MAY 2016 • NEBRASKAland 65
Eventually they were torn down and
a part of the rural Nebraska landscape
vanished, replaced by rows of concrete
tubes.
Huge advertising signs painted on
the brick sides of warehouse district
buildings are faded so they can hardly
be read anymore. Vines crawl up the
unpainted stucco exteriors – their
tendrils creeping into any crevice and
opening the wall to moisture, freezing
and thawing. They pry apart the
concrete – just as plant roots can split
a granite boulder given an opening and
time.
Some used to say that each wrinkle
on a face and each gray hair on a head
was earned by passing through life
– enduring hardships, manual labor,
raising a family on not enough money,
suffering great disappointments and
losses. Perhaps it is the same for old
barns, old houses and old small-town
buildings, in their own sort of way
– their peeling paint, cracked wood,
rusting tin and moss-covered wooden
shingles. They served their purpose. ■
Jon Farrar was senior editor at
NEBRASKAland Magazine when
he retired after 42 years with
the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission. He is now writing
historical Sandhills fiction.
