Yesterday and Today in Elko and New Market

Downtown Elko New Market

As you travel down Main Street in Elko New Market, seen in the modern picture above, you’ll find almost everything you need in this city including the city hall, fire station and library. In the early years of settling Scott County, the City of New Market developed into a community of German and Prussian immigrants. Despite their proximity, the development of the town of Elko was quite dissimilar to that of New Market . Elko was founded as a railroad town funded by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul Railroad Company. In October of 2005, city officials from Elko and New Market met to discuss a possible merger. Recognizing potential financial benefits from such action, the City Councils of the two cities commissioned a study to examine potential impacts. On January 1, 2007, the two cities officially merged into the newfound Elko New Market.

Elko new market post office

Hello, this is your friendly neighborhood mail delivery person! By the late 1870s, the City of Elko included a post office with an interesting story behind it, as told by Helen Kaufenberg.

“Another time, my folks told about a burglary at the Post Office next door. A salesman for the Schmidt Brewery had been on the train and got off at Elko. He had seen suspicious men get off the train. He immediately walked around to the other side of the train and walked toward the train elevator. He called from the depot and alerted the people at New Market, so when the hotel closed at 11 o’clock, some of the people stayed up and watched through a window at the back of the hotel. They were watching the Post Office and also the bank which was next door. The salesman got ahold of a gun and opened the window just enough to put the gun through. When the burglars tried to get in the back door of the Post Office they were frightened away. There was evidence that the burglars had waited in the choir loft of the church as there were cigarettes and cigar stubs left behind.”