Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

Just as I was wondering what to write about this week, I found the solution in the mailbox. Glenn and Jane Hothus wrote me the nicest message concerning the site of the Bloomington test well. This site was the place of our first Franklin County home, and they told me their family was the last to live on our old farm before it was sold to the Robinsons. Duane and I owe Glen and Jane for the modern conviences our family enjoyed the first five years of Nebraska life. They remodeled the home and made it comfortable for us to live in many years later. They installed the water system, built the bathroom, and had Fritz Muckel build and install kitchen cabinets.

They used old lumber to build a gray garage, which is still standing. The lumber came from the former Valley House / Franklin Hotel, which stood on the south end of Franklin and was built in 1879. it was torn down in 1959 by Harvey Schriner, Bob Bach, Glenn Holtus and Earl(Bulls Eye) Hogsett.

I sure learned a lot in this brief letter. I had looked at those kitchen cabinets many times and knew they were built to last, but had no idea that Fritz Muckel built them. They would still be pretty and useful today if the house was still standing. A man named Mr. Davis tore down the old house. I am sure he saved the cabinets and maybe someone is still using them today.

When we were first thinking about moving up to Bloomington from Concordia, KS, I asked my mother-in-law if she knew where any houses were for rent and she told me about this one of Max Robinson. We drove to that house 1.5 miles straight north of Bloomington, it looked as if someone was moving out so I peeked through the window and those cabinets were the first thing I saw as I looked in the big picture window on the east. >From that window you looked straight into a large living room, to the west of that room, and through the door I could see the modern-looking kitchen and those cabinets (the kitchen is the most important room in a house to a woman, you know?) I knew then it was the best house in the country I had seen. I proceeded to inquire about renting the house from Max, and sure enough it was for rent.

From that day on, we began our life in Nebraska. This coming June we will have lived in Franklin County for 29 years. Of all the places I have lived or visited, this place I call Cottonwood Creek is still my most favorite place to be.

So…so finish my thoughts about the old house, I’m thinking. “Glenn did you make that basket ball hoop out of the old iron rod?”

Don’t let your simplicity be imposed on. Richard Sheridan 1751-1816

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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