FIRE DESTROYS MULLEN CO-OP

by Gussie Boyer Osborne

Entry T85 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Burning of Co-op, May 17, 1956 at 9:30 A.M.

On Thursday, May 17th, 1956, at 9:30 a.m.,
a fire at the Mullen Co-Op soon engulfed the
entire building including the creamery where
a boiler exploded. The smoke could be seen
for 40 miles. The Mullen volunteer fire
department answered the call immediately,
and soon were joined by volunteers from
Thedford, Hyannis and Dunning, who fought
the fire until mid-afternoon. Fortunately, no
one was injured, but the buildings, including
the creamery, garage, service station, office
and feed store were a total loss. All oil, tires,
feed, one oil truck and one employee's car
were destroyed. Miraculously, the records
which had been placed in a locked safe were
still intact when the safe was opened a few
days later after it had cooled down. Other
books, including the account books, had been
carried out and saved. Ladies in town volun-
teered to make sandwiches to feed the
firemen, who were busy keeping adjacent
buildings wet down.

The following day, May 18th, a special
meeting was called of the Board of Directors.
Attending were Clarence Boyce, Chairman;
Mac Osborne, Secretary & Treasurer; W.R.
Machlan, Lucien Andrews, C.N. Boyer, A.J.
Gragg and Gerald French. They called for a
Stockholders meeting to be held May 23rd,
at which time they agreed they would
recommend action be taken to rebuild.

The employees all worked long hard days.
A building formerly used by Bud Gorsuch as
a garage, located just west of the Co-Op
building was rented from Chester H. John-
son. The office and essential equipment was
moved in and opened for business Monday,
May 21st. Hank Hohlfeld and another em-
ployee, Jim Devine, set up a small steel
building for a temporary service station and
were pumping gasoline again by 5 p.m. on
May 23rd. Another employee, Gerald Long,
borrowed some cream testing equipment and
had it set up in the Johnson building. By
Wednesday night, May 23rd, he had tested
19 cans of cream. Firemen were still pouring
water on the coals in the burning rubbish. Co-
op truck driver, Leland Johnson, brought in
a tractor and dump truck and cleaned out
rubbish all day.

About 60 stockholders attended the special
meeting held in the Johnson buiding May
23rd. A unanimous vote was cast to build
back. Many members purchased additional
shares and many more non-members joined
for the first time.

On July 27, 1956, the directors spent the
day deciding about the kind of building to
build. Steel building salesmen and contrac-
tors were consulted. The decision was to give
the contract to Chester H. Johnson of Mullen
for a brick and block building to be built for
$65,000.00.

A diary kept during the construction,
states, "Oct. 2, 1956 - Building going good;
Nov. 24, 1956 - Men working on roof;
February 25, 1957 - Floors almost complete."

The grand opening celebration was held
October 12, 1957 with over 600 persons
attending. Sausage and pancakes, furnished
by the Co-op and Crete Mills, were served to
all comers. Mrs. LeRoy Anders and Mrs. Don
Hall headed up the kitchen team, assisted by
employees, customers and salesmen repre-
senting Champlin Refining Company and
Crete Mills. Virginia Hohlfeld was coffee
chairman. Several business places sent bou-
quets of flowers, including the Bank of
Mullen, Commercial Hotel, Mathews Chev-
rolet, and others. Chester H. Johnson fur-
nished a flower for each lady attending.

Mrs. Leonard Starr assisted by registering
all those attending. People registered from as
far away as Houston, New York City, Kansas
City, and Portland, Oregon. Steak knives,
lollipops and balloons were given out along
with other door prizes. To complete the big
day, a dance was held in the feed room with
a large crowd attending.