Kyd Store on Burlington Rail Road one Mile East of Almena, Phillips County Line. Note: The three boys are standing on the box, which housed the Victor Wagon Scale indicator.
KYD was little more than a store located six and one-half miles northeast of Almena along the Burlington Railroad. It was built in the early teens by Robert Kyd, who owned several quarters of land in the area. The Longsine’s rented the north farmstead, and the Emery’s lived south of there. Some of the neighbors were Kelly’s, Engelhardt’s, Henry’s, Grunert’s, and Bailey’s. John Pollard and Emmett Farrell were early managers of the store. Later, a couple named Douglas took over. At the Kyd Store location (which was a train stop) were scales, stockyards, and a freight building. Many people in the area shipped five gallon cans of cream on the “Polywog”. This was a small combination passenger-freight train that traveled from Republican City, NE to Oberlin, KS and back every day.
The dance floor at the Kyd store. The Ross family often provided music for the dances.
An open air dance floor was constructed on the north side of the building in about 1926. Later, Roy Hartley’s owned the store until it closed in 1936. In the 1930’s, people in the area waited eagerly for the Kyd News items which were printed in the weekly Almena Plaindealer. The items were written by Mrs. John Spencer Miller (Libby Blackford), a resident of the area for many years.