McCook in Red Willow County, Nebraska — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)

Harry D. Strunk

1892-1960

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 7, 2021

1. Harry D. Strunk Marker

Inscription.
Harry D. Strunk dedicated his life to the development of southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas as founder and president of the Republican Valley Conservation Association. Motivated by the Republican River Flood of 1935 that claimed more than 100 lives, Strunk fought for decades resulting in construction of six dams and reservoirs in southwest Nebraska, northwest Kansas and northeast Colorado, providing water to tens of thousands of irrigated acres, flood control, outdoor recreation and wildlife habitat. The 82nd Congress named the lake north of Cambridge in Strunk’s honor.

Strunk, at age 19 with only an eighth grade education, founded the Red Willow County Gazette as a semi-weekly in 1911. The newspaper became the McCook Daily Gazette in 1924. In the pre-depression days of 1929, Strunk and the Gazette made journalistic and aviation history by being the first newspaper in the world to regularly deliver newspapers by air. The Curtiss-Robin C-1 airplane, christened “The Newsboy,” dropped papers to carriers in 40 area towns.

”Service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy in this world”

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Communications • Disasters • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1935.

Location. 40°

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12.29′ N, 100° 37.527′ W. Marker is in McCook, Nebraska, in Red Willow County. It is at the intersection of George Norris Avenue and East H Street, on the right when traveling north on George Norris Avenue. Marker is located in a triangular plaza at the northeast corner of the intersection. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Mc Cook NE 69001, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Eastern Nebraska and in the Republican River Valley.

It is also in the American Midwest,

in the Corn Belt,

and on the prairies.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 15 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Frank Morrison Home (a few steps from this marker); Erected in Memory of Bert Lafferty (within shouting distance of this marker); George William Norris (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); George W. Norris Home (about 300 feet away); Ben Nelson Home (about 600 feet away); First Homestead in Red Willow Co. (approx. 6.6 miles away); Pawnee Woman’s Grave (approx. 10.9 miles away); The Nelson Buck Massacre (approx. 14.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in McCook.

Also see . . .
1. Monument to Harry Strunk Unveiled. (from McCook Gazette, 10/1/2018) Allen D. Strunk described his father as “a man of vision .. a man of action,” as he and his family watched the unveiling Saturday of a new monument that honors the legacy of newspaperman and conservationist Harry D. Strunk. (Submitted on July 11, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. McCook's Man on Main Street: Publisher Harry D. Strunk

Marker detail: Harry D. Strunk image. Click for full size.

2. Marker detail: Harry D. Strunk

. (from Real, Charles E., "McCook's Man on Main Street: Publisher Harry D. Strunk and the politics of water reclamation in southwest Nebraska, 1928-1938") By the time Harry D. Strunk arrived in his new home of McCook, Nebraska in 1909, he had set his sights on becoming a newspaperman. While only seventeen years-old at the time of his first job with a McCook newspaper, he had already worked as a printer's devil and itinerant printer since the age of fourteen. (Submitted on July 11, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

3. McCook Gazette (Wikipedia). In 1929, Strunk paid $8,000 for a Curtiss Robin C1 two-seater monoplane, christened the Newsboy. On September 13, 1929, air delivery began. The Newsboy flew a nonstop three-hour route covering 389 miles, passing over more than 40 communities in southwestern Nebraska and northwestern Kansas. At each town, a bundle of papers was dropped from a height of 500 feet onto a prearranged field, where it was picked up by local carriers. A few major metropolitan newspapers had made short-term experiments with air delivery in 1928 and 1929. However, the months-long effort by the Gazette made it the first newspaper to conduct regular deliveries by air. After the Newsboy was taken out of service, it was sold and

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 7, 2021

3. Harry D. Strunk Marker

(looking north • George Norris Avenue on left)

restored several times. In 1972, it was placed on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. (Submitted on July 11, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

1926 <i>Gazette</i> Building<br>422 Norris Avenue image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 6, 2021

4. 1926 Gazette Building
422 Norris Avenue

Harry Strunk believed so firmly in his favorite quote that he engraved it in stone on his second Gazette office.

(visible above the entrance)
“Service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy in this world.”

Credits. This page was last revised on July 11, 2021. It was originally submitted on July 11, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 2,240 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 11, 2021, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.