The first hardware store, which soon after put in furniture, was started at the very beginning-- early in 1900 by George B. Luft and Frank A. McCreary, under the name of Luft & McCreary, at the corner of Broadway and

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Sixteenth street. This was a one story frame twenty -five feet wide and about fifty feet long. The papers of 1901 say that they were putting in a double store stock in a single store room by hanging about half of it on the ceiling.

Later J. C. McCreary came out from Shelton and bought the Luft interest. The partnership known as McCreary Brothers thus came into existence and while it has later been made a corporation, it ;s still at the old stand. It has one of the finest store buildings in the west, certainly none finer for display and' stock is to be found in the panhandle of Nebraska, or eastern Wyoming. This building was constructed in 1908, and the firm does a big volume of business both wholesale and retail.

Geo. B. Luft also started the first exclusive dry-goods store in Scottsbluff in 1900. An earlv advertisement of this store which was named the Fair, speaks of a "rush for fancy dress shirts at 39 cents, work shirts at 50 cents, shoes at $1.50, and suits at $8 to $10.00." Prices like that would create a riot in the years 1920 or 1921.

First Bill of Groceries

As stated, the first grocery store was built and run by Mr. Kirkpatrick, and the first bill of groceries that went out of the store, was traded for some eggs, brought in by Jacobus' daughter. Mr. Jacobus lived in a sod house that once stood on the chautauqua grounds, the present site of the ea~t ward schools.