In August 2011, my boyhood home was sold and I wanted to record my memories and Fremont history during a “last visit.” I planned to live tweet as I went around, but unfortunately my phone’s data plan not work. Instead I saved the tweets and sent them out once I hit an area that provided data coverage.
In accordance with the spirit of spur of the moment tweeting, all typos are preserved as they were originally shared.
Tweets from August 31, 2011 in chronological order
At the airport to head to Nebraska, don’t forget I’ll be live tweeting my Fremont memory and history tour over next 3 days
Landed in Milwaukee “French missionaries & expl. were coming as early as late 1600s to trade w/ Native Americans”-Alice Cooper Wayne’s World
Wow, just flew in over flooded areas of Missouri, reminds us there are still those affected by forces of nature prior to current news cycle
I have landed in the “Gateway to the West,” that which is Omaha http://yfrog.com/mgaqxgj
Harriman Dispatch Center
Omaha was founded in 1854 and is home to the Union Pacific Railroad http://t.co/ogNGjkh
Harriman Dispatch Center http://yfrog.com/kfrgeggmj
The Harriman Center was built in 1891 as a freight depot for the Union Pacific Railway
It now houses the Union Pacific Dispatch for most if not all of their US trackage
Sometimes considered a bunker, it can withstand a tornado, has 2 backup gens and receives pwr from 2 different utils
Tweets from September 1, 2011
This is where Cinema III was. I saw Return of the Jedi 3 times here in 1983 http://yfrog.com/hsup4nfj
I loved it so much I even got the Return of the Jedi bed sheets as a kid
Though he hasn’t seen the movies, my son (4.5) loves Star Wars as well. He has a few books
Don’t worry, in 1.5 years, when he’s 6, we’ll start him off with the original trilogy
9th birthday - Tandy Computer - 1986
My first computer was purchased here at the Radio Shack in the Fremont Mall [1986] http://yfrog.com/mfa26rsj
It was a TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo) http://bit.ly/pu0lMR
You had to program it using BASIC and my dad walked me through the manuals and sample programs
My uncle Ken taught me my first program from scratch–a FOR LOOP
I remember my uncle writing it down on pen and paper and walking me through the code step by step
I remember when this was a Walgreens with a restaurant attached http://yfrog.com/nzmapyrj
My favorite Walgreens meal was spaghetti. They had cool activity place mats as well
After a moning of packing, eating at Irvs on Main
Having data connection problems in fremont, will hsve to try tweeting later, I have a lot in queue
This used to be a W.C. Franks, an awesome arcade with the best cheese dogs http://yfrog.com/mmasmyj
I spent lots of quarters here on Dig Dug and Pac Man
I think it closed before I was even out of grade school
This used to be a Hinky Dinky grocery store, we’d return our empty pop bottles here http://yfrog.com/mesxqgj
At Werner Park for a Storm Chaser’s baseball game http://yfrog.com/gza8sjqj
Omaha Storm Chasers are the minor league AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals http://bit.ly/nGKtHh
Tonight is the last game of the inaugural season at the new park under a new team name
Before this year they played at Rosenblatt which was also home to the College World Series
They were also known as the Omaha Royals, except for a few years in the 90s when they were the Golden Spikes
Beautiful park, hot night, coagulating the Storm chasers on their playoffs http://yfrog.com/h73pfhrj
Tweets from September 4, 2011
(These were supposed to be from September 2-3, but they were delayed due to no data coverage)
I attended Howard Elementary K-6. The schools are now K-5
There are 8 elementary schools in the Fremont Public School system
505 Building
505 building The 505 Building was originally built in 1912 as the First National Bank of Fremont http://yfrog.com/g0y9eij
Here’s an article from the Fremont Tribune in 2009 about the 505 http://bit.ly/ps7WHc
But there is some beauty in the character it contains. It just needs some major TLC
Runza’s are bread stuffed with ground beef, cabbage, and onions http://yfrog.com/nuxazaj
The first Runza opened in 1947 in Lincoln, Nebraska http://bit.ly/nCc9o5
Dodge County Courthouse blt 1917 listed in the Nat’l Reg of Historic Places http://yfrog.com/h78v4nsj
Took my drivers test here when I was 16, plus it was the place to go for car registrations
Nebraska license plates start with a number representing one of the 93 counties except for Lancaster, Sarpy, and Douglas.
It is not uncommon for drivers to say, “that 5 county car just cut me off” or “there’s a 23 county car parked on my lawn.”
Lancaster, Sarpy, and Douglas Cntys have a large num of registrations, in 2002 they deviated by using 3 numbers and 3 letters
It was a controversial decision to deviate from the 80 year old number system.
History of Nebraska license plates http://bit.ly/rrG1F8
Pathfinder once occupied the corner of 6th and Broad for 59 years http://yfrog.com/ki57821717j
The six story hotel was built in 1917 with 115 rooms and a capacity of 360 http://bit.ly/pak37B
It had a barbershop, drug store, meeting spaces for community groups, and apartments
It was destroyed by a tragic gas explosion on January 10, 1976
The explosion took the lives of 20 people and is probably the darkest moment in Fremont history
I had the chance once or twice as a kid to sit down at the lunch counter when this was a Woolworths http://yfrog.com/nwcrtdj
Went antiqing and picked up a few items at Dime Store Days. http://yfrog.com/klewxnrj
May Brothers Wholesale Grocers Bldg (aka Petrow Bldg) is among my favs due to its large size http://yfrog.com/mfi3hdj
It was built in 1881 by Jacob and Lew May for their grocery wholesale buisness
Products would be shipped by rail from producers and they would repackage and ship items to sellers
Around 1920 the business merged w/ the H.P. Lau Co of Lincoln which built a building on 2nd street near the tracks
The windows have now been replaced and it looks like it will be revitalized
Unfortunately 2nd floor of May Bldg was vacant since 1960s & 3rd floor since 20s There is room for about 20 offices per floor
Like some of the large buildings in Fremont, it is obsolete and would be costly to renovate
My dad loved bringing my sister and I out to Hormel Park to walk along the paths http://yfrog.com/h613298080j
We would use the compass, look at leaves, take plaster moulds of animal tracks, and stay clear of poisen ivy
The Platte River is sometimes said to be a mile wide and a foot deep. Perfect for airboats
Tweets from September 5, 2011
Back from Nebraska, wasn’t able to get a strong data connection to Tweet live, but I recorded all the tweets and… http://fb.me/ZmSi7yxj
I posted 50 photos on Facebook in the album “Trip to Nebraska Sept 2011″ http://fb.me/17kXhU9VW
Union Pacific through Fremont, Nebraska http://fb.me/1ae6Z6hH9
Tweets from September 6, 2011
Great shot of a Union Pacific train http://nblo.gs/mCS6H
