130 Years Ago -- 3/16/2008
1878: Well-known lecturer Dr. Harold Thomas spoke in Lincoln, saying the city’s school system “showed most conclusively that the manner of beating information into the heads of the rising generations for 16 years was a humbug … answering 1,400 conundrums in history, and 1,200 in geography was too much … for the head and body.”
1888: A dozen bridges in Lancaster County were destroyed by floods.
1898: On March 21, the high temperature was 74 degrees. The next day, the mercury dropped 65 degrees to 9 degrees above zero.
1908: The Burlington Railroad was building a thriving business in hogs, shipping them from western Nebraska to Pacific Coast packing houses.
1918: Soybeans and potatoes were the most popular substitutes for wheat when housewives, striving to be loyal to the American war cause, baked bread.
1928: Fire destroyed Omaha’s Barker Block, killing one fireman. Insurance officials estimated the loss at $250,000. The block was part of one of the oldest business districts in the city.
1938: A two-alarm fire swept through the ice-manufacturing plant of the Lincoln Ice and Coal Co., destroying plant machinery and melting 1,500 tons of ice. Damage was estimated at $20,000.
1948: The United Packinghouse Workers Union went on strike for higher wages after rejecting a plea from President Harry Truman to delay the strike until April 1. Packinghouse workers in Omaha joined the strike.
1958: Thomas C. Woods, 62, president of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Co. for 12 years, died.
1968: Grand Island was named an All American City for the second time in Look Magazine’s national competition.
The University of Nebraska said it was phasing out its mission to Ataturk University in Erzerum, Turkey, 14 years after the Turkish school was founded.
1978: Flood waters from the Platte and Elkhorn rivers chased about 4,000 people from their homes and claimed one life. Damage estimates were at $67.3 million “and going up,” Gov. Jim Exon said. A Douglas County official pegged damage in that county alone at $242 million. President Jimmy Carter declared several Nebraska counties disaster areas.
1988: A severe winter storm caused a loss of up to 15 percent of calves for some western Nebraska cattle producers. Cattle were driven through fences and killed or injured by strong winds, some lost hair from their hides and others froze to death under snowbanks. The storm left calves susceptible to scours, pneumonia and other diseases. Adult livestock also were weakened.
1998: The Charles L. Warner Equestrian Trailhead at 98th and A streets received a grant to landscape the trail. Dublin Nursery in Rogers had the winning bid for the landscaping project. Horse owners had been able to use the trailhead, a large parking area, for about a year. The Nebraska Forest Service paid for the project.
1888: A dozen bridges in Lancaster County were destroyed by floods.
1898: On March 21, the high temperature was 74 degrees. The next day, the mercury dropped 65 degrees to 9 degrees above zero.
1908: The Burlington Railroad was building a thriving business in hogs, shipping them from western Nebraska to Pacific Coast packing houses.
1918: Soybeans and potatoes were the most popular substitutes for wheat when housewives, striving to be loyal to the American war cause, baked bread.
1928: Fire destroyed Omaha’s Barker Block, killing one fireman. Insurance officials estimated the loss at $250,000. The block was part of one of the oldest business districts in the city.
1938: A two-alarm fire swept through the ice-manufacturing plant of the Lincoln Ice and Coal Co., destroying plant machinery and melting 1,500 tons of ice. Damage was estimated at $20,000.
1948: The United Packinghouse Workers Union went on strike for higher wages after rejecting a plea from President Harry Truman to delay the strike until April 1. Packinghouse workers in Omaha joined the strike.
1958: Thomas C. Woods, 62, president of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Co. for 12 years, died.
1968: Grand Island was named an All American City for the second time in Look Magazine’s national competition.
The University of Nebraska said it was phasing out its mission to Ataturk University in Erzerum, Turkey, 14 years after the Turkish school was founded.
1978: Flood waters from the Platte and Elkhorn rivers chased about 4,000 people from their homes and claimed one life. Damage estimates were at $67.3 million “and going up,” Gov. Jim Exon said. A Douglas County official pegged damage in that county alone at $242 million. President Jimmy Carter declared several Nebraska counties disaster areas.
1988: A severe winter storm caused a loss of up to 15 percent of calves for some western Nebraska cattle producers. Cattle were driven through fences and killed or injured by strong winds, some lost hair from their hides and others froze to death under snowbanks. The storm left calves susceptible to scours, pneumonia and other diseases. Adult livestock also were weakened.
1998: The Charles L. Warner Equestrian Trailhead at 98th and A streets received a grant to landscape the trail. Dublin Nursery in Rogers had the winning bid for the landscaping project. Horse owners had been able to use the trailhead, a large parking area, for about a year. The Nebraska Forest Service paid for the project.
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