History Of Summerfield

At the Golden Jubilee in 1938, it was stated that Summerfield, "like ancient Gaul, enjoys the dubious distinction of being "divided" but there the comparison ends; for our "parts" are but two, namely, St. Bridget and Richland townships."

The town started with almost a hundred tents set up south and east of town (near where Charles Goodwin's live now) where the men worked building the right-of-way and laying rails for the new railroad that was to join the St. Joseph and Grand Island to the Burlington railroad.

During the year 1888, the Kansas City and Northwestern Railroad Companies were engaged in surveying a route for a proposed line from Kansas City to Beatrice, Nebraska. As an aid in that construction the company requested a $15,000 bond issue and in return promised to locate a city within three miles of the Nebraska line. St. Bridget hoped a town would grow up there. The Townsite Co. located the town in the northeast part of Marshall County, most of it in St. Bridget and one block wide and one-half mile long in Richland township.

Summerfield was born, we might say, in the fall, October 12, 1889. The Summerfield Townsite Company purchased 160 acres of land, located in St. Bridget township from John Smiley and eighty acres from C. F. McCulloch, which was located adjoining it. J. P. Taylor was the financier of this venture arid managed the mapping out of the site into lots for the sale. The auctioneer was William Speak of Axtell. Sometime later an addition, known as Joseph's Addition was added to the townsite. This consisted of about sixty-seven acres purchased from W. H. Joseph located in Richland Township.

The town was named in honor of Elias Summerfield, who was the managing superintendent of the railroad at that time. Virginia, Nebraska was the terminal of the road and not to Beatrice as planned.

As soon as the land was plotted out and the lots sold, the buildings seemed almost to spring from the earth and the town within a short time became an active town in the business world. The two additions and four blocks from the Smiley Addition were incorporated into the city. The petition for incorporation, signed by Frank Thomann and 39 others, was granted October 12, 1889. The city limits defined in that document are still intact, with the exception of six blocks, three of which are fractional, in the south-east comer of the original plat, which have been vacated and were owned by John Gallagher as farmland. The land the house is on was annexed to the city in order that Earl Blakeway could legally serve as an officer in the city. Clement Stueve has that land now. Also a small extension of the boundaries was made on the southwest corner of the town when H. A. Berens had his resident property incorporated, so he could serve as the mayor of Summerfield.

According to record, Ordinance No. I was not published in the Sun until May 5, 1893. These enactments were probably adopted and put into effect during the first city administration without publication. The first city election was held November 7, 1889. The mayor, R. G. Cunningham, had for his council I. J. Nichols, H. E. Adams, C. J. O'Neil, Dan Swartout and R. M. Miller. J. M. Kendall was elected city clerk and E. H. Rundle was appointed guardian of the law over the one hundred individuals who constituted the population of the new city.