York County Historical Association

10/11/2026

Election season is in full swing. Mailers are piling up, yard signs are appearing, and political conversations can be hard to escape.

Looking for a change of subject? Tell your friends, neighbors, and coworkers why the York County Historical Association is back on the ballot this November.

It's simply a vote to correct a technical oversight so we can use funding voters already approved in May. It will not create new or increased taxes!

Help us spread the word, especially to those you know who don't follow us on social media!

Please vote YES on November 3.

10/07/2026

What’s Your Story Wednesday – Connected

Today, many of us wear something that was unheard of a short time ago, our cell phones. It leaves us flustered if we don’t always have it with us. Being able to navigate anywhere, text, take pictures, search the internet, scroll through social media sites, make lists, check the calendar, check the time, and make an occasional phone call or video call (using our own personal list of contacts) on one little device in our pocket is now normal. How times have changed. If you think back just twenty-five years ago only a few people carried a cell phone and it was expensive, huge, and only made calls.

Fifty years ago, everyone had land lines and if we had even heard of a cell phone, it was something “space age.” At that time, we looked forward to receiving the new phone book in the mail almost as much as getting the new Sears Catalogue. Once it arrived, it was fun to look for our name and make sure the number was printed correctly. The phone book was always close to where THE phone was – ours was a rotary dial model hung on the kitchen wall and had a long cord that would reach quite a distance.

Seventy-five years ago, phones were in most - but not all homes. It might have been a desk top variety or hung on the wall. You shared the phone line with all your neighbors. It wasn’t a guarantee that when you wanted to make a call you could, because one of your neighbors might also be making a call at the same time. Only one phone call per line…ugh! Phone calls at that time were mostly ‘business only.’

Prior to that, phones had an earpiece to listen and a separate speaker piece. Some models were a big wooden box hung on the wall, so you had to stand by the wall to make calls with these gems or a handheld device that seemed more portable. They had hand cranks instead of a dial and used a real live operator to connect you with who you wanted to call. I imagine a few operators listened to phone calls, just imagine the conversations they heard.

My first phone was a simple model – two Campbell's soup cans and a cord that connected them. I can’t say it worked as well as taking a couple steps to talk directly to my friend but it sure was fun.

See a copy of the 1938 phone book at the York County Historical Association on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9:00 until 12:00. You just might find a relative or two listed. I know I am amazed by how small it is and enjoy seeing phone numbers that look like they can’t possibly work. We’d love to see you!

10/07/2026

YORK COUNTY – York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka recently had a very interesting visit – a visit with a man who had been researching the death of another York County Sheriff, which happened 110 years ago. And the man has been seeking to have the former sheriff formally honored because he died in the...

10/06/2026

Then & Now: KGBZ Radio 930AM, 715 Grant Ave.

For about a decade, York was home to radio station KGBZ, with an early and substantial dual-tower wire antenna system existing as a prominent feature of York's young skyline, located just a couple of blocks north of the courthouse.

KGBZ was established in 1926 by York veterinarian and businessman Dr. George R. Miller, who also operated the Federal Livestock Remedy Company. Radio was still a relatively new technology, and many early stations were established partly to promote another business. KGBZ embraced that model enthusiastically, advertising Miller's livestock products to farm families and at one point using the wonderfully direct slogan, “Keep Your Hogs and Poultry Healthy.” It was also remembered as “The Swine and Poultry Station.”

KGBZ's first broadcast was in November 1926. York College musicians participated in the opening broadcast. Programming included music, local church services, weather, farm and market information, news and entertainment. Regional musicians also appeared on KGBZ, including Czech bands and Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders, a African-American jazz band from Omaha.

The station grew considerably during its short life. Early KGBZ operated with only 100 or 250 watts and bounced around the radio dial, as many stations did during the chaotic early years of broadcasting. Following a nationwide frequency reorganization in 1928, it settled on 930AM, increasing first to 500 watts and later up to 2,500 watts! By way of comparison, KAWL 1370 today is powered at only 500 watts. KGBZ had a powerful regional broadcast easily reaching across state lines.

There was one complication with this wide broadcast reach: KGBZ shared 930AM with KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa. KMA was another famous agricultural station, owned by the Earl May seed company. Because the two stations occupied the same frequency, they divided broadcasting time rather than operating simultaneously over the top of each other. For several years both stations sought arrangements that would give them more airtime over the other.

By the mid-1930s KGBZ had become a substantial regional farm broadcaster. But its greatest strength, advertising products directly to its rural audience, also contributed to its downfall. Federal regulators investigated questionable advertising carried by the station, such as extravagant health claims for herbal remedies, and other sometimes outlandish commercial product claims typical of the time. Additionally, the station's financial and business practices also came under scrutiny when its license came up for renewal.

In 1936, the Federal Communications Commission declined to renew KGBZ's license and favored giving its broadcasting time to KMA. Miller initially appealed, but eventually reached an agreement to sell KGBZ's facilities to KMA's owner for approximately $50,000. KGBZ ceased operation that summer, its equipment sold and towers scheduled for dismantling, and KMA gained full-time use of 930 AM. It would then be 18 years before York County got its own AM station again, when KAWL came on the air for the first time in 1954.

Miller wasn't quite ready to abandon radio. He announced plans for a new, even more powerful station located somewhere between York, Grand Island and Hastings, with studios in all three cities, but that ambitious proposal never came to fruition.

KGBZ lasted only from 1926 to 1936, but those ten years happened during radio's transformation from an experimental novelty into America's first great electronic mass medium. For a brief period, a veterinarian here in York County operated a station powerful enough to reach farm families across the region, broadcast everything from livestock information to jazz, absorbed several smaller Nebraska stations, and competed for airtime with another one of the Midwest's best-known farm broadcasters.

Many of us often drive past the former KGBZ building there on Grant Ave, and now you know its unique place in York County history.

Click like and share and follow if you are enjoying our Then & Now posts, and come by and see us downtown some time, we would love to have you visit. Wednesdays and Saturdays 9AM-12PM on the north side of the Square.

10/04/2026

🌧️ Flooding at York’s City Park

As southeast Nebraska deals with flooding again, we’re continuing our look back at historic floods across the region.
This remarkable photograph was taken in York, Nebraska, during flooding near the city park during the early 1900s.
York’s City Park was already an established gathering place by this time. A surviving period postcard shows its entrance marked “City Park 1905,” giving us a useful reference point for the era.

And take a close look at this scene.
People are wading through water nearly to their knees, while horse-drawn carriages continue moving through the flooded grounds. A crowd has even gathered along the edge of the water to watch.
By the early 1900s, York was growing quickly. The city's population climbed from about 3,400 in 1890 to more than 6,200 by 1910, making it an increasingly important community in south-central Nebraska.

Photos like this remind us that flooding was not only a rural problem. Nebraska towns frequently had to contend with heavy rains, poor drainage and overflowing creeks long before modern stormwater systems and flood-control projects.

Does anyone from York recognize exactly where in the old City Park this photograph was taken? And does anyone know what year this particular flood occurred?

📷 York, Nebraska
Untold History of Southeast Nebraska

10/02/2026

You may have heard that we are back on the ballot this November. You heard correctly! How did this happen and why are we back?

First and foremost, our community needs to understand: Voting YES this time will not add any new or additional taxes.

Earlier this year, York County voters approved the Historical Association’s request for a modest funding increase of just 62¢ per $100,000 of valuation. Thank you!

Unfortunately, a critical legal detail was missed when preparing the measure’s language. While the previous ballot authorized the funding increase, it did not grant us the authority to spend those funds. Yes, it’s as frustrating as it sounds!

Again, this is NOT a tax increase. Your YES vote in November simply allows the Historical Association to use the funding already approved.

Thank you for your continued support and for entrusting us with preserving our County’s stories for future generations!

09/30/2026

Just a little sneak peek at something fascinating that is being added to our collection soon. 1885, 1889, 1892, 1899, 1909, 1915, 1922, 1933, 1946!

09/25/2026

Then & Now: West side of the Town Square (York, Nebraska)

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09/25/2026

Then & Now: West side of the York Town Square

Many of us drive past these nearly every day, and considering it has been over 100 years, these buildings remain easily recognizable and in remarkably good condition.

The historical image is undated but is estimated to be between 1907-1910 based on presence of overhead telephone wires but lack of automobiles.

Today's Cornerstone Bank building is obviously new. Today's Yorkshire Playhouse building appears to have been replaced, with different window alignments, but property records indicate the existing building was erected in 1900. Sometimes 1900 is used as a default for old construction when the true date is unclear. All of the other buildings in the original photo definitely still exist, including those across 6th Street in the distance (the original second floors of 601-607 were removed).