The Early History of Eli

As Told by Guy Belsky

In 1893, the first instrument granted to the Elkhorn and Missouri Railroad; President Cleveland issued 161 acres of land for right-of-way.

Later, in 1895, the land where the village of Eli is located was in the name of Emley J. Brooks, which she transferred to Charles S. Cooter later that year.

In 1902, Charles S. Cooter transferred it to Fredrick L Chapman in August. He lost it by foreclosure the same year and J. P. Gardiner and his wife became the owners. It was later sold to Eugene P. Weeks in 1916 and then to William and Ida Deweese. The same year they set out a plot of land known as lot 1 Section 7 Township 34, Range 35, and designated to be recorded as the village of Eli with lots, streets, and allies to be plotted.

It has been said that Eli received its name from a mule named Eli that worked when the grading was done on the railroad and is supposed to be buried here.

Another story says the village was named after Eli Garner, who was an early settler. He is the father of Jesse and Dan Garner, who at one time operated the ranch now known as the Linenbrink ranch. The only dipping vat for cattle was located on the Garner Brothers ranch and cattle came from miles around were brought here for dipping. There were still remnants of the old vat there when Arthur Bowring owned the place.

Hugh Hendricks and his son, Ed, built a small building just north of the present store. This is still operated today and is owned by Thomas and Lois Gaskins. Hugh Hendricks was the first appointed Postmaster for Eli. He received this appointment in 1908. The office was located in the same building as the store operated by his son, Ed.

In 1911 Ed Hendricks sold his business to Joseph Polzer who came here from Omaha, Polzer operated the business in the same building until 1916, when he built a new building known as the Steele Store. Mr. Polzer operated the store until 1925 when he sold the business to Clair Nicklin. In 1927 Clair Nicklin sold the store to John and Maggie Steele who operated it until John passed away in 1944. Maggie continued the business until poor health forced her to close it out in 1951.

In 1910, George W. Johnson and Charles O. Dennison built the first one-room schoolhouse. Twelve years later, another room was built on. At this time the school carried all grades from the first through the tenth grade.

My brother, Ilo and I came to the Eli community in 1915. I was 14 years old. We came from Wood Lake, Nebraska driving a team of mules. Having one balky-natured mule, we spent a lot of daylight hours on the first hill we came to in the morning. Then about noon or in the evening, he would decide to move; therefore we spent a lot of time traveling in the dark. We were seven days making the trip, which usually took from two to three days. This was an exciting trip for a couple of boys 14 and 16 years. We lived there on the place now known as the McNare place where we made our home with Brother Ed and his family.

In 1916, when Eli first started to build, the following businesses were located there. Starting on the north end of Main Street on the west side was Wickman’s Store built in 1916; the Bank of Eli was built in 1918. Polzer’s store was built in 1916, and the Eli Community Hall in 1922. Nathaniel Hicks built the hotel in 1917. Asa Hicks built the pool hall and the barbershop about the same time. Asa Hicks also built and operated the first electric light plant in Eli. It is located in the alley behind the hotel.

On the east side of Main Street from the north, was a filling station and garage operated by Frank L. Mapes. He also operated the Hardware Store and Implement business next to the station. A reliable authority informed me that in 1926, Mr. Mapes was the highest in sales of International Machinery in the United States

Next to the Mapes building was a butcher shop, owned by two brothers whose names I do not recall. Then there was a blacksmith shop operated by John Koenig. In later years, Ed Tailor operated it, the father of Mrs. Frank Mapes. South of the shop was the restaurant which was built and operated by Grandma Nichols, who later married Nathaniel Hicks. Next to the restaurant was the livery stable built and operated by William Hicks.

There was a lumberyard next tot he railroad track and a nice depot with living quarters in it. There were two section houses and many other houses in the village. The population was around 100 people.

The Eli Community Church was built in 1918 by the Rev. John Hedges and financed by the people of the community. Brother Hedges was the grandfather of Louise Johnson and was well known through out the Sandhills as he traveled by team and buggy and held church services in various schoolhouses.

This about covers the village to the best of my recollection, but I would like at this time to pay tribute to some of the early settlers of the Eli Trade territory. Among those that I have record of was Andrew Steele who came from Scotland in 1848 and first settled in Canada. Later, in 1886 he came to Cherry County, southeast of Eli on Bear Creek with a team of horses and four cows. He was known to be the first cream shipper from the territory. He shipped his cream to Lincoln, Nebraska by rail from Cody. He has the record of receiving the largest check for cream sent to anyone at Cody. It was for $260.00 for six months, during the summer of 1906. George W. Johnson was another early settler who came here from Norway in 1877. As a young man he worked on the railroad and later became a Section Foreman, a position he held until his retirement. William Deweese was also one of the early Section Foremen at Eli.

In 1900, Mr. and Mrs. John Walker and their three sons came to the Eli Community and settled on homesteads Northeast of Eli, which became known as the Walker Brothers ranch. The three sons, Charles, Wayne, and Ese operated it. Then in 1955, they retired and sold the ranch to Joe Vinton, who still owns and operates the place. The John Walkers had one daughter who married Charles O. Dennison and lived on the ranch operated by the John Christensen family.

More of the early settlers who were patrons of the Eli community were: J. P. Gardiner, Daniel and Jesse Garner, William Heckel, Frank Heath, William Rickets, Charles and Phillip Nelson, Charles and James Dennison, Erick Wickman, Charles Larsen, Charles Howe, William Bigelow, Murry Starr, William Spence, Charles O. Snyder, Henry P. Ladegard, Charles Nichols, W. Bachelor, Henry Quille, Hugh and James Goodfellow, Del Crane, Shorty Barr, Ernest Hetrick, Ernest Peas, Dick Bowman, George Dare, Jack Baker, Thomas Weatherall, George W. Derry, Daniel Adamson and many others that I do not recall at this time. John T. Steele had homestead around 1890.

In closing, I would like to thank all of my friends in the Eli Community for giving me this chance to review the history of Eli. This community has and always will be like home to my wife, LaVerle and myself and we will cherish our good friends for the rest of our days and remember the many good times we spent growing up here.

We also enjoyed the thirty some years we spent here in business.