Comstock Moving forward
Est. 1899 Current population 93
What’s going on in Comstock? For the small town in eastern Custer County with a population less than 100, there have been some big things happening.
Nothing has been bigger than the Comstock Windmill Festival. For the past 23 years, organizer Henry Nuxoll has brought country, rock and Christian music to the stage in a pasture near the town. “We were the biggest and the best,” Nuxoll said. “We’re still the best but not the biggest.”
2023 will be the final Windmill Festival according to Nuxoll. Part of the reason is economics. Venues in larger towns and cities are now drawing the crowds. “They weren’t even built when we started,” Nuxoll reflected.
The larger venues can boast VIP treatment for higher ticket prices. Comstock can boast that everyone pays the same price to gather near the stage’s edge or sit in their lawn chairs outside their camper up on the hill. The other part of the reason the music festival is ending has to do with family – Nuxoll’s seven grandchildren. “My parents came from Germany. I met only one of my grandfathers and that was for only one week,” he said. “I owe it to my grandchildren to watch them grow up.”
Lest you think there will be nothing of interest in or around Comstock once the final notes of the Windmill Festival fade into the wind, take another look at this small town.
The pride of the community shows in the Comstock Garden. Volunteers maintain the full square block of ornamental grasses, herbs, roses, lilies, delphiniums, peonies and other flowers. It’s a certified Butterfly Garden. Fruit trees include apricot, pear, blackberry and elderberry. The group that maintains the garden is called CARE for Comstock Ain’t Ready to Expire. Visitors can sit in the gazebo or on the Friendship Patio at the salvaged wall of the old power plant.
If you’re looking for a place to celebrate the U.S.’s independence, consider Comstock. “We have one of the best Fourth of July celebration in the county,” Nuxoll said. The event includes a parade, kid games, a volleyball tournament and a baseball game. Comstock also boasts an active senior and community center, “The Den.” It provides meals to purchase five days a week and delivers meals to Sargent, Arcadia and Comstock.
The first homestead in Custer County, the Dowse Sod House, is
three miles out of town. The town itself was platted in 1899 and was formed when several families of nearby Wescott moved both their residences and businesses to the new location. The main store in Wescott (two miles southwest of Comstock) was the Wescott, Gibbons & Bragg Store. The building was moved to Comstock during the winter of 1899 by rolling timber logs under it. “The main obstacle was the river,” reads the Brief History of Comstock. “It being frozen with thick ice, they rolled the two-story building across the ice.” The building remained in Comstock for nearly 100 years.
The first post offices of Custer County were in the Comstock area with Douglass Grove being one of the first in 1874. The peak population of Comstock was reported as 450 in the 1930s. One of Comstock’s national claims to fame includes being saluted on the television show, “Hee Haw.” TV personality
Dick Cavett lived in Comstock as a little boy and his father coached the football team. Today, the town offers peace and quiet to residents who enjoy a small community.
Comstock celebrates in the winter, too. Santa shows up and hands out hundreds of treats. And there is no denying that the display of holiday lights set up by Nuxoll and other volunteers is an attraction to behold. According to Nuxoll, at last count the display included, “18 blocks, 40 scenes, a dozen vehicles, a dozen buildings, 390 inflatables and a decorated baseball field.”
There’s a lot to see and do in one of the smallest towns in Custer County. Turn east off Hwy 183 onto 21C, cross the Middle Loup River and check out what Comstock has to offer.