130 Years Ago
January 5, 1894
The only business out of the usual routine transacted by the city council at the regular meeting last Tuesday was the introduction of an amendment to ordinance No. 36, which passed first reading. The amendment has in view the removal of all signs, wooden awnings, porches, etc., from over the sidewalk, and will probably not meet the approval of all the business men.
125 Years Ago
January 6, 1899
Arguments were heard by the supreme court Wednesday of this week in the county seat case, and briefs filed by the opposing attorneys. R. C. Noleman returned home this morning, and says that Hemingford’s attorneys were allowed leave to file an additional brief Monday next. The case will then be considered Tuesday, and it is quite probable, he says, that a decision will not be handed down until one week from next Tuesday, and possibly much later.
120 Years Ago
January 1, 1904
The large circle of friends invited to the New Years ball given in the opera house last evening by Mr. and Mrs. John Robert Phelan in honor of Bernard Phelan, expected something in the social line above the ordinary. The Floral ball however simply astounded and electrified Alliance society. The place had been converted into a fairy scene which baffles description.
115 Years Ago
January 1, 1909
It will be remembered that some seventy-odd citizens of Alliance recently signed and sent to Judge W. H. Westover a petition asking that a grand jury be called to consider illegal liquor-selling and other law breaking in Alliance and Box Butte county. A few days later this was followed by a remonstrance against same signed by about the same number of people. As Judge Harrington will preside at the next term of district court for Box Butte county, Jude Westover referred petition and remonstrance to him.
110 Years Ago
January 6, 1914
The anonymous letter writers are busy again, but their latest efforts to decoy men to a meeting place have not been so successful as last spring, when a bevy of married men were attracted to a certain corner to meet a certain fair unknown, who, however, never appeared. The attempted victims of the hoax, “badger game” or whatever it is, this time were single men and they were wiser than the other bunch. Instead of going to the place of rendezvous, they placed the anonymous letters in the hands of the police, who, however, were not able to find anybody at the time and place indicated.
105 Years Ago
January 3, 1919
The farmers of Box Butte county are taking advantage of The Times classified columns much to their profit. They find that it is very often the case that their near neighbors are in need of the stock, grain and produce which they have for sale. And at the expense of a few cents the information is sent out which results in rapid sales. Very often you have a few articles which would not warrant a public sale, but which would bring a fair price if you could get in touch with the man who needed them. You would get a sale and he would get a bargain—The Times would get a quarter—and we would all be satisfied.
100 Years Ago
January 1, 1924
A woman of about 50 years old, giving the name of Mrs. B. W. Parker, created considerable excitement at a Second street rooming house last night when she started at the beginning of the telephone directory and called Alliance residents to convey to them her best wishes for a Happy New Year. She varied her program somewhat by telling a few of them to go where the climate is a trifle warmer than that registered hereabouts during the past few days. No doubt some of them would have been glad to escape the cold by accepting her invitation, but she did not provide transportation.
95 Years Ago
January 1, 1929
Building construction in Alliance during 1928 reached record-breaking proportions by a very wide margin and the amount spent in putting up new structures and remodelling old ones was nearly four times that of last. Not much short of $300,000 was expended by local property owners on buildings in the year just past. Especially brisk was the residence construction.
90 Years Ago
January 2, 1934
State Surveyor H. B. Lawson of Lincoln is starting this week on an inspection of all school lands in Box Butte, Keith and Perkins counties to report to the state land commissioner as to their present fair market worth. An increase in appraisement where the land values appear to be low is in prospect. Reappraisal may affect the least cost on the lands.
85 Years Ago
January 3, 1939
Construction in Alliance during 1938 showed an increase of $18,144 over 1937, if the new municipal building is not added to the 1937 figure, according to records in the city manager’s office. Total construction in Alliance during 1938 amounted to $117,015 as compared with $98,871 during 1937.
80 Years Ago
January 4, 1944
Allison Johnson, secretary of the Nebraska Stockgrowers association, covered the Northwestern railroad section of the livestock country over the end of the week finding the drouth and the lack of protein causing some worry but not more so than other sections of the state. Commening on the development of safflower in the Box Butte tableland, he said that stockmen were definitely interested in the protein residue as its price and feed value will balance against cottonseed and soya beans.
75 Years Ago
January 4, 1949
All rural roads in this area were blocked by the fierce 48-hour blizzard which started Sunday evening. One man is reported lost. Some livestock losses have been discovered and ranchers expect to find more dead cattle beneath drifts; horseback searches are being started from all ranches today in an effort to save livestock. Forty-eight hours of 50-mile winds and heavy snows that finally totaled more than 20 inches, brought 15-foot drifts to city streets, paralyzed all commercial activity and isolated the community. Only a few brave souls walked to town Monday and Tuesday and it was an arduous task. Usually two or three would go together and it was not uncommon to see several men roped together.
70 Years Ago
January 1, 1954
As the year of 1954 opens hearalding another year of the calendar, it will also herald a “new era” in the Panhandle and Sandhills areas of the Alliance trade territory. This will be an era of continued field exploration in the search for “black gold,” as crude oil is known in the nearby oil fields of Cheyenne County. There will be more drilling for Box Butte and Dawes County, and continued field activity on the part of major and independent oil operators who now hold under lease hundreds of thousands of acres in Box Butte, Dawes, Morrill, Sioux, Sheridan, Grant and Cherry Counties.
65 Years Ago
January 2, 1959
The State Aeronautics Commission will hold its January 9 meeting in Alliance at the Drake Hotel. Direct Rolland Harr of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics notified the Chamber of Commerce here today that the 5-man commission would reach Alliance at 12 noon on January 8 and attend meetings of the Western Nebraska United Chambers of Commerce that afternoon and evening.
60 Years Ago
January 2, 1964
Dr. Robert E. Bowen, Alliance optometrist, was elected president of the Chamber of Commerce at a reorganization meeting of the Board of Directors. Dale Borg was elected vice president, and Duane Pennington, treasurer, to complete the slate of officers for the new year.
55 Years Ago
January 1, 1969
James R. Langner and Owen P. Farrington today announced the purchase and sale of Alliance’s oldest business, Holsten’s Rexall Drug store. According to a joint announcement this morning, Mr. and Mrs. Langner have purchased the Alliance drug store effective today from Mr. and Mrs. Farrington.
50 Years Ago
January 1, 1974
Salaries for county officials elected next year and taking office in January 1975 will be about 18.1 per cent higher than the current salary in accordance with action taken Monday afternoon by the Box Butte County Commissioners. The salaries for the new terms, which are adjustable in succeeding years based on the cost of living index changes higher or lower, were set by the board in accordance with state statutes which require salaries for elective posts to be set prior to the candidate filing deadline for primary and general elections.
45 Years Ago
January 1, 1979
A 25-year old Omaha man, Lyle E. Jensen, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and is in the Regional Law Enforcement Center on $30,000 bond following an early morning stabbing incident Sunday at the Commercial Hotel in Alliance. A second man, Wayne T. Helliger, was taken into custody Monday morning and also chraged with assault with a deadly weapon.
40 Years Ago
January 2, 1984
When the door opens Tuesday at 9 a.m., the Box Butte County Treasurer’s office will be one of the busiest spots in town. Gwen Warthen, County Treasurer, and her staff expect a deluge of people to stream into the office as the first license plates to be issued by the State of Nebraska in seven years officially go up for grabs.
35 Years Ago
January 4, 1989
Following a short public meeting Tuesday, the Hemingford Village Board of Trustees met in executive session to discuss legal matters involving the Hemingford Health Care Facility. A special meeting to further discuss the nursing home with the village attorney was set for Jan. 10.
30 Years Ago
January 6, 1994
The Hemingford Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Methodist Church basement. Speakers will include former Box Butte General Hospital administrator Bill Ferguson and Dr. Ron Burke, head of the Economics Department at Chadron State College, who will address the effect health care reform will have on area health care facilities, residents and businesses.
25 Years Ago
January 4, 1999
After hearing personal property tax penalty protests from two Alliance residents, the Box Butte County Commissioners unanimously approved penalties of 50 percent, based on valuation, instead of $100 fines imposed by the county assessor’s office. All three commissioners were present.
20 Years Ago
January 1, 2004
City of Alliance Building and Zoning Official/AVFD Fire Chief David McCarty urges city residents to help in keeping sidewalks cleared of snow and ice, thereby making the city safer for those that use them. McCarty said that many people seem to leave the snow removal for nature or the sun to take care of, but that does not always take care of the whole problem.
15 Years Ago
January 2, 2009
Thursday at 12:06 a.m. the Alliance Police Department responded to vandalism in the 200 block of Box Butte. Police Chief John Kiss said that he has not received an official report on the incident, but said that a male subject put his foot through one of the front windows of The Mission Store. He noted that the subject did leave on foot, but that no information was available on whether an arrest was made.
10 Years Ago
January 2, 2014
In an effort to determine the needs of Box Butte County at risk youth various community members met with Janelle Hansen, Panhandle Public Health, Brenda McDonald, and Maria Swensen, director of Making Life Changes Sustainable-family and youth services, to discuss possibleprojects to be funded by a $31,279 grant, being applied for through the Juvenile Services Task Force.
5 Years Ago
January 2, 2019
Farmer’s Cooperative Elevator Company announced Monday, Dec. 31, a grain expansion project slated for completion by July 1, 2019 at its Hemingford location. Farmer’s Coop will be building a grain storage silo djacent to the East Elevator in Hemingford. This silo will be a concrete jump-form construction and have a capacity of approximately 919,000 bushels and be filled by existing elevation.