[1] Located along the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad, its purpose was to provide refreshments and hospitality to soldiers who were traveling through the area on the way to war during their ten- to fifteen-minute stopovers.
During its run, nearly 55,000 Nebraska women served almost seven million soldiers on their way to fight in World War II.
Just ten days after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, men of the 134th Infantry Regiment of the Nebraska National Guard were on their way from Camp Joseph T. Robinson, near Little Rock, Arkansas[2] to an unknown destination.
[4] Of the group of people that were originally at the depot on the seventeenth, twenty-six-year-old Rae Wilson, a drugstore saleswoman, witnessed the hospitality.
Calls to merchants came with requests for cigarettes and tobacco, while housewives were asked to contribute cake and cookies, with attempts to get the younger women to hand out the gifts and keep conversation up with the soldiers.
They were later allowed to move into a shack by the side of the tracks by the railroad company when a woman became friendly with the president of the Union Pacific.
Benefit dances, pie socials, and other activities were held to also help raise money for the canteen.
[5] One twelve-year-old boy even sold his pets, toys, and the shirt off his back and donated the money to the cause.
[3] Women also were working on the platform, distributing the basics of fruit, matches, and candy bars for those who were unable to go inside.
One of their most important jobs was to answer questions, including those surrounding the canteen and the basics of North Platte and Nebraska.
[3] If they were unable to disembark from the cars, women would walk up and down the aisles distributing goods or hand up materials from the ground to the windows.
Sixteen trains were scheduled on the final day and regular Monday workers were in charge along with Lutheran Church women from North Platte, and Gothenburg, Nebraska.