This CCC building was originally on the CCC grounds in Hebron NE. where is was also used to house POW's. It was moved to 3rd street between Holdrege & Jefferson, in Hebron and used for living space and later storage. From 2017 - 2018 it was restored and donated by Bob & Becky Reinke. Ball and Sons moved it to the museum grounds April 17, 2018.
Here is a display that was setup during a Fall Festival
The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, as it was commonly called, was a government program that was operated from around 1933 to 1942, to provide jobs for men ages 17 - 28, that couldn't find work elsewhere due to the depression of the 1930's. The first boys to arrive were on Oct. 2, 1934.
They built buildings, roads, planted trees, helped out in emergencies, and performed many other tasks. One CCC site was in Hebron at what is now called Riverside Park. During World War II, in 1943, 1944, and 1945, the CCC buildings in Hebron were used to house Prisoners of War, or POW's.
The POW's that were held at the camp were available for hire by local farmers, to help make up for the lost labor due to those serving the military. Fred Pohlmann of Byron was one of the farmers who often hired POW's. Fred would drive a truck to Hebron where 6 to 12 POW's and one guard would climb in the box of the truck for a ride 16 miles to his farm north of Byron with him. He and his wife Justine spoke German and could communicate very well with them. Even though there were strict rules about how farmers interacted with the prisoners, such as not letting them in your house, everyone got along so well, that they often fed the group dinner at their dining room table. One afternoon the guard had to ask his prisoners for a favor. He sat his gun down in the field and couldn't find it. All the prisoners that were with him, went out to the field and searched until one of them found it, and willingly handed it over to him. The prisoners were treated very well and they knew it. They had no desire to escape. Some of them later returned to the United States and lived out the rest of their life here.
In the years that followed many of the buildings were moved to other locations and used for other purposes. One of the buildings, or it may have actually been part of a larger building, rested just a couple feet west of an alley in Hebron between 3rd & 4th, and Jefferson & Holdrege Streets. This building has been mostly restored and now donated, by Bob and Becky Reinke to the Thayer County Historical Society grounds in Belvidere NE. On Monday, April 16, 2018, Ball and Sons Moving transported it to the Museum Grounds for permanent display. It has been re-sided with exact duplicate wood siding, has the original windows, and the original type of rolled asphalt roofing. The floor will be replaced after it is set down on the foundation, with flooring Richard Reinke salvaged in about 1978, from a 2 story house in Deshler that stood at 215 Bryson Street. Most of that salvage work from that house was done by Clarence Shoof, and a refugee named Dua Lee, and Bob Reinke during the summer. The building where Kathy Taylor has her beautician shop in Deshler is also a former CCC/POW building. The north side still has the original windows and siding on it.