1925 city directory a great resource for house, land history

This directory was compiled in 1925 and printed as the 1926-27 directory by The Sunbeam Press of Wood River, Nebraska. The compilation was done by Mrs. N. E. Perley of Hastings, Nebraska. As it is also badly degraded, it won’t be available to the general public until we are able to digitize the contents and print a copy.

It begins, “ One year of drouth has hardly made itself felt in the steady progress of McCook, county seat of Red Willow county, as the ‘fastest growing city in Nebraska’, and few cities of its size in the nation can boast of as rapid and solid a growth as McCook within the past two years. McCook has completed two full business blocks during the past two years, a new county court house, St. Catherine hospital, large new theater building, Burlington Depot, Y.M.C.A., Daily Gazette newspaper plant, a new paving of 14.35 miles addition to electric lighting and power equipment and is completing a new waterworks program which will provide for years to come, at the time this directory goes to press.”

This directory includes a list of every inhabitant in Red Willow County, arranged alphabetically under city, village and township cations, a classified business directory, information of interest concerning the county. What I particularly like about the listings, especially the rural listings, is that it states whether the occupant is a renter or owner and if a renter, who owns the farm. For someone not as familiar with townships, etc., it gives directions such as: Frank Sughroue, renter, wife Johanna, (children) Frances 3, Gerald 1, (location) 3 ˝ miles west, 2 ˝ miles north of Bartley, (mail route) RR 1, Bartley, Sec. 28, Alliance twp (township), Ford car, Edward Sughroue, owner, Indianola.

There are two ways you can track a person through the directory if they live in McCook. First they are listed by name alphabetically, then if you are wondering who lived in your current home in 1925, you can look up residents by address and then go back to the alphabetical listing to find out if they were renters or owned the property. As an example, listed for 603 West 1st street is August J. Markwad, Gayle Cook and David Greenbury. When I go to the alphabetical listing, August is the homeowner, works as a blacksmith, his wife is Lizzie, children are Lucille 15, Lila 8, Glenola 7, and Archie 2. Chester is listed separately because he is over 17 years old. I then check the other two men listed and find that Cook is a truck driver for Rasse Wholesale grocery, his wife is Clara and they are renting from Markwad. Greenbury is a clerk in the Supt. office for the C.B. & Q. railroad and is a roomer in the Markwad home.

Another good reference in this directory is a location of “hard to find” streets. They may have been hard to find in 1925, but the majority of them, due to the 1935 flood or the abandonment of the original D. L. D. highway, no longer exist. Here is a prime example, Box Car Street. Box Car Street according to this book, started at Federal Ave. (the underpass street) and circled south-west to the D.L.D. The only part of the old highway that still exists within McCook is, I believe, the section leading to the city dump today. Box Car Street to my knowledge, is gone, but in 1925, these people lived on it: Box 1, Mrs. C. Lawrence, Box 5, Hiram Amann, Box 3, Elmer Herbert, Ray C. Ferry and Hertha E. Wunderfeind, Box 6, Frank Coleman and Bruce Gossen, Box 4, Roy Amann.

Mrs. Lawrence’s first name was Clemzy and she had three children, Archie 15, Anna Maude 14, and Pauline 10. When I cross referenced Bruce, the spelling of his surname was actually Gouseen. His occupation was taking care of grave yard, wife, Nettie, and they had Harold 5, Eva 3, Junior 2 and Vera 2 months old.

I will cover businesses in both directories over the next couple of articles. SWNGS monthly meeting is this Saturday at 1 PM. Our location is 322 Norris Ave (The Temple Building) Rooms 2-7. Our meetings are always open to the public.