The first white settler to arrive
in Crete was Jesse C. Bickle and his wife, Elizabeth. They moved
to Nebraska from Iowa in 1863 and Mr. Bickle staked off a homestead on
160 acres of land along the Blue River. He was the first white settler
in the Big Blue Valley between Camden on the north and Tobias
Castor’s homestead south of Wilber.
The Jesse
C. Bickle homestead - #2
was patented by President U.S. Grant on September 1, 1869 after Bickle
had proved a 5-year residence on his claim. This is the first abstract
entered in Saline County. Mr. Bickle’s patent is registered as
number one in Book I of Deeds in the Wilber Courthouse. Another grant
was issues to Bickle on May 2, 1870. This grant contained 80 acres.
His original home was a dugout in the bank of the Big Blue river, but
a flood forced him out during his first year of residence. In 1864 he
built a one story room log cabin up higher on the bank of the Big Blue
River. About 1870 the log house was enlarged slightly to the east and
a second floor was added. Before 1879 Bickle made a final addition to
the house. A new front was added on the east and various alterations
were made to the remainder of the house.
In 1869 there were but three or four buildings upon the ground before
Crete was laid off for a town site. One of these was the log dwelling,
belonging to Bickle, in which was kept the post office. In 1869 G. W.
Bridges built a saw mill in the south part of town. The following year
this firm completed a flour mill, from which they turned out the first
grist on the 4th of July, 1870. They called this the Mapleton Mills
because of the many maple trees in the area.
Being the first permanent resident, Bickle was named postmaster of the
area on August 26, 1868. Although the post office was always
registered as Crete, the town was originally called Mapleton. So the
first unofficial name of this town Crete was Mapleton.
In the summer of 1870 on August 3, Jesse Bickle selected a site of a
forty acre tract on the southern portion of his land and platted his
town which he named Blue River City. Thus, Mapleton became Blue River
City. Those who owned the lands afterward and helped select the town
site were Bickle, Mary George, Samuel Bingaman, G. W. Bridges, and O.
W. Baltzley. Bickle hired a civil engineer to lay out the town. On
November 26, 1870 the town site formed their own city on lands bought
from the original landowners.
During the platting of Blue River City, several business houses were
opened. The first business house to open in Crete was in the summer of
1870 by W. Valentine, John L. Tidball and William Haine. It was a
large frame store room built and filled with a stock of goods
including general merchandise. It went under the name of Valentine,
Tidball and Company. The next business house was opened by V. C.
Toogood, and his brother Thomas Toogood. It went under the name
Toogood Brothers. They had a general store and meat market. In October
the firm of Corey and Harris began business with general stock of
goods. Members of the firm were S.T. Corey and William Harris. The
chief source of trade at this time was supplying the railroad
construction camp located in Crete. In the fall of 1870, the town had
just seventeen houses, including all manner of buildings, and by April
of the following spring the number of houses was increased to thirty
five.
