Another historic Laurel building is being demolished

Another building with a long history is being demolished. This one is the old lumberyard on the north side of First Street. Older people may remember it as Great Plains Supply Co. Although this building was erected 110 years ago, a lumberyard has occupied that site since the beginning of the town.

Readers of this column may recall that Everett & Waite’s store was the first business established in the new town of Laurel. Fremont Everett of Lyons, who was in the lumber business in Concord, Coleridge, and Claramont, put up the money. His junior partner 24-year-old Oscar M. Waite furnished the labor.

Everett, who was then 36 years old, probably got into the lumber business either through his father Franklin Waite or his father-in-law Jeremiah Shumway. Both men had lumber and other businesses in several towns in Northeast Nebraska.

When the Pacific Short Line railroad opened for business in August 1890, people began looking at the crossing of that railroad with the branch line that ran from Wakefield to Hartington as a good place to build a town. Claramont Junction was mapped out that fall. But it was not until the Short Line began stopping near the crossing in February or March 1892, that Fremont Everett and Oscar Waite decided it was time to move their businesses from Claramont to Claramont Junction – a place soon to be known as Laurel.

Everett & Waite’s store was moved to a lot at what is now 102 Oak St. The lumber was moved to the north side of First Street approximately where the Great Plains building later was built.

On Jan. 1, 1895, the lumber and coal business was sold to Oliver Waite of Lyons. Oliver, who was Oscar’s father, put John A. Douglas in charge of the business. Douglas had recently married Oliver’s daughter Edith. The firm then became known as Waite & Douglas.

At the time of the sale, the lumber was piled on the ground exposed to the weather. That summer Waite & Douglas began building a large shed on the north side of First Street to house the lumber and coal. The building was 50 feet wide by 100 feet long. Shortly thereafter Douglas began building what was then one of Laurel’s largest and finest houses. It stands today at 301 West Second.

John and Edith Douglas moved into their new house in February 1896. A few months later tragedy struck. On December 31, 1896, Mrs. Douglas died of peritonitis at the age of 27. Mr. Douglas was left alone to raise two small children, a three-year-old daughter, also named Edith, and a one – year-old son named Harold. This would not be the last tragedy to befall the Douglas family.

Sometime after his wife’s death, Douglas met Chloe Long, a young lady who worked in Mrs. Torrence’s millinery shop. They were married in February 1901, but their marriage lasted only four months. In June of that year, Mr. Douglas died from complications of the mumps. He was 35 years old.

Chloe Douglas remained in Laurel another two years. In 1903 she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she took up her former profession of making ladies hats. The Douglas children were sent to live with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Waite.

Tragedy also struck the Waite family. In November 1904, Oscar Waite died of a lung hemorrhage at the age of 37. Mrs. Waite was left to raise two young children, Evard and Mildred.

There was more tragedy to come. In 1916 Edith Douglas, the daughter of John and Edith Douglas, died at the age of 22. The only member of the Douglas family to survive to old age was Harold who lived until 1982. March 1902, Oliver Waite took his son Lorin into the business. The lumberyard then became Oliver Waite & Son. In 1906, the small office building shown in the picture was replaced by a larger two-story building. Lorin Waite also built a new house north of the Catholic Church. According to the Advocate, the house had the most beautiful interior of any house in town.

But Lorin Waite didn’t live in his beautiful new house very long. In August 1908, the lumberyard was sold to Oscar A. Johnson. A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Johnson came to Laurel in 1899 as assistant cashier of the Farmers State Bank.

Waite’s house was included in the deal. Johnson paid $4500 for the lumberyard and $3000 for the house. Waite told the Advocate that he sold his house because he wanted to be footloose. But the real reason was Oliver Waite was building a new lumberyard in Rosalie which Lorin would manage. To be continued.