Fun Fact Friday!

Did you know that Barry Goldwater's mother, Josephine Williams, lived in Exeter for a few years.  Goldwater lost the bid for President in 1964.  Williams' parents ran a store in Exeter and was on the school board for several years.  Williams moved to Arizona for her health where she met her husband, Baron Goldwater.
 - from  Fillmore County Stories

Obituary: Thomas B. Manning

Thomas Burton Manning was born in Sawyer, NE to Earl and Clara (Biba) Manning on April 7,1930. He passed away on August 3, 2016 in Lincoln, NE. As a very young boy, Tom lived in Sawyer until 1934, when his father moved his elevator business, house, and barn to Burress, NE. He was then raised in Burress, where he also attended country school. He attended high school at Exeter Public School in Exeter, NE, where he graduated with his high school sweetheart, Marilyn Murphy in 1947. He briefly attended business school in Lincoln before returning to Burress, joining the family grain business. In the summer of 1949, he and Marilyn were married. They resided in Exeter for one year, then moved to Burress, where they lived for the remainder of their 65 years of marriage. It is there that they raised their eight children and taught them by example to be hardworking and honest. Tom felt that one of the most important gifts he could give his children was a good education.

Tom and Marilyn were united in marriage at St. Stephens Catholic Church in Exeter on June 11th, 1949. They held their wedding dance at the Burress Dance Hall. Shortly after, the historic hall was filled with grain. They spent their Honeymoon in Grand Lake, Colorado. Tom and Marilyn loved and respected each other in all walks of life. Together they shared an everlasting love.
Instilling the importance of family was very important to them. Most years they would take the family to Grand Lake in the summer to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. One of Tom’s greatest joys was taking his children on mountain hikes to the ranger station on top of Shadow Mountain. His last mountain hike was in 2014 at the age of 84. It was a one-mile hike, which included one of his favorite points of nature, Adams Falls. His final trip to Grand Lake was last September 2015.

Tom loved to spend time outdoors, whether it was for work or for pleasure. He enjoyed river fishing, gardening, hiking, a lifetime of scooping grain, and endless mowing! His dedication to neighbors, customers, friends, and family was ever present. He will be remembered as an honest, hardworking, kind, gentle, and caring man. He will be eternally loved, and forever missed.

Tom was preceded in death by his wife, Marilyn, daughter Clara, and brother, Richard (Dick). He is survived by sons Thomas David Manning, and wife Bette, Fairmont, NE, Chris Manning and wife Brenda, Exeter, NE, Mark Manning and wife Leanne, Crete, NE, Kent Manning and wife Cindy Fairmont, NE, Matthew Manning and wife Heather, Lincoln NE; daughters, Melinda Hofferber, Westminster, CO, Jennifer Manning, Lincoln, NE; 15 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren.

Fillmore County Foundation Grant Applications Available

Applications now available

for Fillmore County Foundation Grants

FILLMORE COUNTY – Groups, organizations, or communities seeking funding for projects may find a source of assistance through the Fillmore County Foundation.

Grant applications will be accepted through Wednesday, September 7, 2016 by 4:00 p.m.  Applications must be submitted by this date to be considered at the Fillmore County Foundation semi-annual meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 13th, 2016.

Grant awards are made each March and September.  After the last application period over $4,000 was awarded.  Application forms are available at the Fillmore County Development Corporation office, 1032 G Street, Geneva, during regular office hours. You may also request an application by emailing lentfer.fcdc@genevamail.com, by telephone at 402-759-4910 or go the FCDC website at www.fillmorecountydevelopment.org and download a copy.

Current application forms with the September 7, 2016 deadline date must be used.  Persons with questions about the grant program may contact the Fillmore County Development Office at 759-4910 or Scott Olivia at 629-4446.

Exeter Village Board Continues Support for FCDC

By Leesa K. Bartu

The Exeter Village Board opened their August meeting by reviewing the minutes and invoices from their July meeting.

The board approved the items after answering a question from board member Justin Harre on the water main repair bill.  Village board chairman Alan Michl explained that the high dollar repair costs included parts only because the village owned the equipment.   

Patt Lentfer was introduced by Michl to give a report on Fillmore County Development Corporation and to request the annual dues.  Lentfer reviewed the packet that she sent to the board members and also reported on some of the projects that the corporation is working on within the county.  

Lentfer noted their office is currently creating the Exeter section of the upcoming countywide informational brochure that they are producing in cooperation with NPPD.

The board approved the $1700 annual dues contribution to FCDC for this year. 

Brenda Motis with Fillmore County Senior Services gave the board the annual Exeter Senior Center report.   The center was closed the entire month of June with the tag factory demolition next door.   Motis gave statistics on the meals served, the hours open, and updates to the center.  The center has ordered a new desk with funds donated by the Exeter Community Foundation.

Motis also presented the budget from the senior center which was $9630 for the year and reported that the yearly expenses were under that.  “At this point the senior center is a self-supporting program. I do know that there are some things the village supports us in financially, but we are pretty much self- sufficient.  I want to thank the board for their continued support.”

Brian Murphy approached the board about putting a 4’ x 12’ movable shed  on the property just north of the senior center which would house artifacts or historical information about Exeter.  The board will review this idea.

The board reviewed the invoices from Brent Pankoke for the demolition of  the tag factory and the additional building.  Michl commented, “It was done right the first time. I would recommend him to anyone.”

Board Member  Justin Harre added, “ I think it exceeded our expectations.”

The Board reviewed the bids for improvemenst on the ball field.  The bid for redoing the infield was $11,000 including the brick work under home plate. Clerk Becky Erdkamp reminded the board that there were only 10 home games played in Exeter this year since the Exeter ball association combined with Milligan.   Michl noted, “I have no problem doing the $7500 bid without the brick under home plate.  If we do everything include pitching and infield they would take $500 off the bill.”

The board decided to gather some more information and review it next month.  The board discussed visiting the Sutton ballfields that the same company worked on. Board members Justin Harre and Mitch Schlegelmilch will work on the ballfield project with Brian Murphy.

Michl gave the maintenance report  in the absence of Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller.  Michl presented two pieces of equipment the maintenance department was interested in, a grabber bucket and a new utility tractor.  The board opted to wait to make any equipment decisions until the budget is finished.

Clerk Erdkamp reported that sales tax figures for May were $14658.11 and June Keno receipts netted $386.80.  Clerk Erdkamp presented several delinquent water bills.  The board discussed the upcoming Annual Conference in September.  

Exeter-Milligan Superintendent Paul Sheffield gave the JPA report. The Fire Marshal approved the new addition and it will be ready for school to start.  There will be a community open house Aug 15 and the fitness center will be ready and open for public use on September 1.

The next meeting was set for Wednesday, September 7.

Death Notice: Thomas B. Manning

Funeral services for Tom will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. at the St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Exeter. Father Steve Thomlison will officiate the services.

Burial will be held in the Exeter Cemetery following the funeral service.

Visitation will be Monday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Farmer Funeral Home in Exeter. A Rosary will be prayed at St. Stephen's Catholic Church on Monday, August 8, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

Memorials are directed to the St. Stephen's Catholic Church or the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department.

Fun Fact Friday!

Did you know that William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, made a brief appearance in Exeter in 1912.  His campaign train came through Exeter, stopping just long enough for President Taft to say a few words.  Of course, he defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election.

Throwback: Exeter Depot 1963

This photo was taken in 1963 by a traveler through Exeter after he dropped his son off at York College.  Little did he know his granddaughter would marry a Exeterite and his great-grandsons would live here one day.

Fun Fact Friday!

Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt the 28th President of the United States made a short stop in Exeter in 1912.  Roosevelt was not scheduled to stop in Exeter but someone found out that he was coming through on his campaign train.  The train stopped and a few fortunate residents, including Frank Craven, were able to see him and Craven shook his hand.
- from The Fillmore County Story

Throwback: Exeter High School Play 1946

Exeter High School Play "Here comes Charlie" from the class of 1946

Pictured are: Margaret Nelson Sorensen, Louise Due Spencer ,Herb Gentry, Hoby Springer, Jeannine Wadman Krejci, Kenny Due, Bob Trauger, Maurine Steyer Biegert, Leona Becker Farrell, and Al Crick.  Thank you to Al for sending us this treasure!

The Smith Index Tag Factory

The infamous tunnel entrance was exposed as the Exeter Tag Factory was demolished.  The tunnel was rumored to be a shortcut for Charles Smith, the index tag inventor, to travel between his factory and home.  In reality, it just went under the alley to the Quonset to the west where the village’s original electrical system was housed.

The skyline of downtown Exeter has changed drastically with the removal of the Smith Index Tag Factory.

It took several days of demolition for the proud old Smith Index Tag building to safely be removed from downtown Exeter.  Here the rear of the building has been demolished.

 

By Leesa K. Bartu

The Smith Index Tag Factory has dominated the Exeter landscape since the late 1800’s was demolished in the last month. 

The building, now owned by the Village of Exeter, was donated to the village in July of 2015 by Seth Jones.  Jones had purchased the building from brothers, Lester and Gaylord Becker in 2008.

During the heyday of the factory it employed over 70 plus those who did piecework in their homes.  The tags were nothing like tags we describe today.  Instead, they were part of an adjustable index tag system that were designed by Charles C. Smith, son of Dr. H. G. Smith the founder of Exeter.

To begin with, the corner building, which sits at the intersection of Exeter Avenue and Seneca, was owned by H. G. Smith and housed his First National Bank from 1889 – 1898. Smith worked in his father’s bank and invented the tags to help in his job.  Once the tags were spotted by a businessman, Smith was asked to create more for the business community.

Smith had to find a resource for the perfect metal composite which would withstand daily usage. Smith began manufacturing in the factory in 1896 once all of his materials were in place and the business expanded quickly from there.  Smith secured the patent on the product.

He began manufacturing in the director’s room of his father’s bank.  The Fillmore County Story  describes the product Smith invented, “The tabs are used to index books and card systems.  Some, made wholly of steel, are called Signals or Guides.  The signals may be either plain or printed with months, numbers, or letters.  The guides have insertable paper labels protected by a celluloid covering.”

This is Exeter quotes the Fillmore County Story noting the popularity of the Smith products, “At one time almost all of the signaling items used in the world were made in Exeter.  Although competitors arose, the Exeter factory long remained the acknowledged leader for quality signaling.”

In fact, the plant quickly outgrew the both the room they were in and soon the building and started expanding into the adjacent building.  Along with physical expansion the business also evolved as employees along with Smith began to design and build their own machinery.

Also added in Smith’s stable of products was the gummed label which was not removable. Nesbit Whitmore, a 57 year employee at the factory, invented the machine which created the gummed index by stripping out rolls of cloth and pressboard.

Smith’s factory not only provided employment for the community, he also brought utilities to the Fillmore County village.  In 1908 he opened his “Electric Light and Power Plant.”

The This is Exeter book reports that Smith brought “A coal-fired steam power plant that furnished Exeter and its citizens with electricity after the turn of the century.”

The power plant was quite a newsworthy event.  This is Exeter quotes an article written in 1907 by a Mr. Settle who may have been a roving reporter for The Nebraska Signal, “The tag factory was installing a large new oil engine.  It was being taken from the railroad station to the factory piece by piece, so large are its dimensions.  It took six horses to draw one wheel on skids from the tracks to the factory door.  The monster wheels were then hoisted by pulleys until they stood edgewise when the men rolled them through the doors into the building.  One of the wheels weighed about six thousand pounds.  This engine will be used for power at this factory for running the electric dynamo for lighting the city. This will give Exeter night and day current.”

In 1910 the Tag Factory was identified by a brand new electric sign on top of the two story building.  It boasted 187 tungsten lamps.

While cleaning out the building before demolition, Exeter Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller found the blueprints of the Exeter water tower, commissioned by Smith.  The east side of Exeter Avenue downtown burned in August of 1907 and the lack of water service was lamented.  The town founders had water system plans drawn up in 1906 and by the fire of 1909 they were in place and kept the late night fire from spreading beyond a few downtown buildings.

In 1928 the water tower was erected in Exeter and Smith contributed to the construction costs and made sure the tower met his specifications.  It had an inner tank that was to be used to furnish water to the sprinkler system in the tag factory.

Gradually machinery replaced employees and after Smith’s death in 1951 the factory was sold several times.  Smith left his holdings and interests to Doane College.

His granddaughter, Barb Jansen, still lives in Exeter.  Her mother, was one of Smith’s four adopted daughters.  Just nine months after Jansen was born her father passed away.  She, along with her sisters and her mother, moved back in with Smith in the beautiful home he built in Exeter.  Smith died when she was about four but they continued to live in his home.  Jansen doesn’t have a whole lot of memories of him.

She recalls finding some of his business paperwork when she and her sisters were cleaning out the house, “He wrote everything down.  He was very careful with how he spent his money.  I think it came out of him growing up in the depression era.”

Jansen didn’t recall a lot of the details of Smith’s estate but she knew he had a fondness for Doane University.  “Most of his estate went back to the Doane campus.  They named the men’s dormitory, Smith Hall, after him.  He met his wife at Doane and thought so much of Doane back then.  It’s too bad he didn’t think of the future of Exeter a little more.”

She has a few mementos of the different style of tags that she holds on to of her grandfather’s, “He employed a lot of people in town and it was great thing for the town back then.  He really helped the community in that way.”

Smith, in addition to his business interests, ran for State senate and served one term in the Nebraska State Senate in 1911.

After Smith’s death and subsequent dispersal of his assets the still successful factory was moved in 1962 from Exeter with little notice to employees or management.  John Tauriella, whose father Frank, was the manager at the time, was a small child when this happened.  He recalled, “When they moved the Tag Factory out of Exeter it was because it was doing so well and not because it was failing.  They took a good business that was thriving and moved it to Chicago.”

Tauriella’s sister, Judy Hansen, has wonderful memories of the time her Dad was the factory manager.  “I used to go in a lot, I rode the elevator a lot.  I remember the sounds of the machinery making the metal index tabs.  I can still hear the machinery going.  It was exciting to me to watch the tabs come out a finished product.”

When the business was moved it was a big blow to the community.  Hansen remembers her Dad being offered a job to go with the factory to Chicago, “It was a good time in his life, (when he was the Tag Factory manager) he didn’t like that it was leaving.  He was offered a job to go there (Chicago) but he didn’t want to move his family to the city.  He grew up in Brooklyn and knew what it was like to grow up in a big city and didn’t want that for his family.”

Unfortunately, the manufacturing plant was never again to function again and was eventually bought by the Becker’s to store their car collection.

Jones purchased the building to store some of the old car parts he bought in the Midwest.  He purchased the original tag factory only, with the Becker’s retaining the Modern Products building for their storage until after the death of Gaylord in the building in March of 2012.  The Modern Products building, according to Hansen, was where the offices were located in the later years of operation.

There were always rumors of a tunnel that ran from the factory to Smith’s home about four blocks away but Jansen confirmed that it was not true.  The doorway that might have triggered the rumor was in the basement in the same room with a very large old air compressor.  There was a tunnel there that could have possibly gone under the alley to a Quonset building behind the factory to the west.

The future of the property is uncertain.  The demolition project included the Tag Factory, the Modern Products building and the building which sits between the Village Office and the Legion.  It was also donated to the Village by the Becker family.

The village recently held a revitalization meeting and several options were discussed for the large empty areas.  Some options that were discussed included leaving the areas as downtown green space, a new village office, library and technology center or the possible sale of the property for economic development.

Author’s note: Valuable resources for this story were This is Exeter  and The Fillmore County Story along with local historian Lonnie Shafer.