Old Patent Medicines

1919 Newspaper Ads

Newspaper ads from early newspapers have preserved much about the story of our past.

Schwenk & Bieck was a major early Harvard business.

Windmills played a huge role in the development of our area as settlers were able to tap into our valuable underground water resources from the git-go. Most windmills were of the "flat" wheel design but there was a smattering of this design around.

Not sure of the basis for the "cyclone proof" claim though. I believe my uncle, Frank Starr down south on Highway 74 had one of these, though I may be dis-remembering. 

1944 Hultine Shorthorn sale

Sutton Paving Proposal 1919

The February 27, 1919 issue of The Sutton Register covered the proposal for the first paving of Sutton streets. Editor Francis M. Brown published this item on the topic:

One a later page, The Sutton Register carried a response to the paving proposal by R. G. Brown, brother of the editor:

R, G. - Robert Brown, had some cost concerns.

At about this same time, some folks in Fairfield were proposing to start their first paving project, too.  

The Sutton News installs a new Kluge printing press in 1944.

The Sutton News newspaper installed a new automatic printing press in early 1944 providing evidence supporting its claim in the article that the News printing plant was second to none in this part of the state.

There really was, and is a company that uses the name "Kluge" beginning in November 1919 as Brandtjen & Kluge, LLC as described in their web site - Brandtjen & Kluge.  

A fun question remains. Do you suppose our word "kluge" comes from this company? Or better yet, "kludge?" 

Kluge (English: /ˈkluːɡi/, German: [ˈkluːɡə]) is a German-derived surname. In German, capitalizing, and adding a final e to, the adjective klug (meaning "clever"), creates a noun; it is applicable to females and means "clever one".

A kludge or kluge (/klʌdʒ, kluːdʒ/) is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain. This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet slang, evolutionary neuroscience, and government. A software kludge (often called "spaghetti code") is frequently the result of hacking. See photo of "A network kludge" at right.

I'm more familiar with the second word, which we spelled "kluge" perhaps erroneously, or at least using the alternate spelling. Software development lends itself to including a kluge in the coding that will serve the purpose, generally, rather than making a major re-write to produce a clean program - no one will look at the source code again, at least for a long time....

Lt. Jerry Lilliedoll Gets His First Zero in Aerial Combat

The March 9, 1944 issue of The Sutton News carried this story of Sutton's Lt. Jerry Lilliedoll getting his first Zero in combat. I'd say they buried the lead by mentioning the 1st Lt promotion first. 

It is likely that Lt. Lilliedoll was flying a P-38 or a P-40 with the 13th AAF.

See a promotion comment below the clipping.

Promotions in wartime were driven by events, vacancies and other considerations. In more benign times, promotions are based on statutory rules.

The Air Force company grade promotion rules during the Vietnam era saw newly commissioned officers receiving the rank of Second Lieutenant. Eighteen months later the officer became a First Lieutenant and after another eighteen months came the automatic promotion to Captain.

There were ways to be denied one of these "automatic" promotions though our joke about it went along the lines of, "you'd have to flash in a school yard." Not exactly true - I did see promotions denied and had a part in denying a 1st Lt promotion for one of my people as part of a disciplinary action.

After Captain came a long wait for the competitive promotion board for major at about the 10-years of service point in the career. Increasingly competitive promotion boards are used for promotion to the ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel. Promotion to the general ranks, the flag officer level, is another story altogether.

1943-1944 Sutton Mustang Basketball Squad

From The Sutton News in February 1944

75 Years Ago

Pending Prohibition in 6 states in 1919

The Harvard Courier newspaper reported on the pending implementation of prohibition in six nearby stats in 1919.

1944 War Bond Ads in The Sutton News

The War Department held several War Bond drives during World War II with each community being assessed a goal for the amount of money raised for the war effort.

Pressure was strong to participate but for the most part, little pressure was needed for citizens to live, and display their patriotism.

A bond drive was held 75 years ago this week with ads from local merchants appearing in The Sutton News on February 3rd, 1944. Here are four of those ads.

Harvard's Memorial Service for WWI Casualties

Harvard's three German churches held memorial services for the six members of those churches who had died in World War I. 

Flight to the Top of the World by David L. Bristow

David L. Bristow, an associate director at the Nebraska State Historical Society has written a book about Walter Wellman, Sutton's Arctic Explorer and otherwise noteworthy fellow of his era.

This is a 2018 publication by the University of Nebraska Press and adds wealth of new information about this fascinating figure from Sutton's past. 

Walter Wellman founded Sutton's first newspaper, The Sutton Times on June 20, 1873 when he was 14 years of age. He operated the paper for five years before moving on to a lifetime of adventure and fame as described by Mr. Bristow.

This blurb appears on the front inside flap of the dust cover.

The back of the dust cover has this blurb.

Sutton's connection to Walter Wellman's life occurred very early during his 14th through 19th years. His contribution to Sutton was the distinction of founding the town's first newspaper - beating a competitor by one day. But we can envision that Wellman's experiences as a teenage newspaper publisher in our town provided at least some of the ambition and confidence that drove him to a life of extraordinary accomplishments. 

This excerpt from page 5 is the small reference to Sutton in David Bristow's book confirming again that Wellman was one of the several one-time Sutton residents who went on to make a big mark out there in the big world. 

We've been posting our findings about Walter Wellman for several years. David Bristow's book gives us a great leap in our understanding of this one-time Sutton resident. Here are links to some of our earlier references to the Wellman story.

The Arctic Explorer

The story of the mascot for the Atlantic flight - Kiddo the Cat

Our 2011 article about Walter Wellman

Voss Washing Machine - 1919

The washing machine ad appeared in The Harvard Courier newspaper in January, 1919. 

You only needed any gasoline engine to be done with the drudgery of wash day.

The 1967 Sutton Centennial Pageant Program

The city of Sutton held a centennial celebration in June 1967. Here is the program for the pageant held on June 17th. The last page mentions tape recordings and photos that were available. Does anyone have those in a box in the corner of the basement, or other carefully designated location? 

It could be fun to have a memorabilia party.

The 1967 event was in recognition of the centennial of the State of Nebraska. The event that we are now planning for 2021 is the sesquicentennial (150-year anniversary) of the 1871 beginnings of the city of Sutton. The state hit that milestone two years ago in 2017.

Sutton Coursing news - 1909 and 1911

Sutton hosted major coursing meets, including national championships during the years around 1910.

This item appeared in The Lincoln Star on 30 Sep 1909

This letter from S. A. Fischer, editor of The Sutton News was printed in the Nebraska State Journal on 20 Feb 1911

Coursing was outlawed in Nebraska for several years during the 1920's.

Clay Center's Displeasure with LT&T in 1919

Telephone patrons in Clay Center were pretty upset with Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co. back in 1919.