There is both good news and bad news to report this week. The good news to report this week is the owners of the Agrex Elevator would like to expand and that is also the bad news.
The elevator company would like to purchase an acreage near First and Hartley Street intersection and immediately add a scale and adapt the site for ground pile storage. A competitor, Aurora Cooperative currently uses an adjoining site for the storage of milo in a ground pile.
Neighbors in the southeast corner of Superior and members of the Superior Planning Commission are concerned about possible odors, dust, varmint and road problems the proposal might foster.
This isn’t the first time proposed community developments have sparked opposition.
While researching the history of Superior’s former Carnegie Library, we learned about development arguments in the years surrounding 1910.
When the Carnegie building was constructed in 1908 at Fourth and Commercial there were several nearby houses. At first the owner of the house directly south of the library was a good guy when he decided to improve the curb in front of his house. But the situation soon changed when he decided to add a livery and feed barn to his property.
C.E. Dedrick, the founder of The Express, soon published the following:
We are not quite convinced the public library building was greatly improved yesterday by the long line of vehicles backed up against the curbing in front of the building. Some contend it was an improvement and the presence of a livery and feed barn near to public buildings, residences or business houses, made the community appear more metropolitan. Another contention is the odor from a horse barn is beneficial to the health of people.
Still there is no complaint of great illness since the old blemish was removed from just north of The Express office (then located at Fourth and Central), and goodness knows that one smelt strong enough. We say a feed barn is a good thing for the town if properly located.
The arguments continued and The Express reported a temporary injunction had been issued to stop construction of livery and feed barn south of the library. City fathers argued it was a fire hazard and should not be built in either a residential or commercial district.
The idea of a livery barn did not die easily.
On Sept. 1, 1910, it was reported “the lots and buildings used for the Dysart cement block factory (west side of the street) had been sold to a party from Denver who it was thought planned too build a livery and feed barn there. The Express editor said it would be deplorable and called it a menace to the library, business houses and dwellings to the east.
Automobiles and trucks were soon to replace the horse and interest in livery stables faded. The proposed locations for the livery stables were to be the site of hoseless carriage (automobile) dealerships.
The automobiles brought a new set of problems.
The Express reported: About midnight Saturday, Sam Ballard ran his Reo touring car up to Browning’s Store at Webber for gasoline. (Yes, stores kept much longer hours in those days). In filling the tank, he ran it over. The vehicle’s gas lamps were burning and they set the spilled gasoline on fire. Before the fire was out, the Ballard automobile was nearly a complete loss.
Incidents like that probably helped to contribute to the current regulations that require motor vehicles be turned off before they are refueled. I see some folks ignore the rules when patronizing self-serve pumps and leave their vehicles running but I do not like to be anywhere close when that happens. My gasoline station safety training impressed on me the increased danger of a fire when a vehicle is left running while being fueled.
In 1908, just as now there are several ways of earning money. Some appeal to me more than others.
In 1908, C.E. Dedrick, founder of The Express noted, One of them is to stick your head through a slot in a canvas and invite men to throw baseballs at you. Apparently there had been a traveling show in Superior which included such a stunt. I’ve never stuck my head through a canvas but one hot July 4th, I was invited to take a turn on a dunk tank seat. I enjoyed falling into the tank of cool water but some of the wild pitches were frightening. At that time the dunk stand did not have a cage to deflect such pitches. I’ve observed more recent stands have safety guards.
I must not have protested the dunking enough for I have never again been asked to participate in such an event.
Mr. Dedrick apparently was not inclined to go on the show circuit after witnessing the baseball toss for he wrote, “Sometimes you find something worse than running a newspaper.”
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