Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

July 11, 2018, Page 12  

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

July 1883

 

The National Union has cut another notch in the tally-stick of its existence, and the 107th notch executed in this vicinity with vigor and some rain.  During the forenoon of the 4th, the sky was over-cast and rain fell lightly but later there was a remarkable improvement and the crowd filled the streets.

 

From morning until late at night, the usual noise prevailed of torpedoes and firecrackers and the imitation of a cannon.  In the bower at Fireman’s Hall a crowd assembled just before noon, the brass band played a few pieces and the oration of the day was delivered by M. C. Ring.  But that which in the minds of many was the great venture of the day’s doings was the balloon ascension by Peter Albert, whose balloon departed from this world into the air at 3 p.m. at a point near George Gallaher’s sawmill.  Nobody was hurt, although Albert, instead of going up in a basket, simply dangled in the air from a trapeze.

 

At the racing course there was a horse running and trotting race, late in the afternoon, which attracted a considerable crowd and in the night was the usual ball game.

•••••••••

Neillsville’s News:

 

A new house is being built on the north side for Frank Burgess.

 

Lester is selling out his stock at auction and proposes to travel with the balloon.

 

Jaseph & Dole’s ice cream department opens up Saturday.  All are cordially invited.

 

We learn from Mr. Silas Wilcox that 90 percent of last season’s cut logs on O’Neill Creek have been run in to the Black River.  The creek will be flooded tomorrow.               

•••••••••

Great improvements have recently been made on the Main Street, north of the creek bridge, mostly in grading and leveling.  It is now very pleasant to drive over.

 

Mr. Gallaher has a new steam whistle on his planning mill.

 

Everett Bacon has raised the frame of his new residence on Fourth Street.  It is rapidly taking shape and is far enough advanced to enable us to see that the house when done is going to be very graceful and commodious.

 

(The Bacon house remains, well maintained by its present owners, located on the southwest corner of Grand Avenue and Fourth Street. DZ)                                                                   

•••••••••

Neillsville is gorgeous with a new omnibus, the property of Dewitt Hart, and one of the best vehicles of the kind to be bought for a hilly town like this.

 

(The horse-drawn omnibus buggy was bought mainly to transport train passengers to or from the depot and destinations within the city. DZ)                                                        

•••••••••

Saturday, Mrs. Reddan drove to her farm north of town and wishing to take an extra buggy to the farm, had it attached to the one she was riding in.  Having a surplus of lady passengers, one of them volunteered to ride in the rear buggy.  In the middle of Main Street, the fastening gave  way, and Mrs. Reddan drove some distance unconscious of her lady friend’s grotesque and embarrassing situation.  Her attention was called to it shortly however, and she returned and “hitched on” again.

•••••••••

Fred Klopf received this week one of the much-talked-about road carts, with two wheels and it attracted considerable attention from those who take an interest in such matters.

 

(The 1883 road cart had a ‘fill’ on each side extending from  the front, for a single horse to pull the two-wheeled cart, which was equipped with an 18-inch high square wooden wagon box mounted on top of a two-wheel axle, on springs, large enough to haul a couple of passengers and a few items. DZ)    

•••••••••

Nevins now has a baseball team. The boys are practicing, and soon as the oats are harvested, they intend to challenge Shortville to a game for the championship.               

•••••••••

During the past week, the street commissioner has had men at work cutting yellow dock, burdock and thistles in the streets, but upon inquiry of that official, we learn that little good can result from his work in the streets unless supplemented by destruction of these noxious weeks by citizens in the lots throughout the city.  To be effective, the movement must be general, and we hope every citizen will do his part with a will.

•••••••••

Invitations have been issued for the first dance of the “Pleasure Party Series,” which will take place at Fireman’s Hall tomorrow night.  These dances are to be select and happy are they who have received invitations.

 

July 1943

 

Glen Haven has a garden in two city lots, from which he has already taken peas and new potatoes.  He has three kinds of sweet corn, one in tassel and another is waist high.  On these lots, he has 35 kinds of fruit and vegetables.

 

(During World War II era, every family was encouraged to have a garden so as to grow their own vegetables, due to canned food being rationed.  My grandmother planted seed potatoes on Good Friday each year, so as to be able to serve sliced new potatoes, fried in butter with chopped chives and parsley to be served with family dinner on July 4th. DZ)   

•••••••••

St. Catherine’s Standard:  It is a patriotic duty this year to lend your neighbor, garden tools, of course, to bring them back promptly and with the handles intact.

(The wooden handles on hoes and rakes could become loose and fall off, or with careless use, be broken off. DZ)

•••••••••

If there were ghosts, and they could write for “The Clark County Press,” they would tell a story, having been driven out of their happy home in the old Lowe warehouse.  This building, an ancient frame structure, has been torn down by the B&F Machine Shop’s owner.  Ghosts vacating there would have been well versed in the lore of Neillsville, for that biding goes far back into ancient history.

 

Perhaps the most honorable use was an office and warehouse for the Neillsville Electric company.  There, William Neff, the manager of that ancient and honorable organization, had his office, and in the rear, he kept such fixings as ere thought to be needed in those early days of electricity.  Probably the fixings would seem primitive to electricians of today, for Neillsville was among the first cities in the country to have electrical service, due to the enterprise of C.C. Sniteman and the men associated with him.

 

After a time, this frame building became too elderly for the electric company, the office of which was moved to the Richard Kountz building, where the Production Credit is now located.  In that brick structure the electric company dealt with the public, while its former office became a warehouse for the Lowe furniture business.

The disappearance of this landmark is connected with war.  The immediate occasion of its razing was that the B&F came to a lull in its manufacturing activities and turned its manpower to this use, pending  the arrival of further orders.  Owing to the war, also, there is a shortage of lumber, which brings a demand for lumber taken from wrecked buildings.

•••••••••

When the labor shortage threatened to make impossible the harvesting of the potato crop near Norfolk, Virginia, 500 sailors of the Fifth Naval District answered an appeal from the governor of the state and went to work in the fields digging spuds.

•••••••••

Grand Opening: Dakota Club Tavern - Thursday, July 1st,

Under the management of Dan Timerson,

Located in Christie.

•••••••••

Saturday, at about 1:30 a.m. a freight train struck and killed a cow on the railroad bridge just east of the Columbia station.  The animal had been purchased by Fred Palmer at the Potucek auction.  Mr. Palmer had turned her out to pasture after taking her home, but the cow has broken out of the fence and was on her way back to the Ward Lockman farm, her former home.  Mr. Palmer had paid $130 for the animal.

•••••••••

For Sale: 2,000 Starter Chicks, Must Sell Until All Are Sold!  Zimmerman Hatchery in Greenwood.

•••••••••

Elmer L. Bender, farmer of the Town of Lynn, has been chosen by the members of the Granton Chapter of the Future Farmers of America to receive a certificate of recognition for his outstanding work as a farmer.  The certificate will be presented to Mr. Bender at the State Fair on Governor’s Day.

.•••••••••

Harvey Bushnell of Stevens Point will succeed Martin Bohm as manager of the A&P Store.  He will take charge on Saturday of this week.

 

Mr. Bushnell comes from Stevens Point, where he has managed a store.  He and Mr. Bohm are old acquaintances, he has succeeded Mr. Bohm as manager at Wisconsin Rapids.  His family consists of himself and his wife and a girl of two years.

 

Mr. Bohm has sold his home at 283 Grand Ave. to Carl Gassen.

•••••••••

As never before, the juniors of high school age find their services in demand this summer.  There is work for every one of them who wants to work.  The following article, written by a high school girl, tells how the members of the class of 1945, Neillsville High School, are responding to the opportunities of war-time.

 

The juniors are not to be outdone by their former schoolmates, the class of ’43.  They, too, are working hard to show they are an industrious group.  Each one has found useful work for the summer vacation in order to do     their bit to take up the slack in the labor shortage and help win the war.

 

So far none of the class has entered the armed forces, but Calvin Swenson plant to enlist in the army air corps reserve soon.

•••••••••

Buy Wood and Coal Circulating Heaters Now!

Now we have plenty of them on hand.

Next Month they will be rationed, as we have heard!

Buy while you can get them!

At Authorized Dealer, Gambles Store, Neillsville.

•••••••••

Silver Dome Ballroom, Saturday, July 24, Featuring the Hammond Organ, “Irv Lutz & His Band.”

Coming!  Wed. July 28 – “Whoopee John’s Radio Recording Orchestra.”

Coming! Sat. July 31st “Castilians,”

Distinctive Dance Music, Wisconsin’s Favorite Band,

•••••••••

The rural schools of Clark County are in a tight situation for teachers, but there is nothing desperate about it. The outlook is that practically all  the schools of the county will be provided by September 1st.

 

Right now, there are eleven definite vacancies in the 121 rural schools of the county.  For these vacancies there are a few possible applicants, who would need to teach on emergency  certificates.

•••••••••

Molly Pitcher Day – Women’s organizations of Neillsville will stage a Molly Pitcher Day here on Saturday, August 7.  On that occasion, the women will put on a sale of war bonds and stamps, with booths in various parts of the business section and with girls giving out tags to purchasers.

 

(Molly Ludwick Hays McCauley became well known as “Molly Pitcher,” a patriot who aided her husband, Hays and his fellow troops while they were fighting in the Battle of Monmouth, near Freehold, New Jersey, on the very hot day of June 18, 1878.  Molly carried pitcher after pitcher of cold water  from a nearby spring to the thirsty soldiers on the battlefield that day, then brought water to pour over the hot cannons, that had to be cooled down from repetitive firing. DZ)

•••••••••

Walter E. Cook, assemblyman for this district, has wired the Office of Price Administration in Washington, D.C. as follows:

 

“Absolutely imperative that restrictions on grains and feeds be lifted so Wisconsin farmers can get feed for their cattle, hogs and poultry that the government has asked them to produce.  Must be take care of at once to avoid terrible waste.  Thousands of farmers presently cannot secure feed to save their livestock.  Please give us immediate action.”                                                                                                                                                                            

•••••••••

What is the right price for a farmer to pay for custom work, performed by one farmer for another?  In this time of shortage, much service of this sort is rendered, and the price paid for it in 1942 is discussed in a bulletin recently issued by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.

                        

The average cost of getting work done on a custom basis in 1942 was $1.98 per acre and $1.73 per hour for plowing, 75’ per acre and $1.40 per hour for cultivating corn, and 81’ per acre and $1.36 per hour for mowing hay.  The cost of picking corn by machine, on a custom basis, averaged 6’ per bushel, $3.01 per acre, and $3.09 per hour.                                                                                                                                                                        

•••••••••

Hart’s South Side Grocery – Highest Prices Paid for Eggs – We Pay 35 1/2’ (Cash, per Dozen!) & Buy Live Chickens!

 

(During that time, every farmer had 50 or more laying hens, having eggs for the family’s needs.  The remaining egg gatherings were cleaned, put into a crate and kept in a cool place, ready to be taken to town at the end of the week to sell, or trade in at the grocery store. DZ)

 

In 1875, the building shown on the left was built for all twelve grades of Neillsville’s students.  In 1885, the North Side School was built for students from first through sixth grade, who lived on the north side of the city, later torn down in 1967.  The high school building on the right was built in 1904, to serve Neillsville’s high school students for 40 years.  These two buildings were between State and Court Streets, facing East 4th Street.  In 1954 a new facility was built for the high students, located at the east end of East 4th Street.  (Since that time various additions have been added to the high school building and now houses all grades kindergarten thru high school. Dmk)

  

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