DECATUR, Neb. (KMTV) — We think about artificial intelligence today. The technology was drastically different at the turn of the century, but an editing trick nonetheless shaped Decatur, Neb.
- A few postcard designs (possibly from around 1910) survived, showing a bustling town with a streetcar running through it.
- Devised as a ploy to stir interest in the town: "It was a bad Photoshop," Decatur Museum Vice President Marilyn Andersen said of the effort. There never was a streetcar.
- But, the ruse, combined with a $10,000 public art grant, inspired decision-makers to bring a trolley to town as an interactive art exhibit about rural legends.
Continue reading for the broadcast transcript of this story.
"I wouldn't live anywhere else. I absolutely love this little place," Marilyn Andersen said of Decatur, Neb.
The population is around 400 today. It was once double that and bustling - as depicted in vintage postcards.
"People got to talking about, 'You know, we had a trolley here.' And I said, 'No we didn't.' 'Yes! We've got these postcards.' We're going, 'No, it was a bad Photoshop, guys.' 'No.' Some people really believed it," Andersen smiled, as she replayed the conversations.
Sure enough, it was a ruse - a way of ginning up interest.
Which brings us to an emerald green trolley - Decatur's first, which was purchased a decade ago.
"Matthew Mazzotta. He drove it back from New York. He drove it. That was part of our expense was the gas," Jane Judt, president of the museum, recalled.
The Decatur Museum received a $10,000 grant from the Byway of Art, which covered the trolley and park. On Broadway, they've have events at the space and connect - not just to history, but each other.
"It's so fun to listen to some of the old-timers - older than us! Stories they would talk about when they were kids. And it's just been fun to listen to all of that," Andersen started.
"These stories won't get written down. We have to keep telling them orally," Judt added.
The truths. The tales. Decatur is proud of its rural legends.