Election of 1892 saw a former president return to office

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On July 4, 1892, a new political party arrived on the scene. The first national convention of the Populist Party was held in Omaha. James B. Weaver was nominated as the party’s candidate for President of the United States.

Not long after the Populists packed their bags and left the state, the new community of Laurel was blessed with its first new arrival. The Coleridge Blade of July 28, 1892, reported: “The first baby born in the thriving little village of Laurel claims a home in the family of M.T. Woodruff. It is a girl and was born last Sunday.” Woodruff was a grain buyer for the Peavey Elevator Company at Claramont. The baby was named Ada. Things were looking up for the Populists and also for the new town of Laurel. Farmers also were looking up and hoping for rain. The spring of ‘92 had been unusually cold and wet. Chris Arduser reported he did not begin planting corn until after the twentieth of May and needed a fur coat while doing it.

The summer, however, was hot and dry. Farmers near Belden hired a balloonist to explode dynamite in the air with the hope of bringing rain. But no rain fell until August. The balloonist may have been Prof. Will Winterringer of Hartington. Winterringer thrilled area residents for many years with his daring ascensions and parachute leaps.

Like Winteringer’s balloon, Weaver’s Populist rhetoric was mostly hot air. Voters were not swayed by the Populist message that the nation was on the verge of moral, political and material ruin. In 1892 Weaver’s presidential hopes — like Winterringer’s dynamite — exploded fruitlessly in the hot summer air. In the fall election both Weaver and incumbent President Benjamin Harrison were defeated. Grover Cleveland recaptured the presidency after being ousted by Harrison four years earlier.

On May 5, 1892, a county newspaper observed: “When 90 days ago nothing was to be seen but a small station house, now stands one of the most important towns in the county. Laurel now has twenty dwellings and business houses.” The construction boom brought several new businesses to the little village at the Crossing. On July 1 Ira Spencer of Lyons started a meat market and slaughterhouse.