The Women Who Asked for a Better Hooper in 1897
Loose sidewalk planks, a muddy crossing and a park without benches: Ella Hills and Hooper’s clubwomen had a practical list of ways to improve their town.
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61 published stories · 20 tour stops · 748 source references · Growing with every discovery
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The Workers Behind Brickyard Hill: Hooper’s Brickmaking History
Behind Brickyard Hill’s name are clay pits, horse-powered machinery, railroad shipments and generations of work. Historical photographs help bring that industrial landscape back into view.
The “Ghost” on the Road Home from West Point
A coffin, a frightened team and eyes in the dark: Oscar Samson’s remembered journey ended with an unexpected discovery the next morning.
Two Heine Homes on Park Street: Hardware, Medicine and a Photograph Worth Keeping
John F. Heine’s house preserves a merchant’s story and a remarkable restoration photograph. Nearby, Clinton Heine’s home connects Park Street with Hooper’s medical history.
What Survived the Fire: St. John’s Ridgeley and Its Written History
The old St. John’s Ridgeley church burned in 1993. A surviving register preserves another part of this Scribner-area congregation’s story.
When Hooper Hosted the Dodge County Fair
A free stock show grew into a community tradition with livestock, merchants and dancing. Why Hooper and Scribner combined their fairs in 1939.
Wickwire Hotel / Hooper Inn
Built in 1885, the Wickwire Hotel served railroad-era Hooper and later became the Hooper Inn. Its history includes Adkins and Vlasak operators, the Fachman family, Commercial Club gatherings and a brief period as the Peppermint Steakhouse. Notes: Exact transition from the Wickwire Hotel name to Hooper Inn is not established. Later accounts may use the familiar name retrospectively. The 1953 intermediate sale sequence differs between the 1976 and 2026 books; deeds or contemporary sale notices are still needed. An operation or proprietor listing is not by itself proof of real-estate ownership. The 1976 hotel paragraph associates World War I service with a parenthetical 1914; this year is not repeated as a verified date of Harry Vlasak’s service. Andreas’s 1882 description of the Tillman House concerns a different, earlier hotel. Do not attach its room count or 1871 construction date to the Wickwire. The 2026 tour’s shorthand ownership/operation span obscures the 1978–1980 operating interlude and 1992 retirement; the expanded history distinguishes them. No present ownership, occupancy, visitor access or current commercial operation has been inferred from historical addresses.
Winslow, Nebraska: The Life of a Village Beside the Elkhorn
A railroad village with busy stores, schools, churches and celebrations: explore Winslow’s history through original newspapers and photographs, from its beginnings to the floods and recovery.
After the Water: Mud, Mail Routes and a Library Reopened
Follow Hooper’s recovery from basement pumping in June to the return of library service reported in September.
Coffee, Soup and Shelter: Hooper’s Flood Relief Effort
How a garage, home kitchens and the Hooper Inn became part of the response to the June 1944 flood.
Flooded Homes, Wartime Obligations: Hooper’s 1944 Bond Drive
The newspaper pages that put flood recovery and the Fifth War Loan campaign side by side.
The Operators Who Stayed on the Line
The telephone operators, emergency connections and a rural mail carrier’s neighbors, with contemporary newspaper evidence.
The Sunday Hooper Went to Higher Ground
Warnings in the rain, families on the hill, and a rescue north of town: the Sentinel’s first account of the June 1944 flood.
The Air Base Disguised as a Farm: Hooper’s World War II Neighbors
How Scribner Air Base was disguised as a farm, how its construction affected Hooper, and how families later made homes in its barracks.
How a Hooper Barber Turned On the Town's First Electric Lights
Hooper's first electric plant ran behind Fred J. Herre's barber shop. What followed was 25 years of burned generators, dark streets, new owners and a town-funded rescue.