Janice Stratman mailed The Express this photo of Superiorʼs first post office and asked that we pass it on to the Nuckolls County Museum. Before doing so, we decided to share it with our readers. The picture post card doesnʼt indicate the year of the photo or the names of the women pictured in front of the building but judging from the size of the trees, the sign above the door and the way the card was printed, we suspect it may date to 1950 and the Superior Diamond Jubilee. The log cabin is now located near the museum in City Park.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the building of the log cabin which became Superior's first post office. It was built by William Louden, the founder of Superior.
The cabin was first located on the lower lands southwest of the former Mid-America Dairymen plant. There it served not only as the post office but also as an early store and residence. Tiny houses are not new. At one time it was divided and two families called the small structure home.
The building has been moved at least twice. The first move took it to Lincoln Park where it served as a storage building for Superior Chamber of Commerce materials. It has since been moved to the Nuckolls County Historical Society grounds in City Park,
The move to City Park by volunteers was the basis for at least two humorous stories.
The volunteers were improvising the needed moving equipment and placed a call to a farmer who had wheels they hoped to borrow and use as dollies. When the farmer was told the wheels were needed to move the Superior post office, he refused to loan his equipment. Furthermore he went on to explain he didn't have nearly enough wheels to support the weight of the Superior Post Office.
After being told the wheels were wanted to move the first post office, a log cabin, he agreed to provide the needed equipment. He had mistakenly thought they wanted to move the current post office.
The second story is similar. Bill Blauvelt, editor of this newspaper, had gone to Lincoln Park to observe the moving preparations. As we was preparing to return to his office, one of the men in charge of the move asked that notify the Superior Utilities Office of the plan to depart Lincoln Park at 1 p.m.
Blauvelt did as requested and soon had a utility department foreman in his office. The foreman said, "I know you are sometimes unhappy with the postal service but what are you thinking about? You will never be allowed to move the post office."
And so Blauvelt had to inform him about which post office was being moved and what was expected of the utility departments.
The building was comparatively light and loaded low enough that it did not damage the streets and loaded low enough that it slid under the utility lines.
And when it reached its new location still in one piece, we suspect there was a collective sigh of relief.
Moving the post office was, in some ways, easier than moving the Burlington caboose which is now located at the museum. There was no doubt about the caboose being structurally sound, but it was a much heavier job.
Reader Comments(0)