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Pages of History
The year 1946 arrived in Cedar County with little fanfare.
Other than blowing the fire whistle, honking automobile horns, and firing a few shotgun blasts at the stroke of midnight, it was a rather quiet transition to the postwar era.
Some of the older people welcomed the new year with watch parties and card parties. “A few of the boys took on their share of ‘giggle soup’ (liquor), but they were orderly about it and only one had to be helped down from a telephone pole the next morning,“ said the Laurel Advocate. “So far as we can learn there were no accidents and everything was under control throughout the night.“ For some reason, Jan. 1, 1946, has been selected as the official beginning of the “Postwar Baby Boom” which ran through 1964.
People like this writer who were born between the end of the war in 1945 and Jan. 1, 1946, are not considered “Boomers.”
Kathy Casey, the nation’s first officially recognized Boomer, was born in a Philadelphia hospital one second after midnight on New Year’s Day. Laurel’s first Boomer was Roger Forsberg, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Forsberg. Roger was born 19 minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day. The second Boomer was Betty Lou Anderson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Anderson, who was born at 3 a.m.
Longtime Laurel businessman Charles Ebmeier retired on Jan. 1, 1946. He turned the Home Oil Co. over to his son Ben, who had recently been discharged from the Army Air Corps.
Originally known as the Laurel Oil Co., the Ebmeier station was built by August Weseloh in 1920. Charles Ebmeier purchased the station in April 1926. Ben ran it from 1946 to 1976. After standing vacant for a number of years, the station was demolished. The Laurel Family Medicine building now occupies the site of Laurel‘s first filling station.
William C. Peck, another longtime Laurel businessman, died following a stroke. Peck had been in business in Laurel since 1909. He began as a livestock dealer and was one of the founders of the Laurel Sales Company.
In 1913 Peck entered the grain business when he and J.B. Larson bought the Anchor elevator at the east end of Main Street. The Peck & Larson elevator later became Laurel Feed & Grain. Due to failing health, Peck sold the business to Fay P. “Pete” Stewart for $4000 in January 1945. Stewart operated the business until 1980.
Jim Sullivan, who farmed north of Laurel, purchased W.W. Leinbaugh’s John Deere Implement dealership. Sullivan said he would move his family into town as soon as he could find a house – and that was a real problem in Laurel. Leinbaugh said he would continue handling Frigidaire and Delco products. In 1961 Sullivan sold the business to Ed Gadeken. With the arrival of cold weather, the Laurel fire department was kept busy.
The first call was to a house fire on the Everard Burns farm north of town. Fast work by Mrs. Burns and one of her boys kept the blaze confined to one room until the fire department arrived. Damage was light.
The second call was to the William Wagner home where sparks from a chimney set fire to the wood shingled roof. A hole was burned through the roof but otherwise there was little damage.
The third call was to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Jones in the east part of town where a fire originating in a closet destroyed the bedroom furniture and most of the family’s clothing. The cause of the fire was not reported in the Advocate.
According to the Cedar County News, Mrs. Jones left her three little boys home while she walked uptown to get a bottle of milk. While she was gone, the boys got their hands on a box of matches and set a fire in the closet. “The boys were so frightened they were unable to tell how the fire started,“ said the News.
The fourth call was to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Miner just east of the Logan Center church. Once again, sparks from a chimney set fire to a wood shingled roof. Fanned by a strong wind, the fire was out of control by the time the Laurel fire department arrived. Said to be one of the finer homes in the Logan Center community, the recently remodeled two-story house was a total loss.
Laurel had a new organization for the men who had served overseas. The Harold Anderson Post 5539 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars was organized in Laurel on Jan. 23. The VFW was open only to men who had served overseas or in hostile waters during wartime. Men who were not deployed overseas were not considered veterans by the VFW. They could, however, join the American Legion.
Many returning servicemen would not remain in Cedar County.
One problem was a lack of housing. “All you hear on the radio these days is housing,“ said Editor Allison. “We’ve been yelling our heads off about it for the past four years and no one has paid any attention. We have no place for our returning servicemen. Laurel could easily add another hundred or two to its population if there was a place to put them.“ Lack of affordable housing is still a problem all over the country.
Roger Tryon has been writing a Cedar County history column for the Northeast Neb. News Company for over 30 years. He is a Laurel native and a retired teacher. Tryon can be reached at: [email protected]
