How was Valentine’s Day celebrated 100 years ago in Sherman County? Newspaper articles report a number of events marking the occasion. In the Balsora area, Mildred Leininger hosted her classmates at a St.
Valentine’s Party. But the road condition was not conducive to traveling to her residence by auto. Rather, the classmates made the trip in two lumber wagons.
The February 20th article in the Sherman County Times said that after games and other entertainment, refreshments were served at 11:30 a.m.. There was no mention of the temperature that night nor of the return trip in the lumber wagons.
The same newspaper issue reported that the Valentine dance held at the local hall was a “grand affair” with the hall being decorated in red and white cupids, streamers going the entire width of the hall, and shaded lights “making the interior take on the appearance that it was being flooded with moonlight.”
On February 14, 1925, Mr. and Mrs. Clayton C. Outhouse held a three-course dinner party at their home for forty friends beginning at seven o’clock that evening. After the enjoyable dinner, the group played the popular game of 500.
“The spacious rooms were beautifully decorated in red and white, suggestive of Valentine.
The ten small tables were also beautifully appointed in red and white and had red and white carnations for center pieces.” Sherman County Times, February 20, 1925.
Clayton, who went by C. C., Outhouse was a brother to A. B. Outhouse. Remember, this is 1925; the Outhouse name wasn’t changed to Owens until the early 1950s. C. C. and his wife had only one daughter who died in infancy in 1903.
Several other Valentine’s parties were mentioned in the newspapers of the time including several school and church parties. Usually the group played games, hunting for hearts, and sometimes told fortunes. And there always seemed to be a delicious lunch served.
The average temperature in Sherman County for February 1925 was just over thirty-one degrees; the maximum temperature was forty-two and the maximum temperature was twenty degrees with only .83 precipitation for the month.
The Sherman County Historical Museum is now open by arrangement with one of the volunteers listed below. Members will resume our Sunday afternoon schedule next Memorial Day weekend. The Research Center (and Hanshew Barbershop) is open Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., weather permitting.
To become a member of the Sherman County Historical Society, call Donna Trompke at (308) 750-3325, or contact Kathy Spotanski, Mark Nabity, RoseAnn Kowalski, Elsie Kieborz, or Patti Kowalski for a membership application. The mailing address is P.O. Box 362, Loup City, Nebraska 68853; the Facebook page is Sherman County NE Historical Society. The historical society’s website is www.shermancountyhistoricalsociety. com.
