130 Years Ago
May 1, 1896
The Preston hotel office is receiving new wall paper.
125 Years Ago
April 26, 1901
No records
120 Years Ago
May 4, 1906
Louis Buechsenstein went to Crawford Wednesday and sold a few thousand of the surplus cigars his manufactory had been making.
115 Years Ago
May 5, 1911
Press dispatches several days ago stated that President Taft has refused to pardon Bartlett Richards, Wm. G. Comstock, Chas. C. Jamison and Aquilla Triplett, the cattlemen of this section who are now serving sentence in the Hastings jail for conspiracy to defraud the government of grazing lands.
110 Years Ago
May 5, 1916
To miss being blown to atoms by the thin scale of a lucky circumstance and to miss meeting an untimely end at one’s own hands and to do both of these things in one and the same day was the experience of Harry Slepicka, Tuesday morning and evening. The man was in a runaway accident on Box Butte avenue early Tuesday morning and but for an act of providence he would have been frescoed all over the landscape when a box containing twenty-five sticks of dynamite tumbled out of the rig and landed on the curb beside him. The wagon was torn to bits and he lost some good cuticule and several teeth in the mix-up.
105 Years Ago
May 6, 1921
The automobile dealers of Alliance have gone to considerable expense and they have done much hard work to make the first annual Automobile Show a success. All makes of cars sold by dealers in Alliance from the Ford to the Cadillac are on exhibition, as well as tires, batteries and accessories.
100 Years Ago
May 7, 1926
A new highway, which will lead auto traffic from the eastern part of the state through Alliance if the destination is the Black Hills region, has been proposed. The route in mind leads through Lincoln, Grand Island, Broken Bow, Alliance and Chadron. Activity toward putting this proposition into effect will undoubtedly enhance the rapid development of the Potash highway.
95 Years Ago
May 5, 1931
Officers struck a bullseye Saturday when they uncovered a large source of liquor supply for this section in a raid in lower Garden County southeast of here. They “knocked off” a monster still, seizing 1,600 gallons of mash and 120 gallons of moonshine whiskey.
90 Years Ago
May 1, 1936
The 25th anniversary of St. Joseph’s hospital will be observed May 12 in a fitting manner, according to plans laid Tuesday night at a meeting of 20 heads of organizations and spokesmen for the nurses at the hospital. High tribute will be paid the hospital by the entire community and surrounding region as the institution reaches the end of its first quarter of a century of humanitarian service.
85 Years Ago
May 2, 1941
Workers in buildings on the north side of Third Street between Box Butte and Laramie looked out the window Wednesday morning, then looked again. Yep, it was a car going right down the sidewalk. It finally came to a halt at 124 West Third. The driver, Lucy J. Hennessey of Hemingford, told police that she started to park in front of 114 West Third, but stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
80 Years Ago
May 3, 1946
Visitors to the city park this spring may notice that the lily pond is at its normal level and has not been flooded by recent rains. This is due to a revamping of the drainage systems in the park whereby the pond level has been raised above the drain system.
75 Years Ago
May 3, 1951
Some local wag, talking about the oil well, was heard to say at a coffee counter: “Oil’s well that ends well.”
70 Years Ago
May 5, 1956
Stock car racers this afternoon gave a placid preview of Sunday’s opening race program in Alliance. They paraded on Box Butte Avenue at snail speed. Sunday they will be roaring wide open on the one-third mile track at the east edge of town. Time trials will start at 1:30 followed by the first race about 2 o’clock.
65 Years Ago
May 5, 1961
The Alliance City Park soon will have a steam engine on display to keep memories alive of the Burlington’s heritage in this City’s founding and history. Superintendent J. E. Hamer has notified City Manager R. W. Laing that a steam locomotive has been located for Alliance and submitted an agreement covering the city’s acceptance and care of the big iron horse.
60 Years Ago
May 7, 1966
Peltz Construction Company of Alliance took out a building permit with the City of Alliance Friday for the construction of a new Basketeria grocery store on West Third Street. The permit was for $22,400 with the building to house an Associated Grocer food store. The new building is to be constructed behind the present structure with the present Basketeria to be torn down for parking area.
55 Years Ago
May 8, 1971
Eleven sites in Nebraska are among about 70 locations being studied as possible sites for assembling, testing and launching the proposed space shuttle vehicle. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Friday that the Nebraska sites under consideration include Alliance Municipal Airport.
50 Years Ago
May 7, 1976
A traffic safety awareness program being planned by the Alliance Chamber of Commerce was spurred into action Wednesday by the independent concern of two Alliance High School students. The two students, Joy Houser and Tami Cox, both 11th graders, decided to initiate their own awareness campaign concerning pedestrian-traffic problems here and through a chain events the Chamber decided to use their active concern as the start of a planned one year “community improvement project.”
45 Years Ago
May 2, 1981
Step through the doors at the Knight Museum and step into a world of nostalgia. The museum, located in the Alliance City Park, will be opening its doors to the public Monday, May 4 at 10 a.m. After several hours of “cleaning house,” rearranging display cases and setting up new displays, museum director, Mrs. Bruce Dopheide, has announced that the museum will be ready for the tourist season.
40 Years Ago
May 3, 1986
On March 27, 1986 the Alliance City Council passed a resolution renaming Bower Field – the Alliance Legion baseball team’s home park – to Bower/Shankland Field in honor of Richard Shankland’s service and dedication to baseball throughout his life in Alliance. Shankland, a lifetime resident of Alliance, has been an avid supporter of legion and little league baseball for most of his life.
35 Years Ago
May 2, 1991
An expansion of the Woolrich factory in Alliance and the closing of two manufacturing facilities in Colorado, one in Broomfield and one in Denver, is part of the company’s move to meet the anticipated market direction for the coming decade. This will concentrate Woolrich’s manufacturing plants to six in Pennsylvania, two in Georgia, and one in Alliance, Neb.
30 Years Ago
May 2, 1996
Great Lakes Aviation was the federal government’s top choice to assume rural air service for the cities of McCook, Alliance and Chadron. The U.S. Department of Transportation chose the Spencer, Iowa based airline over Mesa Air Group to receive federal subsidies now collected by GP Express.
25 Years Ago
May 5, 2001
A Quonset-style building, packed with clothes and household wares, will resemble a shop again as The Mission Store, Inc., moves to box Butte Avenue. The Mission Store, Inc. opened this past June 1 in a 30×70-foot building in the 500 block of Flack Avenue. Despite its larger size, the building quickly filled with clothing and other donated items.
20 Years Ago
May 3, 2006
Three probable or suspected cases of the mumps have been reported to the Panhandle Public Health District, with two of them ruled out after further testing.
15 Years Ago
May 3, 2011
Some time before 7 a.m. on Monday morning, the back side of the Tritle Plumbing building collapsed. The portion of the building, constructed from Sandhills brick, caved in on the north side of the structure. Findings from an engineer are pending, however, it is believed that the strong winds on Saturday may have caused the collapse.
10 Years Ago
May 5, 2016
Adrien Fortner, a freshman at Alliance High School, is a delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Lowell, Mass., on June 25-27. The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields.
5 Years Ago
May 5, 2021
On July 1, the Nebraska Department of Labor will consolidate their Alliance and Scottsbluff job centers, closing the Alliance location, with the intent of expanding their virtual services. Bobbi Jo Howard, Reemployment Services Administrator, said the decision was made in May, noting the how staff at the Scottsbluff office were busy with the services they offer.
*Compiled from The Alliance Times-Herald Archives by Christine Melcher