AHS Quarterly Meeting RECAP(s)
The following "recaps" are of recent quarerly
meetings of AHS-SFHPS:
The JULY 2011 MEETING of the AHS-SFHPS
Our quarterly meeting of the Ashland Historical Society
was held JULY 7th (THU evening) - 7:00 pm at Willow Point Gallery
The theme of the meeting was
Share memories of Saturday nights in Ashland
THANK YOU to Suzi Nelson of the Ashland Gazette
EXCERPT: "ASHLAND – The farmers came to Ashland on Saturday nights.
The businesses stayed open and whole families arrived ready to shop,
people watch, gossip and go to the movies."
Published: Thursday, June 30, 2011 3:07 AM CDT
We thank the many who attended for their wonderful contributions!
We learned they arrived early for the best parking space on Silver Street . .
Stores stayed open very late . . so families could pick-up their purchases . .
AFTER the movie at the NEU theater was over !
We want to offer a very special thank you to Brian & Larry Smith,
for their contributions of pictures & memorabilia from the Masonic Lodge
If you have stories to share and are unable to attend the meeting
contact the organization at webmaster@AshlandHistoricalSociety.org.
The APRIL 2011 MEETING of the AHS-SFHPS
was held - April 7th, 2011 - 7:00 pm
at the Willow Point Gallery
located at 1431 Silver Ashland NE
Over the years when soldiers have left home to fight in distant places one of their great needs
was to receive letters from home. Usually, they were not able to keep the letters they received,
but often the families kept the letters received from the soldiers.
Thirty one eager listeners enjoyed the words of soldiers and sailors and marines
from the Civil War, World War I and World War II, as their family members
presented parts of letters written many years ago.
President Marti Fritzen quoted from several letters written by her GGGrandfather
during the Civil War. Pat Proctor and Virginia Wild also told of family members who participated
in the War Between the States. They had pictures and mementos.
Cliff Squire, Marie Groenjes' father, went off to World War I as an 18-year-old.
Mary Groenjes read letters he had sent home which displayed his keen sense of humor.
Marilyn Kolb Wright had mementos and letters from her father, Oren Kolb,
and her uncle, Merle Martin, from World War II. Merle Martin was killed the day before
the war ended. Her uncle Lloyd Martin had made a video of Ashland men
going off to World War II. There were also scenes from a scrap metal
drive held in Ashland in World War II.
This video was made into a CD by Kent Rung and is for sale.
They can be ordered by calling him at 402 944 9842.
Ed Boller presented the Historical Society with a large glass plate embossed with a train
for use in the railroad section of our historical museum.
Many donations have been made to the Historical Society and it is hoped
we will soon have a museum building in which to display them.
The dream of the Ashland Historical Society Museum
is approaching reality ! Watch for details Coming Soon !
The JANUARY meeting, held on Jan 9th was wonderful! We had several presentation of historic homes,
persons & 2 historic business in Ashland
Shirley (Raikes) Hemke gave a presentation on the 1419 Silver Street Building;
The building was originally known as the Sheffer Building, built in 1902 by Nelson Sheffer.
The building was purchased in 1905 by her Grandfather, P. W. (Phillip Weeks) Folsom.
Phillip Folsom & family operated the P. W. Folsom Jewelry store there for many years.
Phillip passed away in 1941 - the jewelry store carried on with Clara, his wife, Mildred, his daughter,
and Harlow, his brother continuing the business - Harlow did watch repair.
They sold more than jewelry ! They sold pianos, organs, sewing machines & glass-ceramic headed dolls.
Shirley has 2 of the dolls in her collection, in marvelous condition - she shared them with the meeting attendees.
The business was one of the oldest in Ashland - having been in business 44 years, in 1949.
Clara leased the business to Jack L. Dickerson, who had a jewelry store in Wahoo. The business later closed.
Glendora Raikes, Shirley's Mother and Phillip and Clara's Granddaughter, sold the building in 1959 to
Henry Harmony, who operated Harmony's Bakery. Henry Harmony sold the building in 1989 to Matthew Smith.
In 1994 Matthew Smith sold the building to John Schweich who was married
to Anne Groenjes, the daughter of Marie (Squire) and Gerhard Groenjes.
They refinished furniture and did wood working in the building and sold antique furniture.
In 1995 John Schweich sold the building to Michael Murman, owner & founder of PenLink,
a computer software developer. At that time they enclosed the outside stairway of the building,
did extensive remodeling and renovation; holding training classes for their software customers
June 2010 records show Michael Murman owns the building & is Owner of Glacial Till Vineyard.
Mike is assisted by his sons, John, Tim & Craig - the vineyard & winery are located near Palmyra NE in Otoe County.
The photo (below) is of the P. W. Folsom Jewelry Store interior:
We learned more about Bion Arnold and his family, who homesteaded near Ashland
in 1864 from George Mink, who owns the property where the Arnold's homesteaded.
This presentation was part of an ongoing series of the Arnold family history,
which George Mink has developed and presented over the past months.
George has made numerous contacts with family members, resulting in a wonderful presentation given by Grant Shepard of Dallas TX, the great-great-grandson
to Harold Arnold, younger brother of Bion Arnold.
That presentation was given to the AHS in June 2010
Please watch for a more complete histoical account, biography, etc.
of BION ARNOLD to be posted here soon
Do you recall the B.J. Arnold Triangle on Highway 6 ? ? . . YES, Bion designed it !
The ASHLAND HATCHERY, Inc. - founded by Elmer C. Wild in 1926
& a part of Ashland history for 1/3 of a century:
A wonderful presentation was given by Carolee (Wild) Grauerholz, Elmer's daughter.
The presentation was enhanced by Carolee's memories, excerpts from Dale WIld's autobiography in 1992,
(son of Elmer), memories from Alan D. (Chip) Wild, Dale's son & Elmer's grandson;
as well as many photos of the buildings; 105 South14th, the orginal site,
& 119 North. 14th street, the new site purchased in 1927. Copies of a 12 page presentation are available upon request *
to AHS & are available at Willow Point Gallery.
AHS contact information.