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Razed building housed several businesses, and Osmond promoters

OSMOND — Another piece of Osmond’s history came down recently when the building housing the former Dr. Rodgers office, dentists’ office and residences was torn down.

Dr. Clarence Edwin (C.E.) Rodgers was a hometown boy who attended Wayne State College and the University of Nebraska Medical School before coming back and opening his office on Osmond’s main street. He later performed his duties in the back room of a drug store.

In 1931, Rodgers built a modern brick office building on Fourth Street, which housed both his office and the dental office of Dr. Paul Becker, another hometown boy.

Dr. Rodgers was a beloved family doctor who delivered more than 2,000 babies, most of them in homes. He was also a dedicated Osmond resident who supported and promoted interest in his hometown and its people. He worked toward the establishment of St. Joseph’s Hospital, which became Osmond General Hospital.

Dr. Rodgers gradually limited his practice after suffering a slight stroke in 1966, and after almost 50 years in the medical profession in Osmond, he died in 1969.

Dr. Paul Becker, although born in Howells, moved here with his family in 1902 and graduated from Osmond High School in 1910. He graduated from the Creighton School of Dentistry in 1914 and immediately began a 42-year practice here. 

Becker’s first office was on the second floor of the old Cizek building (former Tiger Town Grocery building, which burned in 2017). In 1931, he moved into the Rodgers building.

Becker’s longest absence was in 1953 when he had minor surgery and was hospitalized. Becker remained at his practice until two days before he was hospitalized as a result of the heart attack that caused his death in 1956. 

Becker was also a dedicated Osmondite. He was a member of the Osmond Volunteer Fire Department, Osmond Community Club, the District 42R Board of Education and Catholic Order of Foresters, in addition to being the vice president of the Northeast Nebraska District Dental Association at the time of his death.

After Dr. Becker’s death, another dentist — Dr. R. J. Schleppenbach served Osmond in the same office space, two days a week for a number of years, then once a week, until 1967.

Also a Residence

According to information in the Osmond Centennial Book, the structure built by Dr. Rodgers also had space used as a residence. In 1975, Osmond Republican publisher Gene Liewer and wife Sue, who had lived above the newspaper office until they sold the business to daughter Mary Jane and husband Duane Weber, purchased the building.

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Gloria Liewer Duenwald shared her thoughts about her parents’ last property in Osmond:

“Reviewing page upon page of legalese in the abstract of that property, I hoped to read some more personal history centering around my parents’ last property in Osmond, recently razed, just off State Street, with the frontage on Fourth Street. 

“Why, I say to myself, is the last will and testament of a purported millionaire, Robert H. Ives, of Providence, R.I., included in this abstract? If there are any Osmond names I recognize as connected with him, I missed them.

“Oldest date I find in the abstract goes back to 1886, which is also when Nebraska is first mentioned, I think because permission was given then to transfer legal business to Cedar County.

“The first time I find mention of Osmond connections in the abstract, now owned by Osmond General Hospital as far as I know, is in the last will and testament of William H. Huwaldt, who apparently owned the property when he died in 1916. 

“All sorts of Osmond names I know are in that will – including Kahler, Rohrberg, Beckman, Brunckhorst, Timmerman, Lorenz.

“If I’m reading the abstract correctly, in 1925 there was a lawsuit involving the property. I can’t tell who won, and I don’t know how the property came to be owned by Dr. C. E. Rodgers, M.D., whose will is also in the abstract. He died in 1969. His wife, who I remember helping care for as a nurses’ aid at the Osmond hospital, died around 1960. 

“The only mention of my parents in the abstract is in an agreement they signed with Merlyn and Nyla Kuhl who owned the barber shop just west of their home, at the corner of Fourth and State St. It concerned a common wall between the two properties. 

“I’m curious how the barbershop property’s common wall was protected when my parents’ former home was recently razed. 

“The Osmond centennial book, in Dr. Rodgers’ history, tells us the building was built in 1931. He later added the barbershop building. 

“I grew up in the three-bedroom apartment above the Osmond Republican. I don’t know from whom my folks bought what turned out to be their last Osmond home. 

“In my youth the west part of that building was Dr. Rodgers’ office and the east part was always a dentist’s office (about where my mother’s kitchen ended up), first Dr. Paul Becker’s and then Dr. Schleppenbach’s who traveled from Pierce. 

“My parents’ home, I was told, had just previously been an apartment. I’d like that verified. Mother and Dad extensively remodeled the building prior to moving in 1975.

“I think it was they who added a couple of small rooms to the east and a garage/carport. They lived there until Dad died in 1999, and Mother continued to live there until she moved to live with us in 2001; she died in 2010. Both are buried in Osmond’s St. Mary’s Cemetery.

“I still sometimes dream about going to the dentist in that building! Another fond memory was following a diagonal shortcut path across Memorial Park, where the Osmond hospital now stands, to get from our home to St. Mary’s School or the Osmond High School. On the south side, that path started right by the dentists’ office. 

“Yes, my parents had a lovely home in that building, conveniently located across from the Senior Center, which they frequented, and with as good a view of “Main” Street as they were accustomed in their former home above the Republican.

“ The hospital bought the property. Mother hoped the hospital might use it for an assisted living facility (to be appreciated as much as she and Dad had), but as far as I know, it was always used for storage. 

“Our family says a fond goodbye to the recently razed building. Our memories live on. “

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