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Diller was founded on the western edge of the Otoe Indian\u00a0 Reservation, along the Oregon Trail, within 20 miles of the first National\u00a0 Homestead, and 6 miles from Rock Creek Pony Express Station. As the land opened\u00a0 up for settlement a group of Germans from Pennsylvania settled the area and in\u00a0 1880 the town was platted and recorded. It was named after Samuel Diller, one of\u00a0 the first settlers in the area, who lived just north of the town site.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The following is an\u00a0 excerpt taken from the April, 1956 edition of the Norris Electric News, <\/span><\/i>written by Mrs. Scott Miller (February 6, 1898-August 19, 1987) Diller, Nebraska.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Just a few miles to the north and off the beaten track of\u00a0 the Old Oregon Trail in southeastern Jefferson, County, Nebraska, snuggled along\u00a0 the north bank of Indian Creek, so named because this land was once a part of\u00a0 the old Otoe and Missouri Indian Reservation, lies the village of Diller,\u00a0 Nebraska.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The building of the Burlington railroad through there in\u00a0 1880\u00a0 was the occasion for the starting of the town. Construction of the\u00a0 railroad was from west to east-Oxford to Wymore and towns were located about\u00a0 every nine miles. Land on which Diller now stands was donated for a town-site by\u00a0 the Lincoln Land Company, David R. Kelley and Patrick Lavelle, Agents. <\/span><\/p>\n According to a letter written in 1910 by David Kelley to\u00a0 J.S. Diller, Washington, D.C., son of Samuel Diller, for whom the town was\u00a0 named, the birth and naming of the town occurred as follows: “In regards to the\u00a0 town of Diller will state that the deed was made October 13, 1880 and as near as\u00a0 I can remember it was plotted and surveyed October 1, 1880 by myself and R.O.\u00a0 Phillips and A.B. Smith, townsite surveyor and conditions as to how it came to\u00a0 be called Diller, I will tell you that I am the man that named the town of\u00a0 Diller after your father, Uncle Samuel Diller, as I called him and I will give\u00a0 you the parties present at the time, some of the talk and the grounds on which\u00a0 it was named. The following persons went with me over the grounds and I giving\u00a0 the townsmen 80 acres, or 1\/2 interest in 160 acres, they located the village\u00a0 here instead of at Upsons (Upsons Corner) 4 miles east.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0We crossed Indian ‘creek’ south of town. Mr. R.O.\u00a0 Phillips said, “Well, here we located the village of Kelleyville” and I said “We\u00a0 will call it Diller”. He asked my reasons and I told him that Uncle Samuel\u00a0 Diller was a nice old gentlemen. The group drank to the “prosperity of the new\u00a0 town of Diller” on the bank of the Indian Creek south of town on the road\u00a0 running to F.D. Darris place.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Now the names of the men present: A.E. Touzelin,\u00a0 President of the B.M.R.R.; Tobias Castor, Chief Right-of-way man; J.H. Hardy,\u00a0 Assistant Right-of-way man; J.D. McFarland B and M commissioner; R.O. Philips,\u00a0 Secretary and Treasurer, Townsite Company; A. B. Smith, Townsite Surveyor; and\u00a0 your servant. D.R. Kelley, Father of the Town, Respectfully yours, D. R.\u00a0 Kelley.”<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0We are grateful to Robert Diller, Chicago attorney and\u00a0 great grandson of Samuel Diller for the use of this letter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0According to records, however, in the Jefferson County\u00a0 courthouse at Fairbury, the instrument of deed was dated Novermber 8, 1880.\u00a0 Since a towns birth is said to be dated by the filing of the deed. Diller was\u00a0 officially 75 years of age as of last November (1955).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Diller duly celebrated the momentous event with a Diamond\u00a0 Jubilee held in conjunction with its 59th Annual Homecoming picnic, July 29 and\u00a0 30, 1955.<\/span><\/p>\n A pageant “Echoes of Indian Creek” written by the author\u00a0 of this article, depicting the history of Diller, in story, song and dance,\u00a0 through the 75 years of its existence, was presented in 25 scenes with a local\u00a0 cast of 373 characters, many of whom were descendants of pioneers of the\u00a0 Community, to an estimated audience of 8,000 people. It will long be remembered\u00a0 by those who participated, those who witnessed it and those who had charge of\u00a0 the big enterprise. The pageant committee included besides Mrs. Miller, Max\u00a0 Logan and Mrs. D Fanders.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The history of the Diller community dates back into the\u00a0 “70’s”. According to members of the Diller family, Samuel Diller and his son,\u00a0 J.B. Diller, greatgrandfather and grandfather, respectively of Marion Diller\u00a0 Logan, who lives in Diller today, came from their home near Carlisle, Cumberland\u00a0 County, Pennsylvania to Fairbury in 1876 as landseekers. They purchased property\u00a0 in Fairbury and two sections of land north of Diller, not on the Indian\u00a0 reservation. In 1877 they brought their families to Fairbury and in 1879 came to\u00a0 live in the Diller community.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Samuel Diller was instrumental in bringing a colony of\u00a0 Pennsylvania German soldiers from Cumberland County, Pa., in April 1878, via\u00a0 chartered railway coach to Fairbury, thence on to this community. There were\u00a0 quite a number of young married couples and single men, 19 adults and 13\u00a0 children. Mr. Diller became a patron saint to these young settlers, loaning them\u00a0 money at a low rate of interest to purchase reservation land, which had been\u00a0 opened up for settlement in 1878. He was influential in providing education\u00a0 advantages and a place of worship for them. School was held in his home around\u00a0 the kitchen table, with his son William as teacher. Church services were\u00a0 conducted in his home northeast of Diller. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0He gave 2 acres of land for the Diller Prairie Home\u00a0 Cemetary. He died in December, 1879, and his grave was the first one or one of\u00a0 the first to be made therein. He died without knowing that the town was to be\u00a0 named for him. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0In addition to Pennsylvania Germans, there were settlers\u00a0 of several other nationalities including Scotch-Irish, Germans and others, who\u00a0 came from other parts of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0As early as 1873, Abraham Blauser, native of Ohio, had\u00a0 settled just to the northwest of town and was said to have turned the first sod\u00a0 in Pleasant precinct.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The first Post Office was established in Diller on April\u00a0 5, 1880, with D.R. Kelley as the first Postmaster. The office was located in his\u00a0 home which stood on Indian Creek, a little to the north and east of Diller and\u00a0 was later moved on to the townsite.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Mail was carried across country from Steele City to Blue\u00a0 Springs past the Kelley home on Wednesdays of each week and back on Fridays. The\u00a0 carrier rode a horse and carried a small sack of mail. Diller’s small handful of\u00a0 mail was placed on the Kelley center table and out-going mail was placed on the\u00a0 same table. Stamps were canceled by writing the Post Office’s name and date\u00a0 across the stamp with ink.<\/span><\/p>\n Kelley built a small store in the summer of 1880 where\u00a0 the Coleman Hotel later stood, and became Diller’s first businessman. The Post\u00a0 Office was moved into the store that fall and operated along with his business.\u00a0 In 1881, he sold the store to Price Bros. and Thomas Price became Diller’s\u00a0 second Postmaster.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0R.F.D. service began in Diller on November 1, 1901, when\u00a0 two rural mail routes were established there. The first carrier on No.1 route\u00a0 was Charles Osborne, now living in California; William Diller was appointed\u00a0 carrier on Route No. 2. The first mail wagons were canvas covered affairs with\u00a0 U.S. Mail, RFD painted on the sides and heated in the dead of winter with hot\u00a0 bricks and corn. A third route was established in 1902 with Charles Reinhardt\u00a0 carrier. Routes were consolidated into two routes in 1934.<\/span><\/p>\n During the first five years of its existence, while\u00a0 Diller was unincorporated, it was controlled by the County Commissioners. In\u00a0\u00a0 April of 1885, the Commissioners appointed a committee of five, W.H. Diller,\u00a0 Joseph Bixby, P.W. Price, J.D. Fanders and A.H. Coleman to perfect a legal\u00a0 organization of incorporation. Elected as first town officials were Joseph\u00a0 Bixby, Chairman, William Green, Treasurer and G.I. Hodges, Secretary.<\/span><\/p>\n By this time, there was quite a town with nearly every\u00a0 kind of business established. The Presbyterian church was organized in 1881,\u00a0 built in 1884. The St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was built in 1889, the Diller\u00a0 Methodist in 1892 and the Christian Church in 1893.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Diller School District No. 70 was organized on February\u00a0 9, 1881 with L.D. Edgington, D.R. Kelley and F.D. Darr as the first Board of\u00a0 Education. Serving as first teacher of the school was Miss Etta Ballard,\u00a0 daughter of Alexander Ballard, Diller’s first blacksmith. She later became Mrs.\u00a0 J.C. McClay.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0In 1887, Frank Pearce came to Diller from Endicott\u00a0 bringing his newspaper, The Jefferson County Record, which he established as\u00a0 Diller’s first permanent newspaper, and which later became the Diller Record.\u00a0 Mr. Pearce who published the paper until his death many years later, was for\u00a0 years one of Diller’s leading citizens. The Diller Record became a World War II\u00a0 casualty. It was revived for a few years by Roy Holloway, Fairbury, but passed\u00a0 out of existence about two years ago. Today, Diller enjoys a Diller Record Page,\u00a0 in the Fairbury Journal.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Perhaps one might term the 1890’s as Diller’s boom years.\u00a0 E.L. Loock built his large general merchandise department store that year, with\u00a0 its fine opera house above. Two churches were built that year and things in\u00a0 general were looking up. The Silver Cornet Band was organized. On August 12,\u00a0 1897, the now famous Diller Picnic was originated by the AOUW Lodge and its\u00a0 auxiliary. With the exception of two World War II years, picnics have been held\u00a0 each year since, attracting thousands of people to it’s now two\/three-day celebration. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Diller was founded on the western edge of the Otoe Indian\u00a0 Reservation, along the Oregon Trail, within 20 miles of the first National\u00a0 Homestead, and 6 miles from Rock Creek Pony Express Station. As the land opened\u00a0 up for settlement a group of Germans from Pennsylvania settled the area and in\u00a0 1880 the town was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp20.hostgator.com\/~waamie0aagzc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}