130 Years Ago
April 21, 1893
Mr. B. F. Piester was a caller at this office and among other things had considerable to say regarding the recent prairie fire that destroyed so much property along Snake creek and threatened Alliance on the west. Mr. Piester says that he had been working for several weeks on one of North Platte ditches and hearing that his property had been burned started for home but found that none of his possessions had been injured. This fire, he states, was started for the express purpose of burning his property while he was away. About forty rods west of his place his wife and children were watching the two fellows who set it from the window of the house. The wind brought the fire to his land where by hard fighting it was stopped at a small fire guard. He says the fire was undoubtedly set by parties who bear malice against him and have stated that they would “get even” with him. If this version of the origin of the fire is correct, the offenders should be taught a lesson that they would not soon forget for causing such wanton destruction of property.
125 Years Ago
April 22, 1898
A new soda fountain graces the interior of F. H. Smith’s drug store and has already been placed in operation.
120 Years Ago
April 21, 1903
There has been several meetings of the various committees selected incident to the coming of the President, whose special train will arrive here Saturday afternoon at 5:25. The program as now arranged will consist in meeting the President at the depot with carriages and an escort, proceeding to a stand to be erected in the street in the center of town, and speech making. The Alliance brass band has been engaged to entertain the people previous to the arrival of the presidential party. Invitations have been sent to all of the surrounding towns and an immense throng of people are expected in Alliance Roosevelt day.
115 Years Ago
April 21, 1908
Manager L. G. Bowman of the Auburn Telephone Company is replacing some of the oldest of the telephone poles on Box Butte avenue with new ones. As soon as the overhead work is done along main streets, he contemplates painting the poles black and white, which would certainly add considerably to the appearance of the city.
110 Years Ago
April 18, 1913
C. H. Tully and W. F. Kientop unloaded a carload of Buicks and already report the sale of the Model Thirty, 30 H. P. Roadster to Dr. Copsey, who trades in his old machine. The other cars in the shipment are two Model Twenty-five, 25 H. P. touring cars, one Model Forty, 40 H. P. five passenger touring car, electrically lighted. All are gasoline self starters.
105 Years Ago
April 19, 1918
Four telephone toll lines and three farm lines running south from Alliance were put out of commission when the high wind ripped the roof from a Burlington box car and tossed it several hundred feet against the telephone company’s poles. Repair men from Alliance journeyed the six miles south and repaired the break after dark.
100 Years Ago
April 20, 1923
The police are looking for Homer Jackson who is accused of entering the home of Mrs. Tinka Banjoff in South Alliance and threatening her with a statutory offense. The woman told the police that Jackson had been drinking and that he wielded a big knife and threatened to shoot her husband if he appeared in her defense. She also stated that he choked her, but she was able to fight him off.
95 Years Ago
April 20, 1928
65 year-old Harry Nelson, painter, 515 Platte, was severely injured when he stepped in front of an automobile driven by Mrs. Otis Lane. The accident happened at Second and Box Butte. Like all motor accidents it happened quickly and there were no eye witnesses though a number of people were on the street close enough to hear the thud as Nelson’s head struck the pavement. His nose was broken, and he sustained a number of minor cuts about the head and face. He was carried to the office of Dr. John McCoy, where the fractured nose was straightened out and the flow of blood staunched.
90 Years Ago
April 21, 1933
One thousand baby chickens are to be given away free of charge to 40 farm youngsters in the Alliance trade area by the Alliance Chamber of Commerce and co-operating merchants soon in an effort to urge greater production of poultry on farms of this section.
85 Years Ago
April 19, 1938
Plans have been completed for the construction of a nurses’ home across from St. Joseph’s hospital at an estimated cost of $68,000, Mother Celsa, mother superior of the hospital, announced today. Accommodations will be provided for 60 nurses. The home will front on Toluca, between 11th and 12th streets.
80 Years Ago
April 20, 1943
The alertness of Pfc. Woodrow Wilson Hale prevented James Pullison from making off with a big army truck Sunday afternoon. Pullison, slightly under the influence of liquor, was backing the truck from the curb at Ninth street and Big Horn when the soldier intercepted him. After an investigation by army officers, Pullison was released.
75 Years Ago
April 20, 1948
Harry Salisbury of the Times-Herald mechanical staff caught a big rainbow trout in the Niobrara river east of Marsland that measured 20 inches in length and weighed a trifle over four pounds. He was using a bamboo fly rod and had been baiting with minnows. He changed to a fat worm, cast again and the big rainbow took the hook and bait. Salisbury said he fought the fish for three or four minutes before he got him out of the river.
70 Years Ago
April 20, 1953
Former U. S. Senator Fred A. Seaton of Hastings was to arrive in Alliance this afternoon on a 3-day business visit to the Daily Times-Herald, one of eight papers in the Seaton Publishing Company group. Seaton will address a joint meeting of the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs at the Alliance Hotel. He will relate experiences during the presidential campaign last summer and fall when he served as a campaign advisor for President Eisenhower. Seaton who was appointed to the United States Senate by former Governor Val Peterson to fill the unexpired term of the late Kenneth Wherry, is also a former Nebraska state legislator from the Hastings district.
65 Years Ago
April 19, 1958
Rushville, Alliance and Gering High Schools put feathers in their music caps this week. Their musicians earned the most superior ratings in the District 6 Music Contest here Thursday and Friday.
60 Years Ago
April 18, 1963
Judge Albert W. Crites sentenced Edward Paul Leonard to 5 years in the State Penitentiary in Lincoln for breaking and entering the American Legion Club in Alliance on March 25. Leonard entered a plea of guilty to the charge. Evelyn White Woman was sentenced to the Woman’s Reformatory at York for a period of one year for forgery. She also entered a plea of guilty.
55 Years Ago
April 19, 1968
Alliance telephone workers, members of the CWA union, are picketing in front of the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company building in Alliance. Four of the picketers are Maurice Green, Eugene Brennan, Lou Chleborad and Al Elenberger.
50 Years Ago
April 19, 1973
The Alliance Head Start children dye eggs in preparation for Easter. Supervising their work is their teacher, Mrs. Leonard Bordeaux. Eggs for the Head Start children’s Easter baskets were donated by John Langmacher of Langmacher Feeds, and candy by Jack Schwartz of Jack & Jill Food Store. The eggs and candy were donated for both the morning and afternoon Head Start classes which together now have 37 children. Mrs. Duana Dugger teaches the morning session.
45 Years Ago
April 20, 1978
Three-year old Holly Wade, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rodger Wade, was the youngest exhibitor at the Box Butte Art Society’s Spring Art Show last weekend. Her painting, “Bunny in The Spring Snow,” received an honorable mention ribbon.
40 Years Ago
April 18, 1983
Caron Serres, nursing student at the Alliance School of Practical Nursing, checks Iris Hennigh’s blood pressure at the 1983 Home Show Saturday at the American Legion Club. The blood pressure booth was sponsored by the Alliance Kiwanis Club.
35 Years Ago
April 19, 1988
Alliance’s new police chief Robert Jatczak is shown the department’s communication’s system by Administrative Lt. Loren (Spike) Guthrie and dispatcher Laura Garrison during Jatczak’s first day on the job Monday. Jatczak took over as police chief after Tom Lowther resigned from the post earlier this year.
30 Years Ago
April 19, 1993
At just before 10 a. m. Saturday, Alliance residents arrived at the recycling containers on the Alco Parking Lot. They brought sacks of recyclable materials to exchange for evergreen trees. This was an Alliance Clean Community System annual “Trees for Trash” project to trade 120 Colorado Blue Spruce seedlings, donated by the Upper Niobrara – White Natural Resource District, for a large sack of recyclable glass bottles, plastic containers, newspapers and aluminum cans.
25 Years Ago
April 20, 1998
Since March 1958, 321 and 323 West Third Street in Alliance was home to Bedient Litho and Northern Plains (now Farmers National Company). The property was purchased by Cover-Jones Motor Co. and the building has been demolished. Once rubble has been cleared from the lot, it will be used to display new and used cars, according to Mark Cover of Cover-Jones.
20 Years Ago
April 19, 2003
Sandy Dietrich tells children at the Alliance Public Library’s Story Time this past Tuesday about her pet rabbit, Thumper. The eight-year old chinchilla mini-rex lives outdoors year-round in the Dietrich’s backyard. Thumper also spends time inside watching TV with Dietrich’s two sons. She told the group how to care for a rabbit, and mentioned other facts, such as how to hold a rabbit and what they like to eat.
15 Years Ago
April 19, 2008
Alliance Firefighter Marty Jones speaks to kids in the Alliance Junior Fire Patrol program Thursday evening. During his presentation, Jones told the kids about how fires can start, fire prevention tips, differences in fire extinguishers and how to properly use an extinguisher.
10 Years Ago
April 19, 2013
Janell Grant, APRN-BC, of Alliance Children’s and Allied Health, Inc., was presented the First Quarter of 2013 Medical Provider of Choice Award April 15 from Box Butte General Hospital CEO Dan Griess. She was cited for her devotion, compassion and team work ethic. She is also scheduled to receive a National Preceptor Award while attending the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Conference in Orlando, Fla., April 17-20.
5 Years Ago
April 18, 2018
The Box Butte Family Focus Coalition announced Michelle Hickox as the new executive director at the monthly meeting Tuesday at Alliance High School. The mission for Family Focus is to bring community leaders together to identify needs and resources in the area of family services and to promote the healthy development of families and strengthen and preserve the family unit.