An old landmark in Bassett was first built about 1906 by Joe Leonard. It has survived several moves within the city proper.

Shell Kelly, early day pioneer in Bassett, and retired contractor, said this week that he believes the building first stood where Bessie's café is now located (on the east side of Main street between the Bronco Bar and the Leader office). It was then moved to the corner where the Rock County Oil company is and then again to the location of the present Laundromat. From there it went to the place where it was until recently moved out of town.

The building was built for a blacksmith shop and was used for that purpose until recent years, Kelly said.

While it was built by Joe Leonard it was occupied by Neal Eastman, father of Grover Eastman. Eastman, Shell recalls built a building, but it burned down. He then moved into the other structure.

Shell arrived in Bassett at the age of six years with his parents. At that time, he said the only buildings in Bassett were on the north side of the railway tracks. Of the business buildings still standing, he says, the George Berry building, now owned by Doris Leonard is one of the oldest.

This building, he said, was moved in to town from Rock Center, a short-lived community east of Bassett.

The house formerly occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Galloway north of the tracks is one of the oldest houses in town, Shell says.

The Bassett Hotel was located on the northwest corner of block 4 and faced toward where the railroad later ran through. It was owned by C.E. Artus. It later burned to the ground due to a kerosene lamp left unattended while the community was at the Chautauqua. Another hotel was run by W. Johnson, called the Valley House. This was found on the east side of Main Street. The first hotel in Bassett was the Martin House.

Newspapers were plentiful in early Rock County:

A.F. Dugger, Sr. and J.A. Nugent owned and edited the Bassett Herald. C.P. Wiltse later changed the name to Republican Herald and later to the Republican Statesman. In 1894 Mr. Wiltse moved to Newport and became the owner and editor of the Newport Republican.

Mrs. Bowser had run a newspaper in Newport and in 1894 moved to Bassett to edit and own The Advocate.

Other early papers were 1890 Reese Mays established the Bassett Enterprise, and W.T. Phillips printed the Bassett Eagle. Other papers were The Clipper, County Bugle and Rock County Enterprise.

The longest running paper, still on the presses today is the Rock County Leader. It is believed that Rev. Conley began this paper in 1897.

Other businesses were the following:

Mr. Cassel had the first hardware store; followed by Carl Stenby.

The furniture store was owned and operated by A. Bixby (he was also the undertaker!).

Livery stables were operated by George D. Marsh (later Sheriff of Rock County and whose parents homesteaded here in 1870.); Peggy Leach, Loomes, Woods and Billy Griffith.

Charles Young and Wilson Nourse operated general stores; Mr. Swartz and Sam Likens operated butcher shops; W.B. Ham was a live stock dealer.

There was also an overabundance of Lawyers in this area considering the amount of population at that time: R.B. Madison, Al Tingle, W.H. Holmes, J.J. Carlin and J.A. Douglas.

Doctors present in the county in the late 1800's were: Dr. White, E.J. Warner and Dr. Root.

Most of the first businesses in Bassett were located north of the railroad tracks, because the site of the present business section was thought too low and wet. Later excavation and filling in with large amounts of dirt made it possible for the south side of the railroad tracks to hold and enhance business buildings. The street ran north and south with buildings on each side of the street. The sidewalks were high enough for children to beable to climb underneath.

Mrs. Grandstaff had a restaurant and Mr. Skirving had a general store. It burned to the ground and was never rebuilt.

The Rock County communities were definitely tight knit groups who all came together at times of celebration, tragedy, and just in the pride of the communities that they were building for future generations. The pioneers of this county worked hard to provide a living for their families, to build communities that would endure, and yet always took out the time to have fun and to have strong fellowship with all of their neighbors and neighboring communities.

There were neighborhood parties; Literary Societies; Social Organizations; Quilting Bees; School functions in the winter..Neighborhood Picnics, County Fair, Chautauquas, Fourth of July Celebrations, Baseball games, dances and other holiday celebrations in the summer. The whole population of the county turned out to participate in these events.not only because they needed a time for relaxation and fun but because they considered this county and all within it, their family. They took pride in presenting the greatest county in the area and they accomplished just that.

Schools and Churches took center stage after a house and barn was built. Religious convictions and the knowledge that an education was a priority were never far from the pioneers minds and hearts.

Many of the old-timers in the southern part of the county can remember trading in a small German community known as Duff.

Although Duff never really amounted to much more than a dance hall, sundry store and post office, the surrounding homesteaders and ranchers made Duff the center of their community activities.

The first settler in the Duff area was John Seier, who traveled into this area with Adolf, Rudolph and Theodore Zlomke. Seier settled and homesteaded a quarter of land located one-half south of the old Duff location.

However, in 1880 when Seier first settled in the area, he had to do his trading in Ainsworth, the closest settlement. It wasn't until six years later that a post office was established at Duff with Stephen B. Nelson as the first postmaster. The local settlers encouraged the growth of a sundry store and post office at Duff, so they wouldn't have to travel so far to trade.

Henry Seier, son of homesteader John Seier, can recollect when he was a youngster that a man named Dwight Eager had purchased considerable land around and including the Duff post office and store. He built a dance hall and enlarged the store to include all types of groceries, hardware, and sundry items. Eager also owned a few head of cows along with managing the store and post office.

Henry can remember going to dances at Duff, and says that they even used to roller skate in the old Duff hall. He also recollects people going to Duff to trade riding horses or driving a buggy, tying their horses to a cable strung onto posts for hitching.

In the fall of 1893 a school was opened two miles from Duff with S.W. Spragg as the first teacher. He was paid $25 per month for two months of school. The first school was just a sod house, but in 1895 a frame building was constructed.

All but one of the Seier children attended the Duff school. Henry says that he only went to school three months out of the year. When his dad retired and moved to Long Pine, Henry was in the fifth grade by country school standards, but was put back into the third grade in town school.

When Henry was 17 years old he returned to his father's ranch of 2400 acres to help his older brother manage the place. He later married and settled on one portion of the ranch two miles from Duff.

Henry recalls that the Duff store changed hands several times. Jack Garretson purchased the store from Eager, and later Fred Wicht purchased the store from Garretson. Ed Hillburn bought the store and surrounding land from Fred Wicht and during his ownership the original Duff store burned down.

Hillburn had his home built into the back part of the store and the fire destroyed the whole building. However with the help of the community they were able to save the dance hall. Henry estimates that the fire must have occurred in the late 1920's.

Hillburn had begun a cream testing station before the store burned down. Glen Smith had helped Hillburn test cream and wanted to start up the business once again. Smith purchased the property and the Duff dance hall. He started another grocery and hardware business and became the new postmaster, remodeling the dance hall to accommodate his business. Henry Seier can remember driving a Model T Ford into Duff to trade with Smith, when cars were just becoming popular in the area.

When Mrs. Smith died in November 1950, Mr. Smith decided to sell the property and the Duff store, Forest Saar had bought up all but the 20 acres that Smith owned around Duff, and purchased the remaining land from Smith.

About the same time, the new Highway 183 was being built through the southern part of the county. The Rose store had been located on the old Highway 183. When the Duff post office closed, Rose became the post office for the area and relocated along the new highway. Shortly thereafter several school systems consolidated and Rose community school opened in the new location.

Henry Seier says that the only thing left at Duff now, other than the school house a few miles away, is an old style cellar which was made of cement and covered with sod. Over the years the sod has worn down and is now gone.

Duff is remembered in the hearts and minds of the few families such as the Boergers, Zlomkes, Linkes, Mengers and Seiers who still recall the happy community gatherings held at Duff.

G.A.R. Celebration - Rock County Leader - 1901

The big reunion was held on July 3,4, and 5, 1901 and to say the least it was a real patriotic celebration.

Here passes in review veterans: F.D. Adams; G.A. Anders; G.D. Ashworth; J.M. Bair; H.H. Burgett; Chas. Bell; S.R. Bates; C.G. Beals; Geo. E. Bates; L. Cannenburg; C.H. Curtiss; J.H. Davenport; Alex DeBolt; W.M. Frear; F. Fisher; G. Herrington; M.D. Hazard; C.W. Harrington; Thos. Hutton; A. Kemp; B.L. Loomis; J.D. Likens; D. Mather; D. Maurice; B. Palmer; P.L. Putman; J.M. Phillips; J.C. Rupert; I.W. Stockdale; Wm. Tweed; C.A. VanHorn; Chas. Webster; Chas Young all of Bassett community.

C.S. Barber; Clay Fox; H.H. Tyler; W.H. Taylor all of Newport. Also registered were: C.F. Barnes; A. B. Capwell; J.J. Davis; G.W. Eicher; P. Korns; J.G. Kimball; Robert Martin; T.O. McGrew and C.W. Potter of Ainsworth; L.D. Bates; O.S. Crabtree; G.W. Cady; Ben Clark; J.S. Davisson; D.A.L. Ferguson; J.A. Ferguson; J.M. Mead; Chas. Rapp and G.V. Wells of Long Pine. G.W. Guyton of Johnstown. Ralph Lewis of Lutes. F.M. Sageser of Gordon. E.W. Tarbell of Springview and E.B. Woods of Enterprise.

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