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teenth Street and Twenty-fourth Avenue. Under the management of Fred Saffran, this thespian outlet saw such famous plays as "Beverly of Graustark," "The Man of the Hour," and "The Rosary." Later on, Chauncey Olcott sang here to record crowds, and Sigmund Romberg's "Blossom Time" played.

In the early days of film entertainment in Columbus, the Lyric Theatre, in 1907, advertised a change of pictures nightly with Fred Hamilton, an Omaha singer, as an additional drawing card.

In the recollections of John Cox, a former agent for the Burlington Railroad in Columbus, there was a kaleidoscopic view of the social community of Platte County in the gay 1890's. Parky Doody, of Platte Center, was described by Cox as a political spectator who never ran for any office, yet wielded considerable influence over the thinking of the town leaders.

Invited to join the Mystery Club in Columbus shortly after his arrival, John Cox found himself entertained at May picnic parties and Halloween functions. Writing of the latter holiday, he described the time cultivator wheels were attached to the Reverend Griswold's buggy, and beer signs hung in front of the leading law offices of the day, belonging to Judge A. M. Post, Judge I. L. Albert and William Cornelius, J. J. Sullivan and W. N. Hensley.

However, the high point of the year in terms of local customs and celebrations was the annual Platte County Fair. First held in 1875 by the merchants of Columbus, the exhibition focused on floral displays, vegetables, grain and livestock. Even in the year of the most severe grasshopper plague, farmers brought in the best of the crops they had been able to save. In the early days, the Columbus Concert Band furnished music for the Fairs, and the main feature on the program of one Fair was a baseball game between the Lightfeet team from Boone County and the Columbus nine.

J. G. Routson was chairman of the first County Fair Board and J. J. Rickly, secretary. The committee included: J. M. Troth, Guy C. Barnum, Jacob Ernst, E. T. Graham and M. Maher; one thousand tickets were sold at one dollar each. The old Fair Grounds was near the Tobias Bauer home, northwest of town, and later the county association maintained fair grounds on the Evans land north of town on the Monastery Road. This Fair association went out of existence shortly before World War I. Next to appear was the Mid-Nebraska exposition, which was first conceived in the minds of Charles B. Fricke, Columbus druggist, and Lloyd Swain, former business manager of the Columbus Telegram. The first exposition was held in September, 1924, when exhibits were placed in local store windows. These exhibitions were continued until 1941. The publicity which accrued from this unique display technique extended all over the country: 1941 marked the first year that the County Fair was held at the Agricultural Park.

Not the least of these community activities was the annual meet staged by the Columbus Driving Park and Fair Association, formed in 1885. Although seven purses were offered by the Pioneer Horse Association for the 1876 Fair, it was not until 1881 that a race course was established that would be suitable for "Agricultural horse trots." Racing was later a regular annual feature.

The Platte County Fair has been held each fall, since 1941, during the lull in the heavy work of the farmers. Everything from dresser scarves to Shropshire ewes are entered in the annual event, held in the Platte County Agricultural Park at the end of the Fifteenth Street Road east of Columbus.

Dating from the days when prizes were given for the best pair of cotton stockings woven in the territory and the top ten yoke of working oxen, this annual celebration has taken the place of a fiesta in the hearts of the Platte County residents. No better index to the activities and the aims and ambitions of the people could be found than in the booths and on the platforms of the annual county fair.

The cultural roots of any city are to be found in its origin. As one early Platte County writer said, "Perhaps no body of men, not excepting the clergy, may exercise a greater influence for good in a community than those who follow the profession of the law."

Prior to the year 1875, there were only three judicial districts in the state of Nebraska. Both judge and district attorney would travel on the circuit, attending courts of different counties, including that of Platte. Sometimes when there were only very primitive accommodations in the county seat where court was to be held, the attorneys were forced to sleep on the floor. This was not true in Columbus, where the American Hotel was operated by Jacob Baker. However, this was the state of affairs for many years until courthouse buildings were erected and hotels established in the other early towns over the state.

The first district court was held in Platte County in 1859, with Chief Augustus Hall pre-

siding. The old Company House, later known as the First. School*, was used by the court for its sittings, and rooms in the American Hotel were secured for the juries.

When the judicial districts were enlarged in 1875, the first judge after Maxwell was George W. Post, and after his term expired, he was followed by his brother, Judge A. M. Post. Others to hold this office in the early days of Platte County were: William Marshall, John J. Sullivan, J. A. Grimison, James G. Reeder, Conrad Hollenbeck and George Thomas. Alfred M. Post and John J. Sullivan later served as judges of the Supreme Court of Nebraska.

After Saints' Chapel* was no longer used for court sessions, a brick building was erected on Ninth and Idaho Streets in Columbia Square. The brick used in the building was manufactured north of the Jacob Ernst farm on the Monastery Road and was so soft that a prisoner could dig his way out with a pocket knife. It remained in use, however, until 1922.

PROGRESS

Prior to 1900, there were no typewriters in any Platte County law office and before 1902, no attorney in Columbus employed secretarial help. August Wagner was the first attorney to have a typewriter and this was undoubtedly the first typewriter in Platte County. Judge John J. Sullivan, on the expiration of his term as Chief justice, installed the first telephone in a law office in Columbus in January, 1902, the year the Independent Telephone Company was established.

In spite of the drawbacks of early transportation and communication, the legal profession in Platte County continued to attract men of high character as well as ability and learning. These community leaders did much to administer justice in an age when might was recognized as the first law of the frontier.

THE PRESS

"Justice," in fact, was the motto of the first paper ever to be published in Columbus, the Golden Age, first incorporated June 21, 1866, by C. C. Strawn, editor and proprietor. The newspaper was printed on a Washington hand press, from forms put up on a cottonwood slab in John Rickly's sawmill. It was the only paper printed between Omaha and. Fort Kearney in 1866, and the editor of the sheet also acted as an attorney-at-law, insurance agent and dealer in lightning rods. A fee of one dollar was charged for insertion notices of all births, deaths and marriages and annual rates of three hundred fifty dollars for a one-column advertisement were announced. Like many other pioneer papers, the Golden Age encountered financial difficulties and was sold at public auction. W.. B. Dale was the highest bidder and he purchased the publication for two hundred seventy-five dollars in September, 1866.

Previous to the entry of the old line printing house into the publishing field, the journal Publishing Company which printed the Columbus journal had been established in 1870 and an earlier journalistic effort --- the Columbus Gazette --- was the ougtrowth (sic) of a six-column folio known as the Independent. The Gazette continued under the administration of the William Burgess family until 1882, when Burgess moved from Nebraska to California.

The Democrat, the Republican and the Era each played its part in the life of the day.

In 1897, two papers, the Leader and the Platte County Democrat, were printed in Columbus. The former was a Republican sheet, with William M. Huff as editor, which suspended publication after its second issue. The Democrat, under Peter F. Duffy, moved to Humphrey in March, 1898, where it was later sold to the Herbes brothers of that town and its name changed to the Leader.

The Columbus Journal, established in Platte County in 1870, was purchased by Thomas Curran and converted into the Columbus Daily News (at that time the only daily in town). This publication was sold to the Telegram Company in April, 1922, and consolidated with its weekly into the Columbus Daily Telegram. The Telegram Company had planned for many years to enter the daily newspaper field in Columbus and had been installing equipment and organizing an editorial and business staff with that aim; also, it was recognized that the community could not practically support two rival dailies.

That the first settlers in Columbus realized the key importance of news of the outside world is evident in the records of January, 1857, which show the offer of two town lots each to the following papers (in return, it may be supposed, for subscriptions) : the Ohio Statesman, Columbus (Ohio) Gazette; City Fact; Westbote; Cincinnati Commercial; Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati Volksfreund; Cincinnati Wahrheitsfreund; St. Louis Chronick. Three Nebraska papers were also solicited --- the Omaha Nebraskaian; Bellevue Gazette and the Florence Courier.

The predominance of German language papers in the above notice indicated the strong de-

---

* 1868-1871, first school used as court house.

sire on the part of German-American settlers for a publication of their own nationality. It was this feeling which led young Robert Lange, a German-Pole, to establish the Columbus Wochenblatt, with a three-page format. Doctor Leo Schoulau bought the paper in later years and published it until his death in 1890, when it was sold to Major J. N. Killian, who changed its name to the Nebraska Biene. When Killian left Platte County for the Philippines as Captain of Company "K" in the First Nebraska Militia Regiment, the paper passed into the hands of J. H. Johannes.

On January 11, 1913, Leopold Jaeggi became owner of the county's one German language paper. A native of Berne, Switzerland, Mr. Jaeggi has made it his policy to issue a politically independent paper, the importance of which is not to be underestimated in shaping the attitudes and the cultural destiny of a large portion of the German-American population of Platte County.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

One of the earliest experts in the field of public relations to apply his promotion techniques to the building of Columbus was I. N. Taylor, a. former Ohioan who came West when almost fifty years of age, to enter the political arena in the turbulent, railroad-conscious era of the 1860's. He was active in the Congregational Church and in the new Black Hills Promotion Company and later became associated with the Columbus Republican as editorial writer. The Platte County Centennial Committee later called upon Mr. Taylor to perform a memorial function.

His eagerness as a promoter was sometimes greater than his accuracy as a researcher and the forwarding of a historical paper prepared by him to the State Historical Society is responsible for at least two errors in the tome of data recorded on Platte County.

However, Taylor was an outstanding citizen, and although he did not make Columbus his permanent home, his aggressiveness and vision did much to broaden the commercial horizon of later Columbus residents. The early promotion works participated in by the early pioneers will be remembered as an example of the type of mercantile culture which did so much to shape the ultimate character of the Platte Valley country; welding it into the overall panorama of the American middle west.

EDITOR FOR FIFTY YEARS

The fourth estate in Columbus produced a great figure who is known throughout these United States as a statesman, publisher, attorney and editor-one of these local leaders reminiscent of the late William Allen White, who did so much to make venerable the institution of small town journalism. This man is the Honorable Edgar Howard, a former member of the Third Nebraska District of Congress, and a long-time fighter for the welfare of the agricultural population of his state.

Edgar Howard came to Columbus in 1900, and bought out or consolidated the extant publishers in the newspaper field to become one of the most widely quoted country editors in America. A former "printer's devil," he worked on papers in Dayton, Ohio, and owned the Papillion Times in Sarpy County, Nebraska, before moving to Platte County. After being admitted to the bar in 1885, the Honorable Mr. Howard served as probate judge of Sarpy County for five years. He was made lieutenant governor of Nebraska in 1917.

As a member of Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. His interest in Indian activities is best illustrated in one of his more famous editorials on tribal superstition and legend.

"Tradition holds," Mr. Howard wrote, "that for a thousand moons, peace was never broken until the pale-face trouble-makers came to breed anew the ancient strife ... the Great Spirit still sets his smoke sign on the sky, perhaps ... to plead mercy in the heart of Christian conquerors toward the remnant of a race now driven to the door of death."

And no mention of Mr. Howard is complete without a quotation from his beautiful sketch, "A Nebraska Sunset." This piece, published in the Telegram some years ago, was given wide acclaim and included the memorable phrase, "How many colors does God hang in the sky when He paints a Nebraska sunset more beautiful than any other clime has known?"

Inevitably, the mores of any people are the direct result of those who went before them. In Platte County, a reckoning of the cultural instincts of the men and women who make their home in the community is grounded in the group celebrations, the festivals -- both frivolous and solemn -- which mark its admission into a nation of individual communities.

PARADES

Columbus likes parades, especially those which precede the County Fair festivities. It commemorates with due appreciation the holidays of Christmas, the Fourth of July, Washing

ton's and Lincoln's Birthdays, Labor Day, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. Locally it pays homage to its own historical growth through such programs as the Ninetieth Anniversary. Arbor Day it deems important because the beauty of trees has been a part of its physical struggle against the bleak, wind-swept stretches of wilderness.

However, it is in the more intimate customs of the people that the real cultural story of Platte County lies hidden. Community effort has always been a part of this story, dating from the early days of Columbus when even the making of a coffin was considered a Christian duty and the entire town assisted in the burial of the dead. Embalming had not yet been developed and the dead were always buried within one day, frequently in the sawed-up sections of a wagon box converted for the purpose. Also used were strong grained logs, split and hewn.

The real fountainhead of culture was the home in the founders' time. The pioneer mother heard her children's lessons as she kneaded bread. A blackboard slate was kept in one corner of the sod house and she acted as counselor, teacher and spiritual adviser to her children before the broad stretches of prairie were mastered by more swift means of transportation.

Church fairs, box socials, given by schools and local clubs, and charivaris were popular then. The latter consisted of an impromptu serenade of newly married couples and was indulged in by the town's "young bloods," who gathered horns, kettles, drums, cowbells, jack-fiddles and other noise-makers and "played" beneath the window of the honeymooning pair. The implements were later frequently donated to the couple as household goods.

An 1886 news item tells of the popularity of "Egg Sociables" in the county. This custom called for each young lady bringing an egg with her name on it to the party. The men in attendance would then draw one egg out of a bag and act as escort to the young woman whose name was inscribed upon it.

Outdoor platform dances were held annually by social groups at the Gottschalk, Browner and Ernst groves. New large barns, such as those on the John Browner and Fred Stenger farms, northeast of Columbus, were dedicated with old fashioned square dances, to which everyone in the community was invited. Barn dances were followed sixty years later by pavement dances. Other harvest celebrations also were held in of their crops.

Fireworks played their part in Platte County social affairs, both in parades and election rallies, participated in by the entire town. The traditional "fun" festivals of middle western regions found their outlet in such contests as Fat Men's Races, Slow Horse Races, Greased Pig meets and competitions to see who could climb the greased pole.

During the 1880's, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company gave an annual costume ball at the Opera House which entertained the people of Columbus and the rest of the community for miles around. Although there were the usual small societies devoted to the stylized forms of art and their appreciation, such as the Philadelphian Literary Society and the Viking Club, a more common activity was the holding of old fashioned spelling bees. The latter, accompanied by the town's brass band, was announced as "Ye Spellin' Skule," and judged by the leading citizens of the community. In one match in 1875, the contest was won, appropriately, by M. K. Turner, editor of the local paper.

Home talent shows and minstrel programs also figured heavily in the group activities of this bygone age. The Battle of the Plows was a popular contest in the farming communities, when teams advanced to the field and met in a modern tourney of skill and strength. After these plowing "bees," the participants, their wives and families, retired to a typical farm feast followed by a dance for young and old. Quadrilles, polkas, schottisches, waltzes and hopwalks were the favorites of the settlers and each guest brought with him something of the homeland he had left behind.

As late as 1922, jazz music and the modern dancing which accompanies it were barred from the parties of the Columbus Maennorchor Society and a policy of "no wallflowers" brought every member into the lively celebration of the evening. Clan gatherings have always been popular in Platte County, and many times these family reunions brought together those who lived ordinarily in isolation on their farms.

Christmas in Columbus has always meant carolers and the giving of gifts to poor children in the town. School programs regularly celebrate May Day and Easter with the frequent

addition of egg-rolling contests. These are all a part of the community life which has developed over the years.

However, the roots of the present lie deep in the past, and in August, 1930, a celebration took place at Macy when the Omaha Indians staged a full week of festivities at their tribal headquarters. After the securing of "special dispensation" by Congressman Edgar Howard, seven young girls, five of whom lived in Columbus and one in Creston, Iowa, and one in Los Angeles, were permitted to join in the tribal dance as the tom-toms beat out the ancient rhythm.

More than two thousand persons watched while thirty young men of the tribe and some of the older Indians, in their colorful native costumes, led the young women through the fantastic, symbolic maneuvers of the primitive formations. It was a colorful climax to the week of commemorative events. But it was, somehow, more than that.

It might have been a reminder to the custodians of the future that they had, unwittingly, inherited something vital and important out of the past. Along with the bravery and vision of their own forebears, they were possessors of the one living link between two civilizations. Their culture would prove to be only as good as the life they could make for themselves and because they are interdependent as well as independent -- the life they could help to make for others, too.

© 2005 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller