Winfield Charles Noyes: Early twentieth-century rural baseball in Buffalo County, Nebrask

This research chronicles the development of early twentieth-century small-town baseball in Buffalo County, Nebraska. The central theme of this study is Winfield Charles Noyes and his early municipal and professional minor league baseball career. The research begins with an in-depth examination into Noyes' family and biographical history from 1889 to 1907, and then follows in an exploration into Buffalo County town team baseball in 1908 and 1909. Finally, the research concludes with a succinct examination of the Kearney Kapitalists and the Nebraska State Baseball League in 1910.;The scholarship provides an opportunity to explore the development of rural Nebraska baseball within the context of cultural, social, and economic history. The thesis will also serve as a case study of small-town Nebraska baseball during the Progressive Era. The goal of this thesis is to highlight the importance of the socio-cultural world of early twentieth-century Buffalo County and its' relationship to the development of rural Nebraska baseball.