Local

This photo offers a glimpse into life in Holyoke in May 1888, around the time of the town’s incorporation. Some of the businesses that can be recognized in the photo looking north on “Inter-ocean Avenue,” over half a mile south of the railroad depot, include J.M. Whitham Hardware, Logan County News (Phillips County wasn’t formed until 1889), the post office, a drug store (possibly J.A.V. Price & Co.) and a farm loans office (possibly Wm. C. Robinson’s). The windmill at the end of the street is probably at one of the two public wells put down on Holyoke’s main street in 1887. The Nov. 8, 1887, issue of the Logan County News says, “We thought the News office was isolated when we commenced to build and Mr. Whitham was our only neighbor, but since then we have been encroached upon by buildings until our block is almost solidly built up and puts us in the center of business.” The News reported on May 22, 1888, eight months after “the first nail was driven in commencing to build the town, being the 22nd day of September last,” that the number of business houses and residences was 123 and the population was about 800. — Source: Phillips County Museum