Welcome to
Rushville, Nebraska
This is the #1 place on the web for old photos, postcards
and history of Rushville!
The July 2007
issue of Internet Genealogy featured an old
postcard of Rushville, Nebraska. The
article referenced this web
site as a resource! The article was based on a quiz held by the site
Forensic
Genealogy, which also used this
site.
Multiview Postcard of Rushville, Nebraska
dated 1908.
This card was mailed to Edna Sullivan at the St Ann's Dominican
Academy, Fall River, Mass.
How did this postcard wind up in Massachuset?
At the turn of the 20th Century, Frank Sullivan was a New England
area salesman for the
Holbrook Paper Co. From 1909 to 1911 he decided to try his
luck selling in the developing
Western part of the country. Frank's wife had apparently
died young and his daughter Edna
was enrolled in a girl's boarding school operated by the
Dominican Nuns in Fall River, MA.
As he travelled through the West, he purchased a postcard in
every town he passed through and
sent it back East to his daughter. At some point, the
post cards she received were given to the
nuns of the St. Catherine Convent to become part of their
extensive collection. In 2002, the nuns
closed their convent and school and left Fall River.
This card was obtained from the
subsequent auction.
The old wooden watertower wasn't exactly
watertight.
Detail from Multiview postcard.
View looking north on Main Street.
The white building in middle is the old Stockman's Hotel.
The message on the back of this postcard (postmarked
Jan 25, 1908) says,
"Here is a view of the main part of Rushville. We have a new
large courthouse.
You can see a corner of it at the left. Jennie Bell"
The courthouse was built in 1904, so this view dates to 1904 -
1907.
Main Street looking south. The gazebo (built
1907) can be seen in the distance
(at the intersection of Main and US Highway 20). Picture is from
around 1910.
Another Main Street photo from around 1910 from the
roller mill, looking south.
The school in the distance does not have the addition built on
the front
yet, so must date prior to 1911. Also note the west end of the
depot
on the left side of photo. I've rarely seen the depot included in
any postcards!
If you look closely, there is a whole bunch of people on the rail
car.
When looking through a magnifying glass, the chimney on the depot
looks as though it is a barrel.
Another Ray photo taken from about the
same time. Once again, the depot is shown
in the foreground, just on
the other side of the track. The old courthouse is just to the
left of
center and the new courthouse can be seen at the very left edge of the
scene.
A close examination of the school in the distance shows that the 1911
addition had
been added by that time. Photo would date from
the late 1910s to early 1920s.
This is an
early view of the west side of Main Street, looking south. To the
right is the Stockman's Hotel. The building with the pointed top is
now the
Pedelko Store (originally the Ben Franklin 5 & 10). I am
unsure of the date of
this photo, but would assume around the turn of the century.
This
photo is the work of famed photographer S. D. Butcher.
Early view of West
Main, looking north. The building on the left is
the location of the
current Pudelko store and the Stockman's
Hotel is to the right. Photo taken 1907.
Another early view of the west side of Main Street, this
time looking north.
The Stockman's Hotel can be seen down the street, as well
as the old windmill.
This photo seems to be from the same era as the photo
below.
Another early view of the west side of Main Street.
Once again, the building to the
right with the pointed top is the current
location of the Pudelko store. To the left of
it is a merchantile store
and furniture store. Note the large gathering of Indians
on the street
that day. Also, there is a shadow of a power pole in the foreground,
so
that might help date the photo. The electric plant was built in 1910 and
telephone
service started in 1913, so this photo would date from
around that time. I have
seen photos from 1908 that show power poles,
so this photo may date to as early as
that year.
View of Main looking south from roller mill
(see below).
The old school can be seen at the left (rising above the haze).
Photo taken 1920.
This view of the west side of Main Street
is from a detail of a circa 1940 postcard.
While the image is a bit dark, I can make out the following
stores (left to right):
1. Cafe was really Paul King's small hotdog stand. My great aunt
Fan (Taggart) Thomas worked there at that time.
2. "Taylor Stores Groceries Shoes and Work Clothing"
3. Union Bank.
4. Union Annex. At one time, this held a poolhall and shoe shop.
5. "Ed Garvey Groceries and Dry Goods" is now part of
Pudelko's (building with peak)
6. "J C Penney Company", also now part of Pudelko's (previously Cope's store).
The next couple businesses are unreadable, but the old hotel has
"Evans Hotel" at the top.
At the far right, at the end of the street is the old "Rushville
Roller Mills".
Other than the hotdog stand and the Roller Mill, all other
visible buildings are still standing today!
West side of Main Street looking to the south (taken from
north end of Main, near depot).
The photo at the left dates from
around 1950. Note the service station and garage next to
the
hotel. A closer examination of the postcard reveals that it was a
Chrysler/Plymouth dealer and also
serviced International Harvester and
McCormick-Deering. Also notice the gas pumps were of the old
gravity
feed type. This photo was taken by Purdy. For comparison, the photo
on the right was taken
in the late 1990s. Most building are the same,
except that the garage on the end was removed when
the IGA store
(Stan Wright's store) was built.
East side of Main Street looking south.
The bank building is the old Stockman's National Bank (and no
longer there).
On the corner is the old Commercial Hotel, but it also has a
Wefso Drug sign in this view.
Across the highway (in the present location of Stockman's Bank)
is the Fashion Shoppe.
Next to the bank is Peck's Hardware (present location of Hinn's
Hardware).
East side of Main Street looking north. Photo taken in 1930s.
View of east side of Main Street around 1908.
Compare with the 1940 picture below of the same scene.
Postcard view of east side of Main Street
around 1940.
The Commercial Hotel on corner became Wefso Drug.
The tallest building is the old bank.
This postcard photo was taken on South Main, looking
north.
I've seen this same postcard with a "Rushville 1956-1957" title.
As you can see,
Wefso Drug was already in business on the corner (white
building), as well as Hinn
Hardware (on the right edge of photo). It
is a bit hard to read, but the Huss Jewelry
sign can be seen on the left
edge. Somewhere after this time, Vern Huss moved his
business to the
north end of Main Street on the east side of the street. Also of interest
is
that the old bank building (behind to the left of Wefso Drug) is
still standing. By the
mid-1960s, the original building had been torn
down and replaced with Alonzo's Market.
East side of Main Street as it looks now (well,
maybe 5-6 years ago).
Wefso Drug is now closed and the town lost one of its main
businesses
when Shedeed's Hardware burned down in a huge fire about 15 years
ago (it was just past the Stockman's Bar, last bldg on the left).
When I was
a teenager, I worked in Alonzo's Market (in the building next to
Wefso's that
is now Yoba's Tavern).
This is a view of
South Main, looking south along the west side of
the street. The
photographer was standing in the intersection of
Main Street and Second
Street (aka Highway 20). To the left of
the frame is just a glimpse of
the gazebo that once stood in the
intersection (built in
1907). The Armstong Department store is in
the foreground and the Cash Store is one store to the
south. In the
distance, the Presbyterian Church (later the Lutheran Church)
can be seen. Photo taken by S. D.
Butcher.
To
the left is a vintage view of the west side of Main Street,
south of Highway 20, taken by the photographer B. F.
Ray.
For comparison, a current picture taken June 2004, is to the
right.
The brick building (second from the right), is the Rosa Corder
building,
which contained a women's public restroom. Rosa was a sister
of the
Modisett Brothers (frequent benefactors to the Rushville
community).
Back in the days of Buffalo Bill's Wild
West Show, Buffalo Bill would come
to Rushville to recruit Indians from the
nearby Pine Ridge Reservation and
would pay them with scrip from
the Asay Store. It is also said that Mrs.
Asay would entertain Mr.
Cody down on the river while Mr. Asay stayed
behind to run the store
(such scandal!). I believe this store sat on the location of
the current Stockman's National Bank (Main and Highway
20). The above
view is looking east.
Photo by B. F. Ray.
Great view of Booster Day 1912.
Sioux Indians at Rushville Nebraska.
Detail from Multiview postcard.
Do you have old postcards or
photographs of Rushville that you'd
like to share? If so, contact me at
hindmanhistory@gmail.com
Click here for courthouse and school
views!
Click here for miscellaneous Rushville views!