This is an old picture postcard showing the west side of the Seward, NE "square"; the west side of the County Courthouse block. This picture was taken before the brick streets were laid in the early 1900's. The big building beyond the end of the block was the old Windsor Hotel which was demolished over 50 years ago. However, the full block of buildings look very similar today. The closest building was a Bank at the time but has been a cafe for a number of years. It was "renovated" a few years ago and is now the "Cafe on the Square". It is one of Seward's most popular restaurants. The building at the far end of the block is the Masonic Lodge AF&AM. To my knowledge, it is the only building in the block that is still utilized by the original owners. The street is now part of Nebraska Highway #15 which runs north & south across eastern Nebraska from Washington, KS to Vermillion, SD. The highway carries a lot of heavy truck traffic and only parallel parking is permitted. Back in the 1930's when traffic was very light, there was not only diagonal parking but also parking in the middle of the street. A few years ago when there was discussion about the heavy truck traffic, my friend Billy suggested that we needed to bring back the center parking. He reasoned that the truckers would find some other route and wouldn't come through Seward. He is the same guy who wouldn't answer his phone, saying that if he wanted to talk to someone, he would call them. Billy isn't with us anymore and we miss his "outside the box" thinking. We need to do more of that.
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