McGreer brothers’ legacy recognized

The efforts of three Montgomery County brothers to grow Montgomery County have officially been immortalized.
On May 23, the bridge on 250th St. over the East Nishnabotna River was renamed the McGreer Hawkins Park Bridge, in honor of John “Bud” McGreer,  Joseph “Joe” McGreer, and W.F. “Frank” McGreer. The three brothers formed Hawkins Park, an amusement park that opened in June, 1913. Bud and Joe owned the land adjacent to the park, Frank helped in development, and other relatives were active in the operation. The park was named Hawkins after the Hawkins family which came from central Ohio to the prairie southwest of Red Oak and established farms along the Nishnabotna. They left the area by 1913, but their name remained on the bridge for the river crossing near the park, and it helped in locating the park to use the Hawkins name.
More than 40 people showed up for the dedication ceremony and a program, led by Ken Ossian, a Red Oak native. Ossian was one of the people who spearheaded the bridge being renamed to honor the amusement park that had once been located near it. Ossian recalled hearing of the amusement park’s existence long after the last visitors rode the last rides.
“I grew up here. I spent 12 years in the county. In the late 1940s, my mother, to go for groceries, would drive over this bridge. I was six years old, and I looked over into the pasture at that time. They had prize heifers running in there. But more importantly, there were concrete piers laying about in the pasture. And it didn’t make sense. I asked my mother what those concrete piers were doing in that cow pasture. And she told me when she was a little girl, around 1913, the family came over from Randolph, and they would spend an afternoon at Hawkins Park,” explained Ossian. They would go on the rides. They would watch the ball games, the horse races, and what have you. At six years old, you’re looking out at a cow pasture, and you’re trying to envision a park. And for the rest of my life, every time I go through here, I constantly look over there, and I try to envision that park.”
Ossian shared some of the history of the park, noting it was among 60 acres of grassland and timber, and recorded its highest attendance shortly after it opened, as well as some of the brothers’ other successes.
“To give you a rough idea of what the park involved back then, there were 5,000 people that showed up on July 4, 1913, the most of any time during the park’s operation. It was one of the first successful amusement parks, if not the only one, that was in Southwest Iowa. They started a farming operation from their father in 1900. They started with an elevator in Coburg, then they started with the shipping yards. They had a seed corn company. They did hybrid sweet corn before the word hybrid was a word. And they actually sold that seed corn in every state in the Union. There were two stockyards that would ship cattle and hogs on the rail in Montgomery County. One was of course in Red Oak, the other one was in Coburg,” commented Ossian. “It’s argued among the Coburg people that they shipped more than the people in Red Oak. But neither one of them did for more than a couple years. The truck came in, and it started shipping from the farmer to Omaha direct. They also had the bank in Coburg, and cattle and hog feeding operations in Nebraska.”
Despite all the varying interests, Ossian said it didn’t stop the McGreer brothers from starting Hawkins Park for a successful five-year run.
“The amusement park lasted for five years, from 1913 to 1918. In 1918, for some of us that don’t remember, you had World War I. The baseball tournaments that were played at the park, all those players were now were in uniform and gone. Then there was the spread of the Spanish Flu, which killed over a million people. The idea of wanting to travel or go places was not very popular, so McGuire shut the park down for just lack of attendance,” advised Ossian.
After researching the history, Ossian said Stan Sibley suggested renaming the bridge to the McGreer Hawkins Park Bridge. The proposal was presented to the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and was unanimously approved.
Also present at the ceremony were Bud’s granddaughters, Connie Hilding, Marilyn Griffith, Marge Groom, Cheryl Shoemaker, and Barb Wilkins McGreer. Hilding said her grandfather’s interest in entertainment didn’t end when the park closed in 1918.
“When Cheryl and I were around eight or 10 years old, Bud erected a teeter-totter where Hawkins Park used to be. It was huge, and this teeter-totter, besides going up, it went around. By that time, there was nothing there really to identify Hawkins Park. But, you know, as little kids, we just knew Bud as a great-grandpa, and Hawkins Park was something that the old folks talked about. But that was a good memory,” said Hilding.
Griffith also spoke about some of her fond memories, including that massive teeter totter.
“I remember Grandpa taking me there. We would go to see after the Nishnabotna flooded if it was still there, and it would be there. I loved it. It was so exciting. I don’t know how they were able to make it do what it did. There must have been a giant ball bearing in there, but it was wonderful. I remember grandpa was concerned that I was already a rebellious young one and couldn’t wait till the teenage years. I wanted to go out and hang out with everybody that was out working, and I loved riding tractors whenever I could. Well, he had them build a fence around the yard. But then Grandpa, being like he was, he taught me how to crawl over that gate.”
Griffith expressed her appreciation for the people who had come to honor her family’s legacy.
“If there would have been just one person here, I would have been so honored. And for you guys to give up a Friday afternoon, on Memorial Day weekend, is an honor. I appreciate you all so much for doing this for us, and the legacy. I would see him come in from the field, between the barn, and the shed, and the shop, and everything.Hhe always took time to wave. When I was six years old, he was suffering from colon cancer. I didn’t learn that until years later, but it was not going to stop him. There was a job to be done, and he did it,” stated Griffith.
Groom then spoke during the ceremony, saying she had wonderful memories of her grandpa and grandma, Stella.
“Both of our grandparents were very loving people. One thing I remember that I always enjoyed was that every Sunday after church, we would go down to Grandpa and Grandma’s house, and we would have dinner. After dinner, Grandpa, who loved his land and his farm, liked to show off his cattle, his cows, his bulls. He would take me in his old vehicle, and we would go down through the pastures, and when I was about probably eight or 10, he would let me drive once we got into the fields. He would talk about his cows, and he’d talk about the bulls, and that’s how I learned to drive. By the time I was 10 years old, I knew how to drive,” Groom explained.
Shoemaker also remembered rides in the car, and the fact that Grandpa Bud would sing songs the whole way.
“He’d sing crazy, silly songs, but he was the best song singer. I don’t ever remember Hawkins Park, of course. My grandpa was born in 1878, died in 1959, so he lived a good long life, but, we just never feel like it’s long enough. He had so much to give to his community and so much to give to his family. At Christmas, he’d go down to the barn and he’d say he had to go feed the cows, and he’d change into his Santa Claus suit and come back as Santa Claus for us girls. We remember him as a great grandpa, but he was so entrepreneurial and so ahead of his time and he did so much for this community,” Shoemaker said.
Wilkins McGreer also spoke, but said sadly, she didn’t get to know Bud to form her own memories.
“I didn’t know Grandpa. I heard great stories about Grandpa, but he died right after I was born. Grandma, she was always great. I would go up the house and play with Grandma, and we’d go in the pantry, and she always told me, now don’t get back in that corner. There’s a trap back there. Well, don’t tell me that. I’m going to go look, and it was a rat trap. I got into it over my foot. I come hobbling out screaming, and Grandma just kept telling me, sit still so I can get it off your foot. Well, I’m shaking my foot, and Grandma’s trying, and she finally got it off. Thankfully that’s not my only memory. She told stories, we played games a lot of times. I’m sure Grandpa, Grandma and others are looking down and thanking everybody for being here,” Wilkins McGreer stated.