Join the discussion: Valentine, Neb., once roiled by time-zone fights, is now a city of love

Around Valentine's Day each year, letters from as far away as China and Thailand are routed to the post office in Valentine, Neb.Hanna Krueger/Globe Staff

VALENTINE, Neb. — Time once split this tiny Sandhills city, and her otherwise reasonable residents, straight down the middle.

In the late 1960s, the line separating the Central and Mountain time zones ran along Valentine’s Main Street. Businesses on the east side of the street set their clocks one hour ahead of those on the west. Those in favor of Mountain time threatened to boycott those merchants who refused to budge from Central. The post office tried to play Switzerland and split the difference.

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