Originally published to facebook.com/NorthPlattePL on January 28, 2022.
Welcome to Facebook Friday History! Since so many of you enjoyed last week’s Richardson House post, I thought we would do another one! Today’s post features a home that many of our readers will remember, every time they drive over the Willow Street Overpass. Read on to learn about the Railroader who built this beautiful home!
William Herman Le Dioyt was born in Illinois on November 22, 1866 to Roswell and Anna (McCabe) Le Dioyt. His family came to Keith County to homestead in 1882. They farmed 35 miles southwest of North Platte when Keith County was just unbroken prairie.
Note: Researchers found several spellings of the surname (LeDoiyt, Le Doiyt, LeDioyt, and Le Dioyt), but Le Dioyt is the spelling on the headstone; and the name that will be used for this post.
On February 28, 1892, Herman, as he was called, came to North Platte to marry his sweetheart, Anna Guynan at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Father Waldron officiated. They had three children:
- Clark (1893-1926). Clark married Kathryn Schmidt in 1920. Clark passed away 1926 at the age of 33 after his heart was weakened from a prolonged illness.
- Anna Marie (1896-1979). Anna married William Alexander O’Donnell on March 1, 1919 and they lived around the Alliance area. By 1940, she was widowed and moved to California. She died in 1979 and is buried in Forest Lawns Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.;
- Adele (1901-1922). Adele passed away in 1922 at age 21. After graduation, she worked for the Lincoln County Tribune as a reporter. In January 1922, she was very ill with tonsillitis. She died unexpectedly of pneumonia five weeks later.
- They also raised two nephews, George Thayer and Merton E. Thayer and a niece, Isabelle Thayer.
In 1900, the Le Dioyt’s moved to North Platte, and Herman went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad as a brakeman. He later became a conductor and retired in 1940. He served as treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for 28 years. He was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Elks.
Le Dioyt signed a contract for a new home on June 5, 1908 for a two-story cement block house, according to the North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune. The address was 403 West 6th Street in North Platte. The contract price was to be $4,000. On June 30th the paper announced that the house was well underway and on December 4 1908, the paper said the family would be moving in soon and it was one of the finest houses in the city. The final cost of the house was $4,500.
The front of the house (facing South on 6th Street) has a very distinctive arch on the first floor porch, which you can see in all the photographs. The east side of the home (facing the Willow Viaduct) has a distinctive two story bay window.
In February of 1925 the Union Pacific Magazine wrote a story titled, “North Platte, Nebraska: A Union Pacific Creation”. At the end of the article the magazine featured several pages of homes in North Platte built by employees of the Union Pacific. Le Dioyt’s house was one of the many featured.
In 1942, Herman and Anna celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at their lovely home.
William Herman Le Dioyt (age 81) passed away on October 26, 1950, his wife Anna passed away three years later in 1953.
