A HISTORIC SURVEY OF FILLMORE COUNTY NEBRASKA M O R E C O L L U N I T F Y H I S Y T E O V R R I U C S R E S O U R C E ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Prepared for: Prepared by: RDG Planning & Design Omaha and Des Moines www.rdgusa.com RDG prepared this reconnaissance survey of historic resources under contract with the Nebraska State Historical Society. Architectural historian Stephanie Rouse and historic architect Michelle Cunliffe authored the report. NeHRSI projects are administered by the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office (NeSHPO) with the cooperation of History Nebraska. The NeHRSI is funded in part with the assistance of a federal grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. However, the contents and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or handicap. Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20240. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-permanence of paper for printed Library Materials (ANSI Z39.48-1992). Historic photographs within the report are used courtesy of the NeSHPO unless otherwise indicated. May 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Chapter One: Historic Overview ..........................................................5 Chapter Two: Survey Methods and Results ..........................................26 Chapter Three: Recommendations ......................................................47 Chapter Four: Nebraska Preservation Programs ..................................74 Appendix A: List of Surveyed Properties ............................................89 Bibliography .........................................................................................108 Glossary ................................................................................................109 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A survey is the first step in a comprehensive preservation program. In order to preserve resources, you must know what is available. History Nebraska has been systematically surveying each county in Nebraska since the 1980s. Fillmore County is one of the last counties to be formally surveyed, although a total of 288 properties had been previously surveyed and recorded in the Nebraska Historic Resources Survey & Inventory (NeHRSI) on an individual basis. This reconnaissance- level survey looked at resources within the incorporated limits of Exeter, Fairmont, Geneva, Grafton, Milligan, Ohiowa, Shickley, and Strang. Of the 1,924 properties surveyed, 37 were recommended as eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) as well as two historic districts, one in Milligan and one in Geneva. This project is one of the first History Nebraska surveys to include a robust public engagement effort. An in-person meeting was held in Geneva on November 7, 2019, with several community members in attendance to hear a presentation by History Nebraska Survey Coordinator Kate Hewlings. In addition to digital and hard copies of this final report, the information was distilled down into a brochure distributed throughout communities in Fillmore County, giving a high-level overview of the survey results. Also, an interactive, online "story map" was created to highlight the project and make it more widely accessible. The plan provides ideas for further research and more intensive survey work to uncover additional historic resources. The plan recommends increasing the activity of the existing county preservation society, including establishing an online presence through a website or social media, to help carry out the recommendations of this plan, educate the community, and advocate for preservation. A number of programs, managed by History Nebraska and other state agency programs, are discussed in Chapter 4 to assist in preservation in Fillmore County. The authors of this report would like to thank the staff at History Nebraska for providing assistance to the survey, local librarians, and the many residents in the county. CHAPTER 1 HISTORIC OVERVIEW In 1869, the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad INTRODUCTION resurveyed land to find a more economic route out Fillmore County encompasses 24 square miles in west and found flat level ground in Fillmore County. southeast Nebraska (see Figure 1.1) and is characterized The announcement of their new path in 1871 further by gently sloping land with well-drained silty, upland soil. incentivized settlement of the county.4 The first track was Areas east of Fairmont and near Ohiowa have nearly level complete from Lincoln to Crete by June 1871 and reached land with poorly drained silty, saline soils, but overall, Dorchester (just east of Exeter) on July 4. By the end of Fillmore County is comprised of good land for growing August, the line was built through Fillmore County on a crops. There are only a few watercourses in the county path through what is now Exeter, Fairmont, and Grafton.5 including the West Blue River (northwest) and Turkey The first two towns were surveyed and built out almost (central), School (northwest), Dry Sandy (southcentral), immediately following the completion of the line. By and Little Sandy (southwest) Creeks. As a result of the 1883, plans were started by the Burlington & Missouri lack of natural water bodies the number of timber stands River Railroad to build another set of east-west tracks is low. When settlers first arrived, trees were only found connecting Beatrice to Holdrege. They also planned to on the banks of the West Blue River and Turkey Creek.1 build a set of north-south tracks from Kansas up through They remedied the situation by cultivating their own Geneva to Fairmont. They began with the tracks from timber to support growth and development. Kansas to Strang, a needed water stop for the line, in April 1886. The tracks then went west to Shickley in COUNTY SETTLEMENT April. They completed the connection north to Geneva in Founding the County May and east to Ohiowa in August. The final connection was completed from Geneva north to Fairmont in June Despite the founding of Fillmore County in 1856, named 1886.6 By October, trains were running from Beatrice to for the 13th president Millard Fillmore, the first settlers Holdrege.7 did not arrive until June 1866. The first Homestead Claim was filed by William Bussard, followed by his cousin, In 1886, the Kansas City and Omaha Railway Company William Whitaker, for land along the West Blue River. began a line from Fairbury in the south to York in the They were cattlemen, selecting land by its rich grasses. By north. This diagonal line created the town of Milligan and fall of 1867, several more claims were made, but growth connected through Fairmont. The track was completed in the county was slow due to lack of trails into the county by the St. Joseph and Grand Island Railroad, a subsidiary 2 and the Civil War which left the economy unsettled. of the Union Pacific Railroad. The last track laid through Around 1870, westward expansion began pushing rapidly Fillmore County was extended from Shickley in the into Nebraska. The census that year listed 238 people living in Fillmore County. Early settlers chose to settle adjacent to “established trails, freshwater, and trees”3 and only began to fill in the rest of Fillmore County when this land was all taken. Figure 1.1: Nebraska County Map with Fillmore County Call-Out 6 Figure 1.2: Railway Development 1871-1887 Exeter Fairmont Grafton July 1871 August 1871 Milligan June 1886 1887 1886 Geneva 1888 May 1886 Shickley Strang Ohiowa April 1886 August 1886 April 1886 Burlington & Missouri River (Active) In 1872, the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Burlington & Missouri River (Gone) Railroad purchased the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, which continued to Burlington & Missouri River (Gone) operate as a subsidiary of the CB&Q. St. Joseph & Grand Island (Gone) Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley (Gone) 7 southwest up through Exeter in the northeast. The Figure 1.3: Fillmore Flouring Mill Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad built the tracks from Exeter to Geneva in 1887, then completed the track southwest through Shickley in 1888. (See Figure 1.2 for the routes of each line, their ownership, and year of construction). The influence of railroads on town development in the county cannot be overstated. One town that dissolved early on without direct access to a railroad was Fillmore City. It was located in the northwest portion of Fillmore County on the West Blue River. Fillmore City was the first town in the county, laid out by E.L. Martin with the county’s first store, opened February 10, 1871, by J.E. Source: The Fillmore County Story (Gaffney) Porter.8 But, like so many other Nebraska towns, the railroad completed in 1871 was four miles south and the During Fillmore County's first seven years, neighboring town vanished. On December 10, 1872, C.M. Northrup Saline County completed all judicial, monetary, and attempted to re-establish the town by filing a plat. In 1873, political functions. Formal organization of the county he built the Fillmore Flouring Mill using the West Blue finally came in 1871 with a petition to Governor William River for power and despite the mill's success a town never H. James who issued a proclamation for the organization developed (see Figure 1.3). The mill continued to thrive and selection of county officers and a county seat on as it was the only water-powered mill in the county, saving March 15, 1871. The election was held on April 21, settlers from hauling their grain almost 60 miles to Seward 1871, in the home of Nathaniel McCalla just northeast County to be processed. The lack of direct access to the of present-day Geneva.