Alliance boasts a historic downtown. The same could be said of any sizable town in Northwest Nebraska from Sidney, founded in 1867 by the Union Pacific RR, to Mitchell, incorporated in 1902. Driving on the bricks nearly every day what often strikes me is the structures missing from decades ago. Last week I slowed down with a full load of cardboard for the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center while passing the four-way stop at Second and Box Butte – two men were repairing the brick wall on the south side of Sassy and Classy Nail Spa.
I had just been to that business a few days prior emptying their tote and carting away assorted cardboard and packing material. Nothing too interesting. So, after noticing the bricklayers, I returned that afternoon to ask the owner, Jamie Phan, about her upgrade. She said her cousin from Vietnam was helping her during a visit. He has a construction company back home. “There were two reasons,” Jamie explained. “First of all safety – (potential for the wall) falling down, and people walking around.” She added the Chamber of Commerce has mentioned Black Hills Energy has expressed interest in using the park (she also owns that lot) for lunches, etc.
The wall I refer to is what is left of a building on the northwest corner of Second and Box Butte that had adjoined the two-story location (206 Box Butte) now housing Sassy and Classy. So, what was there before? Thanks to Knight Museum Director Becci Thomas and her staff I gained some insight into the history of the small section of our lower downtown. Records for the corner lot start in 1890 and include: Beal Brothers Potato Sorters and Staackers (1908) Joe Smith’s Snooker Partlor (1916 with other pool halls up to the early 1960’s) then Office Human Development and Community Ed classroom (1980-1990) just before its removal. Jamie’s building, in contrast, hosted a varied list of tenants starting with The Herald newspaper before 1911. If you have stopped in for a pedicure, perhaps, think about some of the enterprises that have been there the next time you return to Sassy and Classy.
Nebraska Typewriter (now NTO) arrived in 1962 and was one of the longest-term businesses along with Thompson TV Co., which moved in during 1959. As a testimony to the vitality downtown, residents and visitors stepped through the front and back doors at: New and Second Hand Goods (1911), Alliance Meat Co. (1912), Curtis Home Bakery (1914), Standard Grocery (1916), Lowry’s Shoe Store (1917), Alliance Floral (1919), Tatro Floral Co. (1920), Pittenger Drug Store (1931), Peterson Drug (1935), a jeweler/optometrist (1938), Young Plumbing (1956), Dick’s Cafe (1959) and the place I remember before the storefront went empty – Freeze Frame Video (1987).
Sassy and Classy has stayed longer than most. Jaime said she opened eight years ago after extensive remodeling and currently has three employees. “I got a loan and had a team from Kansas City come build this shop,” she said.
Jaime, whose parents are from Vietnam, grew up in Iowa. She graduated from Iowa State with a double major in Marketing and International Business. She had a friend who had worked in Scottsbluff and went to Chadron to work at Pink nail salon before moving to Alliance. “I had clients from Alliance who asked me to come down here.”
Fixing the wall had been an objective, however the cost continued to be an obstacle. Jaime explained that $40,000 was the estimate to tackle the whole thing at once. She is trying to find grants or other funding sources. The first stage focused on the lower level as they dug out broken bricks and spent about a week filling in the holes where native brick had been laid more than a century ago.
When I remembered 206 Box Butte a decade ago, I would not have been surprised if it had remained empty or been knocked down like the trio of buildings on the west side of the 100 block of our main drag. I commend Jaime for her continued efforts to preserve local history while improving the safety and aesthetics of her business.
(Photos by John E. Weare and Jamie Phan)