Love My Community: Superior

History of Superior.

Named for the quality of its fertile land, the town of Superior is situated in the Republican River valley, 60 miles southeast of Hastings and just a mile from the Kansas border. Settlement began in the area in the late 1860s. The town was surveyed in 1875 and incorporated in 1879.

The entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well as the town began to grow. Merchants were doing a thriving business and the railroads began to take note. The first railroad to come to town was the Burlington Northern in 1880 with a main line between Kansas City and Denver. The railroad provided a jumpstart to the new town, allowing new industries to spring up.

At the peak of development in the 1940s, Superior’s population rose to 3,200, and the town boasted a hydroelectric facility, cement plant, flour mill and grain elevator, cheese plant, Coca-Cola® bottling plant, brick factory, two cigar factories, and many more prospering businesses.

Notable among these early companies was the Scoular Company, founded by Superior’s renowned Scoular family, and now a multi-national corporation. Eventually the town became an important railroad hub with five railroads serving the community and the region.

The “Victorian Capital of Nebraska.”

Much of the town has retained its Victorian charm from the prosperous early settlers in the late 1800s, who built homes and businesses of architectural splendor. Known as the “Victorian Capital of Nebraska,” Superior holds an annual Victorian Festival that attracts visitors from all over the state. The downtown area is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Superior Today.

The town is a reflection of contemporary rural America in many ways, as numerous industries have closed in recent decades. There are now only two railroads, and the population is just under 2,000. However, Superior is still a hub of commerce with two large grain elevators shipping over 20 million bushels annually, a hospital, three assisted living facilities and many retail merchants.

The hospital is a key feature of the town. It began with an endowment from Evelyn Brodstone and will soon undergo another major expansion, keeping it on the forefront of the medical field.

Evelyn Brodstone grew up in Superior in the early 1900s and went on to become a business executive working for Lord William Vestey, whom she later married. She has been a huge benefactor to the community with some of her endowments continuing to this day. Each year, the town honors Lady Vestey with a celebration on Memorial Day weekend that offers lots of activities throughout the town with many people attending.

Superior continues to make improvements: the most recent being a complete renovation of the downtown’s main street, including new sidewalks, streetlights and curbs, giving the area a clean, vibrant, modern appearance.

The Bank.

In 1879, the Bank of Superior opened just across the street from the current Farmers & Merchants Bank location. The bank moved to our current building in the early 1900s, changing ownership at about the same time. In 1929, the bank changed ownership again to become Security National Bank. Farmers & Merchants Bank purchased SNB in 1998.

The bank building has undergone several renovations, expanding into adjacent buildings. A newspaper article (right) touts one of the early remodels. You can also see how the Bank looks today, with part of its facade still visible.

Notorious in the bank’s history is a robbery that took place on November 22, 1934. The robbers, known as the “Ghost Gang,” used handguns and a submachine gun to steal almost $8,000. They made good their escape by using bank employees as human shields, forcing them to ride on the running boards of the get-away car. Law enforcement killed or arrested the gang members a few days later. However, one member of the gang eluded capture and disappeared. He was never apprehended and remained on the FBI’s wanted list until the 1960s.

From 1863 to 1935, national bank notes were regularly issued by banks throughout the United States and its territories. The federal government would back the value of the currency, which was secured by U.S. bonds. In reaction to the Great Depression, Congress passed the Banking Act of 1933, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and national bank notes were retired as currency by the federal government. We still have a piece of this history at the Bank: a couple of $5 bills from 1929. The bills came to Superior in sheets and had to be cut into individual bills, a very precise process.