818 G Street

Address: 818 G Street

Legal Description: West ½ of Lot 74

Building: 

1872 Occupants unknown

1875 The State of Nebraska sold the west ½ of Lot 74 to C. H. Bane.

1875 Cal H. Bane (Calvin Harper Bane) ran a restaurant here for several years.  

1878 Ernest Gabriel and Louis Fiegenbaum opened a shop here.  They sold drugs. wallpaper and books among other things at this shop.

1880 Gabriel and Fiegenbaum moved to 848 G.  

1880 Richard Kinsey was listed in the 1880 census and occupation was butcher.

1882 In late fall, Richard Kinsey sold his butcher shop to Robert Schoefield.

1882 DeWolfe & Schofield opened a meat market here.  

1882 Mary M. Jones and Hayden Wineman purchased the West ½ of Lot 74 from the Bane family and each of them had a business here.

1882 A. O. Taylor, notary public and pension agent, represented four insurance companies and was an agent for Andrew’s school furniture.

1883 E. O. Lemmon had his contracting office here.

1883 Shumway bought out Schofield.  The business was then known as Dewolf and Shumway.  Mark Alexander was the meat cutter.  Shumway had known Mark Alexander in Illinois, so that was why he gave him a job.  Evidently, Dewolf and Shumway were using Shumway’s stable for butchering.  This smell and nuisance were causing the public some dismay.

1884 P. W. Jones purchased the restaurant from Cal Banes and added a confectionery and fancy groceries.  J. W. Jones & Son also worked here.

1884 In August, Mark Alexander left DeWolf and Shumway’s butcher shop.

1884 In September, Mark Alexander was back cutting meat here.

1885 DeWolfe and Schofield moved their meat market to 806 G Street.

1885 Amelia Jones purchased the lot from Hayden Wineman and opened a business here.

1887 In April, Lewis Cobb learned the jewelry trade from Mr. Green of Green’s Jewelry.

1887 In September, Green’s Jewelry moved to 984 G.

1890 J. B. Shickley bought the interest of David Griffiths in the grocery firm of Griffiths & Carson.

1892 Harvey Hitch sold his restaurant and confectionery to Amanda Matthews and her brother Robert Phillips.  They were here until 1902.

1892 The Sanborn Maps showed this as a confectionery.

1896 In March, Walt Huston opened a seed store at Carson’s old stand.

1902 In June, Emory Mills and Ed Brainard purchased the Matthews and Phillips restaurant and confectionery.  The firm name was Mills & Brainard.  Mrs. Mills and Mr. Brainard had charge of the restaurant.  Mr. Mills was on the road with his thrashing machine.

1902 The Sanborn Maps showed this frame building as a confectionery.

1903 John P. Gergen purchased the lot from Amanda Matthews.  

1903 In June, Emory Mills sold his restaurant to A. Blair and C. F. Ritchie.

1903 In August, Albert Blair sold his interest in the Ritchie & Blair restaurant to his partner.  Albert attended school at the Grand Island business college.

1904 Charlie Ritchie sold his restaurant to former Sheriff M. W. Dinneen and his brother-in-law, James Tracy of Exeter.  They remodeled the place and made it an up-to-date restaurant.  The name of the firm was Dinneen & Tracy.  The business was also referred to as Dinneen & Tracy’s Vienna restaurant.

1905 About May, Dinneen & Tracy sold the Vienna restaurant and short order house to the Wilkins Bros.  

1905 In November the Wilkins Bros. sold the business to William Kennedy. They leased the room occupied by the Kelly restaurant in the building known as  White, Willey or Woodworth, and planned to start  a new restaurant there.

1906 The Kennedy Restaurant, proprietor William Kennedy, was destroyed by fire.  The frame building was located between the Union and Isabelle blocks in the west block on Court Street.  The building was owned by John P. Gergen and was considered a total loss.  

1907 John P. Gergen sold the west ½ of Lot 74 to Barthold Koehler.

1907 Apparently after the fire destroyed their restaurant business, Mr. and Mrs. William Kennedy moved to Indianola where they were engaged in the restaurant business.

1909 The Sanborn Maps showed this brick building as vacant.

1910 In March, the Moore Drug Company and W. E. Fiegenbaum Jewelry moved into these rooms the first door west of the Bank of Commerce. Moore Drug was a new company managed by George Moore.  W. Fiegenbaum moved here from a room he shared with Picard Pharmacy in the east block.  Ed occupied the east side of the room and the drug stock was on the west side of the room.

1911 In April, Moore Drug sold their stock of goods to M. Felt of Denver and his son-in-law, M. W. Waller.  The store was located in the old location of the Moore Drug Co.

1911 In October, Felt and Waller moved their drug store into the building previously occupied by Sisler and Hourigan at 806/808 G Street.  Fiegenbaum’s jewelry also moved there.

1911 The building was used for church dinners.

1912 In January, a poultry show was held in the Brayton building on Court street recently vacated by the Felt and Waller drug store.

1912 In June, M. C. Eberstein opened his new Jewel theater in the Pierce Brayton building in the west block.  The place was nicely furnished with a good stage and  opera chairs.  Professor Prokop’s orchestra furnished the music for the opening night.

1912 In October, M. W. Dinneen leased the Jewel picture theater.  He intended to present the best line of moving pictures possible.  He also planned to bring good theatrical companies here.

1912 In November, W. H. Lake, proprietor of the Palm theater, purchased M. W. Dinneen’s lease on the Jewel theater and was then was the proprietor of both of Geneva’s moving picture houses.

1913 In May, M. C. Eberstein sold the Jewel theater to Dean Selah of O’Neil, NE.  He renamed it the Grand theater.  He hired Howard Menking to run the machine so he could tend to managerial duties.

1913 In December, Dean Selah sold the Grand theater to E. W. Broman and C. M. Shepperson of Omaha.

1914 In February, E. W. Broman and C. M. Shepperson sold the Grand theater to H. C. Rosenfelt of Pawnee City.

1914 Two weeks later, H. C. Rosenfelt decided not to continue in business here.  He moved his family to Scottsbluff and the theater reverted to Broman and Shepperson.

1914 In March, H. A. Messmore leased the Grand theater and opened with “a colored vaudeville company.”

1914 In May, C. A. Hyatt took the management of the Grand theater to conduct a picture show.

1915 In June, H. Simons representing the Midwest Amusement Co. came from Plattsmouth and put the Grand theater in condition for opening.  The name of the theater was changed to the Midwest.

1915 In July, the theater was advertised as The West.  Each Performance 5c and 10c.

  1916 In May, H. Simons, manager of the West show, leased the Brayton building in the east block formerly occupied by the Nelson Bros.hardware and furniture store at 948 G Street.

1916 W. C. Peterson contracted for purchase of a store room in the west block formerly occupied by the picture show and a brick house in the northeast part of town known as the Brayton House (331 No. 11th).

1917 W. C. Peterson purchased the west ½ of Lot 74 from Mildred Todd and husband.  W. C. Peterson had the building entirely remodeled.  He had three floors for his implements stock, auto stock, and repair rooms.  The basement was cemented and used for the heavy machinery.  It had tracks on the floor and trucks were used to place articles.  On the ground floor was the display room, reception, office, and repair shelves.  On the upper floor was the auto store room and the repair shop.  Grant Otis moved his tools to the W. C. Peterson implement store.

1920 In March, Frank Hafer purchased the implement business of W. C. Peterson.  Hafer continued the business in the building on Court Street.  Mr. Peterson continued with Fords and the Wallis cub tractor in his garage on South 8th.

1920 James O’Brien opened a bowling alley and organized a Bowl Club in 1938.  (Doesn’t seem to fit here.  Could it have been in the basement?)

1922 The Sanborn Maps showed this as agricultural implements.

1925 In July, O. C. Bedford moved his wholesale produce house from the west side of the square to the Frank Hafer implement building in the west business block on the north side of the square.

1927 The Bedford Wholesale Produce House was managed by Percy Bedford.  The firm bought cream, and eggs from local farmers and sold them to retail firms in the area.

1928 In January, O. C. Bedford again began the wholesale handling of cream.  Ora Wells took a load of 84 cans to Lincoln by truck Monday and 61 cans on Tuesday.  (According to the phone book, there was a listing for Bedford Wholesale Produce House at 181 G.)

1930 O. C. Bedford built a new building at 180 So. 8th and moved his business there.

1931 Motor Exchange  rented the building in the west block formerly occupied by O. C. Bedford.  A partnership of Col. R. A. Fate of Fairmont and L. M. Crawford, former manager of the Young Motor Co. garage, formed for the sale of used cars.

1932 A free employment bureau was opened at the Motor Exchange with L. M. Crawford in charge.  This service was free and open to all and sponsored by the Geneva American Legion post.

1932 Colonel R. A. Fate and L. M. Crawford dissolved their partnership in the Geneva Motor Exchange.  Colonel Fate retired and Mr. Crawford continued the business.

1932 In May, Fred Picard purchased the building from the Geneva State Bank to use for his mail order business for Venus Wholesale Paint and Oil Co.

1933 The Sanborn Maps showed this as a store.

1936 James O’Brien’s Green Turtle Pool Hall  was located here after the fire that destroyed the Union Block..

2026 34INC Community Hope Store, a nonprofit consignment and donation store was opened here.  It was scheduled to open on April 1.

This was ongoing as of last posting.