Warrick Ranches
Property Overview
Warrick Locator Map
Google Map views showing the various pieces of land that are all part of the Warrick story.
Pierce and Madison Counties NE, showing the properties the Warrick family has been associated with for 150 years.
Meadow Grove
Highlighting the original home quarter land, lumber yard, hardware store, grain elevator and the main Warrick family homes.
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The "home quarter" was where J.W. Warrick kept hogs he would buy from local farmers. He would accumulate as many hogs as possible and when he had a railroad box car full, would ship them to Omaha to the packing plants. He also shipped cattle from Meadow Grove to Omaha.
The home quarter had farm buildings to raise hogs, and feed lots for cattle. The home quarter raised corn, oats and alfalfa. During the summer I would cultivate corn with a one-row cultivator, behind a team of horses I would bring in from a small pasture, feed and harness them, and cultivate corn all day.
During oat harvest, John Kayler would bring his steam tractor and thresher to the farm. Neighbors would all help each other by bringing in the oat bundles by horse-drawn hay racks and then pitched-forked them into the threshing machine. I would help shovel the oats into storage bins. Oat harvest was an exciting time on the home quarter, with lots of food for all the harvest helpers.
Jack (John Wesley Warrick III), Manager of Warrick Lumber & Grain 1961--1995.
This was the original lumber yard, used by J. W. Warrick Sr. and his son (my father). It was built in 1910, and in the 60's was used for grain storage.
The original grain elevator was a wooden structure built in 1898. The present steel structure was built when the wood one burned down in the 1950's. When the rail road, called the Fremont, Elkhorn, Missouri Valley railroad ran through Meadow Grove (1881), a rail siding was built that ran along the elevator. Grain would be elevated to the top of the elevator and then dropped down a shoot and into grains boxcars that had to be closed up so that they could hold the grain securely. The cars were then moved so that the next boxcar could be filled. This grain was shipped to Omaha, or Chicago where it was loaded on barges and taken down the river or the Great Lakes, to wherever the market dictated.
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad bought out the Fremont, Elkhorn MIssouri Valley railroad in the early 20th century and then the Chicago and Northwestern railroad abandoned the railroad liine in the early 60's. The right-of-way was turned into a hiking trail that was the longest raiis-to-trail in the United States. It ran from Norfolk, NE to Chadron, NE It is a great hiking , biking and horseback riding trail.
Meadow
Detail of Warrick holdings in Downtown Meadow Grove
Main Street Meadow Grove
Elevator and Grain Storage
This picture shows some of the storage buildings which were built in the 1950's and 1960's. When the railroad left, all the grain was moved by truck. That is still the main way grain is shipped. The original lumber yard building was also used as grain storage. During college vacation Robert and Jack Warrick helped in the construction of these tile and wood buildings. When steel storage buildings were used for storage in the 60's, we welcomed it
Main street Meadow Grove 2017, looking toward Warrick Hardware and Lumber. The lumber yard was torn down when the land and buildings were sold. In the background is a former coal shed. A railroad siding ran along this shed so that coal could be angered in to that shed. The coal was sold to customers who used coal to heat their homes.
