Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, July 24, 1947
•One hundred eighty-three cases of diphtheria in Minnesota during the six and a half months of 1947, with 11 deaths, have been reported by Dr. A.J. Chelsey, secretary and executive officer of the Minnesota Department of Health. Dr. Chelsey emphasized that children under five are almost defenseless unless protected. To parents he issued a reminder that all children should be given protective treatment before their first birthday and again on entering school.
•Mr. E.L. Stigman left Monday of this week for Quam, where he has signed up for a year with the government to do mechanical work. From here he went to Minneapolis and then on to Florida where he was to take a plane on to Quam.
•Talk of the North-South kittenball game during the past two weeks became realization Monday night and the Southerners were forced to bow to the hard-hitting and fast fielding of the Northerners to the tune of 13-1. Dick Anderson did a masterful job on the mound for the Northerners with Marv Desrocher as his catcher. For the Southsiders, “Lefty” Cameron of Aldrich did the pitching with Curtis Smith as his catcher. The South’s battery, however, didn’t have the backing in fielding that the Northsiders had, and as a result several errors put them in tough spots and yielded several unserved runs.
40 Years Ago, July 29, 1982
•An organization that many were unaware even existed, has dissolved. The reasons given are that corporation taxes are eating up the funds in the organization and there appears to be no further need for the Verndale Enterprise Corporation. A meeting, with 80 percent of the stockholders represented, was held and it was voted to dissolve. It was back in 1966 and early 1967 that 23 area businesspeople met with one purpose in mind—to get a newspaper reestablished in Verndale—and formed the Verndale Enterprise Corporation. Tom Ellingsworth, a Wadena Pioneer Journal employee was enticed into running the paper with the option to buy the Verndale Sun with the promise of support to keep it solvent.
•Two more acres of land on the west end of Green Lawn Cemetery are being groomed for future use. Herman Ken dozed the north end, leveling the ground where once water stood following heavy rains. Black dirt to cover the area was furnished by Marvin Schmitz.
• Fair time is when 4-H’ers have the opportunity to show how they spend some of their “spare” time, such as Mark and Jason Tiede with their goats which won them championship and reserve championship. The breed is Nubian, and Mark is shown on the left with his entry named Nanny and Jason with Frisky. They are the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Tiede.
15 Years Ago, July 25, 2007
•Joyce Jackson-Arndt of Verndale has painted several murals throughout the city walls of Wadena. Her most recent piece was put up on a wall in the basement of the Wadena Historical Museum. This mural is showcasing an Indian woman entering her wigwam. Jackson-Arndt painted the wall in such a way that it looks like the door to a small room appears to be the entrance of the wigwam. This inspired the Wadena Historical Museum to create an American-Indian themed room. The museum is in the process of making that inspiration reality.
•The Verndale Fire Department, along with the Minnesota State Highway Patrol and Motorcycle Patrol, honored area troops on Sunday, July 22, by giving them an escort through town on Highway 10 as they made their way to Detroit Lakes.
• Between the Friday Night Lights project, the pre-school building addition and the road construction, the Verndale School is not as recognizable as it once was. Most of the construction is due to the Friday Night Lights project which was funded mostly by donations and fundraising. This project is also responsible for the new stadium seating, press box, concession stand, the new scoreboard and, of course, the football stadium lights. The school is building a pre-school and head start wing in the back south part of the school.
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