What Are We Celebrating?

This year is being promoted as Bennington’s Quasquicentennial (125 yr.) anniversary.  Normally, this type of milestone marks the founding of a city.  Once it did for our town but interestingly that was changed by leadership 25 years ago. 

Nebraska celebrated  its Centennial Anniversary in 1967 (1867-1967) which also marked Bennington's 80 birthday.  Bennington honored both events with  a Centennial Days celebration in 1967.  The town's history was accurately portrayed in a booklet developed for the event entitled: "History of Bennington Nebraska, 1887-1967".

For some reason, Community leaders failed  to  follow up with a Centennial (1887-1987) celebration 20 years later.  Instead they chose to celebrate the Centennial (1892-1992) of the town's incorporation (1892) in 1992.  That was when the village's population reached 200, triggering recognition from the  Douglas County Board of Commissioners that Bennington was a town.

Why the change?  Was it planned or a political response to failed planning?  The answer might lay in the fact that Bennington might be the only town in Nebraska that celebrates its incorporation rather than its founding.

Many believe the actual work of  our founding families to create our Community should be the reason we celebrate, not the final paperwork recognizing their accomplishment 5 years later.

That is the reason we celebrate our Nation's Independence on July 4th rather than September 3rd (1783), when the British finally recognized our independence.  We celebrate the human sacrifice in taking our Independence rather than the final paperwork.

While the Community celebrates our Quasquicentennial Anniversary, please remember; Bennington is celebrating its 130 Birthday.  Let's remember the human accomplishment rather than the paperwork.  

What do you think?

Wallace Farmer, 1913 found

The Wesemann Family has a long-history in the Bennington Community.  The old Wesemann farm house is being remodeled and builders found 4 old copies of the Wallace Farmer Journal; they were all dated 1913.  And its amazing, they  are still in business today!   They  are centered out of Des Moines, Iowa.

Mike Wesemann dropped a copy off for the Historical Society.  The copy is in remarkable good shape, being hidden in a wall for more than 100 years!  It is amazing how some things haven't changed (types of crops) and what things have (equipment and farming practices).

Here is a farmer spraying potatoes behind a team of horses.  Wonder how many acres he sprayed back then in a day compared to what a farmer with modern equipment can do today?

Gasoline engines were huge, heavy and had very little power.  Our small lawn mowers have more power than many of these beasts.  But they were necessary to power equipment.  

Recollections of Otto W. Glandt; 1910 to 1918.

Otto Glandt was a prominent member of the Bennington Community.  He was the son of C.W. Glandt who was an early businessman in Bennington.  His father owned several businesses that included a cement block factory, he built hen crates, sold insurance and farm equipment and built many of the first homes in town.  Otto was born in 1906 in Bennington.  For Bennington's 1992 celebration he authored a 2 page description of his childhood memories of growing up.  They are narrated on the following video along with old photographs of some of those sites (https://youtu.be/H9MzD7Qh3Fw).  

Please take a little time to learn about life in Benningtion more than a century ago and view our other videos on YouTube at "bennhistsoc".   If you like it, become a follower.  Thanks.

Otto Glandt's Video