Rushville Misc Views

Welcome to Rushville, Nebraska

This is the #1 place on the web for old photos and postcards of Rushville!

A great deal of time, research and money has gone into obtaining and documenting these images. Please do not download or repost photos/text without permission!

This very old postcard is looking east down, what is now, US Highway 20.

The courthouse can be seen at the very right edge (built 1904) and the old jail right behind it. Off in the distance is the old St. Mary's Catholic Church .

The message on this card (dtd Apr 16, 1913) says (in part), "Dear Edna. I got here last night am going out on the stage this morning. RLW"

"Supply Tanks at Rushville Neb"

Unknown how old this postcard is, but both of these towers are now long gone. These were behind and east of Rabeler Chevrolet (now Stockman's Financial Center). View is looking north.

South side of 2nd Street (now Highway 20), looking east, on the block where the Post Office is currently located. Note the store "Candy Kid", which is the business that published the two Multiview postcards featured on my Rushville pages. Photo taken 1904.

Bank of Rushville

According to the Century of Progress (1985), the Bank of Rushville was the first bank, established by H. A. Chamberlain. This bank was located on the north side of Second Street, east of the Commercial Hotel.

Courtesy Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Quite the curiousity... a $10 bill from the Stockman's Bank, dated 1908. Note that the bill is signed by A. M. Modisett.

City Hall and Waterworks, Rushville Nebraska

Great photo! View is from just west of the present courthouse, looking west along Second Street (Highway 20). Old courthouse is seen to the right, as well as the old water tower. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the fire bell. At the time the photo was taken, the gazebo existed, as well as a building on the north-west corner of Main and Second. I would date this to pre-1909.

Courtesy Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska

Rushville Fire Station about 1915

A wonderful photo of the volunteer Rushville firemen in front of the fire station. This station was located on the north side of Second Street (Highway 20) and can seen at this location in the photo above.

Courtesy Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska

Original Rushville Post Office. Built in 1915 at the corner of 2nd Street (Hiway 20) and Loofborrow.

The building was later used for Hollstein law office. Photo by Ray.

The caption states "Last Corn Show August 21, 1925", but seems unlikely. Even with Nebraska's unpredictable weather, the people are wearing coats and there is snow on the roof of the theater building. More likely, the photo was taken in November, as I've seen a photo from the first Corn Show dated November 1923.

Courtesy Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska.

View of 2nd Street (Highway 20), looking west.

The building to the immediate right is the Gourley Opera House (a.k.a Plains Theater). Next to Opera House is the Rushville Garage. To the left of the Garage is the original building used as the county courthouse until the new courthouse was built in 1904. If you look closely, the movie showing at the theater is "His Mother's Boy" with Charles Ray. That movie (a silent) was released in 1917. The electric power plant, also built by Gourley, was located behind the Opera House. The Gourley Opera House is listed on the Register of Historic Buildings.

Photo likely taken from on top of the old water tower.

The roof of the Gourley Opera House is seen in the foreground, as well as the old Methodist church. In the distance is the St Mary's Catholic Church. Smoke can be seen coming from the courthouse, which indicates the photo was taken in the winter.

Courtesy of Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska.

Another view of the Rushville Garage and Gourley Theater.

There is a Ford Model T sitting in front of the garage. Along the left edge of the photo, you can see the old courthouse building.

Courtesy Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska

2'nd Street - Rushville 1917 (photo by Ray)

View of Second Street, looking east. Cars all look to be Model T's (early traffic jam). Old Methodist Church in center of photo.

Courtesy Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Gourley Opera House.

Too bad the photo doesn't have a bit more detail, it would be fun to see what was being shown at the time.

Courtesty Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska.

View of Second Street, looking west. Likely taken on the corner in front of the old courthouse. Fire bell seen to the right. This looks to be from 1910s or 1920s.

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Second Street, looking east. Commercial Hotel along the left edge. Cars look to be from the 1920s or early 1930s.

Courtesy Armstrong House Museum of Rushville Nebraska

View of Highway 20, looking east. The building at left is the Chevy dealer (later Rabeler Chevrolet in the 1970s/1980s). In the distance, the old courthouse and the Methodist church can be seen. Photo taken in the mid-1930s.

Snow Storm, May 1 1911

Photo taken on the south side of Second Street (Highway 20), looking east. The church in the distance is the Methodist Church. The building that the men are standing in front of has the following sign "J. F. McFarland Real Estate and Land. Good Cheap Land a Specialty". Need a little better idea of where this was taken? You are standing approximately in front of the post office, looking to the east. Photo by B. F. Ray.

Photo of the Corner Station (left) and Main Street, looking to the north-west. The '49 blizzard was the biggest storm of the past 100 years.

Another postcard from the 1949 Blizzard.

The Plains Theater was showing "Green Grass of Wyoming", starring Peggy Cummins, Charles Coburn and Burl Ives (released 1948). The blizzard started on Jan 2, 1949 and lasted for 3 days, with winds up to 65 mph.

Second Street (Highway 20), looking east.

Cafe to the left, Chevy garage next to that. Old courthouse can be seen on the corner (Loofborrow).

German M. E. Church

This church was located on Loofborrow street (one block east of Main Street, two blocks south of Highway 20). At one time, there were two Methodist churches in Rushville - this church and the Methodist church at Sprague and Highway 20. My great-grandfather Joseph Warren Hindman's burial service was held in this church on May 10, 1924. (Photo by Ray).

Postcard (circa 1940) showing Morse Memorial Methodist Church. Dedicated 1937. This church is catty-corner from the courthouse. Photo by Purdy.

Masonic Hall (circa 1940). This building is now used for the public library. This building is across the street to the west of the courthouse. Photo by Purdy.

Early view of the Rushville depot. Rushville was served originally by the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad Company in 1885.

Photo taken of the depot in 1970, prior to demolition. Quite a bit of history came through this building over the years.

Rushville Roller Mills

Located to the north of the railroad tracks, west side of Main. Not sure when this was torn down.

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Not too far to the north and west of the roller mill was the old Dewing brick yard. It would be nice to know how many brick still exist within buildings still standing. Note the pile of wood to the right of the building (and the holes along the bottom of the building). The building was obviously the kiln for drying/curing the bricks.

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Sioux Indian Camp, 1910 Photo by B.F. Ray

For many years, Indians would camp north of Rushville and would work on farms and do manual labor.

Detail from the photo above, showing what looks to be the log cabin that still stands north of Rushville.

Harvesting potatoes.

Photo by B.F. Ray.

Detail from Multiview postcard showing freighting outfit. The Pine Ridge Reservation is located 20 miles north of town and goods were shipped into Rushville via the railroad, then freighted to the reservation. This view is looking east along 2nd Street (now Highway 20) towards the old courthouse. The edge of the Commercial Hotel is to the left and the old wooden water tower can also be seen.

Photo by L. W. Snow of Columbus, Nebraska.

This is a very interesting photo of a 1925 flood. A torrent of flood waters is shown washing down Third Street, heading west (towards what would be the current location of the swimming pool). I understand that a lake once stood in that location named Savage Lake. I have never seen a photo of the lake. The photo was taken looking north along Main Street.

Exaggeration postcard showing the size of the corn in western Nebraska!

"My First School"... contributed by the descendents of Carl Thompson.

This photo shows the early District 14 school (also known as the King-Stava school), located 5-6 miles north and west of Rushville, Nebraska. The reverse of this photo contained the following names: Lizzie Musselman, Musselman, Ina Galpin (Galfin? Galfrin?), Carl Galpin, Henry Jacobson, Julia Jacobson, Charly Baker and Baker.

By researching the names on the reverse, I found that Henry Jacobson was born in 1876, so he would be one of the children in the photo. Additionally, the 1960 Sheridan County history booklet "Soddies to Satellites" lists Carl Thompson as an early teacher of the King-Stava school. Therefore, I would certainly date this photo to around 1885-1888, with Carl Thompson shown as the teacher (and his handwriting noting "My First School"). My father attended the District 14 school (non-log cabin version) in the 1920s-1930s.

West edge of Rushville, looking southwest. The white house on the right center was my grandparent's house for 30+ years. In 1920, the house was obviously on the edge of the prairie.

SD Butcher photograph looking northwest from Sprague and 3rd Street. The wooden watertower can by seen at center and the old fire bell can be seen just to the left of the pole at center. I'm fairly certain that the house at left was the Oscar F Farman home at the time of this photo. Farman was Rushville's first druggist, opening a drug store around 1885. According to Recollections of Sheridan County, Farman had already built his first home at the time that he was courting his future wife in 1888-1989. The above photo is slightly different than a photo of the home dated 1890, this one showing an addition on the south side of the home. This house was also the Lloyd Hinn house (which had a major fire July 2008). Above photo would date from 1900 to 1910. Farman sold his house in 1913 and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska for health reasons.

Armstrong House (located on Second Street) Current home of the museum.

Louis Abold Home

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Residences of Jordan employees, including that of Manager Coffey (left). The Jordan store was on the north end of Main (east side). These homes were located on Loofborrow, which is directly behind the Jordon store. See the photo at right (2012) showing the same houses.

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

J. D. Scott home

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska

Residence of Dr Wilson

The house still stands at the corner of Rickley and Nelson streets.

This house stood on South Main and was at one time owned by the Jim Turman family. I have seen other photos from the Turman family that confirmed that it is the same house!

Great aerial shot of Rushville. When was the photo taken??? The new water tower is present (authorized 1950, built 1951). The old water tower is still standing. The high school has an open field behind it (auditorium built ~1956). Stockman's National Bank building on corner has not yet been built. The Wefso Drug building still looks to be two stories (and pre-stucco... completed 1954).

Courtesy of Armstrong House of Rushville Nebraska