130 Years Ago
February 28, 1896
It is without any surprise whatever that we inform the taxpayers of Box Butte County that a case has just came to light whereby they are paying the bills of some of Hemingford’s enthusiastic county seat workers. Bills were allowed at the meeting of the county commissioners for $3 for the services of Berry one day, and $2.50 for a rig, while attending to matters at the poor farm.
125 Years Ago
March 1, 1901
Dr. Bowman informs the writer that there are a number of cases of bronchitis and pneumonia among the children of Alliance, but that all are pulling through nicely.
120 Years Ago
February 27, 1906
“Liquor Bill,” a well known character about the saloons here for many years, left Saturday to try existence in Sheridan.
115 Years Ago
February 28, 1911
A. D. Rodgers has recently installed his own light plant at the store, and says he is getting very satisfactory service from same at a cost insignificant for that which he paid for electric lights.
110 Years Ago
March 3, 1916
Homer Kent, who was charged with gambling with friends at his home on Fifth and Missouri avenue, was fined $10 and costs by Judge Roberts Wednesday morning and he has appealed the case to the district court.
105 Years Ago
March 4, 1921
Oscar Braman has had a force of men working for the past two days raising the walk in front of his residence on Box Butte avenue. This will eliminate the “fish pond” which has been a souce of inconvenience to pedestrians during stormy weather for several years.
100 Years Ago
March 5, 1926
With plenty of room provided in which to keep house, earnings in excess of $80 a month with almost everything furnished and only a few in the family, it is not necessary for the H. B. Gillespie family, living on the John Lawrence place, to live in such deplorable circumstances, according to Mr. Lawrence.
95 Years Ago
March 3, 1931
Bootlegging shouldn’t be allowed to become too easy in a city like Alliance. Even a golf course would lose its interest if there were no hazards. There will always be liquor sold just as long as there is anybody interested in paying the price, but it would make this city a stink hole on the map of the state if all of the legal hazards were removed.
90 Years Ago
February 25, 1936
Plans for further development of the Alliance Municipal airport under a pending WPA project will be revamped to include a number of extensive improvements, but lighting the port for night flying will not be one of them.
85 Years Ago
February 28, 1941
Fifty-three years ago this week, Alliance became a reality, old timers recall. New buildings were rapidly going up and the noise of hammers and saws in what is now the downtown district was so loud that one had to move some distance away to hold a conversation. It was on February 25, 1888, that the Lincoln Land company sponsored the lot sale that got the construction of the town under way.
80 Years Ago
March 1, 1946
The Civil Aeronautics Board examiner has recommended the approval of Western Air Lines to serve Alliance and Chadron on the line’s present route between Cheyenne and Rapid City, S. D. This recommendation will enable Western Air Lines to provide one carrier service between Minneapolis, St. Paul and Denver.
75 Years Ago
February 28, 1951
An Alliance mother was aghast the other evening when her young son was being especially peaceable in his bed. She thought something must be wrong, so she asked him why he was lying so quietly. The lad quipped back: “I’ve got a half-dozen eggs in bed with me – want to hatch out a chicken to sleep with.” The mother quickly removed the eggs and luckily not a one was broken.
70 Years Ago
March 3, 1956
The Most Courteous Clerk Award for February goes to a man for the second straight month, the Chamber of Commerce revealed today. Winner is Stan Shipp, parts manager for Borror Chevrolet. He is the first employee of a company off Box Butte Avenue to win the award, now in its fifth month.
65 Years Ago
March 1, 1961
Five-cent soft drinks are a thing of the past – at lease in some Alliance outlets. As of today, signs posted at three Alliance counters where drinks are dispensed from soda fountains list small portions at a dime and those in large-sized glasses at 15 cents. This is the first major drink price change in Alliance since coffee went from a nickel to a dime several years ago.
60 Years Ago
March 1, 1966
Alliance Police this morning placed six meter fine collection boxes in various downtown locations. The “yellow boxes” have been attached to meter poles to save parking violators the trip to the Police Station to pay the 25-cent fines. However, Police Chief V. R. Hutton said that fines still may be paid at the station.
55 Years Ago
March 2, 1971
Only three persons boarded new Beech 99 aircraft that took over new schedules through Alliance Monday for Frontier Airlines. Four persons had made advance reservations for flights through Alliance today. For Alliance, the Beech 99 operation includes the arrival of flight 938 at 10:43 a.m. and flight 942 at 3:28 p.m. from Denver via Sidney and Scottsbluff.
50 Years Ago
February 28, 1976
The first-place trophy and a trip to the Omaha Spelling Bee March 20 was won Friday by Wanda Crawford at the annual Box Butte County Spelling Contest. The eighth grader is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Crawford and she attends School District 22.
45 Years Ago
February 27, 1981
Its not too often a student can go to class and not have to worry about the pressure of getting a good grade, or even passing, but this week, students at Middle School are participating in mini-course classes that are just for fun.
40 Years Ago
February 27, 1986
The Alliance Airport Authority Wednesday night decided to have Hoskins-Western-Sonderegger (HWS) of Lincoln as the engineer to head up a project the authority hopes to complete this year. The project the authority hopes to complete is to improve the surface drainage of the paved ramp areas parallel to one of the runways, the taxiway itself and related drainage basin land areas south.
35 Years Ago
March 2, 1991
Robert Elliott of Alliance is one of 20 wheat growers who has recently received training to inform agricultural producers and the public on the potential markets for U.S, wheat and U.S. agricultural products in lesser developed countries.
30 Years Ago
March 2, 1996
The number of juvenile arrests last month in Alliance nearly quadrupled from the 1995 average. There were 85 juvenile arrests in January compared to the average of 23 per month last year. Vandalism incidents were up 460 percent from 15 to 84 compared to last January, but not all of those cases were cleared, said Alliance Police Chief Bob Jatczak.
25 Years Ago
March 2, 2001
Alliance’s city council unanimously added the city’s name to a petition containing a large group of cities that want the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to reconsider its recent lowering of the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water. Currently, the EPA’s acceptable level to be not more than 50 parts per billion. But they want to lower it to 10 PPB.
20 Years Ago
March 3, 2006
Early yesterday morning, a bomb threat was made at Alliance High School. The threat was called in when a note was found that indicated there was a bomb in the building. Alliance Police Lieutenant Ken Hart said the police department first received the call around 8:30 and was on the scene at 8:35.
15 Years Ago
March 2, 2011
On Sunday afternoon, between 1:50 and 4:20 p.m., Feb. 27, several Alliance homes and businesses encountered a brief power outage. Homes were affected as far as Berea, but power was restored to them within about 15 minutes. However, businesses along Third Street west of the Cody substation were out of power for the duration, according to Alliance Electrical Superintendent Larry H.
10 Years Ago
March 1, 2016
Today Nebraska celebrates its founding 149 years ago. Elementary school students often take note during special classroom lessons, a filed trip or living history program. March 1, 2016, also beings the countdown to a more notable date – the Sesquicentennial.
5 Years Ago
March 3, 2021
Mason Hiemstra made history in his time at Alliance High School, becoming the school’s seventh athlete to letter 12 times. A ceremony was initially planned during the 2020 Alliance invite Track Meet, but COVID-19 caused the event to be postponed.
*Compiled from The Alliance Times-Herald Archives by Christine Melcher