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Columbus. Looking south at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Twenty-sixth Avenue, in 1921.

A. E. Trowbridge Pontiac Company, the Rogers Motor Company, Wilken Motor and Implement Company, Willys-Overland Sales and Service, and the Platte Valley Implement Company.

USED AUTOMOBILE AGENCIES: Bud's Auto Parts, Nielsen's Used Cars, Perkins Used Cars, Wilken Motor and Implement Company, the Rogers Motor and Implement Company, C. A. Weil and A. E. Trowbridge.

AUTOMOBILE ACCESSORIES AND SERVICE: Coast-to-Coast Store; Firestone Stores; Gamble Stores; K. C. Auto Supply; Storz Supply Corporation; Columbus Auto Tinners; Auto Electric Service; the Columbus Planing Mills; Glass Bovey Motor Supply Company; Auto Electric Service Company; Sayers Super Service.

The bus lines, that present-day version of the ancient and honorable stage coach, substituting their huge internal combustion engines for the teams of gallant, charging horses who galloped across the frontier, are well represented in Columbus. Lines entering the city include: Burlington Trailways, the Greyhound Bus Line, Interstate Transit Lines, and other bus lines in the Greyhound Bus Depot.

The Railway Express Agency serves a need which brings the transportation picture into focus, connects Platte County with an interlocking empire of tiny towns and giant urban settlements.

Not all of the twentieth-century places of business retain the glory of their historical counterparts. The filling station is one of these. A contemporary oasis, its supply of fuel for modern engines was unknown in the early years of Columbus. Now its role is big. The following stations serve both residents and visitors in the county seat:

Becher's Sinclair Service, Boulevard Service Station, Columbus Oil Company, Columbus Service Station, Coryell Filling Station, Duncan Oil Company and Engel's "66" Station of Duncan. The two Ewert Service Stations, Frank's Texaco Station, William Hoshor Service Station, Johnston's Conoco Service, Krumland Oil Company, Knutsen Standard Service, Leonhards Sinclair Service, Lohr Petroleum Company, Meyer Standard Service, Murph's Texaco Station, Night and Day Filling Station, Pawnee Service Station, Phillips "66" Station in Columbus, Rumery Oil Company, Web's Mobile Service, Went's Service Station and Wood's Texaco Service.

Shelter must be provided for cars and trucks, just as stables were built for horses. Columbus has its share of garages which offer, the finest in service to the steel gods of the highway. Among them are: Bernt Garage, Columbus Motor Company, Ewert Motor and Implement Company, Kasper Garage, Mayberger Repair Shop, Motor Clinic, Nielsen Chevrolet Company, Rogers Motor Company, A. F. Trowbridge, Welsh Repair, Wilcynski-Tredway Motor Company, C. A. Well and Wilken Motor and Implement Company.

The railroad, of course, dominates much of Platte County life. Both freight and passenger service now emanate from the two lines which bisect the city of Columbus, bringing with them

all the romance of distant places and the transmitted cargoes of colorful foreign lands. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Union Pacific Railroads both serve the city and the latter maintains a round house and numerous other properties in the Columbus area.

The Yellow Cab Company has offices in the Greyhound Bus Depot in the county seat and three large transfer companies attend its population: the Interstate Freight Lines, Person's Transfer and Watson Brothers Transfer Company.

Transportation has many offshoots. Perhaps the brother to yesterday's blacksmith is the dealer in tires and inner-tubes. Tire stores in Columbus include: Drew's Tire Service, Firestone Stores, Goodyear Tires, U. S. Tires, and Web's Mobile Service.

In a community where so much work depends upon the hauling of produce and the moving of livestock, trucks have come to be standard equipment, as necessary as a buckboard in the old days. Trucking concerns include (in addition to auto agencies already mentioned) : Diamond T Trucks, and International Motor Trucks.

It is only natural that agriculture should be to Columbus what diamonds are to South Africa or gold to the rich lode regions of Nevada and Colorado. The businesses, services, outlets, maintenance and supply people who make their living out of the soil-bred economy of the Platte and Loup Valleys are numerous. Unlike those who exist off the needs and requirements of industry, they are in no danger of losing their livelihood as the result of a change of management, geographical moves or the technological progress of an army of researchers. They are businessmen who literally "live off the soil," and thousands upon thousands of acres of rich, cultivated land assure them of a secure, knowledgable tomorrow.

Louis Maier is one of these men. A blacksmith, he is in the position of a modern maintenance attendant, servicing and repairing farm equipment and other machinery of an agricultural nature.

Columbus is the home of two large dairies the Beatrice Creamery and the Smith Dairy. Both receive milk and cream from Platte County farms through the sanitary channels which lead from farm to truck and railroad. Fresh frozen fruit and cheese are other products of Beatrice Food Company which provides an important link in the pattern of production.

The Alfalfa Dehydrating Plant on United States Highway 81, is an industrial off-shoot of the agricultural fertility of the region; whereas farm equipment and implements are sold to farmers -entrepreneurs by the following agencies:

Behlen Manufacturing Company, Fleischer-Schmid Corporation, Habco Manufacturing Company, Henke Machine Shop, Irrigation Pump Company, Midwest Manufacturing Company, Sioux Equipment Company, Soil Mover Company, Allis Chalmers Implements (from Wilken Motor and Implement Company), the George Ewert Implement Company, Case Farm Implements, Dearborn Farm Equipment, Farmers Union Co-op Association, Fredrickson Incorporated, Hoppe Brothers, the Platte Valley Implement Company, Roger Motor Implement Company and Tractor Supply Company.

Always, since the first settler began to till the soil and feed his stock, supplies and hatcheries, grain and feed, were among his most immediate needs. These products are now prepared and sold by chain stores like Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck, as well as the Rogers Farm Store, The Carberry Seed Company*, Columbus Feed & Seed Store, the Columbus Grain Company, Farmers Union Co-op Association and the T. B. Hord Grain Company. Oberg Hatchery is an important supplier of all poultry needs, and the Columbus Hatchery, Lynn's Hatchery, Quality Hatchery and Swift Hatchery are also represented in this field.

Floral supplies are maintained by the modern greenhouse of the Anderson Floral Company,** while the hay of many a Platte County farmer is sold to the Geiser Hay Baling Company in Columbus.

A modern note is injected by the irrigation suppliers, Irrigation Pump Company and Rural-gas Corporation.

Livestock has a story all its own. In the Columbus Sales Pavilion west of the city, thousands of dollars worth of farm animals change hands at its weekly sales.

The finances of many local transactions are backed, endorsed or arranged by the following loan companies: Consumers Credit, Gottschalk Finance Company, O. M. Fuller, Edwin A. Krohn, the National Farm Loan Association, and the Central National and Columbus Banks.

The Roselawn Nursery east of the city on the Lincoln Highway is a source of supply for farm and townsfolk alike. And produce dealers in the Platte County area include the following busi-

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* Bought by J. E. M. Thompson in 1949.
** A second floral business was started in 1949.

ness establishments: Blaser Produce Market, Cash Hide & Produce, Farmers Union Co-op Store, Krumland Produce & Locker, W. A. Saalfeld and Swift & Company.

Tractors are sold by many of the dealers in implements and equipment mentioned earlier in this chapter as well as by Rogers Farm Store.

In any growing community one of the most important indices to business is the quantity and virility of its building trades. Columbus is well off on this score. The days when settlers waited anxiously on the banks of the Loup to snatch floating logs from the stream for bolstering the roofs of their sod dwellings have passed so far behind the current of daily life that they all but constitute a legend. Here are a few of the businessmen who contribute to the actual growth of the town:

ARCHITECTS: Emiel J. Christensen and Wurdeman & Wurdeman; AIR CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT: T. & S. Appliance Company, Roelle Sheet Metal Works, R. C. Boyd and Son, the Columbus Appliance Company and Jensen Refrigeration; BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS: the Columbus Land Loan & Building Association; and Equitable Building and Loan. BUILDING MATERIALS: General Products Incorporated, Columbus Steel Fabricating Corporation and the Frederickson Implement Company. Cement and concrete are supplied by the Glur Cement and Egger Cement Works. Two of the contractors in Platte County are: Joseph S. Liss of Duncan and the Dobson Brothers Construction Company.

The George Ewert Implement Company supplies contractors' equipment. State engineer, H. E. Rowlee, oversees the Highway Service. Other engineering services are provided to the countless new building projects of the community by local dealers.

Floor coverings are stocked by the Alexand Furniture Company and the Cook Paint and Varnish Company, while other furniture may be purchased from the G. H. Brazeal Furniture Store, E. G. Carter Furniture Store, Shaffer's Exchange and Kavich's Furniture Company. The Columbus Planing Mill stocks glass for homes, automobiles and store front construction. Gravel may be obtained from the Brandenburgh Brothers Gravel Company. Hardware is available at the following dealers: Boyd Hardware Company, Kaufman Hardware Company and the Frank Scholz Hardware Store in Duncan.

Due to the climate of the mid-west, heating is one of its principal problems. Contractors for installation and service on heating systems besides Roche's, and Boyd's, are the Kelly Brothers of Columbus. The Columbus Insulation Company distribute materials which weatherproof the most modern types of construction and remodeling. The Mead Lumber Company and the Interstate Improvement Company are also represented in this field.

Lumber is sold by the Heynen Lumber Company, Mead Lumber Company and Viergutz Lumber and Coal Company. Paint is supplied by the Interstate Paint Company and other retailers; plumbers include Steve Douglas, the Kelly Brothers, Russ Malony, and the Rector-Hirschbrunner-Hanke Company.

Sand, another ingredient of modern building, is available at the Ace Sand & Gravel Company, the Gerhold Company and the Lyman-Richey Sand and Gravel Company. The Columbus Upholstering Company contracts for upholstery, and several Columbus Paint and Wallpaper Companies supply a vital building need. Water heaters are a stock-in trade at the Columbus Appliance Company and weatherstripping is done by the Columbus Insulation Company. The I. C. Wolfe Roofing Company also provides building service.

In any community there is a mercantile group which supplies the necessary financial background. This unromantic task is rich in the buried saga of clan and communal interplay. In Columbus the field is covered by: ABSTRACTERS: Becher, Hockenberger & Chambers Company, the Miller Allied Securities Company and Speice-Echols-Boettcher Company. ACCOUNTANTS offer a necessary commercial service. Noel G. Hughes and Witthoff & McIntosh in the county seat handle individual and corporate works of this nature, while Robert Lloyd Jeffrey is a certified public accountant.

Attorneys at law included: Warren Albert, Jesse L. Dougherty, William A. Goetz, Louis Lightner and Wilbur L. Johnson, Arthur Kummer, Wagner & Wagner, Walker, Luckey & Hunter, O. F. Walter and Vance Leininger, R. D. Flory (the present District Judge) and Elmer Bradley. Witthoff & McIntosh also had an office in the Friedhof Building in 1948.

Platte County's banking needs are met by the Central National Bank and the Columbus Bank, while the Columbus Credit Bureau supplies credit to farmers and consumers alike. United Finance Corporation and Consumers Credit also are in the field of loans and mortgages.

Insurance underwrites the security of every

individual and group. This vital economic unit is covered by the following Columbus Organizations: the Austin Company, Ray E. Breidert, Byrnes Insurance Agency, Gottschalk Insurance Agency, G. H. Gray, A. L. Hedbloom, Edwin C. Krohn, Elmer L. LaBorde, Miller Allied Securities Company, Northwestern Mutual Life, State Farm Insurance Company, Weber Insurance Agency, Western Adjustment and Inspection Company. Investments are handled by the Columbus Land Loan & Building Association, the Equitable Building, Loan and Savings Association and the Miller Allied Security Company.

In the field of patents, attorney Arthur H. Sturges maintained a specialized service. Real estate is the business of several of the above mentioned firms in addition to Fred Boehm. Tax service is offered by several of these insurance and accounting concerns and Albert D. Becker.

There exists in Columbus today a whole force of business and service repairmen, dealers and distributors, who could not possibly have operated in an earlier age. They are the men and women whose enterprise is founded in the machine civilization which reaches to the furthermost rural route, to the isolated corners of the county. With no counterpart in the history of Columbus or any other region, they have replaced the craftsmen and artisans of their fathers' times to bring the wonders of modern equipment and the speed and efficiency of modern inventions to the consumers of Platte County.

In this group are: the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, the Bricker Typewriter Service, The Columbus Store of the Farmers Union Co-operative Association of Richiand, Columbus Electric, the Columbus Fuel & Storage Company. Ruralgas and Ruegge's Gas and Appliances supply Bottled Gas; the Bovey Motor Supply Company and the Henke Machine Shop are equipped to handle jobs of a mechanical nature. Fuels emanate from the Lohr Petroleum Company and Standard Fuel Oils; in the wholesale oil field are the Krumland Oil Company, Pokorny's Oil Company and Socony Vacuum Oil Company, along with the Standard Oil Bulk Agent and the Texas Company.

Columbus has two radio operations. One of these is a local broadcasting studio, WJAG, and the other is KJSK. Radio service to consumers may be found at: Bernt Radio Service,, the Columbus Music Company, Gary's Radio Service, and Johnson's Radio Service. Retail radios are carried by Admiral Radios and several other radio, appliance and accessory outlets enumerated in this chapter.

Farm kitchens today are virtually' modern laboratories. Gone are the old fashioned ranges and stoves, the primitive products of a firewood-and-kerosene age. Modern ranges, both gas and electric, are found at the Boyd Hardware Company and other furniture and electric appliance stores. The Singer Sewing Machine Company carries additional home appliances and repair is handled by the Columbus Upholstering and the Midwest Sewing Supplies. The Bricker Typewriter Company, Otto B. Johannes and Fred Teller supply typewriters for office and home, while the field of vending machines is ably covered by S. S. Hadley. Frank's Washer Service repairs washing machines and welding is done by Canaday Farm Equipment and Umland's Welding & Repair.

But although these people could not have been listed in any directory of early Columbus businessmen, there remains the coterie of service establishments, whose job it is to maintain the everyday needs and meet the odd and the occasional demands of a city of twelve thousand people.

Among this group we find: AUCTIONEERS: Vivian Brian and Henry Buss; BAKERIES: Gloor Bakery, Jourdan Bakery, and the Peter Pan' Bakery; the Thurston Barber Shop, and the following beauty shops: Avalon Beauty Salon, Eleanor Czuba Beauty Shop, Hayes Marinello Beauty Shop, Hinck Beauty Shop, Leona's Permanent Wave Salon, LaBelle Beauty Shop, Pearl's Beauty Shop, the Smith Beauty Shop and the Thurston Beauty Shop. In Columbus' neophyte days, the forerunners of these beauticians occupied themselves manufacturing switches, puffs and other artifices necessary for early costume balls. In barber shops razors were honed and mustaches dyed. Today, however, woman suffrage combined with the entry of women in business has made beauty a necessary "outside" service for the modern woman who has neither the time nor skill to care for all the facets of her own grooming.

At' the Marinello Beauty Shop, co-owner Margaret Hayes recalls the days when women journeyed from Columbus to Chicago for the latest in beauty care -- permanent waves. Her shop, along with many others in the vicinity is affiliated with the National Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association, a professional group organized for the purpose of maintaining high trade standards and protecting the interests of

independent shop owners. Oldest continuously operated shop in Columbus is that belonging to Nelle and Margaret Hayes and first started in 1919.

Dry cleaning is handled by the Columbus Laundry Company, Jackson Cleaners & Launderers, Modern Cleaners and Dyers and the United Cleaners & Hatters. Columbus druggists include among their number: Fricke-Fleischer Drug Company, Miesslers, two drug stores, and Tooley Drug Company.*

DENTAL PROFESSION

In 1948, the following dentists had offices in Columbus: Doctor C. V. Campbell, Doctor Percy W. Elliott, Doctor Daniel S. Kavanaugh, Doctor Leo J. Kowalski, Doctor Frederick W. Leonard, Doctor D. E. Maxwell, Doctor L. A. Proskovec, Doctor Frank G. Rohde, Doctor H. E. Snyder, Doctor Ben E. Triba, Doctor E. C. Walter and Doctor Henry P. Ziegenbein. The Kobus Dental Laboratory operates in Columbus.

A service of another kind, indicating the growing complexity of the community, is provided by two employment agencies; the Nebraska State Employment Service and Veterans Employment in Columbus.

The Gass Funeral Home, Gahan Funeral Home, Incorporated, and the McKown Funeral Home, are in business in the county seat to serve the people of the community.

Columbus also has a gunsmith, Otto B. Johannes, to furnish arms and ballistic supplies.

Power -- the magic word which has brought so much prestige, business and stature to the onetime pioneer community, includes the following key business offices in Columbus: Consumers Public Power District, Cornhusker Rural District, the Loup River Public Power District and Rural Electrification District.

The Columbus Rendering Company, located two and one-half miles southeast of the city, is the only establishment of its type in Platte County.

Restaurants are numerous in Columbus and modern equipment and services have replaced the early boarding houses and wayside stands. Among them are: Adams Cafe, the largest cafe in Columbus. Others are Billie's Cafe, Club Cafe, Coal Shute Cafe, Columbus Cafe, The Diner, Emma's Cafe, Friendly Cafe, Hatton's Cafe, Highway Cafe, Keen Korner Kafe, Louis's Coffee Shop, Midway Cafe, Park Inn Cafe, Star Cafe and the White Owl Lunch.

Gembols, at 3219 Eighth Street, and the Keen Korner at the junction of United States Highways 30 and 81 supplement the tourist facilities offered by Columbus hotels.

In addition, the county seat is the home of some two dozen taverns, which differ materially from the old English "tavern," or stopping place for the night. The modern American bar deals in liquor, sold retail or on the premises, and sometimes offers entertainment. Columbus taverns are: the Avenue Bar, B & B Bar, Blue Room, the Brown Derby, the Columbian Bar, the Cottonwood Grove, on Lincoln Highway, Eddie's Bar, Glur's Tavern, Micek Bar, in Duncan, Tony Moschenross', Perry's Liquor Store, the Rainbow Room, Reno Bar, The Oasis, Dick Richards', Ron-De-Voo Bar and Liquor Store, Ted's Tavern, Tip Top Bar, and Wunderlich's Friendly Bar.

Jewelers provide the town with both luxury and necessities. Three such establishments are located in Columbus: Froemel's Jewelry Store, Rogers Jewelry Company, and Shanklin Jewelry. Tom's Watch Repairing Service by Thomas Johnson, Jr., supplies another service to members of the community.

Communication, a field in itself, is handled on both a local and an extra-regional basis. The Yellow Cab Company offers a messenger service, while Western Union connects Columbus with thousands of communities all over the world, and the Nebraska Continental Telephone Company complements this facility with telephonic liaison.

The Columbus Daily Telegram, the metropolitan newspaper, offers communication between readers and advertisers scattered throughout Platte County, as does the Columbus News, a weekly sheet.

Professional services of an artistic nature are supplied by the Elsie Griffith Studio of Music**, with Miss Isabelle Micek as instructor in piano and voice.

Ken Maurer's and Bobby Mills' Dance Bands play for entertainments and dances in the surrounding territory.

Optometrists in Columbus include DoctorJj. H. Aibright and Doctor C. L. Bersee, while osteopathy is the field of Doctor Paul B. Schaefer, and Doctor J. E. Stevens is a chiropractor.

Columbus has one professional photographic service, the Daniel Studio. Printing, an allied field, is covered by O. H. 'Walters, Art Printer', and the Columbus Daily Telegram.

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* The fifth drug store opened in 1949.
**In 1949 - Isabelle Week's Studio.

© 2005 for the NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller