Nevius Livery Stables
Imagine riding your horse and buggy around downtown Winona rather than driving a vehicle like we do nowadays. Back in the 1800s, a horse and buggy was many peoples main source of transportation. Right here in Winona, between Main street and Johnson street, once stood The Nevius Livery Stables. What was once a place home to horses, wagons, and buggies will now soon be home to Main Square Community. This goes to show that over 100 years later, many things have changed, especially the evolution of ways of transportation and technology.
As stated by Chris Huubuch in the Winona Newpaper, In the 1866, William Nevius moved from Ohio to Winona to set up shop as a horse trader. He grew up selling horses to farmers and loggers during the Civil War. By the 1880s, he and his daughter, Emory, who drove the horse-drawn buggies were running a livery stable. This stable was called, The Nevius Livery Stables. The stables allowed the locals were able to rent out horses, buggies, and wagons (winonadailynews.com). When Nevius’ business first started, it was very small and was only a fifteen-horse stable with sixty horses total. This stable progressively began to grow and became one of the largest buildings devoted to the livery and transfer business in the state. They had over fifty square feet of floor and gave business gave employment to twenty-five men and was home to approximately 275 horses year round. Along with the hundreds of horses, each horse had its own companion, a dog. It was rumored at the barn that the dogs and horses understood each other and could tell secrets to one another. The dogs were highly trained and even could do a few tricks. According to Huubuch, one of the amazing features of this establishment was how clean it was and how friendly everyone was to each other. Livery stables here in Winona and all across the United States were more than just a place for business.
Unfortunately, after about forty years, part of the barn caught on fire. This fire was the tenth one to occur in a very short period of six months. The flames spread rapidly and badly destroyed majority of the stable. Employees tried putting out the fire with buckets of water and had to move the horses carefully but efficiently. Luckily, none of the horses were injured or killed in the fire but the company did experience a loss of money. The business lost about $650. The fire was not purposely started by anyone but they did eventually find out how it happened. The cause of the fire was due to careless and reckless boys with their cigarettes. These acts done by the boys caused a lot of ruckus and destroyed a big part of Winona history. The stables had to be rebuilt from ground zero and very little items were salvageable.
Livery stables were a place where men gathered and did business work. They interacted and helped individuals looking to rent supplies. The stables had lots to choose from for very reasonable prices. Horse rentals per day costed about $0.50 and to add a buggy it was just $0.50 more. This was reasonable for the lower class individuals and for the upper class. They could even rent a carriage and a driver for $4.00 per day if they wanted. The Nevius Livery Stables here in Winona along with other livery stables not only provided the horse and buggy but also rented and sold other things the individuals may need such as a horse saddle, hay, or even a bucket of oats (petticoatsandpistols.com).
Back in the 1800s and early 1900s, horses and buggies were very common. The first horse and buggy were invented in the fifteenth century. According to Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr in their book, The Horse in the City, they stated that “the nineteenth century was the golden age of the horse.” Horses transported passengers from place to place, provided the power for vehicles that moved freight, and even fought fires. They were also used many times in mills, breweries, foundries, and machine shops because of their strength and size. Before horses were used to carry and pull things, humans tamed them for meat and leather as early as 14,000 BCE. Without horses, humans could not have built nor survived. Horses were very beneficial and were considered “machines.” People valued these animals incredibly.
Horses are genetically gifted animals and provide tremendous power compared to humans as well as many other animals. According to McShane and Tarr, for a four-hour shift, humans could move 4,420 foot-pounds per minute, horses 24,780, mules 16,530, and ox 22,044. Horses fatigued less quickly and could get more work done than other animals. Horses are large animals but can ease their way through fields, woods, just about anything to get their rider where they need to go. They were very reliable and well trained to get from one destination to the next.
Majority of people relied on horses as a way of transportation. Low class to high class people all used this type of transportation. Lower class people usually had a more simple buggy with only two wheels and made from wood. The upper class individuals could afford the more expensive ones which were more elegant buggies with four wheels and made from metal which made them more sturdy. They were reasonably priced and widely available. They were able take individuals short distance or even hundreds of miles. A buggy was very light and was only able to fit two people at a time. As years went on, horse and buggies seemed to fade by the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Many organizations did studies and found that horses costed more per mile than an electric streetcar. A horse costed $0.0372 per mile compared to $0.02371 for a streetcar. Due to the higher cost of horses, they quickly began to disappear. They were used less often for transportation services. By the early 1900s, the automobile industry began to take off and thousands of cars were produced and sold.
The evolution of automobiles was a very big deal and made majority of people’s lives easier. It allowed people to get places quicker and easier whenever they wanted. Many of the first cars were powered by steam engines. They didn’t have most things that they have today such as, “windshields, doors, turn signals, or even a round steering wheel” (idrivesafely.com). Although the cars didn’t have everything that they have today, they were quite popular. Due to the large take off of automobiles, the Winona Nevius Livery Stables changed quite dramatically.
Horses slowly moved out and cars began moved into the stables. What used to be known as the Nevius Livery Stables was now home to The Nevius Taxi and Transfer Company. The building had a whole new remodel that costed about $3,500. The walls were composed of steel plates and the floors were made out of concrete. The old wood floors that once held up horses and buggies are now in a new home at the Winona County Historical Society. The Nevius building began to serve as an auto dealership, a tire store, and was most recently home to a cable TV company. The stables held horses for approximately forty years before the drastic change of horses to automobiles. Less and less people began to rent out the horses, buggies, and wagons because they rented or purchased cars instead. Technology was evolving and these animals were not as essential as they once were.
Models of cars were improving and they were becoming much safer and more efficient. In 1906, Henry Ford who is the inventor of “Ford” vehicles, created an automobile that resembled vehicles that we are familiar with today. It included, speedometers, seatbelts, windshields, and windows. These cars were affordable for most people to buy and allowed people to travel for a cheaper cost.
Today, rather than renting out horses and buggies, people are renting cars. In big cities as well as small cities almost everywhere, many people rent a car for a few hours or even a week. Businesses such as, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz, and Chrysler Winona are just a few car rental businesses in Winona and many other places around the United States. Renting a car is a very convenient option and can also be cheaper in most cases. The mileages are going onto another car, not your own and if you choose to add protection to the vehicle then the company will help out if anything goes wrong while you have the car. In some cases, the monthly repayments to lease a car are usually much lower than those needed to buy it (lovemoney.com). With car sharing and car renting places becoming more popular, less people are buying cars. Renting and sharing seems less expensive and often easier. There are a few other main reasons as to why people prefer not to own their own car. A couple of the reasons include, many people are moving to bigger cities where it seems unnecessary to purchase a vehicle and vehicle prices continue to increase. Urban areas in big cities are becoming to be the hot spots to live, especially for millennials. Living and working downtown gives most people the ability to either walk places, take a train, or rideshare. All of these causes are leading to a decrease in people wanting to purchase their own vehicle.
There are many predictions of what cars will look and be like in the future, some of them are pretty crazy. Flying cars and self-driving cars may be in the near future. It seems like each year, cars are improving and becoming more technologically advanced and economically friendly. With all of these improvements, the monthly payments will continue to increase. Due to the increase in costs, car sales will continue to plummet. This goes to show that the world is evolving and is always changing, especially the Nevius Livery Stables.
As years went on, the Nevius Livery Stables continued to sell cars and tires until that began to fade. It was vacant for some time but then became home to a cable TV company. This TV company was the last company that called this building home. A few years ago this old building was torn down. It had a long history and evolved from horses to cars to television. On the corner of Johnson and Main street is now an empty parking lot but will be drastically changed soon. Today, the creation of Main Square Community is in the process of being built.
The Main Square Community project began less than one year ago and is set to be completed by early 2020 (winonadailynews.com). This community will consist of market-rate apartments as well as upscale apartments, a Montessori school for toddlers and preschoolers run by Hiawatha Education Foundation, and commercial space. This development is in very high demand and will be a great addition to Winona. It shows how Winona and every other place is always evolving and new things are being created. One of the main goals of the development is to have enough parking for everyone who lives or works there. Their plan is to build an underground parking lot filled with hundreds of spots in order for each individual to park their car.
From back in the 1800s to the 2000s, a lot has changed. Many innovations and new technologies have and are changing the world. Machines such as cars are becoming more efficient and make it easier for transportation from one place to the next. Majority of people who are old enough to drive have their license and many have their own car. It is important for all of us to learn more about how individuals got around hundreds of years ago and the history of Winona. It had changed so much since the 1800s but we couldn’t have done it without the individuals who were here first and started all of these businesses and built the historic buildings that are around today.
Citations:
McShane, Clay and Tarr, Joel A., The Horse in the City, 2007
http://petticoatsandpistols.com/2011/07/15/life-at-the-livery/
https://www.lovemoney.com/news/13977/dont-buy-a-car-rent-one
