Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, November 17, 1949
• The Verndale Methodist, Christian Missionary Alliance and the Verndale Gospel Tabernacle churches are again uniting for special Thanksgiving Day services. Special music will be furnished from the choirs of all three churches, and Reverend Kingsriter will deliver the Thanksgiving day message.
• Ground was broken last Wednesday for a new building being erected at Jefferson Street and Birch Avenue northeast by the Merickle Lumber Mills. The structure, 30x60 feet in size, will be leased by Homer Waterhouse and will include a restaurant, service station and living quarters. Mr. Waterhouse plans to operate the service station in connection with his implement and garage business here, but will seek a lessee for the restaurant.
• One of Wadena County’s oldest business firms, the Butturff and Son furniture store, which changed hands four years ago following Mr. Butturff’s death, is this week announcing a change in its name. It will hereafter be known as Homecrest Furniture, Inc.
40 Years Ago, November 21, 1984
• Esther Freitag (pictured), one of the citizens taking the CPR classes held last week Tuesday and Wednesday in the fire hall meeting room, listened to see if her victim (Resusi-Annie) was breathing to determine whether or not to proceed with respiration and CPR. This was her first try after watching and listening to the Red Cross Instructor Dean Krogstad.
• Verndale’s first Sorehead, Bill Beven, had the honor of pinning the banner on Dan (Bessie) Fisher, winner of the Miss Tootsie contest last Friday night in the high school auditorium. He was one of eight contestants vying for the title in the first such contest held in Verndale. The contest was sponsored by the PTA.
• Last week Tuesday, following the FHA spaghetti super, high school students and faculty members held a fun night, and according to our unofficial tally, the faculty came out on top in many of the events. They did lose to the students, however, in a volleyball game which ended 15-12. Other events included a lay-up relay with the first team getting 25 baskets declared the winner, which Brad Schmidt, faculty member, was the first to succeed. There was a shoe scramble, scooter relay, bat relay and more.
15 Years Ago, November 19, 2009
• If you are having difficulty getting to your fields to harvest because of the wet weather, you are not alone. This problem is prevalent in the corn belt. If you have been able to get into your fields and harvest, another problem has been moldy corn. The longer the corn remains in the field, the greater the chances of toxic production.
• On November 13, at 10:49 p.m., a call was received from the Princeton Flight Service asking for assistance in looking for a plane that was overdue at Hallock. The Piper Cherokee plane, black and yellow, left Lakeville at 5 p.m. A GPS signal from a cell tower in Wadena County showed that a message was sent from the pilot’s phone at approximately 6:32 p.m., just outside of Staples. If you happen to hear or see anything please contact the sheriff’s office.
• On October 29, at the meeting of the Verndale Historical Society, DeeDee Neal was the guest speaker. She told of her Baker relatives and the very hard times during the Depression. Fun times for her six siblings were the Saturday night movies in Verndale for 14 cents and then they went over to DeRouser’s Ice Cream Shop for a five cent cone. Most movies were Tarzan movies or Westerns.
Comments