H. J. LOWE MERCHANDISE STORE

by Wesley James

Entry B3 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

L. to R. Vira (Tucker) Wood, 1895, Mary lowe, Elliott Lowe,
Louis Lowe, Henry Lowe, Arthur Lowe, Elliott Lowe.

H.J. Lowe General Merchant about 1899

H.J. Lowe Merchandise before 1907

               1895-1915

Leaving Goodland, Kansas and heading
north, Henry J. Lowe and family arrived at
Mullen in 1894. In 1895 after having spent a
cold winter in primitive living conditions
north of Hecla, Henry J. Lowe, wife, Mary
Ann and 2 sons, Louis W. and John Elliott,
headed back to Kansas.

They camped on the Dismal River tempo-
rarily while Mr. Lowe came back to Mullen
for supplies and met Henry Gordon. As a
result of that meeting Henry Lowe traded a
team of horses to Mr. Gordon for 2 lots
located on block 3, original town of Mullen.
On these lots was a small building with some
merchandise for retail sale so Henry went
into business - a business that remained in
the family and operated on the same corner
for over 90 years.

A picture of the family in front of the
original building is shown on this page.

The business was quite diversified in the
beginning. Besides having cement, posts,
wire, hardware, flour, clothing, machinery,
Henry bought wild game which was sent to
market CB&Q railroad.

By 1899 Henry was able to expand his
building by several sq. ft. allowing him to add
a larger variety of items for resale.

In 1896 Henry was named Postmaster, the
post office was in his building until 1907. At
this time the post office was moved to a
building 1/2 block west on south side of main
street and Clara Jeffords Humphrey was the
new postmistress.

Between 1899 and 1906 Henry expanded
his building again. This time he added a
second story. This upper room was used as
Town Hall, a church at times and in more
recent years, Lodge Hall.

Before 1906 Henry had built his home
(which is still being used in southwest part
of town) next to the store building. They lived
in this home until about 1914 when they
moved into their new 2-story home in the
south part of Mullen.

Henry was also involved in ranching which
required more of his time and interest so he
turned the operation of the retail business
over to his son, John Elliott Lowe in 1915.

During the period the area was growing and
building, John Motl recounted the fact that
one Saturday afternoon he had counted 67
lumber wagon loads of lumber go out from
Lowe's lumber yard.