Hiram C. Clapp, of Allegan, Mich., needed to get out of town. He suffered from asthma, which threatened to leave him an invalid. On the advice of his physician, he felt that his health might be improved by moving to a higher altitude in the west. In 1902, he and his wife, Cora Belle (Cody) moved to Stewart, Iowa, where Hiram got a job in a general merchandise store.

The Clapps were disappointed with that move, feeling that as bad a Hiram's asthma was the town was in worse shape and it might die before he did. To augment his meager pay at the dry goods store where Hiram worked, he and Cody gave ballroom lessons until they had accumulated enough funds to move further west.

When Hiram Clapp arrived in McCook in 1902, he was expecting the worst in the matter of weather, so naturally he was wearing a heavy overcoat and overshoes, and carried an umbrella. He soon discovered that rainy weather would not be his problem in McCook. He quickly discarded his overshoes, exchanged his heavy coat for a much lighter one, and put his umbrella away, to be used only on rare occasions.

The higher altitude and drier air of McCook proved to be invigorating for Hiram. Almost immediately he felt better. His asthma attacks subsided.

He had more energy, and was able to be more active than he had been in since he could remember. Years later he recalled those first years in McCook (1902), "We played baseball on the river bed of the Republican, which was plenty dry and wide enough for a ball diamond and we were able to run bases over the hot sands of the river bed." (Note: Some things have not changed all that much in the last hundred years.)

Sometime before his death, Hiram discussed his early years in McCook at a Kiwanis meting. He said that when he met McCook it was "love at first sight." McCook was 23. Hiram was 26, both still youngsters, and he felt that they would grow up together.

He vowed that he would be true and never leave her.

Hiram's first job in McCook was in the General Merchandise Store of "Honest John" Grannis. Honest John was a merry old soul, a fellow who everyone liked.

His business was good, but John was crude and liked his gin. He entertained too many of his pals, who helped him drink the gin. John wanted to broaden his customer base and told Hiram that he had been hired "to sell nice things to the swells."

But Hiram longed for a store of his own, where he could cater to a higher class clientele than Honest John would ever attract.

In 1905, Hiram did open his first store, the H.C. Clapp Store for Women, in the south 25 feet of the new building, which Pat Walsh was erecting on the corner of West C. Street and Main (Norris) Avenue.

Next door north, on the corner, Pat Walsh had a saloon, which Clapp described as an upscale establishment -- "no screens or card tables" -- both of which were common in the six other saloons along Main Street.

After a time, Mr. Clapp moved his store a couple of doors south on Main Street. (That location is now a part of the McCook National Bank building.)

Here his business flourished and in 1914 he and Cody built a grand new home in the 700 block on East 1st St., complete with servants' quarters. Life seemed to be very sweet, and for another ten years it was. Then, suddenly in 1924, tragedy struck Hiram Clapp's world.

The Clapps were on their annual buying trip to the Clothing Market in Chicago when they were involved in a railway accident. Hiram escaped with only minor injuries, but Cody and her niece, Nina Hammond were both killed in the accident.

Hiram returned to McCook and took solace in his business and community affairs.

Then, in 1927, Hiram remarried, to the former Mrs. Bertha (nee Lussen) Swinehart at "The Little Church Around The Corner" in Brooklyn, N.Y. This union produced three children, Elsie, Hiram Cornell Jr., and Patricia (Shepherd).

Almost from the moment Hiram Clapp arrived in McCook he began giving back to his adopted community, and in the years after his first wife's death he became more involved than ever.

In the 63 years that he lived in McCook he found a great many ways in which to participate and to serve the city and the people of our area.

First and foremost, Hiram was active in the business community. His "Store for Women" enjoyed a regional reputation and attracted women from a wide area, and Hiram took great pains to make sure they were well pleased with his merchandise and service.

He also was instrumental in organizing McCook's first Chamber of Commerce, and served as President of that organization several times.

With Realtor Charles Kelley he helped promote the highway from San Antonio, Texas, through McCook, (now U.S. Highway 83). He was the Secretary of the Republican Valley Conservation Association for many years.

But Hiram Clapp's contributions to the city were not all economically oriented. He was a member of all the Masonic bodies, and he was a member of the Elks Lodge and the Kiwanis Club of McCook. He was a member of the McCook School Board when the North Ward Grade School building (Now McCook Elementary) was built. He was the choir director at the McCook Congregational Church for 26 years.

Though Hiram Clapp sold his H.C. Clapp Store for Women to Bill Lyons in 1951 he continued to stay active in business and community affairs until his death in 1967.

And he remained true to McCook, whom he referred to as "The Love of my life -- the lady who nursed me back to good health" -- and made it possible for this once near-invalid boy to live a good and productive life in our community to age of 89.

Source: Gazette Centen-nial Edition, 1882-1982