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SMITHFIELD, Neb. — When Illa Anders, is asked to describe Smithfield, she smiles and replies, “It’s quiet.”
Ann Hagan adds, “Except when they come to read the water meters, and that sets the dogs off.”
Anders has been the village clerk since 1989. Hagan says, “If you get a job here, you don’t get rid of it very easy.”
Hagan would know about that. She’s been the chairwoman of the Smithfield Village Board of Trustees for about 15 years.
Smithfield is in Gosper County, midway between Elwood and Bertrand, and has a population of about 60.
They were talking about Smithfield’s founding and some of its history while seated in Anders’ store, Smithfield Emporium, on Commercial Avenue. The building was constructed about 120 years ago.
Early in the 20th century a company manufactured ironing boards there, and the building later passed through several owners as a grocery store before Anders bought it in 1985 and, as she says, “filled it with junk.”
There are many curiosities for sale in the Emporium, including a T-shirt that says, “Not only am I perfect, I’m Danish, too.”
The Emporium is a popular meeting place. Mondays are given over to card games; Tuesdays are for Bible study. The women have coffee on Wednesdays, and the men’s turn for coffee comes Thursdays.
On Fridays, Anders and Hagan said, “We take the day off.”
Anders has coffee and Danish rolls, and if someone makes a reservation, she’ll make an authentic-style Danish dinner.
Across the street is Smithfield’s best-known place: Tuffy’s Bar and Grill, where lunches and dinners are served.
Tuffy’s started in the 1950s as the Smithfield Tavern, owned by Ray and Anastasia Shaffer. Lucille Hagan bought it in 1960 and christened it Tuffy’s Bar and Grill for her husband, according to her son, Ray Hagan.
It’s been Tuffy’s ever since.
There was a time when Tuffy’s was the only place for miles around where people could buy beer on Sundays. It became a popular watering hole for thirsty farmers and townsfolk.
And several farmers picked up some extra cash on Sundays in the winter, towing people whose vehicles had slid on the slippery road north to Dawson County.
Tuffy’s passed through several hands and was closed for a time until Verna Barnhouse bought it three years ago.
Those establishments aren’t all there is to Smithfield. The village has a Commercial Club that began with the money left over from the community’s centennial celebration in 1990.
Anders says the club put an addition on the village hall, and women meet there weekly to exercise. The club also acquired playground equipment that’s alongside the village hall.
Plus, Smithfield was adopted by Joe Jeffrey, a well-known after-dinner speaker who farms in the Platte Valley but says he has a love affair with the little village.
Smithfield was used as a source of great laughter at his speaking engagements.
Speaking at some far place like Indianapolis, he’d tell his audience that when the Smithfield library burned down the town decided not to rebuild it. It had only two books.
Smithfield was created by the Burlington railroad to water the boilers on its locomotives. It got its name from Elbert Smith, who owned the tract of land the railroad bought.
A Smithfield centennial book said the site was pasture until Elbert learned that the railroad was coming. He tore up the pasture and planted the land with millet, increasing the value of the land and what the railroad paid for it.
The village had a K-12 school, but the high school closed in 1949, and the grade school closed in 1968. The school has become a handsome brick home for Ray and Sherron Hagan.
Smithfield had a bank called Farmers State Bank that now is a private residence. It closed in the late 1930s but was a source of excitement before that.
The centennial book says that in half a year, the bank was robbed twice, although the dates are lost to history.
The first time it was a daylight holdup by a man with a gun in each hand. He got away with $2,500 and headed south. He was never caught.
Also never caught were a couple of men who broke through the wall of the vault one night and made off with a handsome sum.
Smithfield once had three churches, but only the Catholic Church remains.
When the Methodist Church closed, someone from Bertrand moved the church’s bell there.
Anders, chairwoman of the village board, was convinced that the bell belonged in Smithfield. She paid $300 to get it moved back.
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