← Before Today: A History of Holt County, Nebraska
Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Heat, Nor Gloom of Night Chapter Fifteen “We are indebted to some thievish postmaster, scounderly clerk or lazy and drunken driver on some spavined mule line for late and valuable papers. The reason is obvious. There are a parcel of deaf, blind, dumb, illiterate postmasters who can neither read, write, spell, think or speak the English language so as to be understood with any degree of accuracy. They are a mixture of low Dutch and worse Irish with most degraded Pawnee and Sioux. They are generally asleep when the mail passes, or are drunk, but unfortunately not dangerously poisened, with strychnine whiskey. “As for the mail contractors, they are no more fit for the office than (they would be) to drive a stage team across the plains in the employ of Russell, Majors and Waddell. In this latter capacity they would be instantly discharged on the grounds of mental imbecility and physical incompetency. Nothing moves them out of a snail pace unless it to be a volcanic eruption or a tremendous earthquake. Is it to be wondered that half our letters are lost, and our papers that should come through in five days are eight months in reaching us?” This outburst against the United States mail service occurred in March, 1859, in the Nebraska City News. It expresses the frustration of an editor who depended on the mail for delivery of eastern newspapers, from which he derived much of the news he printed in his own frontier newspaper. It has a familiar sound, however, for U.S. citizens chronically complain about the mail service in their communities.
In those pre-telephone days the mail was almost the only means of communication with the outside world available to thousands of isolated settlers. And, since many of them had to WALK after their mail, a postoffice within a very few miles of every home was a great convience. For this reason, during the late ‘seventies and all through the ‘eighties, a veritable flood of post office applications poured into Washington. The result was a post office in every country store in the land, and in scores of homes in between.
Many of the little offices were no more than four to six miles apart, but to homesteaders who went afoot for their mail once or twice a week they were none too close. The office equipment was simple— usually a dry goods box partitioned into pigeon holes, and a drawer or a cigar box in which to keep stamps, change and report blanks. The mail itself was carried to and from the nearest town or railroad point by stage coach, mail cart, horseback or on foot. A new post office, established in a settler’s home, frequently brought enough people to the place to warrant putting in a stock of groceries and other store goods. Then a blacksmith shop and/or a cream buying station might follow, making a tiny village of the place. Many a little country town was born in this way.
Through its century of history Holt County has had 102 officially established post offices. Nine are still in existance today: Amelia, Atkinson, Chambers, Emmet, Ewing, Inman, O’Neill, Page and Stuart.
The county’s first office was established in January, 1876, with James Ewing as postmaster. First named Ford, after the first settler in the region, it was changed to Ewing a few years later. Cedar, established in August, 1912, was the last of the long line.
One office, Gillespie, was in existence for only 112 days: May 14 to September 3, 1883. Disney had only two postmasters, both of them women. Inman has had twenty-three postmasters up to the present (98 years), Stuart has had twenty in ninety-four years. Dustin had eighteen in forty-eight years. John Conard of Emmet had the longest tenure in office, forty-three years and five months. Peter Lansworth of Agee was next with thirty-nine years.
As described in Chapter One of this history, Ewing was the first settlement in Holt County. Frenchtown, to the east in Antelope County was the nearest post office and Mr. Ewing, whenever he had to go there, brought back the mail and kept it in a fiddle case until his neighbors called for it. As more settlers came and the need for regular mail service became urgent, James Ewing applied for a post office. The name granted by the post office department was Ford, by which it was known for several years. How many times it came each week, at first, is unknown, but by 1882, after the Sioux City and Pacific railroad built through the town, the mail came every day except Sunday. George Butler was appointed postmaster for Ewing in the fall of ’82. A month later he was succeeded by George Johnson, who gave way eight months later to Joseph Kay, who 111 Old Chelsea post office. Picture taken March, 1974. Courtesy Edith Davidson. served a little over a year and was succeeded in turn by Clarence Selah in 1884. Such a rapid turnover in postmasters was not unusual. Neither was it out of the ordinary for the post office itself to be moved from house to house and from farm to farm. Frances Rotherham served the longest at Ewing, from 1942 to 1974, thirty-two years.
There is some confusion of dates regarding the establishment of post offices for Inman’s Grove, O’Neill City and Harte. Bill Inman of Inman’s Grove applied for an office on May 10, 1877, to be located at his home, which was on the route from Norfolk to O’Neill City on which mail was carried twice a week. The nearest railroad was eighty miles away at Yankton, South Dakota. Thirty-five people would receive mail there. O’Neill City was six miles northwest of Inman’s Grove and Ford was fifteen miles southeast. There was, as yet, no town of Inman, and O’Neill City was not granted a post office until September, 1879.
The record shows that the people of the Inman’s Grove area had, previous to 1877, picked up their mail at the Harte ranch on the east side of the Elkhorn. The freight line from Omaha to the Black Hills made the ranch a stopping place and no doubt brought the mail to that point. William Harte, however, did not come to the Elkhorn until March, 1878, and was not commissioned postmaster of Harte post office until December, 1879. By then the nearest railroad to the south was at Wisner, also eighty miles distant.
On August 19, 1881, application was made to drop “Grove” from the name and to change the location of the office to the north side of the Sioux City and Pacific railroad tracks, which had just been laid in the newly platted town of Inman.
Early post office applications were detailed and complicated. Each one had to show the location of all adjacent towns and streams and the distances thereto, as well as the distance from the nearest railroad, also the number of patrons the office would serve. This new office of Inman would be twelve miles from Ewing, one and one-half miles from Harte, one mile south of the Elkhorn River and four miles east of Dry Creek. It would supply three hundred people, a figure indicating how rapidly settlers were coming into the valley.
In September, 1881, Harte post office was discontinued and its mail transferred to Inman. This office, too got around the town. In 1919, when Emma Riley was post mistress it was located in the back part of the central office. From 1933 to 1959, while James McMahan was postmaster, the office was in the McGraw building for awhile, then in the old Inman State Bank building. In 1967 it was moved to a new addition built onto the Kopecky hay office.
The only other post office applied for in Holt County in 1877 was the one at Lavinia City, up on the Niobrara at the mouth of the Big Sandy, on Route 34153 from Niobrara to Paddock. The office was twenty miles northwest of Paddock and there was no other office beyond it at that time. The mail was carried twice weekly by Herks Foster and fifty people picked up their mail there. Jordan Smith was the first postmaster. The little office changed postmasters frequently until 1889, when it was discontinued in favor of Chelsea, a few miles down the river. It was named in honor of Mrs. Lavinia Smith, the first white woman in the settlement.
Chelsea, one of three offices applied for in 1878, was situated in 112 the southwest quarter of section 19, township 33, range 12. It was on the route from Paddock to Keya Paha and the mail came once a week. Lavinia was eight miles northwest, Paddock twelve miles southeast. It’s first postmaster was Theron Miller, and it was probably named by an English emmigrant for Chelsea, England. It existed for twenty-one years and had four other postmasters, the last two being women, Minnie Coleman and Minnie Turner.
The second 1878 office was Atkinson, an extension of the Norfolk to O’Neill City route. The office, serving the new town of Atkinson, was about twenty rods from Elkhorn River and there was no railroad. W.W. Marsh, the mail contractor, covered the route twice a week and Frank Bitney, the first postmaster, served some 125 families from the office tucked into his pioneer store.
The Atkinson post office, about to round out its first century of service, has had nineteen postmasters and numerous locations in the town. E.C. McKay, appointed in 1962, is the present postmaster.
The third and last 1878 office was known as Saratoga and operated ten miles south and a little east of Chelsea. The first postmaster, Bennett Gillespie, had sixty patrons. After several moves, Saratoga was housed at the home of Frank Duffy, Pete Duffy’s father, in 1886, where Pete’s Aunt Catherine looked after it. Young Pete was the carrier, bringing the mail on horseback from O’Neill. The office was discontinued in June, 1888, but reestablished in October of the same year. It then continued on until 1910, when it died for good.
A rash of post offices broke out over the county in 1879 when nearly a dozen new offices were applied for. One was Apple Creek, on the far east side of the county, eight miles south of the Niobrara. It was so named because it stood on the banks of Apple Creek, a little stream bordered by heavy stands of wild crab apple trees. It was located in the home of William McElhaney who had filed on the land the year before. In 1882 it was moved into the home of John Emerson who had built an eight-room “hotel,” the Emerson House. A main travel and freight route passed the site and the hotel and post office were popular for some years. / The Apple Creek office not only moved several times but also underwent several name changes. For awhile it was Steel Creek, then it became Omeral, a name frequently confused with “Omaha,” causing mail to go astray. It was finally named Dorsey, in honor of Congressman George Dorsey, a name it retained until it was discontinued in 1957. Mrs. Martha Wiley, the Dorsey telephone operator for so many years, was also the postmistress during the last forty years of Dorsey’s existence, 1917 to 1957. Not only the post office’ but also the little town that grew up around it had to move several times, finally coming to rest higher up on a nearby hillside, out of reach of too frequent flood waters.
Cleveland and Clifton Grove were both 1879 offices. Cleveland, only six miles from the western border of the county and seven miles south of the Niobrara, was named for its first postmaster, Suman Cleveland. The mail was carried three times a week by L.H. and J.B. Berry and served one hundred families. This office, too, moved several times before it was discontinued in 1895. Clifton Grove, a “special office,” was seven miles southeast of Lavinia on the south bank of Brush Creek. Orin Keeler was its first postmaster. When John McGinn moved it to his place in 1886 the “Grove” was dropped from its name. For a time this office served 150 people.
Deloit, applied for in August, 1879, was on the route from Neligh to O’Neill City. It was located in the far southeast corner of the county and was named for Deloit, of Crawford County, Iowa. It served sixty-five people and was discontinued in 1911 and its mail sent to Ewing.
Grand Rapids was established at the same time as Menlo, twenty-four miles to the west In Rock County, and was situated on the route between Menlo and Keya Paha. Mrs. Margaret Blake applied for it and was its first postmistress. It took its name from the rapids in the Niobrara, a half mile to the north, and was served by nine other postmasters before it was discontinued in 1907.
The first post office on Apple Creek, after it became Dorsey, was housed in the tiny building shown in the lower right hand corner of this picture. The big house in the lower center was the home of John Emerson, better known as the “Emerson House,” a hotel stop for freighters and stages on the old route north from O’Neill. Courtesy E. M. Jarman.
The office of Middle Branch was established in Knox County in 1879, then three years later moved across the county line into Holt, where it was located on the Charles Finney place. Here it was a part of the new little town of Middle Branch, tucked in at the foot of a hill with the Middle Branch of the Verdigris Creek winding around its east edge. Moses Bright had built a burr mill on the stream a year or two earlier and in 1881 Finney started a store. The post office was in the mill until 1900, when a new store was built and the office moved there. The town had a church, a drugstore and a blacksmith shop, as well as several homes.
Middle Branch had nine postmasters before 1923, when Mrs. Alta Finch moved it into her store and served it faithfully for the next thirty years. It was discontinued when she closed her store in 1953. After that the pretty little town gradually disappeared. Hainesville, on the route from Niobrara to O’Neill, was another of the 1879 offices. Situated on the North Branch of the Verdigris, it was seven miles almost straight north of Middle Branch. In 1907 it was discontinued in favor of Middle Branch. It had been a small office, supplying only about twenty families.
Leonie, established on Redbird Creek nine miles south of Paddock in 1879, enjoyed a lifetime of thirty-four years and had only four postmasters before it was discontinued in 1913. It was probably named for some girl or woman in the area.
Cache Creek, in southeast Holt County, was a village of about fifty people at the time the post office was started there. It also served a rural population of some thirty people. The place took its name from an incident that had happened there when some 113 government men were working their way west up the Elkhorn, establishing legal survey points.
They had reached the mouth of a creek between Clearwater and Ewing when one of the party became very ill with an attack of appendicitis. The nearest doctor was in Fremont, over a hundred miles to the southeast. Not wanting to haul all their equipment back to Fremont, they buried or “cached” it on a sandbar in the creek and erased all traces of the burial so that the Indians would not find it. They then hurried back to civilization with their sick comrade, and when they returned and dug up their supplies, recorded the name of “Cache Creek” on their map, and went on their way.
Madison B. Hoffman, appointed in September, 1879, was Cache Creek’s first postmaster. Although the office was moved several times it stayed in the vicinity of the creek until 1885, when it was transferred to Ferndale, four miles northwest.
Seven new post offices were established in the county in 1880. Emmet, midway between O’Neill and Atkinson, was the largest. The contractor, Berry, carried the mail once a week. The first office was in the home of Thomas Malloy. Three years later his wife took over. In all, four Malloys held the job at one time or another. In 1890 this office was permitted to sell money orders.
Emmet post office, too, was moved about town to suit the convenience of its numerous postmasters. At one time it was housed in Jim Graham’s confectionery store. In 1936 John Conard moved it to a grocery store owned by his parents, where he maintained it for thirty years. A practical joker, John gave every child in town a sack of peanuts at Christmas time, then sent them over to Winkler’s store to eat them’so he wouldn’t have to sweep up the shells. During the great flu epidemic of the winter of 1918 people were not permitted to congregate in public buildings. Anna McCaffery was postmistress at the time and, as daily mail delivery time approached, her patrons would gather outside the office where she handed their mail out to them as they filed by the door. One very cold day the mail train was late and nearly fifty people waited almost an hour to get their mail.
John Conard sold the store in 1965 and moved the post office into the Emmet State Bank building, where he continued to run it until his retirement in 1972, after forty-three years of faithful service. Mrs. Ed Winkler, who had been John’s post office clerk, was appointed to the office of postmaster in March, 1974.
Greeley, seventeen miles north of Emmet on Turkey Creek, also became a post office in 1880. It’s mail, however, came from O’Neill by way of Saratoga, four miles to the south, then on to Keya Paha. The office served fifty families and the mail was carried twice a week by A. Brown. It was named for Peter Greeley, its first postmaster, who had filed on a homestead at that location in 1879. A Wisconsinite who had owned a general store in his native state, Greeley brought with him two car-loads of ready cut lumber for the house and store he built on his homestead. The lumber, a cow, a team and supplies for the store were ferried across the Missouri at Nio-brara, then hauled by ox team to the building site. For ten years Greeley’s store and post office prospered under that name. Then trouble broke out in Greeley County, nearly one hundred miles to the south, with the result that Greeley post office had to change its name.
Greeley County had long had a post office know as Greeley Center, but when a bitter county seat fight broke out between Greeley Center and another town, and Greeley Center won, its residents decided to drop the “Center” from its name. Since there could not be two post offices by the same name in the state, one had to find a new name. Holt County’s “Greeley,” being of lesser importance than a county seat, had to make the change. “After much controversy it was renamed Phoenix.”‘ (From Ruth Coburn Way- man family history).
Probably some of the settlers, unhappy over losing their first identity chose the name “Phoenix” because, like the mythical Phoenix, their post office was rising again from the ashes of old Greeley. Adelbert Nickerson was appointed postmaster Phoenix store and post office under George Syfie’s management. Picture taken in March, 1929. Courtesy Mrs. Russell Angus. at this time (1887). Edward Coburn next gave the office a home in 1892. His son, Lewis, took charge of it in 1902 and kept it until he moved away in 1907. At this time it was brought back to its original site in the old store, which was now operated by George Syfie Sr.
George had come to America as a young man in 1894. A native of Asyria, he worked his way from Massachusetts to South Dakota, then came down into Holt County as a peddler of dry goods and notions, which he carried in a pack on his back. He often slept under a tree at night to save twenty-five cents, the price of a night’s lodging, and was soon able to start a general store. With a friend, Sam Abdnor, he rented land from John Damero and, at a cost of ninety dollars, built a two-story frame building. In 1910 he bought land across the road to the east and moved the store there, where it still stands, a landmark of the early days. The post office, of course, moved with him. Mail came daily to Phoenix until December 30, 1933, when the Phoenix post mark was used for the last time. Lambert, six miles southeast of Middle Branch, was about midway, north and south, of the eastern border of the county. It was served by a carrier who left Neligh at the end of the railroad, swung over into Holt County past the new office and went on north to Brewer, established a little later about seven miles to the north- west. Brewer lasted barely two years, then was discontinued in favor of Hainesville. Lambert lived on until 1891. Laura Foster, who applied for it, was its first postmistress. James Wagers was the last of its seven postmasters. Laura, about three miles west of Lavinia, was named in honor of Laura Estep, the wife of its first postmaster, J. A. Estep. After three years the office 114 Grandma Dale standing in front of old Redbird post office in 1880. Courtesy Bob Tomlinson.
was discontinued in 1883.
As settlers edged westward from the eastern border of the county a new post office out toward Leonie and Saratoga was needed to keep pace with them. Mineola, established in September, 1880, filled the need. Andrew Little was its first postmaster. Mineola had a lumber yard, store, doctor, blacksmith shop, a hotel and a newspaper, the Mineola Sun. For some reason the office was discontinued in 1895, reestablished in 1901, and permanently discontinued in 1913. It may have been named in memory of Mineola, New York; Mineola, Texas; or Mineola, Iowa. Redbird, another 1880 post office, was applied for by George Brown in 1886. However the record of postmasters shows that Barret Scott was appointed its postmaster in 1880. In 1886 it was situated on the east bank of Redbird Creek, named for the many redbirds in the area. A 1967 clipping form the Norfolk Daily News states that the postoffice was in a dugout on the creek bank. This would have been the 1886 office, for Barret Scott did not live in a dugout. This office, too, was discontinued in 1887, then reopened in 1900 by Peter A. Just. John Wrede, appointed postmaster in 1914, is the last one listed. Apparently the office simply faded out of existence, along with the little town that grew up around it.
Stuart, the last of the 1880 post offices, was named for its first postmaster, Peter Stuart, for whom the town was also named. Located on the Chicago and Great Northern railroad, it was ten miles west of Atkinson. At that time the next post office to the west was Bone Creek, forty-five miles distant. The turnover in Stuart postmasters was rapid for quite awhile. Orange Hallock replaced Stuart in March, 1882. Three months later A. Hagenstein replaced Hallock and served less than a year. Arthur Kemp held the office just over a year, John Shelton for two and one-half months, John Skirving for eighteen months. John Haight became an old hand with a tenure of three years and three months. Daniel Boggs stayed just over a year and a half, Alvin Witt about the same. Then came a stayer John Wertz, who completed four years, as did James Harney.
John Sturdevant took the office in April, 1900, but was replaced thirty days later by that first long termer, John Wertz, who stayed eight years that time. Robert Chittick and William Ulrich served four years each. Then came Edward Walker for a nine year stretch. Six other men and women dispensed the mail at Stuart before April, 1971, when Arnold Jauernig accepted the office, which he still holds.
One wonders what stories lie behind this record of twenty postmasters in ninety-four years. Some postmasters probably moved away, abandoning the office; some may have died in office, or resigned because of poor health, or to accept a more attractive offer. Others probably found the work too confining.
All of the seven offices established in 1881 were of the country type. Little, named in honor of L. B. Little, an early settler, was in the southeast section of the county, seven miles beyond Cache Creek, its supplying office. It serviced thirty-five people and Bradford Cleveland was its first postmaster. As happened to so many of the others, it, too, was closed for a time then reopened at a different location. These gaps in continuity were sometimes occasioned by the lack of any competent person willing to take on the duties of an office. When Little post office opened the second time it had been moved several miles west and was on a different mail route where it supplied seventy-five to one hundred people. It was permanently discontinued in 1913.
Keya Paha was established as a twice-a-week route with an office on the Niobrara five miles northeast of Grand Rapids. It would supply fifty people. A new question on the application form concerned the distance to the nearest “flag station” on the railroad. In this case Stuart, twenty-five miles southwest, was the nearest spot where a train could be “flagged” to a stop. During its seven years Keya Paha had five postmasters. It was discontinued in favor of Grand Rapids.
The original site of the Ray post office was on the northwest quarter of section 20, township 31, range 12 W. Herri T. Hoxsie was its postmaster and it was named for his eldest son. Five years later William Wetherell applied for a change of location to a site about two miles to the southwest; a scenic spot now known as Rock Falls. On Eagle Creek, the falls were the site of William Veal’s grist mill. Ray, too, changed postmasters frequently until 1911, when Wallace Johnson took charge and served until 1921, the year of its discontinuance.
Sunnyside, near Keya Paha, existed for less than two years and had only one postmaster, Hiram V. Wilson. Turner, located at the Nollkamper mill on Eagle Creek, received mail twice a week. Mr. Nollkamper named the post office for his partner, a Mr. Turner who was also a Niobrara merchant. It served its community until 1914. Blackbird, established about the same time as Turner, was simply a five mile extension of that route. Named for the creek on which it was located, Harry Spindler, an employee of the mill, was its first postmaster. It was twice discontinued before 1928, when it went out of business for good.
Nine other little post offices, established in 1881 and ’82, were very shortly shifted into other counties with the changing of county boundary lines. Doty, Carns, Kirkwood, Lomo, Mariaville, Menlo, Munt and McLean all became a part of Brown County; Carson went into Garfield County. The big year for proliferation of Holt County post offices was 1882, when twelve were established. As the region filled with settlers it seemed that the first thing the newcommers demanded was a post office, a means of keeping in touch with the folks back home through letters and newspapers. Agee, on the northwest quarter of section 34, 31 S, 11 W, was only four 115 miles south of Blackbird. It is said to have been named for A. W. Agee who became Lt. Governor of Nebraska in 1883. Its first postmaster was Peter Lansworth. Mr. Lansworth must have moved eight years later, as he then petitioned to move the office to the northeast corner of the same quarter section. This put Agee on a different route on which the mail was carried three times a week instead of twice weekly, as on the former route. After thirty-nine years as postmaster of Agee Mr. Lansworth retired in favor of another member of his family, Anna Lansworth, who accepted her appointment in September, 1921. There is no date given for the discontinuance of this office, but Agee is no longer on Nebraska maps.
Celia, ten miles north of Atkinson, was named for the wife of its first postmaster, Celia Harker who, with her husband George established the office. It had six postmasters and was active until 1914. Ferndale, eight miles southwest of Ewing, was doubtless named for some bosky dell on the nearby Elkhorn river. Mail was carried from Ewing to Ferndale once a week and its first postmaster was Burtis Rosa. Service was discontinued in 1888. Ross was another short-lived post office, a bare seven months in all. Its location is not given but it must have been somewhere near Atkinson, since its mail was sent to that town after it expired. Its only postmaster was James Ross, probably the well- known grist mill builder.
Scottville, named for Barrett Scott, was three miles northwest of Mineola on the route from Hainesville to Paddock. The Leonie post office was only five miles southwest. It served twenty-five families and the mail came three times a week. It existed until 1915. Southside, on the Niobrara, was one of a close cluster of post offices: Keya Paha, Sunnyside, Laura, Lavinia and Grand Rapids, all within a few miles of each other. For this was rugged country and one could not simply “cut across” to get his mail at the office nearest to him as the crow flies. After six years Scottville was discontinued and the mail sent to Grand Rapids.
Star rounded out a triumvirate of post offices with heavenly titles: Mars, Venus and Star. Mars and Venus were just over the line in Knox County. Mary J. Kezer applied for the office, which was only three and one-half miles northwest of Hainesville and five miles south of Apple Creek. As usual, several names were sent in with the application for the office; and “Star,” the name turned in by Charles Downey, was the one chosen Emory Downey, Charles’ father, operated the nearby Downey House, a large sod hotel on the freight and stage route from O’Neill to Niobrara. Charles, seventeen at the time, was the mail contractor, covering the route three times a week, with Fred Kelly as his alternate. The young men made most of their trips on horseback. At first the mail was carried from Orchard, in Knox County. Sometime before the first World War the route was changed and the mail came from O’Neill to Star, where it met and exchanged mail with the carrier from Lynch, up in Boyd County. Although it occupied three different sites, Star was one of the longest lived of all the rural offices, serving its community until January 1957, or almost seventy- five years.
Twing, named for its first postmaster, Samuel J. Twing, was located on the bank of the Big Sandy, ten miles northwest of Atkinson, in the midst of a wide area of ranch and farm country. Until it was discontinued in 1888 it served about one hundred patrons.
Belknap, one of three 1883 post offices, was five miles south of Grand Rapids. Its postmaster, Lafayette Belknap, served until it was phased out, five years later. Although no location is given for Gillespie, which folded after only one hundred and twelve days, hAay 14 to September 3, it must have been between Clifton Grove and Belknap, for its mail was sent to Clifton after its demise. The shortest lived of all Holt post offices, its one postmaster was James S. Perry. It was doubtless named for B. S. Gillespie who lived in Saratoga Township at the time and was the surveyor involved in the Heilman- Dutcher-Dewey feud of that period. He later became Holt County Superintendent of Schools, Sheriff, and Judge, as well as Mayor of O’Neill in 1897.
The fast mail to Bliss, carried by W. H. Trussel. Courtesy Marian Van Horn 1910 picture of the Meek store and post office. Courtesy of Lyle and Cleona Ruff. Dustin was only two and one-half miles south of Grand Rapids and six miles northeast of Cleveland, but it served two hundred people. Its mail came north from Stuart over an eighteen mile route. Its first postmaster was William Dustin, founder of the little town of Dustin where flourished a general store, hardware store, drug store, blacksmith shop, church, school and a few residences. It even had a newspaper, the Dustin Dispatch. It had eighteen postmasters during its forty-eight years of existence. When, in 1931, no one could be found to accept the postmastership it was discontinued and its mail carried on the Star Route from Stuart. Bliss, applied for in 1884, was thirty-six miles south of O’Neill and two miles west of Goose Lake. Mail came twice a week. Several Negro families, homesteading in the area, were served by Bliss. At that time (a few years ahead of Big Bill Thompson) John Dierks was the biggest ranchman in the region and Dixon, Freeman and others of the Negros worked for him. At one time the mail to Bliss was carried with a horse and a two-wheeled cart, the horse holding a gait between a pace and a trot for miles at a stretch.
In the 1890’s, while Vernando Hays was postmaster, Frank Wheatland had the contract to carry the mail from Bliss to Ewing and back, a goodly piece. Frank’s wife, Della, drove the route much of the time, driving into Ewing one day, staying overnight and driving back to Bliss the next. Bliss, likely named for some local resident, was still active in 1925.
Catalpa, named for a nearby grove of catalpa trees, was also applied for in 1884. In its twenty-seven years of existence it was moved, discontinued and reopened. A smell office, it wes surrounded by Leone, Saratoga end 116 Ray.
When R. C. Wry homesteaded twenty miles southwest of O’Neill in 1883, he thought his place a fine one for the location of a town. Accordingly he built a store and platted a few town lots. He then applied for a post office, which he wanted to name “Juniata” for his youngest daughter. Since there was already a post office by that name in southern Nebraska, he was told to select another. W. D. Mathews of the O’Neill Frontier then suggested the name of his friend, B. F. Chambers, registrar of the land office at Niobrara. The mail came twice a week and the office supplied one hundred families.
At one time, when the office was in a small building east of Turner’s barber shop, there was a slot in the outside door, enabling patrons to mail letters when the office was closed. Mr. Wry was the Chambers postmaster most of the time until 1911, when he turned the office over to Frank Dyke who moved it into his jewelry store. Luanne Hilligas is the present postmistress. Conley, small 1884 office, was six miles west of Bliss. Its life time was only four years and John Connelly was its only postmaster. Another small office, Riverside, was located on the bank of the Niobrara in the far northeast corner of Holt County, seven miles east of Redbird. It served its area from 1884 until 1893. Sizer, also on the bank of the Niobrara, was only a short distance from Paddock. Reu- ban Sizer was its postmaster. Milton Smith replaced him seven years later and the office was closed in 1894. Walker was six miles southeast of Little, on the southern border of the county. Orrelious Hering was its first postmaster, W. C. Beatty its second, and it ceased to exist in January, 1885, just short of a year after its beginning. Moore, the last of the 1884 offices, was named for its first postmaster, Fred Moore. About twelve miles east of O’Neill, it supplied two hundred people with mail service. It was discontinued in 1889 and the mail sent to Lambert.
In 1885 Isaac D. Bliss was appointed postmaster at Amelia, a little inland village he named for his wife. The big southwest section of the county had settled rapidly and the office served one hundred and fifty settlers. I. D. Bliss was also the mail carrier. He had no horses of his own so usually had to walk the twenty-six miles to O’Neill to pick up and deliver the mail.
During part of the year he often caught rides with freighters or travelers, but during the busy spring and summer months when horses were in the fields he walked his appointed round, umbrella in hand, mail sacks on his back. When he walked the whole distance the round trip took three days. Years later (1938-1942) Florence Lindsey carried the mail on the Amelia-Ballagh (Garfield County) route in a sturdy car. Stanley Thomp-* son, the last of Amelia’s eighteen postmasters, is now in office. Thompson, in the southwest quarter of section 31, township 25, range 11, was fourteen miles west of Deloit. It supplied between one hundred and one hundred and fifty patrons and John Simpson was its postmaster for the brief two years of its existence. When it was discontinued in November, 1887, its mail went to Bliss, five miles distant.
A flock of new post offices with intriguing names were estoblished in 1886. Harold, ebout five miles south of Chambers, supplied about thirty- five people until it was closed in 1900 end its. papers transferred to Chcm-bers. Four years later Cord Smith opplied for its reestoblishment. In its new locotion it was six miles south- east of Chambers and supplied one hundred and fifty people. It remained active until 1912, when it was phased out and its mail again taken to Chambers.
Hollman, on the South Fork of the Elkhorn, was ten miles southwest of Inman and served two hundred and fifty people. The first of its four postmasters was Irene Lehmer. It was discontinued in 1892 and its mail taken to Ewing.
In August (1886) four names for a new office (Inez, Voice, Globe and Viola) were submitted to Washington. “Inez” won and Mary Adams was appointed postmistress. Eighty-five people picked up their mail at Inez. The route ran from Atkinson to Inez, then on to Amelia and was covered with a team and buggy until 1910, when the first car took over. The office was permitted to write money orders from 1910 on, until it was closed in 1930. Most of its postmasters operated a country store in the same building.
A petition for a post office, circulated in an area twelve miles north of O’Neill that same year, was signed by all the settlers and granted by the postal department. This action created such JOY in the community that the people gave their new post office that name. Joy was housed in the home of C. W. Hagensick, the leading blacksmith, who served as postmaster for four years. The office was then moved three miles east to James Mullen’s general store. Two years later it was moved again to the nearby home of John Robertson. When Mr. Robertson was elected to the Senate in 1895 his wife, Rachel, took over the office and held it until it was discontinued in 1914. Joy was on Blackbird Creek.
In December of 1886 another application was made for an office to be located on Redbird Creek about six miles from the Hagenseck place. This office was named Mathews and Agee was about halfway between it and Joy. Its first postmaster, John Planck, was replaced after eleven months by Charles Hall, and four months later the office was closed. Perhaps there were just too many post offices in that part of the country.
Richmond, ten miles northeast of Atkinson, near Catalpa, furnished mail service for one hundred residents, had four postmasters in its four years of existance and passed into oblivion in 1890. The post office with the pretty name of Shamrock was five miles north of Chambers and changed postmasters regularly: Thomas Morris, March, 1886; Milton Henack, August, 1886; Martin Wintermote, November, 1887; and Mathew Kane, April, 1888. It went out of business that December. Rome, about sixteen miles southwest of Atkinson, served one hundred and fifty people but existed for less than two years. Its only postmaster was Martin Mason and, at its discontinuance, its mail was sent to nearby Inez.
Dennis Kelly opened a small grocery store eleven miles northwest of O’Neill in 1880. Six years later he applied for a post office to be named Slocum. Judged by horse and buggy standards, Slocum was a long way from any other town or post office. Ray, the nearest, was nine miles northwest. Joy a little farther to the northeast. Kelly ran the office until he moved away in 1894. Several other postmasters took turns until 1903, when Slocum went the way of so many other little post offices. Swan was on a long, lonely route running from Atkinson to Ord, away south in Valley County, and its mail was delivered once a week. By the turn of the century the office was located in John Worden’s little sod store. In 1904 it was in the Bert Crandall home and delivery was made three times a week. The carrier, who lived in Erina in Garfield County, started there, traveled to Swan, Amelia, Inez and Atkinson, where he laid over, then made the return trip the next day. Thirteen postmasters served the office before it was discontinued in 1923. It was named for Swan Lake, three miles to the north. The lake, an oblong body of water with a long neck, reminded the residents of a swan.
No new offices were established in Holt County in 1887, and only one in 1888. William F. Johnson applied for the office and named it Stafford in 117 miles south of Blackbird. It is said to have been named for A. W. Agee who became Lt. Governor of Nebraska in 1883. Its first postmaster was Peter Lansworth. AAr. Lansworth must have moved eight years later, as he then petitioned to move the office to the northeast corner of the same quarter section. This put Agee on a different route on which the mail was carried three times a week instead of twice weekly, as on the former route. After thirty-nine years as postmaster of Agee AAr. Lansworth retired in favor of another member of his family, Anna Lansworth, who accepted her appointment in September, 1921. There is no date given for the discontinuance of this office, but Agee is no longer on Nebraska maps.
Celia, ten miles north of Atkinson, was named for the wife of its first postmaster, Celia Harker who, with her husband George established the office. It had six postmasters and was active until 1914. Ferndale, eight miles southwest of Ewing, was doubtless named for some bosky dell on the nearby Elkhorn river. AAail was carried from Ewing to Ferndale once a week and its first postmaster was Burtis Rosa. Service was discontinued in 1888. Ross was another short-lived post office, a bare seven months in all. Its location is not given but it must have been somewhere near Atkinson, since its mail was sent to that town after it expired. Its only postmaster was James Ross, probably the well- known grist mill builder.
Scottville, named for Barrett Scott, was three miles northwest of AAineola on the route from Hainesville to Paddock. The Leonie post office was only five miles southwest. It served twenty-five families and the mail came three times a week. It existed until 1915. Southside, on the Niobrara, was one of a close cluster of post offices: Keya Paha, Sunnyside, Laura, Lavinia and Grand Rapids, all within a few miles of each other. For this was rugged country and one could not simply “cut across” to get his mail at the office nearest to him as the crow flies. After six years Scottville was discontinued and the mail sent to Grand Rapids.
Star rounded out a triumvirate of post offices with heavenly titles: AAars, Venus and Star. AAars and Venus were just over the line in Knox County. Mary J. Kezer applied for the office, which was only three and one-half miles northwest of Hainesville and five miles south of Apple Creek. As usual, several names were sent in with the application for the office; and “Star,” the name turned in by Charles Downey, was the one chosen Emory Downey, Charles’ father, operated the nearby Downey House, a large sod hotel on the freight and stage route from O’Neill to Niobrara. Charles, seventeen at the time, was the mail contractor, covering the route three times a week, with Fred Kelly as his alternate. The young men made most of their trips on horseback. At first the mail was carried from Orchard, in Knox County. Sometime before the first World War the route was changed and the mail came from O’Neill to Star, where it met and exchanged mail with the carrier from Lynch, up in Boyd County. Although it occupied three different sites, Star was one of the longest lived of all the rural offices, serving its community until January 1957, or almost seventy- five years.
Twing, named for its first postmaster, Samuel J. Twing, was located on the bank of the Big Sandy, ten miles northwest of Atkinson, in the midst of a wide area of ranch and farm country. Until it was discontinued in 1888 it served about one hundred patrons.
Belknap, one of three 1883 post offices, was five miles south of Grand Rapids. Its postmaster, Lafayette Belknap, served until it was phased out, five years later. Although no location is given for Gillespie, which folded after only one hundred and twelve days, May 14 to September 3, it must have been between Clifton Grove and Belknap, for its mail was sent to Clifton after its demise. The shortest lived of all Holt post offices, its one postmaster was James S. Perry. It was doubtless named for B. S. Gillespie who lived in Saratoga Township at the time and was the surveyor involved in the Heilman- Dutcher-Dewey feud of that period. He later became Holt County Superintendent of Schools, Sheriff, and Judge, as well as Mayor of O’Neill in 1897.
The fast mail to Bliss, carried by W. H. Trussel. Courtesy Marian Van Horn. -1910 picture of the AAeek store and post office. Courtesy of Lyle and Cleona Ruff. Dustin was only two and one-half miles south of Grand Rapids and six miles northeast of Cleveland, but it served two hundred people. Its mail came north from Stuart over an eighteen mile route. Its first postmaster was William Dustin, founder of the little town of Dustin where flourished a general store, hardware store, drug store, blacksmith shop, church, school and a few residences. It even had a newspaper, the Dustin Dispatch. It had eighteen postmasters during its forty-eight years of existence. When, in 1931, no one could be found to accept the postmastership it was discontinued and its mail carried on the Star Route from Stuart. Bliss, applied for in 1884, was thirty-six miles south of O’Neill and two miles west of Goose Lake. AAail came twice a week. Several Negro families, homesteading in the area, were served by Bliss. At that time (a few years ahead of Big Bill Thompson) John Dierks was the biggest ranchman in the region and Dixon, Freeman and others of the Negros worked for him. At one time the mail to Bliss was carried with a horse and a two-wheeled cart, the horse holding a gait between a pace and a trot for miles at a stretch.
In the 1890’s, while Vernando Hays was postmaster, Frank Wheatland had the contract to carry the mail from Bliss to Ewing and back, a goodly piece. Frank’s wife, Della, drove the route much of the time, driving into Ewing one day, staying overnight and driving back to Bliss the next. Bliss, likely named for some local resident, was still active in 1925.
Catalpa, named for a nearby grove of catalpa trees, was also applied for in 1884. In its twenty-seven years of existence it was moved, discontinued and reopened. A small office, it was surrounded by Leone, Saratoga and 116 Ray.
When R. C. Wry homesteaded twenty miles southwest of O’Neill in 1883, he thought his place a fine one for the location of a town. Accordingly he built a store and platted a few town lots. He then applied for a post office, which he wanted to name “Juniata” for his youngest daughter. Since there was already a post office by that name in southern Nebraska, he was told to select another. W. D. Mathews of the O’Neill Frontier then suggested the name of his friend, B. F. Chambers, registrar of the land office at Niobrara. The mail came twice a week and the office supplied one hundred families.
At one time, when the office was in a small building east of Turner’s barber shop, there was a slot in the outside door, enabling patrons to mail letters when the office was closed. Mr. Wry was the Chambers postmaster most of the time until 1911, when he turned the office over to Frank Dyke who moved it into his jewelry store. Luanne Hilligas is the present postmistress. Conley, small 1884 office, was six miles west of Bliss. Its life time was only four years and John Connelly was its only postmaster. Another small office, Riverside, was located on the bank of the Niobrara in the far northeast corner of Holt County, seven miles east of Redbird. It served its area from 1884 until 1893. Sizer, also on the bank of the Niobrara, was only a short distance from Paddock. Reu- ban Sizer was its postmaster. Milton Smith replaced him seven years later and the office was closed in 1894. Walker was six miles southeast of Little, on the southern border of the county. Orrelious Hering was its first postmaster, W. C. Beatty its second, and it ceased to exist in January, 1885, just short of a year after its beginning. Moore, the last of the 1884 offices, was named for its first postmaster, Fred Moore. About twelve miles east of O’Neill, it supplied two hundred people with mail service. It was discontinued in 1889 and the mail sent to Lambert.
In 1885 Isaac D. Bliss was appointed postmaster at Amelia, a little inland village he named for his wife. The big southwest section of the county had settled rapidly and the office served one hundred and fifty settlers. I. D. Bliss was also the mail carrier. He had no horses of his own so usually had to walk the twenty-six miles to O’Neill to pick up and deliver the mail.
During part of the year he often caught rides with freighters or travelers, but during the busy spring and summer months when horses were in the fields he walked his appointed round, umbrella in hand, mail sacks on his back. When he walked the whole distance the round trip took three days. Years later (1938-1942) Florence Lindsey carried the mail on the Amelia-Ballagh (Garfield County) route in a sturdy car. Stanley Thomp-* son, the last of Amelia’s eighteen postmasters, is now in office. Thompson, in the southwest quarter of section 31, township 25, range 11, was fourteen miles west of Deloit. It supplied between one hundred and one hundred and fifty patrons and John Simpson was its postmaster for the brief two years of its existence. When it was discontinued in November, 1887, its mail went to Bliss, five miles distant.
A flock of new post offices with intriguing nomes were established in 1886. Harold, about five miles south of Chambers, supplied about thirty- five people until it was closed in 1900 and its. papers transferred to Cham- bers. Four years later Cord Smith opplied for its reestoblishment. In its new locotion it was six miles south- east of Chambers and supplied one hundred and fifty people. It remained active until 1912, when it was phased out and its mail again taken to Chambers.
Hollman, on the South Fork of the Elkhorn, was ten miles southwest of Inman and served two hundred and fifty people. The first of its four postmasters was Irene Lehmer. It was discontinued in 1892 and its mail taken to Ewing.
In August (1886) four names for a new office (Inez, Voice, Globe and Viola) were submitted to Washington. “Inez” won and Mary Adams was appointed postmistress. Eighty-five people picked up their mail at Inez. The route ran from Atkinson to Inez, then on to Amelia and was covered with a team and buggy until 1910, when the first car took over. The office was permitted to write money orders from 1910 on, until it was closed in 1930. Most of its postmasters operated a country store in the same building.
A petition for a post office, circulated in an area twelve miles north of O’Neill that same year, was signed by all the settlers and granted by the postal department. This action created such JOY in the community that the people gave their new post office that name. Joy was housed in the home of C. W. Hagensick, the leading blacksmith, who served as postmaster for four years. The office was then moved three miles east to James Mullen’s general store. Two years later it was moved again to the nearby home of John Robertson. When Mr. Robertson was elected to the Senate in 1895 his wife, Rachel, took over the office and held it until it was discontinued in 1914. Joy was on Blackbird Creek.
In December of 1886 another application was made for an office to be located on Redbird Creek about six miles from the Hagenseck place. This office was named Mathews and Agee was about halfway between it and Joy. Its first postmaster, John Planck, was replaced after eleven months by Charles Hall, and four months later the office was closed. Perhaps there were just too many post offices in that part of the country.
Richmond, ten miles northeast of Atkinson, near Catalpa, furnished mail service for one hundred residents, had four postmasters in its four years of existance and passed into oblivion in 1890. The post office with the pretty name of Shamrock was five miles north of Chambers and changed postmasters regularly: Thomas Morris, March, 1886; Milton Henack, August, 1886; Martin Wintermote, November, 1887; and Mathew Kane, April, 1888. It went out of business that December. Rome, about sixteen miles southwest of Atkinson, served one hundred and fifty people but existed for less than two years. Its only postmaster was Martin Mason and, at its discontinuance, its mail was sent to nearby Inez.
Dennis Kelly opened a small grocery store eleven miles northwest of O’Neill in 1880. Six years later he applied for a post office to be named Slocum. Judged by horse and buggy standards, Slocum was a long way from any other town or post office. Ray, the nearest, was nine miles northwest. Joy a little farther to the northeast. Kelly ran the office until he moved away in 1894. Several other postmasters took turns until 1903, when Slocum went the way of so many other little post offices. Swan was on a long, lonely route running from Atkinson to Ord, away south in Valley County, and its mail was delivered once a week. By the turn of the century the office was located in John Worden’s little sod store. In 1904 it was in the Bert Crandall home and delivery was made three times a week. The carrier, who lived in Erina in Garfield County, started there, traveled to Swan, Amelia, Inez and Atkinson, where he laid over, then made the return trip the next day. Thirteen postmasters served the office before it was discontinued in 1923. It was named for Swan Lake, three miles to the north. The lake, an oblong body of water with a long neck, reminded the residents of a swan.
No new offices were established in Holt County in 1887, and only one in 1888. William F. Johnson applied for the office and named it Stafford in 117 honor of the first roadmaster of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri railroad. Since Stafford was on the railroad its mail came daily. The office was only fifteen rods south of the tracks and Mr. Johnson’s application stated that it could be supplied by a crane (a metal arm mounted on a post beside the track, on which the postal clerk could hang the mail sack as the train passed) if the train wouldn’t stop.
In 1900 Edwin Crandall asked that the office be moved one mile northwest, putting it one mile closer to Inman and one mile farther from Ewing. This may have been because a village was growing up at that point rather than at the location of the mail crane and post office. The location of the depot usually determined the site of the surrounding town and if, for some reason, the railroad decided to build its depot some distance from an existing store and post office, the latter generally had to do the moving. According to Frank Brittell, Stafford had two stores, a Catholic church, the school, two hay barns, the depot, stockyards, section house, blacksmith shop and several dwellings.
Badger, the only 1889 office, was eight miles east of Grand Rapids and near the Niobrara. It served only twenty-four families and apparently had more badgers in the adjacent badger town than people in its vicinity. It continued to serve the surrounding rugged area for twenty-seven years. Emporia and Page came into existence in 1890. Emporia was only two miles from the eastern border of Holt, and Page five and a half miles on west of it. Both would be on the new Nebraska and Western Railroad (later the Burlington) then building west from Sioux City, Iowa.
Emporia had dreams of becoming a great trade center, and so chose a name that meant just that. For awhile it was a busy place and served up to five hundred patrons with daily mail. In August, 1902, Emporia gave up the struggle and let its mail go to its rival, the more successful town of Page. Selinda Page made application for the Page office, which was located on his homestead, and either he or his wife officiated until 1894. In the beginning Page served fewer patrons than Emporia but, by 1930, the town’s population had grown to six hundred and there were five mail deliveries and pickups daily. In one year the office took in $100,000 in postal savings and handled many thousands of dollars. As C. E. Walker explains, “Most of the people did their buying | from Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward’s. They didn’t trust the banks and would bring in $500 to $1,000 in bills to be sent by registered mail to Omaha in return for bank drafts, which they sent with their mail orders.” The office also did a thriving business in money orders, writing an average of forty a day. And every spring up to ten thousand baby chicks came in on the mail for Page farmers. Today the office has one delivery and one pickup a day and the town’s population has dropped to about one hundred and sixty souls. Its tenth postmaster, Lloyd Cork, appointed in 1965, is still in the office.
Brodie, one of the county’s smallest offices, served only ten families when it was established in 1891. Cleveland was kitty-cornered across the section northwest of it and Belknap only a little farther to the northeast. The office remained a local convenience until 1907, when it was transferred into Dustin, seven miles to the northeast.
Tonic, far down in the southeast corner of the county, was between Deloit and Bliss. It served some two hundred and ninety people, was active from 1892 until 1914 and had three postmasters, but nowhere is any reason given for its unusual name. During the closing years of the century Holt residents were still applying for new post offices; for its people were no longer willing to walk or ride long distances for their mail when the-miracle of RFD could bring it within easy reach of their doors.* Green Valley, established in 1896, was a “special office,” not near any regular route. The mail came from Stuart, twelve miles north. Inez, fifteen miles southeast, was the next Du t__ __— : jad ieos 1910 picture of the Meek store and post office. Courtesy of Lyle and Cleona Ruff. nearest post office. The area had long been known as “Green Valley,” for that is what it was, a green and grassy valley where a colony of Bohemian emmigrants had homesteaded. The office served some fifty people and its first postmaster was Lindley Smith. The Green Valley office was closed in 1910 and its mail sent to Tonowanda. Inglis, another 1896 office, was very near to old Twing, which had disappeared more than ten years earlier. John Inglis was its first postmaster and the office was short lived. Dewey, south of Ewing between Cache Creek and Deloit, lasted hardly long enough for its patrons to get used to going there for their mail. William Bethea was appointed its postmaster in October, 1898; on June 20, 1899, it ceased to be and the two hundred people it was supposed to serve went to Ewing for their postal needs. The office was probably named for Admiral Dewey, famous that year of 1898 for his part in the Spanish-American war.
McCaffrey, thirteen miles south of Emmet; and Meek, far to the north on Camp Creek, were 1899 post offices. McCaffrey lasted for nearly three years and Joseph McCaffrey was its only postmaster. Harry Spindler, postmaster at Meek, owned the general store and the creamery there— and named the office for the man who bought most of the cream he collected. Ten years later Harry Fox moved the office about a quarter of a mile southeast of its original location and became postmaster. When Mr. Fox died, thirty-two years later, the office was closed.
Anncar, on Turkey Creek, two miles south of the Niobrara, was twenty- four miles from the nearest railroad, the Elkhorn and Missouri Valley. ?Rural Free Delivery was not actually launched until October, 1896, and did not reach the middle states until the following year. The first rural carriers were paid $300 a year and furnished their own transportation. 18 Established in 1900 by Hugh O’Neill, at his ranch, it was named for his mother, Ann Carroll O’Neill. It would have been called “Anncarroll but for the fact there was already an office named “Carroll” in the state. A little town grew up around it and it served thirty to forty families until November, 1931.
Holt Creek post office, somewhere on Holt Creek, a tributary of the Elk-horn, had one postmaster, William Conklin, and a life time of less than five months, August 21, 1901 to January 8, 1902.
No new offices were established until 1904. Then came Disney, northeast of O’Neill on Redbird Creek; Martha, six miles north of Bliss; Thorn, five miles southwest of Ray; and Tonawanda, seven miles south of Green Valley. Disney had two postmasters, both of them women, Mary J. Thomas and Julia Miner. It was discontinued early in 1911. Martha was named for Martha Rollin Porter, mother of its first postmaster. Harry Porter filled the office only from April through September, when Lewis Lambert was appointed postmaster. Lewis served for twenty years, then another Lambert, Carl, attended to the duties at Disney until it was discontinued in 1933.
Thorn had only one postmaster, Hiram Stearns, and was closed after a short life of seventeen months. Tonowanda was said to have been named for an Indian girl, but one who had nothing to do with Nebraska. She was probably an Iroquois of New York state whose name meant “swift water,” or a Seneca of the same state whose name meant “confluent stream,” as there was both a town and a creek in New York by that name. At any rate it was a musical name, likely proposed by a homesick settler from “back east.” Tonowanda was active until 1929 and had four postmasters.
Norwood, the only post office commissioned in 1905, was fourteen miles southwest of Stuart, very near the Holt-Rock County border. There was no other post office north of it all the way to the Niobrara, and none to the south except Josie, near the southern border of the county. Frank Kaup was the only postmaster during its four and one-half years of existence. Whether Kola wes an Indian name, or that of a local resident, is unknown today. Mrs. Lucie Pfund applied for the office in 1906. It was located on her ranch twelve miles southwest of Amelia and served sixty to seventy people. In its seventeen year history it had six postmasters, half of them women. During its early years it had no regular mail carrier but depended on neighbors who took the outgoing mail to Amelia and brought the Kola mail back with them. Later a carrier was contracted and the mail carried on regular days.
The origin of the name of the Biscuit post office is, regrettably, not given. Established in 1907, the office was four and one-half miles southwest of Paddock. Biscuit was discontinued in less than two years. Its only listed postmaster was Eugene Bradstreet.
Lucerne and Maple Grove were established in 1909. Lucerne, three miles northeast of Stafford, existed only from April, 1908 to November, 1910, when its mail was transferred to Page, five miles away. It was named for Lucerne, Switzerland, probably by a Swiss homesteader. Maple Grove, on the O’Neill to Turner route, had a twenty-six year life span and five postmasters. Martha Gallentine served ten years, Levi Hull and William Willson almost six years each, and the other two only a few months.
About 1910 a group of settlers sixteen miles northeast of O’Neill became enthusiastic over the idea of a cheese factory in their neighborhood. The factory, they figured, would be the basis for a thriving town and a new industry, an “opportunity” for all of them to become well-to-do. Accordingly they applied for a post office named Opportunity and set about building their town and factory— which got off to a good start, then failed and disappeared. The store and post office closed in 1943 but the mail continued to reach the old Opportunity patrons by way of a daily star route from O’Neill to Dorsey.
Josie, far down in the southwest corner of the county, was twenty-eight miles from Atkinson. Its first postmaster, Charles Shebesta, appointed in 1911, served about six years. The only other postmaster listed, Mrs. Amelia Schutt, held the office until 1940, when Josie passed into oblivion.
Cedar, the last office established in Holt County, was born August 1, 1912, with W. A. Hayes officiating as postmaster. Five miles southwest of Swan, it was less than a mile from Garfield County. Mr. Hayes served the office for eight years, Bertha Lytle for one, after which the office was closed and the mail taken to Blake, in Garfield County.
There were two post offices in the county for which no beginning dates are given, Paddock and Sylvia. Paddock must have had an office very early, but the records show only that W. D. Smith applied for a post office in 1886 to be located three-quarters of a mile south of the Niobrara, one-half mile east of Eagle Creek and twenty- six miles north of O’Neill. The first little settlement at that site was called “Troy,” but in 1875 the name was changed to Paddock, in honor of A. S. Paddock, a Nebraska senator from 1875 to 1881.
Paddock being the first county seat of Holt county, it seems reasonable to believe it had a post office earlier than 1886. An undated World-Herald news item states that William T. Berry in 1874 was the first settler at Troy, and that, when a post office was established there the mail was carried on horseback from Running Water, a village and railroad terminal on the Missouri River, forty miles east. Whatever the date of its beginning, the date of its ending is given as 1930. Sylvia, thirty-five miles north of O’Neill, must also have been established fairly early. It was located on the long road from Paddock to Grand Rapids and mail was carried three times a week for its one hundred and fifty families. It was supplied from Niobrara, forty-five miles to the east in Knox County, and from Sizer, established in 1884 near Paddock. Keya Paha, the nearest office on the west, was twenty-four miles distant. The only postmaster named was Adolph Rosburg.
As the years went by and that great government facility, the Rural Free Delivery, expanded across the land, it was found to be better all around to discontinue many of the little post offices and substitute the longer delivery routes. Patrons then put up mail boxes along the routes and picked up their mail from their boxes. As cars came into general use and roads were improved, the routes got longer and still more rural post offices were phased out. Automobiles and better roads also spelled out the demise of country stores. By the second World War most of them had The legend on this old photograph of Mr. and Mrs. David Smith states that they ran the post office at Paddock “around 1875. Also that Myers T. Childs rode the “Pony Express from Niobrara to Paddock.” The Smiths are buried in the old Paddock cemetery. Courtesy Mrs. Ted Crawford.
119 disappeared completely.
The various routes threading the county were supplied from a few central or key town offices. According to government records Ewing had the first officially established rural route (December 1, 1903). James Butler was its carrier. Page initiated its first route in June, 1904, with Jewitt Smith as carrier. Atkinson, O’Neill and Stuart all began supplying rural route boxes in 1905.
John Alf started the first route out of Atkinson by going around his neighborhood and getting enough people to subscribe to a daily paper to enable him to apply for the route. When RFD was new there had to be at least four families to the mile who received mail daily. Subscribing to a daily paper ensured a stop at one s box every day. Mr. Alf also had to map out the mail route, then secure a Gene Clark delivering mail by plane in 1948-’49. Courtesy Myrtie McGraw. State Inspector from the Postal Department to go over the route with him. When approval was given the route was established, with Roy Beck as the first carrier. Mr. Beck covered his route with horses for many years. O’Neill’s first carrier was Henry Grady, Stuart’s was Edward Walker. Chambers went to a rural route in 1914, with Frank Lienhart as carrier. Atkinson instituted its second route in 1909, Ewing and Stuart in 1911. Ewing discontinued the second route in 1931, Stuart in 1937. No doubt cars and all weather roads enabled one carrier to handle both routes. At least that is what happened at Page, which began its second route in 1913, then combined it with its first one in 1931. O’Neill’s second route, begun in 1913, ended in 1933. Emmet established a route in 1924, with William Cuddy as the first of its four carriers. The route was discontinued in 1961 by making it an auxiliary route out of Atkinson. Inman established its route in July, 1925. Its carrier was Gene Clark, who covered his route with a team at first, then changed to cars. During the thirty-four years that he carried the mail Gene wore out twenty-three automobiles. When the blizzard of 1949 made all roads impassable for many weeks he delivered some of his mail by plane. As his older patrons passed on Gene went right on carrying mail to the sons and daughters who took over the home places. When he retired on December 31, 1959, his friends from all along the route held a big retirement party for him.
Over the years numerous Holt County post offices have had lady postmasters and the mail on some of its routes has regularly been carried by women. Today women are still active in postal work although their duties have changed somewhat. Now they include everything from traditi- tional “women’s work” of clerical and secretarial stints to hefting seventy pound mail bags and unloading forty foot semitrucks in the middle of the night, just as the men do. Numbered among Holt County’s present feminine postmasters are Cleta Lofquest, Ewing, and Bertha Winkler, Emmet, both apointed to their offices in 1974.
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