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Saturday afternoon, Jeff Barnes, a Humanities Nebraska public speaker, will make a presentation about Jesse James in Nebraska at the Nuckolls County Museum located in Superior’s City Park. We haven’t heard his presentation and we doubt he will either confirm nor put to rest the stories about the James brothers Nuckolls County connections. However, we want to hear what he has to say. After learning the 2023 Lady Vestey Festival theme was picked to honor the late Lew Hunter, we recalled a story Lew told about his mother’s family and the James gan...
After the excitement of graduation, at least one graduate's family sought /the solace of the Republican River. Though the drought has reduced the stream flow and made spring canoeing and kayaking difficult if not impossible, I understand the water was warm and the family found the quietness of the river to be refreshing. In this day of political discord, we should not think the selection of the Republican River's name was the endorsement of a political party. The river's name predate's the forma...
5/4/23 A comment made Monday by a former Superior High School classmate of min, Martha Daniel McFarland about how much fun it was to give May Baskets on May Day reminded me of my childhood. When May approached while I was growing up in the country, I dreamed of living in town and both finding and leaving May Baskets. While we exchanged Christmas gifts, Valentines and Easter baskets at the country school I attended, the spring school term closed around April 20. Consequently, the exchange of May baskets was not part of the country school...
In his more than a half-century affiliation with The Superior Express, Howard Crilly often wrote a column he titled “Among Ourselves.” In my growing up years, it was one of the first things I read when The Express arrived in the mail box about noon on Fridays. While searching for information for another story, I copied the following observations from his March 20 and 27, 1947 columns: One of the prettiest things is a pretty girl who doesnʼt know it. County Assessor Ira Adams told us the other day that fibbing to the assessor isnʼt going to be...
This week many Nebraska newspapers will be printing stories toting all the awards they won as part of the Nebraska Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The honorees were recognized as part of the 150th annual Nebraska Newspaper Association meeting held Thursday night through Saturday at Lincoln’s Cornhusker Hotel. While I haven’t gone to all, I have been attending those meetings since April of 1971. Much has changed since the first meeting in the Lincoln Hotel. In the early years, my primary reason for attending was the oppor...
Possible editor’s notebook People laughed at me when, as a college student, I got lost in Fort Riley and feared I might be shot or at least arrested by the military police. At that time soldiers were not welcome in Manhattan and I didn’t expect a lost college student was welcome to prowl around on the post. I had given a ride to a college coed who was living in a colonel’s home on the post. With her directions I easily found my way to the house but I missed a turn or two trying to get off the post and became hopelessly lost. I drove aroun...
For his sermon title the Palm Sunday speaker at the Olive Hill Church chose “Normal isn’t returning, Jesus is Returning.” Instead of his normal attire when delivering a sermon, the speaker wore a T-shirt with those words printed on the front. A member of the congregation saw the T-shirt in a Marysville shop and purchased it. Not only did the sermon have a far from normal theme, so did the Sunday school and worship service hours at Olive Hill for the Webber electrical power circuit served by Rolling Hills Electric lost power a bit after 8 a.m....
Sunday afternoon, as part of the annual meeting of the Nuckolls County Historical Society held in the museum complex’s Pioneer Hall, those attending were asked to participate in a Nuckolls County Trivia game. I got four and a half answers right. How many can you get? 1. What was the name of the lumber company that had a lumber yard in Superior and Nelson in the early 1900s? (While not part of the question, I think the firm also had yards at Bostwick, Hardy and Edgar.) 2. What did the Fuller family of Angus produce before their first a...
I was asked Saturday what I thought about artificial intelligence. As part of my response I cited a couple of computer programs I purchased that were supposed to write football and basketball stories. I’m not sure how many years ago that was, but I remember the programs came on 3.5 inch floppy discs so you know it has been awhile. They didn’t meet my expectations and I soon put them aside. Apparently other buyers must have had a similar response as it has been many years since I saw any marketing materials from the developer. I’ve been using...
The deadline has passed for submitting newspaper history to the Nebraska Press Association for inclusion in the association’s 150th anniversary publication, but I continue to be fascinated by the topic. This week I read a short story written by Mrs. A. S. Berry about the Berrys’ association with the Superior Journal. In the late 1940s Grandfather Blauvelt rented a stucco-covered house at Sixth and National from Mrs. Berry. When I met Mrs. Berry, she was living in a little house under the shadow of the Crest Theatre. She apparently pre...
There hasn’t been a lot of hoopla associated with Superior celebrations in recent times but that wasn’t always the case. For example, I cite the Diamond Jubilee held in September, 1950, to celebrate the town’s founding in 1875. For that celebration, the late Oran King composed a song set to the tune of Alexander’s Rag Time Band. Mr. King was the first to publicly sing the song. He sang it as a solo but soon a quartet composed of Bill McBroom, George Day, Dick Elliott and Donn Crilly were singing the song at public gatherings. It was also sa...
After a picture o/f Superior's United Presbyterian Church building was published on a social media site, several readers have asked this newspaper why the apparently large and elaborate building was torn down. It was razed to make way for the construction of the federal building which now houses the United States Post Office on the northeast corner of Fourth and Commercial but we have been unable to find why. Some suspected the building may have been damaged by a fire or it may have had...
No doubt about it, we live in the Central Flyway. Walking home for lunch, I observed a confused skein of what sounded like snow geese flying over Superior. They must have just gotten up from a nearby river bottom field for they had not settled into a structured formation. From my position, their order resembled a flock of sparrows. Snow geese are noisy creatures. Living in town, I don’t hear the coyotes howl like I did while making my home on Blauvelt’s Hill. But with snow geese that is not true. This area was part of their flight plan whe...
On May 29, 1924, the Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota Highway Association (K-N-D) selected the highway’s route through Nebraska. The route was to be nicknamed The Fisherman’s Highway. The highway traversed the state beginning on the Kansas stateline nearly one mile west of where Highway 14 now enters Nebraska to the southwest of Superior. It entered Superior on Second Street. At Bloom Street it turned north and followed Bloom and Idaho streets north out of town. The highway would continue north through the county seat towns of Nelson, Clay Cen...
On May 29, 1924, the Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota Highway Association (K-N-D) selected the highway's route through Nebraska. The route was to be nicknamed The Fisherman's Highway. The highway traversed the state beginning on the Kansas stateline nearly one mile west of where Highway 14 now enters Nebraska to the southwest of Superior. It entered Superior on Second Street. At Bloom Street it turned north and followed Bloom and Idaho streets north out of town. The highway would continue north...
I was raised in a home that valued newspapers. When I was a pre-schooler, my parents and grandparents began reading newspaper stories to me. I’ll admit I was mainly interested in the pictures and the cartoons but that interest helped to earn me regular sessions with the adults in my world and their newspapers. Living less than a half mile from the Nuckolls and Jewell county line, my parents subscribed to both The Superior Express and the Jewell County Record as they wanted to keep up on the happenings in both counties. I skipped many of the c...
Candy canes are a popular item stocked on candy counters at Christmas time. When my father operated his business on Blauvelt’s Hill, each Christmas season he displayed a small bucket size container on top of his candy case. The bucket was filled with candy canes. I never measured one, but I suspect they were about 12 inches in length with a diameter of a half to three-quarters of an inch. In those days, the large canes could be purchased for a quarter. I don’t know if Dad stocked them because they sold well or if he enjoyed eating the candy. If...
Wylie Jensen stopped by the newspaper office with a nearly perfect 7 ounce pop bottle found while cleaning up the area where a corn crib was once located. The bottle would have been in like new condition had not the screen printed label been scratched when scraped by a skidsteer loader bucket. The inscription on the bottle indicated it had been bottled in Superior. The bottle had been filled with a lemon-lime drink named Sparkling Life. I surprised Wylie when I remembered when the Blauvelt...
“The Reel Story — Let the Memories Roll” is the tentative theme for Superior’s 2023 rendition of the Lady Vestey Victorian Festival. The theme honors a former Vestey Festival chairman and one of Superior’s biggest boosters, the late Lew Hunter. Hunter died earlier this month of COVID related complications. His cremains are being returned to his home area and many of his friends and family members are expected to be here for Memorial Weekend. The plans are still coming together but the family plans a public dance in his honor that weekend a...
While looking through the back issues of this newspaper, I discovered a story about an attempted Nuckolls County jail break that I should have shared with the our readers when we printed stories about the razing of the Nuckolls County Jail. I did share part of the story. Back in the summer of 1972, a woman staying in the Superior motel was suspected of passing a forged check at a Superior business. Though a former resident of the Superior community, she gave a Colorado address. She was arrested by a Nuckolls County officer and housed in the...
Another one of this area’s giants fell this week. All people are important and all are part of the fabric which weaves a community together, but some attract more attention. Lew Hunter was one of those who attracted attention wherever he went. We don’t have the particulars at this writing, but we learned via the internet on Saturday morning that Lew had died. Since then, we have been fielding telephone calls and emails asking for the particulars. We haven’t learned of the funeral or burial plans but we do know a few things about the man who c...
In late 2022, area residents received multiple warnings about the winter weather expected to arrive with the new year. Daily newspapers published the weather forecast, cell phones lit up with weather alerts. Radio and television media were broadcasting storm alerts. The National Weather Service sent out a number weather bulletins via the internet and held at least one live weather briefing with weather reporters. Weather radio stations like the one located near the Nuckolls County ghost town of Smyrna were repeatedly warning of the approaching...
On a recent Wednesday morning, I parked across the street from the Superior City Park Bandshell, and carried bundles of that week's issue of The Superior Express into the CPI convenience store. I filled the store's newspaper rack, counted the prior week's unsold copies and returned to my vehicle. I recorded the sales in a notebook I keep in my vehicle for that purpose and looked across the street at what had been for nearly 40 years my grandparents home. Before I headed to my delivery point, I...
Newspapers regularly publish stories about unexpected finds. At this writing, we are preparing a story about the unexpected find of a more than 100-year-old missionary society minute book. Sometimes the stories involve Indian relics, finds in what apparently were once trash dumps or archeological discoveries like the mastodons of Jewell County and the creatures near Angus. Earlier this fall, a Superior resident bought in a family Bible and a more than a century old medical book found as part of a furnace replacement project. The words of the...
A few months ago an Omaha World-Herald reporter asked if I was the longest serving of any current Nebraska newspaper editor. Though I have been in this editor’s position for 52 years and have sat behind the same Alma brand desk for 47 years, I didn’t know how to answer him. It was a question I hadn’t considered. I do know I hold the record for both the editor’s and publisher’s title at The Superior Express. I also know I am far from obtaining the oldest title of any editor in Nuckolls County. That record is held by the late F. A. Scherzing...
