From streetcars to a city hall, Fremont was growing in the 1890s

“March 15, 1886

“Dear Wife,”

“Your letter rec’d. It found me well but very busy ... the baby is getting along bully ... you need not worry about him. ... Regards to all.

“Your loving husband,

“Ed N. Morse.”

Morse wrote the letter to his wife, Emma, who had traveled to Leavenworth, Kan., a few days earlier, leaving her 5-month-old son and 7-year-old daughter in her husband’s care. There is no explanation why in a family history, but perhaps she sought healing. She died three months later.

Again, there is no known reason why, but it was the fourth family burial in five years. The Morses had lost three children to diphtheria (an upper respiratory illness) in 1881. The couple were Fremont pioneers who still have descendants here.

Morse, a Civil War veteran, was part of many Fremont ventures, including an exciting 1887 event.

“Oct. 14, commenced at noon to run street car,” Morse wrote in his diary that day. He was referring to the Fremont Street Railway Company — a street-car line — of which he was president. Like so many early business ventures here, it was started by well-known citizens — E.H. Barnard, L.M. Keene, L.D. Richards, Ray Nye, George W.E. Dorsey and others.

“... The company now owns and operates over 11 miles of street car line,” the 1892 History of the Elkhorn Valley says. “As yet, horse cars are employed. By with this street railway, the depots, hotels, park and Normal School are all within easy access from any part of the city.”

Growing businesses

Other business ventures of the day included:

* Equitable Savings and Loan Association began in 1886 to help residents save money and to provide mortgage loans.

* R.B. Schneider, a former Illinois farmer, began working with Ray Nye and the firm’s name changed again.

“Nye & Schneider Company, with their home office at Fremont, is one of the largest incorporated companies in Nebraska, its annual business amounting to over a million and a half dollars,” the 1892 history says. By that year, they owned elevators in “Fremont, Nickerson, Wisner, Pilger, Stanton, Clearwater, Ainsworth, Valentine, Crookston, Gordon, Clinton, Rushville, Hay Springs, Arlington, Howells, Clarkson, Leigh, Creston, Lindsay, Cedar Bluffs, Colon, Ceresco, Davey, Davenport, Sawyer, Superior, David City, Thayer, Surprise, Hastings and O’Neill. ... They now reach out in all directions and have a branch at Minneapolis. ...”

At that time, they were shipping out 5,000 carloads of grain and 1,000 carloads of hogs, and shipping in 1,000 carloads of lumber and 1,000 car loads of coal annually.

* The Fremont Fence factory, which produced “a superior quality of combined picket and wire fencing,” opened in 1886.

* The Fremont Broom Manufacturing Company, with E.H. Barnard as president, Nye as secretary and Schneider, treasurer, began production in 1887. It was a successful venture.

“... (The) goods find ready sale in all the Western States, including California,” the 1892 history says. “At times the wareroom contains four thousand dozen brooms, and again they are 1,000 dozen behind orders.”

* The Fremont Hemp & Twine Factory started in 1888; Barnard was one of its founders.

“This is a manufacturing and producing plant of no small proportions, which was organized ... for growing the material and manufacturing the same into binding twine. ... They have 1,000 acres of land leased, upon which the product is raised; also much comes to them from individual farmers.”

They made 625 tons of twine per year. That took a lot of hemp. Some theorize that today’s proliferation of wild marijuana in the Fremont area is a by-product of the plants grown to make twine more than 100 years ago.

* Also in 1888, the Globe Cornice Works opened. Many of the tin decorative elements (cornices) you see on downtown buildings were made there, as well as a variety of sheet-metal products. They included tin ceilings, gutters, skylights and finials. Its products were sold in Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado.

* The Fremont Brewing Company (not to be confused with an earlier brewery north of downtown) was an “extensive brewing plant ... owned by 40 local stock holders. It is located southeast of the city, along the Union Pacific tracks. It is a massive brick structure with all modern appliances. The plant cost $125,000 and has a capacity of 30,000 barrels per year. One hundred fifty barrels can be boiled at once in a huge copper boiling vat. A refrigerating machine does away with the necessity of the use of any ice. A malt-house, holding 60,000 bushels, is a part of the plant.” Morse was a stockholder and secretary of the brewery when it opened in 1891.

* By 1892, the Fremont Foundry was in full production, manufacturing “engines, boilers, mining machinery, bridge work, also all kinds of architectural iron work.”

* D.M. Welty started the Fremont Saddlery Company in 1892. “Every article which can be cut, made or fashioned of leather ... the saddles, hand-made collars and harness being its principal products ... ,” according to the 1905 Nebraska’s Most Beautiful City booklet.

By the end of 1892, Fremont had dozens of businesses including: 20 attorneys, 10 barbers, five billiard halls, nine boarding houses, 12 “confectionery dealers,” seven cigar stores (many of the cigars were made in Fremont), three dentists, five general stores, 14 grocery stores, nine hotels, 25 insurance agents, five livery stables, 15 loan offices, five millinery (hat) stores, seven meat markets, seven weekly newspapers, five photographers, 10 physicians, 16 real estate agents, seven restaurants and 12 saloons.

Community development

Our city fathers continued community development through this time as well.

Fremont got electric street lights beginning in 1888, when gas-powered ones began to be phased out. According to the Jan. 13, 1888, Fremont Tribune, the lights were placed on the following corners: Third and Main, Second and Broad, Sixth and Main, Sixth and Broad, Fifth and F (Park), First and Main and F and South. Fremont officials brokered a deal for the lights through the Fremont Gas & Electric Light Company, which started in 1885. Electricity was an exciting change in our residents’ lives and the coal-fired plant was busy. “Month by month the business is increasing, and is giving general satisfaction among the hundreds of patrons.”

The first official City Hall was completed at Fourth and F streets (Park Avenue) in 1890. “In this building is the council room, the various city offices, the firemen’s parlors, room for fire apparatus, the city jail, etc.”

Also, “The High School building — the pride of the city and the finest in the entire State — was erected in 1889, at a cost of $23,000. It is a magnificent two-story structure, located on a half block of land, between Main and D streets on Eighth Street.”

Our second courthouse opened in 1890 and would serve until a fire destroyed it in 1915.

Building history

Other downtown buildings that we cherish today were erected during the late 1880s and early 1890s.

“J.W. Love, in 1888, erected next to the finest opera house in Nebraska,” according to the 1892 history. “It stands as a monument to his good taste, upon Broad Street, between Fifth and Sixth. ... costing $40,000. It has a comfortable seating capacity of 1,100.”

The opera house today is one of Fremont’s most beloved buildings. Although the theater portion upstairs needs to be restored (and the price tag is hefty), the main floor is used as a community center for meetings, receptions, dinners and other events. A non-profit group has owned the building since 1975. Private donations, grants and rental fees have kept the building viable since then, but Friends of the Opera House now are raising money for substantial repairs to protect its integrity. State preservationists say the building is important not only for Fremont, but on a statewide basis, as few are left across Nebraska. It was Fremont’s first building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Fremont Post Office, which we know today as the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce and Dodge County Visitors Bureau at Sixth and Broad streets, was built beginning in 1893. The outer walls are made of sandstone, with granite steps and a slate roof. It cost $60,000 and was listed on the National Register in 1992.

“Fremont was one of the first Nebraska communities to receive a federal post office ... when federal buildings were political bargaining chips,” according to a Tribune story. “U.S. Rep. George Dorsey and the local Board of Trade were credited for the city’s successful acquisition of the building, a move that would ‘solidify the city’s position as a major commercial center in the region.’”

Other downtown buildings of the era include the 1887 Ronin Building, known today as Uncle Sam’s antique store, 123 E. Sixth St., and three built in 1888 which we know today as Dime Store Days antique store, 109 E. Sixth St.; the corner building of Fremont National Bank, Sixth and Main streets, and the Corner Bar, 300 N. Main St. All are qualifying properties of the Fremont Historic Commercial District listing on the National Register, which occurred in 1995.

The A.J. Archer Building at First and Main streets was built in 1891. Archer owned Fremont Bottling Works at the site; but converted it to the Brunswick Hotel and Restaurant in about 1892.

“The Brunswick bustled with Union Pacific trade and other railroad passengers and train crews who stopped in Fremont just south across First Street,” according to a Fremont Tribune article. “During years when train traffic was heavy, it was open 24 hours a day.” Today we know the building as Andy’s on 1st restaurant.

Historic homes

Many fine homes went up in Fremont at this time, including R.B. Schneider’s 1887 home at 234 W. 10th St. Now a private residence, it was apartments for 40 years before a Fremont couple renovated it; it was listed on the National Register in 1982.

Other still existing homes built in 1888 include the J.M. McDonald House at Military Avenue and D Street. McDonald was a railroad builder who settled in Fremont in 1886.

“The J.D. McDonald House is significant as an excellent example of the Queen Anne style of architecture,” according to its nomination for the National Register. “... this particular structure has a distinctive rounded and engaged tower set back from the southwest corner of the house.” It was listed on the National Register in 1980.

The majestic home has been a private residence, a hospital from the early 1900s through the 1930s and a funeral home (operated by three different owners) until Joan Sorensen-Ronan bought it in 1975. It now is home to Interiors by Joan & Associates.

Some of the Barnard Park area’s most notable homes were built in 1888: the Romanesque Revival L.P. Larson Home, 648 E. Fourth St., which now is apartments; the Queen Anne Charles McNish Home at 745 E. Fifth St., a private residence, and the Queen Anne William Freeman-George L. Loomis House at 534 E. Military Ave., also a private residence. About 20 more homes were built in the Barnard Park area before 1900. This area, too, is listed on the National Register as an historic district since 1990.

Education, religion and health facilities also started or were doing well at this time. By 1890, the Fremont Normal School (predecessor to Midland Lutheran College) had 800 students. Professor W.H. Clemmons was school president for many years.

“Twelve teachers are employed,” the 1892 history says. “All branches are taught, but a specialty is made of the Teachers’ Preparatory Course. The Normal course of study is: Preparatory Course, Teachers’ Course, Scientific Course, Classic Course, Commercials Course, Music, Typewriting, Stenography and Law. Hundreds of young men and women are going out from this school qualified for the duties of a business life, who can testify as to the merit of this, one of Fremont’s invaluable institutes.”

Drs. L.J. Abbott and George Haslam (who has Fremont descendants today) opened The Fremont Hospital & Dispensary on the northeast corner of Fourth and Broad streets in 1891.

“... it is a private institution for the purpose of treating all kinds of diseases. Hydropathic and electric treatments are given and all modern appliances are employed.” It had 15 beds.

Church construction continued, as well. In 1888, St. James’ Episcopal Church was finished at Fifth and D streets, while the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church building, still standing at Fourth and C streets, was begun in 1891. “It required an estimated 475,000 bricks, which were purchased from a local brickyard,” according to a church history. It was not finished and usable until the late 1890s.

Also in 1891, James Milliken of Fremont was named Dodge County Sheriff. He was the grandfather of Tom Milliken, former president of Fremont National Bank and Trust Co., and great-grandfather of J.B. Milliken, current president of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

In 1892, Barnard and Morse, along with other investors, opened Nebraska Building Association to loan money for new construction; The International Cure Co. “... for the treatment of intemperate users of both strong drink and narcotics” opened; and a third bridge was built over the Platte River, the previous two having been destroyed by ice gorges and flooding.

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Events for Founders’ Day, Aug. 23, continue to develop. Roxie Kracl, a longtime John C. Fremont Days board member and past president, has volunteered to chair the event. I’ll update you with more information after our next meeting which is at noon March 23, at Holiday Lodge’s Outpost Grille. Anyone who would like to help is welcome to attend.

Many of you have called or e-mailed to know when they can buy a book made up of these weekly history columns. Here’s the plan: the Fremont Tribune will publish two items to commemorate Fremont’s 150th anniversary. A book will be based on front pages of the newspaper through those years and it should be ready for sale at John C. Fremont Days, July 14-16, and after. The second will be a “coffee-table” product that will include portions of my articles, plus an array of photos and other artistic elements. This will be included with the daily newspaper sometime near Founders’ Day in August.

The 20th annual John C. Fremont Days this summer is just one event going on that weekend. The Fremont 4-H Fair, also a longtime part of Fremont’s history, will be ongoing at Christensen Field from July 13-16.

Patti Emanuel-Vaughan is writing about Fremont’s history and sesquicentennial events each Monday through August. She can be reached at (402) 941-1438, via fax at (402) 721-8047, via mail at P.O. Box 9, Fremont, NE 6025 or via e-mail at fremont.newsroom@lee.net . Her previous columns can be read on the Tribune’s Web site, http://www.fremonttribune.com , under the tab heading SQ150.