Where are they now? Buildings in 1948 McCook

As I watch my tulips vaiantly attempting to survive snow and a hard freeze, it reminds me of my best friend’s comment about McCook. She hot footed it to California (no pun intended) the minute she graduated from McCook Junior College to happily settle in Southern California (there is a song about that weather). During one of our many long phone calls over the years, she mentioned that the only thing she missed about Nebraska was the seasons…well, sweetie, our weather is just one big question mark season!

After my article last week, I got some questions about what was where before a building was built. West 1st street was pretty undeveloped past C street except for the drive-in location of First National Bank…not the bank itself, it was still on Main street, but by 1961 the bank had opened a drive-in location on the corner of West 1st and D.

Most people can probably follow city directories better than I! I keep having to remind myself that typically our East/West street buildings are number with the even number on the south side and the odd number on the north. Then when the road runs north and south, the even numbers are on the west side, the odd numbers on the east. But, when a building is on the corner, it could either be numbered from its location on a north/south or an east/west street. This confuses me at times because I will look at a street and assume a lot is empty when in fact I need to check the cross street to see if it has a building after all. A perfect example is the drive-in location which sat on the corner and was numbered as a West 1st location rather than West D. The location today is of course the empty building last occupied by Wells Fargo and is considered a West D location. Across the street north from the Wells Fargo building is now an office building but in 1948 there were three homes in that space. Frank Sloniker (Mary) a car inspector for C B & Q was the homeowner and Ted Sloniker, an attendant at the McCook Equity Exchange rented from who I am going to assume was his parents. Next to the west was Josephine Crawley (widow of William) who owned the home at 119 west D and finally, Walter Hauff (wife Grace), shop foreman at Kimball Monument Co., Patricia (assumed to be a daughter) who worked at the Bell Telephone Company, and Irene Hauff, no occupation listed were all living at 123 West D.

Remember the Ace Hardware building did not exist in 1948 nor did Horizon Bank so West 1st pass C street was mostly housing on both sides (with the exception of the Brown/McDonald building which was numbered on West C. People living on both sides of the street between C & D included: Otis Messer, Lulu Kellogg, George Hofferber, Edward Mitchell, Effie McClain, Wm Evans, Edward Molzahn, Verl King, Marjorie McClain, Morton Welsch, Anna Walsh, Harry Harris, Ada Heskett and then at 324 West 1st (west side of street) was the Lyons Rooms, Eugene Lyon, manager.

In 1961, Myatt Volentine had built the Ace Hardware building and the W.O. Grant store was located in it. North of that building on West 1st, the only housing still in existence was the King Apartments (Clementine Bush, Eleanor Foote, and Marion Smith, renters) plus Verle L. King, homeowner, next door. On the east side only one home remained between the Brown McDonald building and the drive-in bank, Mrs. Marie Wood, widow of Thurman, and owner of Wood’s Rooms.

1948 found many homes with “roomers” or rooms to let because during the time of the Army Air Base WWII location people created rooms, apartments, etc., in their homes and garages to house soldiers. The lucky ones had taken care in that creation and could still find renters to fill that space, the ones that built cardboard rooms (and yes, I’ve seen some of them) were left with the designation, but no renters when the base was decommissioned.

It has been a busy genealogical week for me resulting in some new family stories to tell, so I’m going to leave directories for a while. They are always available for research at our new library, 322 Norris Ave., Rooms 2-7. There is an elevator for your convenience and we are currently open Thursdays from 1-4 PM.