Herman Pearl Interview
Date: February 13, 1998
Herman Pearl & his friend Mary Danly
6700 Morrill
Lincoln, NE 68507
Ph 402-466-5639
Herman and Mary were visiting the Oran tap on this day. Barb Treptow was tending bar and called me to come and visit with them. Herman has a sister, Polly Cosselman in Oelwein.
Herman built the cafe in 1947. He owned it for 1 year and then sold it to Jack Bailey. Herman lived on a farm on highway 3. Herman moved to Iowa in 1923. At that time, Bill Taylor, the railroad section boss lived in the boxcar.
While Herman owned the cafe, he had chocolate pie eating contests and beer drinking contests. Backroom was not part of the bar when he owned it.
The stockyard was located on the south side of the tracks and was 150 ? (yards? feet?) east of the elevator. Tony Schmidt was the cattle buyer in the early 1920’s.
In the mid 1920’s the old baseball field was in a pasture south & east of the cattle buying station. They had to chase the cows out to play ball and be very careful where they slid.
People would go to Oelwein on the train in the morning and come back at night. Fuzzy Reith’s grandpa got lathered for a shave but had to leave without the shave to catch the train. Ping Pong was the name of the train.
There was a Summer Festival in 1935 to celebrate when beer became legal in Iowa. At that celebration Herman and his brother road an airplane for $2. They had foot races, the dance hall was for the adults and a portable dance floor for the young kids. Three kegs were tapped.
Hank Ross was a section boss for the railroad.
Shippy & Harwood(bachelor) had a grocery store where the locker is. They were brother-in-laws.
There were 3 grocery stores at one time: Shippy & Harwood, Bennett’s and Lorbers. There were also 3 garages: Haun’s, Fred Smith, and George Williams. L.J. Suhr bought the garage in the 20’s.
Charley Rourke invented the bullet proof shields that were installed in the Oran bank. Herman’s brother, Emil, worked at the bank during the installation in approximately 1936-1938. (Emil may be the persons face that is missing in the photo of the bullet proof bank windows.) This was during the gangster days. Leslie Getz got cash everyday from Oelwein and always took his 45 pistol with him.
The first Oran Fireman’s ball was in Oelwein, Iowa at the Coliseum. Leo Greco’s band played for that dance. Herman was the treasurer. He had to stay sober to collect the money. They collected $1200. Leo played for free or a reasonable fee. July 1948. Herman moved 1953.
Herman helped build the school gym. Ralph Wedemeier, Virgil Wedemeier and Herman along with many more local people helped lay the brick for the gym. Johnny Ryan and 8 more helped unload 2 loads of brick.
August Harms built the dance hall with no nails in the main structure. It was later remodeled by Leonard Lorber. Dances were on the second floor. During dances, the floor moved up and down and the ends of the building swayed sideways. The transom window on the first floor to the pool hall would break if it wasn’t opened. There were many fights and people would get thrown down the stairs. You could rent the dance hall for 2 dollars. Mr. Peters from Fairbank had 6 sons and 1 daughter who played many instruments and often played at the dance hall.
Mrs. Peters (maiden name Damge) is in the nursing home and played the piano on her 98? birthday. Herman owned the old Peters farm, and it had a roomful of instruments in it when he purchased it.
Information Recorded by: Connie Wedemeier