Lincoln's Dillian's corner: Soda fountain, service station and a sinkhole

Dillian's corner site is on the east side of Lincoln Blvd. (G Street) between 6th and 7th streets. At the turn of the 20th century, A.C. Fleming owned the property, which included a bar and restaurant run by Frank Dillian & Spraugue (given name unknown). It was sold to Dillian in 1903 who, with new business partner Jack Tubbs, operated the saloon as Dillian's until 1920, when Prohibition closed the local bars. After 1932, Tubbs purchased full ownership of the property and ran the bar, rebranded as "Tubbs." The early years The building contained a service station on one side, a bar on the far end across from the Lincoln Inn and a restaurant between the service station and bar. The service station was operated by Dillian, then Tubbs and later by D. Noyes & G. Webber. Tubbs ran a soda fountain from 1932 to 1945, when operations were taken over by Noyes & L. Oleari and offerings were expanded to include a café as well as the bar. Sinking from sight Jane Tahti wrote a series of articles on Dillian's corner 10 years ago. She described a sinkhole opening up by the side door of the bar one night, which must have surprised and shocked the customers leaving the bar at closing (there was no word if anyone fell in). What would have caused a sinkhole to develop in downtown Lincoln? It turns out the cause was an abandoned underground coal mine. The coal under Lincoln was reported to be about 60 feet below the surface with a thickness of 13 feet. A great clay formation lay above the coal, which was later mined by Gladding McBean to make sewer pipe, architectural terra cotta and other products. Lincoln's coal mine Coal was discovered in 1862 while a resident was boring a water well. Charles Lincoln Wilson developed the underground coal mine in late 1873. The mine entrance was at the corner of 7th and Lincoln Blvd. (G Street), which is the same block as Dillian's. The coal mine entries (tunnels) fanned out from the mine entrance (shaft) reportedly 275 feet from the entrance. There are indications a second shaft was put in to improve ventilation. We do not know where this or any other additional shafts were dug. There is not much we know about the mine, save some notes in local history readings, including the extent of the mine tunnels, as no surveys of the underground would have been completed. This is typical for small mines, coal or any other mineral, at that time. We don't know the exact daily or weekly coal production. There are indications of 275 tons per day or week, then, you read 100 tons. Again, we get back to recordkeeping or lack of it, as well as records lost through time. Little is known about the mining conditions. It would have been very dark, as candles were the only source of light. Good air would have been a serious problem, even with construction of additional air shaft. The use of candles had one advantage in that if your candle flame went out, the air lacked sufficient oxygen. Getting back to sinkholes around town caused by tunnel and shaft failure, were there other sinkholes reported over the years? Several years ago, Old Town Pizza encountered building problems during the reconstruction, which delayed the opening of the restaurant. After all, that part of the old building was about 100 feet from the Dillian corner sinkhole. There are things we don't know. Stay tuned for more tales of yesterday. Carlyle Sulzer is a Lincoln resident, longtime docent at the Lincoln Museum and a retired mining engineer.