This week’s issue of The Wauneta Breeze represents the end of an era—an era that began in 1887 with the first issue of The Wauneta Breeze and ends this week with the final issue of the Breeze.
    Through the years, the pages of the Breeze have chronicled the history of a unique little town that sits along the Frenchman Creek and the people who called it home.
    Those events and memories spanning more than 130 years will be forever etched on the pages of this newspaper.
    As the railroad brought life to many towns in the western plains of Nebraska, a young New Yorker, John Hann, brought life to The Wauneta Breeze.
    Hann made the first visit to Wauneta in the fall of 1886. He immediately saw a need for a newspaper and began preparations for what would be the first and only newspaper to ever serve Wauneta.
    At the age of 25, Hann put out his first issue of the Breeze on Jan. 17, 1887.
    Two accounts exist on how the paper was named the Breeze. One account said that Hann, nervous about getting the paper started as well as named, was visiting with some men in front of his shop. Suddenly a cool breeze blew through, cooling his worried brow. Like a flash, the idea came to him, “I shall call my paper ‘The Breeze,’” he declared, and so it was named.

To read the full storyy, subscribe to the e-edition online or call the Breeze at 308-394-5389 to subscribe to the print edition.