Month 25, 2012

Friend, Nebraska is southwest of Lincoln. Other than the interesting name, there was no particular reason to ride there.

Kansas

It's often helpful to pre-stage a Sunday ride by putting down a few miles Saturday evening. This is Salina, Kansas...

...where I had dinner at the local truck stop.

Nebraska

The whole day was nearly perfect for a ride. The south wind was sometimes strong, but that's to be expected this time of year.

US-6 runs from California to Rhode Island.

This is what the Friend, Nebraska web site has to say about their town's early history:

Friendville was founded in 1870 by Mr. Charles E. Friend. In 1869 he left his home in Illinois and in the spring of 1870 he homesteaded the land where Friend is now located. He worked in Lincoln as a store clerk but later in 1870 he took an assortment of dry goods and returned to his hometown where he established and operated a flourishing dry goods store for many years.

The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad reached Friend in 1871. The town at that time was no more than the homestead of Charles E. Friend. The government established a post office naming Mr. Friend as its first postmaster. He generously donated land for a school and church.

The year of 1873 was one of rapid growth. Work was completed on the railroad station and it was renamed "Friend" by the railroad. The town was surveyed and settlement began to take the shape of a frontier town. Fifty-six acres of Charles Friend's land was laid out on a square containing 16 square blocks. Trees were planted on most of the lots. Mr. Bigford opened a blacksmith shop, and flour mills were erected on Turkey Creek because of its water power. Late in 1873 Charles Fischer built a one-story hotel. The boom continued and the population increased. Several stores and a lumberyard were opened.

Friend, Nebraska. As is almost always the case, "Main Street" runs perpendicular to the tracks.

The post office is considerably larger than the police station.

FOR SMALL CRIMES, PERHAPS: The Friend Police Station once was listed in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" as the world's smallest police station. The building started as a toolshed for the construction crews who built U.S. Highway 6. The station's size was doubled in the 1960s so that the Nebraska State Patrol also could use it. The building still is believed to be the smallest combination police station in the world and is a tourist attraction. However, the real reason the station has remained at its original location is the view for about one mile east and west on U.S. 6 and a clear view of Main Street.

- Omaha World-Herald

Streets named for common eastern trees run parallel to Main Street. Numbered streets run parallel to the railroad tracks, starting with 1st Street (which is adjacent to the tracks). This probably holds true for the majority of towns in the central plains states.