 Main (Norris), the Banks Hotel & Café, Maude Springer proprietor, the building still stands but is empty.

Mitchell’s Café was located at 111 Main and included the Cozy Apartments upstairs and the Shaw’s Cab business, now houses Anderson Sales. Dunbar & Osborn shoe store stood at 201 Main; I remember the X-Ray machine for your feet. It burnt to the ground in the 60’s and is now a garden area. People weren’t afraid to climb stairs back then because practically every downtown building had either apartments or rented offices on the second floor. 301 Main, the Reed Building, now Browns Shoes, had Prest Drug on the main floor but McCook Dental Lab, Yule Dorwart dentistry, Morrison & Hansen attorneys and Frank Bowen accountant had offices in the building plus seven apartments, one of which was rented by Leona Stauder, music teacher.

302 Main was of course the First National Bank building but who remembers that the Safeway Store (304-06 Main) was right next door in today’s Garrisons with doctors Griffith DeMay and Donald H. Morgan having offices above the store in the 306 side and Loar Electric, W. G. Egan Plumbing, NE State Employment Service and the Lynda Ann Beauty Shop on the 304 side.

Honestly, I could go on forever marching backwards instead of forwards because McCook’s history is so fascinating to me. Fire has changed the face of Main street several times over the years, buildings taken down to replace with new, improved facilities, but in ways, McCook’s main drag remains in my mind as it was when I was a child up from Indianola (you always went up to McCook and I have no idea why except maybe its elevation) shopping on a Saturday.

SWNGS monthly meeting will be this Saturday, April 10th, at 1 PM. We are located in the Temple Building 322 Norris Ave. on the second floor. There is an elevator for easy access.