1885

"The outstanding event in the settlement during the year 1885 was the organization of the "Swedish Ev. Lutheran Thabor Congregation" on July 20, with 21 charter members. The organization was consumated when the settlers were gathered in the N.P. Hult home... The first religious service after organization was held in Mr. Thorson's house, a new frame house having now been completed. (This house yet stands on the same location and constitutes a part of the rear of the spacious home of the late A.H. Banks). These services were conducted by G.W. Larson, one of the first deacons. Mrs. Emma Thorson served as organist."
(note: the A.H. Banks home was adjacent southwest to the corner on which we always left town to go home; their lane went east to what later was the highway and the place set way back; I was never on the place but took note that the airplane crash of Rennard/Wamburg's Jenny happened there. N.P. Hult is the direct ancestor of Don Hult.)

Notes on the early Lutheran church:

"Building of the church was started that year (1886), but due to financial hardships the interior of the building could not be completed. Nor was it ever fully completed upon the site where first erected, being on the north side of the road past the present Lutheran cemetery northwest of Wausa...Mr. Aaron Middlekauff, owner of the land in this location, donated three acres in section 5, just across the section line from the congregation's tract, for the church plot. The church was built on this during that summer. But the interior was not plastered or finished.
...a few chairs and the balance of the floor space as well as the balcony was 'seated' with planks laid on nail kegs. Unpainted 4-inch cribbing boards made up the altar railing and the pulpit which was a home-made affair is now being used in the church at Bristow, Nebraska"

(note: the Middlekauff name again appears; also the Bristow community in which our family friend "Milton Preach" would no doubt have been familiar with this pulpit)

Thorson's son writes to the Gazette: "My father and mother were raised around St. Peter, MN, born of pioneer families... In Nebraska they built a sod house and lived in this possibly two or three years, when they built a small house. One daughter, Theodora, was born in the sod house in 1884... I was born in in the new frame house in 1887. My father had the post office in his home...named Thorson... We moved...in about 1895 to Alabama. There he founded a town known as Thorsby..."
(note: the son is modest about his family; Thorson had been a land agent at St. Peters responsible for the location of Augustana's Gustavus Adolphus College there and served in the same way at Wausa and in Alabama, the $7,000 with which he left was not only the result of sheep raising as his son suggests)

Some background on Thorson's coming to the area: "Rev. E.A. Fogelstrom, founder of Immanuel Hospital and Deaconess Institute at Omaha, had asked Mr. Thorson to advise him if, in his wanderings, he should find a good location for a Swedish colony, where good land could be had at low price. Mr. Thorson wrote Rev. Fogelstrom that here was Paradise Valley. Late that summer (1883) Rev. Fogelstrom and Rev. John Torell, of Oakland, drove up to investigate the location... The reverend gentlemen were highly pleased with the location and forthwith made arrangements to establish a colony here. They made agreements with Messrs. Quimby & Crum, land agents at Creighton for terms under which the land in this area should be sold. Mr. Thorson was appointed local agent and locator."
(note: the cooperation of ministers and land agents is a common theme of the immigration; historian C.F. Sandahl records that the area was advertised among Swedish Lutherans and that the "reverends" ended up with a farm each as later plat books confirm)

"...Mr. Thorson and some others got busy and had an overland mail route established between Creighton and Hartington. A post office was established in Mr. Fletcher's home, which he named 'Orient', saying that he lived at the east end of the world, in the Orient. From there the route angled across the prairie, following closely the old Gordon and Black Hills trail to Hartington"
(note: we hope to include a map of that trail which goes very close to Leona's and just north of our old place, across the Rosberg farm; Orient is located along the Creighton road we are familiar with and west of our place...maybe about where Midland store is)

Early arrivals and their origins:
J.A. Wilds Moline (moved into Thorsons old sod house)
G.W. Larson Oakland
N.P. Hult Oakland
C.A. Swanson
Gust Swanson
A. Shalander Moingona IA

1885-
J.M. Bard LaPorte IN
C.A. Bard LaPorte IN
S.A. Johnson Attica IN
J. Anderson Attica IN
O. Larson Oakland
J. Wahlund Red Oak
P.J. Rundquist
L.J. Rundquist
A.P. Swanson
P. Bennert
J.F. Holst Elkhorn NE
E. Baggstrom Stratford (Swede Bend)
E.P. Lindgren Mt. Pleasant IA "rented from Chas. Middlekauf" with whom he lived...more on Middlekaufs later

1889
Emil Engdahls Oakland (first justice of the peace)
W.H. Waterman

"The first children inhabitants that Wausa could boast of were Jimmie Teilborg, the one year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Teilborg, proprietor of Wausa's first hotel, and Alfreda Engdahl, now Mrs. O.W. Sjogren, the year and a half old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Engdahl. The Engdahls moved from the farm into town two days after the Teilborgs moved in. The Sjogren family now live in Huntington Park (part of Los Angeles) California."
(note: our belief that Alfreda is the one who kept the scrapbook containing these clippings is affirmed in that the words "Alfreda Engdahl" are faintly underlined in pencil. The Emil Engdahls also went to Los Angeles )

Wildlife notes:

"Strangely enough the Elkhorn branch, and that stream only, abounded in pike. The writer read in a history of the U.P. that shortly after that road was built a train carrying two tanks of pike for transplanting was wrecked in crossing the Elkhorn River east of Fremont..."
"Hunters came here from Chicago in September and October, placed a couple of refrigerator cars at Creighton and proceeded to fill them with prairie chickens for the eastern market."

Law and order:

"As is usually the case a lot of floaters trail railroad builders... As yet the town had no jail or lockup in which to store transgressors of the law. But the Railroad Company loaned the town an empty box car for this purpose and equipped it with lock and key."

Buildings:

"A new 'modern' hotel was built at the location of the present Commercial Hotel. That building was moved to the rear when the new brick building was erected in 1909 and is still in service as the rear annex to the present hotel. Mr. A.L. Blanchard was the owner of the hotel at that time"
(note: we remember the hotel just this way; it changed hands innumerable times)

"The third building was a general merchandise store built by H.W. McClure on the Commercial Bank corner"
"The fourth building was a drug store built by James McDevit where the Creutz Drug store now stands. F.L. Hicks was the druggist. There was no foundation, but the building was set up on blocks and props. There being considerable (slope to the) north the props on the north end were quite high. As the building was nearing completion the props tilted and the whole building was catapulted to the north." (note: no Swedish names among businessmen so far)
"Jake Fox (drayman from Wayne) then built the house now occupied by Mrs. Alfred Johnson, which still stands just east of the library. This was residence number one to be completed before the railroad reached town. Residence number two was built by Emil Engdahl and is the present remodeled residence of P.H. Peterson." (Is the Fox home the one currently taken over for library expansion?)

About the name, "Wausa":

"The colony was named Vasa (some times spelled Wasa), in honor of the noted king and liberator of Sweden, Gustaf Vasa, or Wasa. (In Swedish the v and the w have the same sound and value and are properly called 'v' and 'double v' respectively, tho most generally both are called 'v'. In old Swedish the w was used almost exclusively, but in modern Swedish it is not used at all except in proper names, as 'Wallin.')"
(Got that now? J. Wallin wrote the Julotta hymn, so it is fitting he be mentioned. How the "u" got in there is another story.)

How the streets were made:

"Axel V. Swanson had a team of little mules and the proper implements and did general team work. He was called upon to break the ground along the street lines and to break the sod on the lots for gardens and shrubbery." (we have been delighted to find that Swanson was cousin Evan Nordstrom's grandfather)

First barber:

"...there was an opening here for a barber. And a barber located here in the very embryonic days of the town's history. He was a negro, came here from Lyons, NE, and went by the name of "Scottie."

Schools:

"Great remembrance is due an early settler named Charles Middlekauf, a young man who was located on a farm six miles west of Wausa... For a period of two months during the winter of 1886 he rode horseback through snow and cold to conduct school in the living room of the N.P. Hult home... His compensation was the knowledge of a duty well done and a hot dinner served by Mrs. Hult, a motherly old soul whom we all called "mor Sara."
(note: six miles west was a half section titled to the Middlekaufs...we know it as the Greenwall place... but there's more)
"A post office was also established in Charlie Middlekauf's home this year and named Lloyd. Mrs. Luella Middlekauf was appointed post mistress."

(1887 - can you believe it? We now are extremely curious whether this post office was at our place or another of the Middlekaufs' many properties in the area...and what is the origin of the name Lloyd?)

A teacher's arrival (Mrs. G.E. Swanson):

"I graduated June 10th, 1896 from the University of South Dakota with a Batchelor of Arts Degree. My sister, Mrs. E.H. Maurer, of Vermillion, SD, brought me to Wausa on a Wednesday in June. We made the trip overland by horse and buggy. There were no defined roads in those days. We followed wagon-trails across the prairies. Woe to the one who took the wrong wagon-trail! What a grand feeling it was, when on top of the last hill, we sighted the Village of Wausa. As we entered the town, we were struck by the neat appearance of the town. The buildings on main street were trim and freshly painted. It gave one the impression of a wide awake and bustling little city. The dirt streets and wooden sidewalks, lined on either side with hitching posts, were a credit to the people of the community. We arrived at the Post Office building (the building now occupied by the Gunnar Carlson Produce station.) We tied our horse to a hitching post. Here we were met by our sister, Mrs. W.H. Waterman. Mr Waterman was Postmaster of Wausa at that time. Mr. and Mrs. lived in the rooms over the post office. They were erecting their new home on the corner of Norris and Hampton streets." (note: we wonder if they were traveling the Black Hills and Gordon Trail. Elsewhere we read that "Gordon" stood for a Mrs. Gordon who was the first woman to negotiate this route)

Building of the school:

"The foundation having been completed the carpenters began a lusty hammering on the framework early one Sunday morning. Rev. C.G. Olson promptly walked up to the place of activities and asked the foreman what all this meant, --if they were a bunch of heathens who had no respect for the Lord's day. The foreman replied that they were just carrying out orders from the contractor at Sioux City. 'Well, I'll soon see that you get different orders,' replied the Rev. Mr. Olson and walked away. In a short time the marshal walked up to the foreman and informed him that Sunday labor was against the law in the state of Nebraska and not tolerated in the law-abiding town of Wausa, and if they did not cease immediately they would all be lodged in jail. The hammering ceased at once and there was no more Sunday work attempted on the building. In the autumn of 1893 school opened in the new building..."

Mrs. Swanson's further picture of the town:

"In 1896 Wausa could boast of a lovely Swedish Lutheran church, a large two-story frame school house (here in this school building, the Mission church and M.E. church held their services); two hotels, one Midway Plasance which is still located in the same place, with John G. Anderson as proprietor--the other, the Kuhuley hotel, located where the Thoms garage now stands--one newspaper, The Enterprise, edited by Robt. Lynn and Peter Knott. There were three general stores--Snygg & Swanson located 3 doors west of the Wausa Hotel; Johnson & Arvidson, on the corner where the Commercial State Bank is located; and still another just west of Creutz Drug Store, operated by Mr. Lund. Across the street from the post office were Charlie Erickson's harness shop, the Buol hardware store, the V.E. Swanson meat market, the Mattie Hass restaurant. The A.M. Hanson furniture store was located where the White Eagle filling station now stands.

Wausa had two banks--Commercial Bank, G.H. Renard, cashier, Chas. Cook ass't cashier, located in the building occupied by the Ephraim Johnson Plumbing Co. and the Farmers State Bank, J.E. Bahnsen cashier, and T.A. Anthony assistant cashier, located where the Peterson law office now stands... two lumber yards--Matt Blenkiron where the Coleson Holmquist lumber yard now is and the Edward & Bradford Lumber Yard where the Independent Lumber & Coal Co. is located... There were three livery barns--the Bill Foreman livery barn north of the Prather Cafe, the Fox Livery Barn where the Fritz Carlson auto repair shop is now located, and the Jeppesen livery barn south of the Independent Lumber & Coal Co."

(note: more than a century later the description is recognisable; hotel, bank and Creutz Drug store are the anchor points. Other notes: White Eagle we believe to be the Mobil station/quick shop, Prathers is Bill's Place, Swanson's Meat Market was still there when I left in 1961 as was the Lumber Yard. The Kuhuley Hotel was where the "Ford Garage" was later)

THE SCRAP BOOK THRILLING BLIZZARD EXPERIENCE
By P. Wm Holst

The last day I attended school, which was Jan. 12, 1888, I only lacked two days of being eighteen years old, now fifty years ago. It was on a Thursday- The forenoon was rather sunshiny and nice. The school house was located one mile east of Haven's P. O. and two miles west of Oliver Grove, since removed one mile due north of its then location. The storm struck about 2 o'clock, the worst snow-storm of all time. The snow was as fine as flour, damp and clinging. Between 3 and 4 o'clock I decided I would go to my home more than a mile due northwest from the school house to get some food for the small chldren who were crying they were hungry.

There were no fences. But every farmer had a fire guard around his quarter section and I decided to follow the fire guard north a mile, then west a quarter mile to my home. The school yard was fenced in with two No. 9 wires. I headed into the storm and got as far as five or six rods north of the yard when my eye lids were frozen shut. I rubbed them which made it worse-I then decided I could not make it and returned; following the fire guard as best I could, feeling with my feet. When I thought I was near the fence I went very slowly fearing I would tumble over the fence.

When inside the fence I headed for the school house. But after going some distance I feared I had missed it and stopped short thinking what would be best to do. I decided I would take ten long steps sideways to the left holding out my hand. And if I did not find it there, I would count my steps back to the former place and do the same to the right. Well, I did not find the school House! So I decided I would take ten steps forward and repeat my left and right feeling for the school house. But before I took a full step forward, I was knocked flat on my back by running into the school house. The back of my head hit the frozen ground rather hard. I got up and put my hand on the school house and kept it there 'till I got to the south end and went in. There was about a half bushel of snow inside my clothes.

After getting warmed some, I carried in seventeen hods of coal and dumped it in the corner of the entry and kept fire for nineteen children and the school marm all night. By the way, our teacher was Miss Nettie McNeal, daughter of Andre McNeal, farmer and post-master living about eight miles southwest of Hartington. Next morning was bright and cold and we all went home for late breakfasts. And I never went to school again. Why I did not is another story. For the benefit of your readers and the younger generation, I might mention the said school-house was located about fourteen miles southwest of Hartington, Cedar county, Nebraska.

(note: the Oliver Grove mentioned is the Methodist church which was located on the "Coleridge Road"; its furnishings were reused in the Magnet Christian church but it is not known if these are the same ones preserved in the Wausa museum)

A remarkable letter from the same Mr. Holst:

Center, Nebraska, April 10th, 1937.
Mr. Carl A. Anderson, Wausa, Nebraska.
Dear Friend Carl:

I thank you for the invitation to write an article for your paper. But first let me say I have had but very little schooling. What little education I have received has been mostly in the school of hard knocks.

In Denmark, where I was born, I drove oxen for my father who was a brickmaker by trade, during the summer months, when I was six, seven and eight years old, hauling clay from the clay pits a half a mile away from the brick yards. The summers I was nine and ten I herded cattle for a wealthy farmer close to my home, who paid my father seven Danish dollars per summer for my services looking after his thirty-eight milch cows, grazing on a long strip of grass lying between fields of grain.

In the spring of 1878, when I was eleven years old, the Holst family came to this country and settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Seven weeks later the folks moved to Waterloo, Nebraska, leaving me in Council Bluffs, working for a farmer southwest of there at $6.00 per month. I stayed there until after corn-picking when I went home to my folks at Waterloo, Nebraska. The man I worked for at the Bluffs was a big Swede by the name of Charlie Carlson, who had been a sailor for ten years and had been all over the world.

The fall of 1880 on the 15th of October there was a snow storm that covered everything and remained until in May the next year. In the sprng of 1881 my folks were flooded out, and during the summer bought a home in Elkhorn on the east side of the Elkhorn river.

In 1883, father and Nels Johnson bought a half section of land about seven miles northeast of what is now Wausa, but we did not move on the land until the 21st of July, 1885. Father and I came up from Elkhorn station in a covered wagon, and trailed three milch cows behind the wagon. We built a small sod house the first thing, suitable for a chicken house. Then we built a lumber stable and granary combined. Father and I slept in the granary and boarded with the J. E. Betts family, who live east of us, and later became the Gillilan place.

The deer were plentiful the first year we lived there. I remember we had an old U. S. Calvary horse 23 years old, very long-winded, known as "Red Buck," which Dad traded to a man by the name of Abe Peterson, who then lived on the farm where Frank Jacobson now lives, for two milch cows, a wagon load of potatoes and seven bushels of turnips. Abe Peterson, with a shot gun, on-the back of "Red Buck", ran down seven deer in the neighborhood the first year we were there. He chased each deer about four miles before he could get close enough to shoot them.

In the spring of 1887 there was snow so deep on the 6th of May that I could not plow for corn. That summer, having no grass mower, a neighbor bachelor farmer living west of us, together with myself, cut seventy ton of hay (blue stem) with scythes. The summer I was eighteen I hired out to Wm. Sewell to herd 764 head of steers belonging to Mr. Butterfield, on a range lying south and west of where Wausa is located. The range was six miles wide and eight miles long. I had a shanty in the middle of the range, about where the old John Lindberg place is located.

The (Thorson) Wausa community then consisted of eight farmers and a church, but I do not think they had a graveyard started at this time. This was before there was any Wausa, Bloomfield, Osmond, Magnet or Randolph, or before section lines were opened up for travel. Prairie fires the first couple of years were much dreaded, both night and day, during the fall and spring. The first fall we were in Cedar county there came a prairie fire from the south with a strong wind. Started down at the town of Pierce in the morning and was on us by ten o'clock the same morning. We had a lot of lumber on the ground and a dwelling house about half built. We saw the smoke before the fire reached us.

Nels Johnson, our neighbor on the south, who had lived on his land two years before we moved onto ours, came ahead of the fire on horseback and told us how to fight the fire. The entire family carried water from a shallow well and scattered it on the grass stubble and set fire behind it, and in that way made the fire pass by us on each side and thus we saved everything. Oh, but how black and dreary everything looked till the next spring.

Very respectfully yours, P. Wm. Holst.

(note: It has been tempting to believe that the Nels Johnson mentioned is our great-grandfather, Grandma Alma Johnson Gustafson came in a wagon similar to the Holst family as we have been told, but there was another Nels Johnson and he is probably the one referred to above)

A picture of social life in early Wausa:

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE EARLY DAYS OF WAUSA
By Mrs. Minnie Berg

The hardships of a new community are often stressed, until we are prone to think there was no entertainment, no "fun" in life that long ago. Pioneer life was hard but it had its lighter moments too. At first there was neither church nor church services. After the building was erected, we all went to church not only to worship but to meet our friends as well. Church-going served as a social contact as well as spiritual uplift.

We drove to church in lumber wagons drawn by the heavy plow horses that tilled our fields during the week. Father and mother occupied the "spring seat". The rest of the family sat on boards laid across the wagon box with nails driven in the ends to keep the board from slipping. As there were no roads, we drove "as the crow flies" in the "rumble seat" of a lumber wagon, and father driving over a newly plowed field of "sod-breaking" is an experience which must be felt in order to appreciate it. There is nothing like it anywhere.

The older people then as now, contented themselves with visiting each others homes. The men whiled away the time with long discussons concerning problems of agriculture and animal husbandry. The women exchanged confidences, dressmaking patterns, and cooking "receipts" then as now. There were no papers except religious periodicals and few books except those of a religious trend.

Young people are the same the world over. Youth is optimistic; youth is light hearted; and laughter is a universal language. While the older people were content to visit, the younger set were casting about for something more amusing to do. They craved action and found sitting around much too dull. The Hult children remembered the games and folk dances from Sweden and were prevailed upon to act as leaders. This they did with a right good will and they soon had the whole group organized and playing "Vafva Vadmal," "Jungfrun gar i Valsen", "Hej-Sikarella" and others. The music for these games were vocal efforts and Reynold, Charles, and Amanda (Mrs. Charles Nelson) ably supported by Swan, Augusta (Swanson) and Otto sang lustily and well and were soon joined by the entire group.

The room was cleared, of table and chairs, Joe Hall took his place in a corner and began to tune up. John Shalander was especially proficient in "calling" plain and fancy figures of square dances. He took his place near Joe Hall and the fun began-even the "oldsters" joined in. Everyone was simple, kind-hearted and friendly. There was no rivalry, no effort at sophistication, no gibes at one another and wise-crackers were not yet born. Memorable are also the gathering of the young folks in the Shalander home. Joe Hall was the community musician and received an enthusiastic welcome whenever he appeared with his concertina-accordian.

At the close of the evening "Mor Britta" Shalander-an excellent cook, served everyone generously of what the house afforded. Perhaps I am beginning to live in life's afterglow, but I think we had more wholesome enjoyment in those days than the times afford now. There were no social cliques nor class distinctions. We were all poor together (if lacking money constitutes poverty) our pleasures were simpler and more appreciated.

Modern science gave us the automobile-and took away our friends. Comforts and luxuries have made us self-centered and envious. "Dates," "going places", constant social activities, have made us restless, super-critical, and a bit contemptuous of simple enjoyments.

The wheels of time cannot roll back, and it is better so perhaps: but do not feel too sorry for these pioneer people. They knew contentment with their lot, and what more may we ask of life?

....

The coming of the Railroad:

"Then came the epoch-making year for the settlement and the Thabor congregation were greatly determined by the outstanding development of that year--the building of the railroad through the heart of the settlement... At the annual meeting...held January 2nd, 1891, a resolution was adopted that a location for the church and a parsonage should be selected in the town of Wausa... It was moved that winter, a Mr. Frezell doing the job for $235."

Rev Aurelius in the 40-year history remembers: "I expected this would be good news to the congregation but to my surprise some of the leading members, who had contributed the largest subscriptions, protested, stating that the church should never be moved into town. They started a propaganda against moving the church. I called an extra meeting of the congregation. With a overwhelming majority it was decided to move the church to Wausa... On Monday the following week the church was on its way to town. The sheriff from Niobrara arrived on the scene and ordered the church building back on its former foundation, but when he heard we had legal right according to our church constitution, to move the church to Wausa, he exclaimed, 'Alright, gentlemen, proceed in your work. God bless you!'."

Another example of contemporary agitation among members:

"At a meeting held on February 24th, the trustees were instructed to saw off the cross which will be remembered as shown on the church in the picture published in the first installment of the church history. No reason is given as to why this decision, but presumeable to be done on account of moving the church building from the country to town"
(note: those familiar with Illinois history will remember a similar agitation in Andover, where members objected to this feature of church architecture as being "too Catholic." By 1902 the membership had swelled to the point that a new building was needed. Thabor was one of the 2 or 3 largest Augustana congregations in Nebr. It is noted that the "plans of the Orion, IL, church be adopted with a few minor changes")

"In the fall of this year (1892), a barn was built on the parsonage property and Mr. Emil Engdahl was selected as committee to have this work in charge."

"Although running right through the heart of the settlement, only two of its open farms were cut through by the railroad--both of N.P. Hult's quarter sections and P.J. Rundquist's farm just south east of Magnet.... N.P. Hult granted right-of way for $100 per acre through a fine corn field, cutting up the corn stalks for feed."

(note: the triangle of ground cut off from N.P. Hult is thought to be the first Greenwall farm; Hult figures in the school and all three churches as we shall see)

"In looking through the files of the Gazette we notice that at a meeting of the Young Peoples' Society of the Lutheran church a debate was held and the subject discussed was, 'resolved that the Swedish language is heading for a rapid extinction.' And here it is thirty-four years later and the Swedish language is still in use."

"The English Sunday School, which was organized in 1897 and sessions held on Sunday afternoons was only continued during that one year. The reason of this was due to the fact that the Methodist folks during the latter part of that year also organized a Sunday school and there was no good reason for duplication in the work."

"During the year 1905, the basement room of the church had been utilized on Sunday afternoons by German Lutherans who held services occasionally in that place and were also given permission to continue the use thereof during 1906."

Founding of the Mission church:

"...some who had moved in here later, and from other places, who had belonged to the Mission church or been under its influence, felt the need of Christian fellowship within a church. Mr. Claus Johnson corresponded with Rev. K.F. Larson, at St. Joseph, MO, who had been a former minister in the Mission church at Wakefield, NE, asking him to come here and preach the Gospel to us. After a while he arrived, bought a farm adjoining Wausa on the north (now the Emil Nelson farm.) Early in the summer of 1893 Rev. Larson came to Wausa and engaged a carpenter to erect a set of buildings on his farm. Part of the time Rev. Larson held meetings in schoolhouses in and around Wausa and also in private homes. So now we had a minister before we had a congregation...in January 1894, K.F. Larson was elected chairman, G.E. Lundgren, secretary, and Claus Johnson, treasurer."

Founding of the Methodist church:

"In April, 1894, Rev. Gearhart moved his family to Wausa and became the first resident Methodist Episcopal pastor. It was in this month that the first M.E. Sunday School was organized. Meetings were held in conjunction with those of the Free Mission church at the school house (The old school house). Those who did not understand the Swedish made up the English or Methodist Sunday School."
(note: earlier a women's aid society had been active under the leadership of Mrs. F.C. Genung and Mrs. G.E. Lundgren and others; the editor does not distinguish between Free Mission and Mission Covenant)

1902 "...saw the sale of the highest price land in the community, a farm selling for $50 per acre"

"...C.A. Johnson, the shoe maker, planned a new brick shoe store. He purchased the lot now occupied by the Gazette building and later N.O. Ekdahl bought the lot adjoining on the east... By November 1st the building was complete, the first brick building in town..."

"January 1st a bank was launched at Magnet...later purchased by Wausa men, G.H. Renard becoming its president... In April, Mr. Renard together with Chas. Cook and others launched a bank at Spencer, NE, a bank was organized at Center, with G.E. Lundgren as vice-president... In October the First National Bank was started at Bloomfield with Wausa capital..."

"In January John W. Wamberg also launched a new paper, of national scope, 'The Rural American.' Launching was all it amounted to as no copy was ever issued..."
(Two of grandma Gustafson's sisters married Wamburgs: Ellen and Aina, who at this writing is 101 years old)

1903

"In June a move was started for a Farmers Elevator organization, the expectations being to purchase the Anderson mill and elevator. Stock was sold and in July the Farmers Mill and Elevator Company was organized. Mr. A.H. Banks being elected president, Joseph Hall, vice president, F.E. Anderson, secretary and G.E. Lundgren, treasurer. The purchase price of the property was $21,000, the largest business deal having been consumated in Wausa thus far"

(note: Mr. Banks' descendants are known to us, Anderson was Gazette editor, later a clergyman and among the founders of the Swedish Sanatorium, Denver (now Swedish Hospital). We would like to know more about Lundgren, he is among the founders of the Covenant Hospital in Omaha.)

1904

"Dr. E.L. Bridges was the first Wausa resident to own an automobile. He purchased an 8-horsepower Ford from a firm at Wayne on Friday, August 12th." (this was 4 years before the Model T was introduced)

"Charles Ritts sold his blacksmith shop to Ed. Larson and Aug. Nordstrom. Ritts later bought back the Nordstrom interests."

1905

"Barber business seems to have been on a boom also that year... Frank Crawford sold his interests in the City Barber Shop to Chas. Borton and opened up a shop of his own in the old Lundgren building on the north side of the street, later taking in C.O. Samuelson as a partner" (If this is Oscar Samuelson, he was my first barber, charging 25 or 50 cents as I recall)

"In May the Wausa Land Company was launched with John G. Anderson and John Wamberg as owners and operators. They opened their office in the corner room of the city hall." The next year they opened a branch office in Miller, SD.

1906

"Charles Harrison, who had been conducting a blacksmith shop for some time disposed of same to August Nordstrom..."

"An artificial lake two miles south of Wausa was also a live subject for a few months during the summer. As it has each time since then--dried up."

1907

"About this time great expectations were rife about town as to the railroad future of Wausa. Reports were strong that a road would be built from Yankton, SD to the Gulf of Mexico." (Grading for this road was done down northeast of town and was visible in my time. Grandma Gustafson's main recollection of the thing was the abuse of the horses)

"The Anchor Grain elevator razed that part of the elevator which was termed the horse barn. In the early days the elevators were run by horse power, all elevating of the grain being done by a horse pulled power." (This summer we saw an 8-horse carousel used on a threshing machine up at Uehling)

"The Mission folks held a congregation meeting and decided to remodel their church. Joe Hall, E.P. Ekman, F.O. Nelson and Nels A. Johnson were elected as a comittee to have this work in charge... building of the west wing and the addition of the steeple and changing the seating to face the south in place of the east as it had previously done." (note: earlier still, the seating no doubt faced south too, before an earlier remodel. Great-grandpa Nels was gone before my time, but Pete Ekman was still around...the grandfather of Richard and Gary Carlson, who still may have our red '59 Ford pickup)

"This was the year a money panic struck the country in the late fall, and in November the local banks issued one thousand dollars worth of Cashiers Checks, which were used in the community the same as money. Some of these are yet to be found as souvenirs of those panicky days."

1908-09

"Mostly all the farm places show by their neat appearances and substantial improvements that this community is a community where farmers make money and spend money. A drive of this kind fifteen years ago when we first came to this place, would have revealed nothing but a vast stretch of prairies, with a little shanty here and there, while now it is nearly all under cultivation and bringing forth an abundance of crops each successive year. Large groves have been started on almost every quarter section and the buildings are no longer small and crowded, but large and commodious, the residences, barns and cattle sheds; all well painted and presenting a sign of prosperity."
(editor Anderson was clearly a bright light shining on his subscribers)

"During the fall the large building of Larson & Engdahl was erected to be used as an implement store, now occupied by A.C. Anderson" (later still the Hult Boat works and Wausa museum)

"The proprietors of the Palmer & Co., store, J. Palmer, Theo. Anderson and J.M. Anderson purchased the business property on the corner where Anderson's Store is now operating. They immediately set about remodeling, veneering the building on the west and south, taking out the east wall and enlarging the building another twenty five feet to the east, making it a fifty foot front"

1910

"The latter part of the year 1910 moved along smoothly and quietly. A few business deals were made including August Nordstrom selling his blacksmith business to Carl Murner in the late spring. He bought it back again in September."

1912

"In 1912 Pastor Hultman (Mission church) took a vacation trip to California. While visiting in the Turlock-Hilmar district where many Wausa folks had located, a Wausa picnic in honor of Pastor Hultman was held. He reported that at the picnic there was at least 150 former members of the Wausa congregation and their children present. During the years Pastor Hultman served the congregation here, our church was visited by many prominent ministers, delivering inspiring sermons. Among them were such men as C.A. Bjork, Professor D. Nyvall of Chicago, Pastor John Peterson of Oakland, and Dr. Waldenstrom of Sweden."

1913

"...Dr. B. F. Johnson of Lyons, NE, also just out of dental college, came to Wausa, looking for a location... and opened up dental offices in the Commercial block about the middle of June in 1913, sharing waiting room with Dr. Neumann." (this was above the bank next to our grandparents' apartment and known to me as a chamber of horrors)

"The electric lights in Wausa having been installed only a short period, we find that C.O. Samuelson was the first business man who hung out an electric sign calling attention to the fact that there was a barber shop. The Wausa Garage was the second, creating a sign reading "Wausa Garage" and spelling the name, then flicker and again spelling" (look out, Las Vegas!)

"Nels Rosberg, proprietor of the Wausa Photo Gallery concluded he would rather be a farmer so disposed of his interests to C.B. Anderson" (yes, this is our neighbor Nels)

"Wausa boasted an automobile club in those days and that this was an active organization is proven by the fact that on Thursday, August 21st, seven crews, all members of the club, set out over the roads in the Wausa territory to fill in all chuck holes in the roads that automobile riding might become more of a pleasure..."

"The state Luther League of the Lutheran Conference was also held in Wausa that year...on August 20th the drinking fountain on the corner of the Commercial State Bank was put in and in working order by the time our visitors began to arrive." (how many readers remember drinking from this fountain?)

1914

"On the night of May 19th, 1914, the Golgotha German Lutheran church west of Wausa was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. $1,500 insurance was carried on the building and $300 on the contents. There was at this time an attempt to build the new church building in Wausa, and if we recall correctly, the Improvement Club offered to secure necessary lots for the building. However, at a business meeting held by the members of the church, it was decided that the church be rebuilt on the same grounds.

1916

"On June 26th the new movie building was ready and the first show given that evening. A big opening was staged, the proprietors securing the services of the band. Shortly thereafter they had the opportunity to show movies of the old home town. One A.T. Christensen , of Minneapolis, came to town and made arrangements with the business houses at so much per, to take movies of their business and a a two day celebration was staged for this particular purpose. The Improvement Club, the band and other entries took part in a parade and a real turnout was had. This reel is yet in the possession of the local movie proprietors, and has been shown at various times. As each year goes by this particular film becomes more valuable as a remembrance of old times and old scenes."
(Wouldn't it be great to see that film?)

1917

"G.E. Lundgren--Among the promoters of the growth of Wausa and eastern Knox county, this gentleman is second to no citizen in the town or county. He has been engaged in real estate and loan business at Wausa for nearly three years and knows every section of land in the vicinity of Wausa. He came here from Oakland and has about two thousand dollars invested in property in Wausa. In addition to this he has extensive land interests. He is efficient and honorable in land transaction and has fine lists in Knox, Cedar and Pierce counties. He has ample capital at his command and is ready for almost any kind of a deal in real estate. Mr. Lundgren also makes the loaning of money quite a feature of his business, and is a notary public. He can furnish all the references that may be desired.

Insurance is written by Mr. Lundgren in the most reliable companies. Among them are the following: Phoenix of Hartford; Springfield Fire and Marine; State Insurance Co. of Des Moines; and Omaha Fire Insurance Co. of Omaha. He has been justice of the peace for two years and has discharged the difficult duties of that office with ability and impartiality. Mr. Lundgren is altogether responsible and parties wishing information on lands in this section of Nebraska will do well to address him at Wausa"
"G.E. Lundgren who had been owning and operating a quarter section farm south of town disposed of the same to Alfred Christenson the consideration being $155 per acre or $24,800."
(note: no doubt the Mission church as well felt his loss when he moved to California)

"Our veterinarian, Dr. F.O. Lundberg arrived in Wausa in November of 1917, making a deal with Dr. Schmela for his business at this point. Dr. Lundberg came to Wausa from Beemer, NE. Dr. Schmela moved to Randolph."

1918

"For some years Wausa had been lighted by a local electric light plant, owned and operated by C.J. Murner and Son. The plant was located in the building now occupied by the Gazette. Feeling the urge to get back to the farm, they traded the plant for Minnesota real estate and after a while the local plant was dismantled and Wausa was hooked up to the high line. This change necessitated change all around as the local plant had operated on direct current and the new curent was the alternating type"

"G.S. Hoople, superintendent of the Wausa school, was dismissed in the early part of the season. He accepted a similar position at Weeping Water, but was shortly brought before the State Council of Defense on account of pro-German tendencies, and was let out of the Weeping Water schools."

1919

"A.M. Prather, who had held down the job as baker at the Shobery bakery for a short time, concluded to open up a restaurant business of his own. One of the rooms in the building occupied by the Rundquist & Johnson Plumbing concern is being fixed up and renovated and Mr. Prather expects to be ready for the opening of his business in a very few days. This building was located where the Malm Shoe store is now located."

"Another farm deal was that of Albert and Ed Newquist buying the half section farm northwest of Wausa, know as the Rev. Torell farm. The consideration in this deal was $210 per acre."

"E.J. Holstrom purchased the business block on main street from the G.E. Lundgren Co."

"August Nordstrom, the Wausa blacksmith, had for some time been contemplating the disposal of his blacksmithing business, and now that he took sick and was obliged to go to the hospital for an operation, he hurried his decision and disposed of his shop to Andreasen Brothers, of Wakefield, who took charge the first part of January."

"August Nordstrom, having disposed of this blacksmith shop, soon concluded that he wanted something to do so made a deal with W.H. Hammond for his acreage property in the north part of town. The property, containing about fourteen acres, was sold for $10,000."

1920

"The White Palace Restaurant was owned and operated by Archie Prather and another eating place, The Golden Rule Restaurant, by Gus Schoberg. A deal was made between these two gentlemen whereby Mr. Prather absorbed the Golden Rule Restaurant and thus enlarged the White Palace."

1921

"Thus we find in the spring of 1921 that work was begun on the Meridian Highway bridge across the "Big Muddy" at Yankton, a subject which had been the topic of discussion off and on for many years... the Meridian Highway had been designated as a state highway from a point two miles south of Wausa to the new bridge site..."

"A pioneering in long auto trips was made by Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Prather and the A.E. Rundquist family. In two cars these families made a trip to the west coast, visiting in the great northwest--Washington and Oregon... After his return from the west that fall, Mr. Prather began arrangements for the erection of a brick block for his restaurant business..." (now Bill's Place)

1922

"...the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. August Nordstrom was pinned under the old Ford when it tipped over with Harold Nordstrom and one of the Jens Olson boys. The two latter were able to crawl out from under the car and succeeded in raising it sufficiently to release "Nordy" who was pinned under the car. No one was seriously hurt, the car getting the worst of the deal." (Nordy would have been Norris)

"Wausa's first radio receiving set was owned by Max Neumann, and built by him. He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. E.V. Neumann. He could through the use of ear phones, pick up Detroit, Denver and Cincinnati"

"Dr. Emerson, who had spent a few months here through the latter part of the flu epidemic, sold his practice this month to one Dr. Johnson, of Omaha. On February 17, this said Dr. Johnson arrived to take over the practice and proved to be the Dr. R.E. Johnson, who is still our Wausa doctor..."
(note: this is our beloved "Doc R.E." who became our relative by marrying Ruth Nordstrom)

"F.E. Anderson, who had been editor of the Gazette for ten years, concluded that he preferred the ministry to editorial work, so on September 2nd together with his family, left for Rock Island, IL, where he entered the Seminary of the Augustana College, and the following spring was ordained to the holy ministry, accepting a call to serve the congregation at Woodhull, IL, where he has served since that time. Having now reached the 70 year age limit, he has resigned from his charge...after a nineteen year service."

"These were the days when some of our young automobile drivers thought it smart to throw open the cut-out on their cars and drive down the streets making all the noise the old 'jitney' could possibly manufacture. This procedure got on the nerve of the village dads so a resolution was passed that all 'cut-outs' must be closed while driving in town."

1924

"In the issue of March 20th, 1924, the slogan 'Main Street of America,' in speaking of the Meridian highway, was used for the first time in the history of the highway and was coined by the Gazette editor. This slogan was later adopted by the national Highway Association..."

"Another big event taking place during the year 1924 was the opening for traffic across the Meridian Highway bridge at Yankton, in which celebration Wausa took an active part. Between 100 and 150 cars, in one caravan, drove up on Monday, October 13, bringing the band and material for the staging of an important division of the parade."
(note: editor Anderson was also leader of the band and includes much information about this group in his writings)

"J.C. Ellingson, of Creighton, leased the August Nordstrom blacksmith shop in the north part of town and began doing blacksmithing some time in June."

1925

Dr. Neumann, who had been a practicing physician here for many years, concluded that he would try for bigger and better things so disposed of his medical practice and the greater part of his office equipment to Dr. R.E. Johnson, who had been in Wausa only a comparatively short time. After closing up his business here the doctor went to Vienna where he studied for a year... He located in Hollywood, CA, where he has since enjoyed a lucrative practice."

1929

"1929 was a year of considerable improvement here and there, and the folks of the Methodist church proceeded with the building of an addition of their church building during the summer, building to the church on the south end and changing the entire arrangement of the interior. The building was dedicated on Sunday, August 18.

Pillars and a roof was added to the Ford garage to cover the gasoline pumps on the curb, adding much to the appearance of the building.

A contract was let to Gust A. Nelson on August 7 for the improvement of the drive entering Woodlawn cemetery. A slab of pavement running east 95 feet from the entrance gate and about 18 feet outside of the gate was put down, and has given satisfactory service during these following years. The drive inside the gate is nine feet wide and outside, 18 feet wide.

The Creutz Drug Store building was improved by the installation of a new front. The Commercial Bank improved their building by having the lodge hall remodeled into apartments. The Empress theatre installed talking movies, the first talkie being given on Friday evening, November 7th"
"The local telephone exchange which had been owned and operated by Emil Engdahl, J.E. Baggstrom and Uri Hillman, disposed of their Wausa and Crofton exchanges to the Bell Company."

1930

"Wausa sported in those days a number of golf enthusiasts and a tri-town organization was effected including Wausa, Bloomfield and Crofton. Ground was secured from Mr. C.O. Anderson of north of Wausa a pasture just south of the site where Bungville filling station was later established"

"Another story of February 20th tells of Otto Manning cranking up his old car, standing in front of the Ziegenbein jewelry store. The car was in reverse and at once shot back into the street leaving Manning on the curb with the crank in his hand..."

"A real estate deal was made in the fall when Mandus Swanson traded his 320 acre farm west of Wausa for a 283 acre farm in the Oakland vicinity. The Swanson farm was valued at $150 per acre, or $48,000 and the Oakland farm, the property of Mr. C.T. Nelson, was valued at $90 per acre, or $26,000."
(note: Mandus Swanson's name appears often as a trader in properties; we had several visits with his son, Weir, while living in Lincoln. The Wausa farm mentioned is adjacent to our home on the north)

1931

"Changes were made in the interior of the postoffice. Since the arriving of mail trains had been changed, large crowds no longer congregated in the lobby, and it was decided that less space be used for the lobby and larger quarters made for the accommodation of the post office force, including mail carriers."

1932

"With the economic depression being felt more and more, the railroads concluded to further curtail their service on the local branch and cut off another train, leaving Wausa with but one train each direction per day..."

1933

"This was also the season of the Farmers Holiday movement, and a meeting was held at the city hall on Friday, February 10th, when Lincoln, Columbia and Dowling townships were organized as branch members of the parent organization. Officers elected at this meeting for Lincoln township were Peter Monson, president and David Hult, secretary-treasurer; for Dowling township, C.V. Anderson, president and Cameron Cull, secretary-treasurer; for Columbia township, J.S. Pospisil, president and Raymond Johnson, secretary-treasurer. The organizations were of only short duration and soon passed out of existence."

"...the question of an artificial lake two miles south of Wausa was a live topic. Messrs. J.E. Baggstrom, G.W. Fry and Ben T. Johnson were appointed as a lake committee and the agitation proceeded to such a point that the state planted several thousand bull heads, a temporary dam having been placed across the creek at the two mile corner."

1935

"Night kittenball had become a very popular sport and Flood-lighting of the Wausa Athletic field had become a live topic... The installation being completed it was put to use the first time on the evening of July 2nd. The first time in America when a night baseball had been played was at Lincoln on the evening of April 2, which again went to prove that Wausa is an up-to-date place and ready to join in the procession with the leaders."

"For the first time in the history of the Wausa church one of them was to be served by a lady minister. At the state convention of the Methodists they assigned the local charge to Rev. Mertie E. Clute, who arrived in Wausa from Inmann, NE, on Tuesday, Sept. 24..."

(note: this small sampling of editor Anderson's series suggests how valuable and interesting a complete reprinting would be to Wausa people.)