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- Big Give appreciation and some railroad characters (11/15/24)
- George Randel becomes a landowner, gets married, and takes in a Buffalo Bill show (9/20/24)
- The memoirs of George F. Randel, early settler of Red Willow County (9/12/24)
- Vietnam War Memorial honors Nebraskans who served (6/13/24)
- McCook business promotions - just prior to 1893 stock market crash (5/30/24)
- Shall we dance? Meet you at the Gayway (12/8/23)
- 1923 dance rules (11/17/23)
Billboards from the past
Friday, April 1, 2022
Advertising billboards through the years in Southwest Nebraska can bring back memories of businesses now long gone. Those shown above are estimated to be from the 1950s-1960s and created by Swanson Sign in McCook. Clockwise from top left, the Hiltop Cafe/Mobil Truck Stop with a free zoo in Culbertson, Drake Oil Company, Cottingham’s clothing store and Modern Appliance.
Courtesy/ Museum of the High Plains, Swanson Sign collection
I woke up the other morning with the old campfire song “ I’m looking under a 4-legged table for my lost bubble gum”. Now, that doesn’t bother me that much even though it’s been over 60 years since I sang it at a campfire, what bothered me is that I couldn’t remember the rest of the song! For half the morning I tried to get my list of duties done with that first stanza playing over and over in my mind. Please, please don’t contact me with the rest of the words, it will only start the revelry in my head again.
This is going to be a short column because I wanted to share these photos. What triggers our memories? For me, it can be the sound of a screen door closing, the wonderous aroma of a favorite food cooking, a song, an expression that no one uses any more such as one of my dad’s: “ Make like a tug boat and get underway”.
Photographs are the ultimate brain-teasers, vacation pictures are the worst. Why did someone feel like a picture of that rock would be interesting 70 years later? Who are those people smiling at the camera in front of a motel and why did no one write their names on the back? Is that a dog or a wolf or the abominable snowman? Is it possible that every picture only catches people as they are walking away or have food in their mouths?
These four pictures are courtesy of the Museum of the High Plains, Swanson Sign collection. One, of course, is from a Culbertson business, the other three McCook. All of them reflect memorable parts of the 1950-60’s.
SWNGS monthly meeting will be this Saturday at 1PM. We are located at 322 Norris Ave., The Masonic Temple building, second floor, Rooms 2-7. If you haven’t made the trip to see our library, maybe you’ll join us this Saturday!