Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, February 9, 1950
• Mr. and Mrs. Fred Backes, who have been operating a shoe shop in Staples the past two years, recently moved to Verndale and Mr. Backes is now open and ready for business in the building located between Desrochers and the Gamble Store. Mr. Backes, a World War II veteran, is experienced in the business and has a good stock of repair equipment and adequate machinery to do very good work.
• A Wadena girl was discharged from the Sister Kenny Polio Hospital. Margaret Kneisl, 3, was medically discharged from the Elizabeth Kenny Institute in Minneapolis on February 3, following treatment. She is pictured with Technician Vivian Hannan at the institute.
• Something new in basketball entertainment is in store for local fans on Friday, February 17, when Jack Moore brings his trained donkey basketball team to Verndale to play the local high school team. Profits from the game will be used to help finance the basketball trip for the local team to the State Tournament.
40 Years Ago, February 6, 1985
• Verndale’s school board was taken aback when Superintendent James Shereck submitted his resignation at a special meeting called at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. His letter of resignation asked that it be effective at the end of this fiscal school year (June 30), adding that consideration being given for accumulated vacation and sick time, so he could pursue his new field of endeavor as director for a new non-profit agency, Prime Childlife Assurance, Inc. He told the board he was getting out for health reasons and getting into something less stressful.
• Verndale city officials and fire department members breathed sighs of relief as each day passed with no fire calls while experiencing water problems. Everything was working fine when Bill Beven, city maintenance engineer, checked about 10 a.m. Friday. By 10:30 some water users were experiencing air in their lines. It wasn’t until it was reported at noon that difficulties were realized. It was believed at that time that either the water tower or a pipe may have frozen in the sub zero temperatures. It wasn’t until that evening Police Chief Scott Miller witnessed water bubbling up through the street at the corner of Brown and Fourth Avenue. It grew to a gusher up to eight inches. To avoid freeze up, water was allowed to continue to flow at a reduced rate. This produced a river. A break was found in the main and repaired. As water pressure was restored Saturday evening, workers heard a loud explosion type sound and discovered the pipe to the water tower had ruptured about 15 feet above the ground. Crews arrived on Monday evening to repair on it on Tuesday for approximately $9800.
• Persons shopping Fred’s this month will have their groceries packed into bags colored by elementary students promoting “I Love To Read Month” sponsored by the Minnesota Reading Association during the month of February. Pictured coloring a bag is Camille Erickson, while Chris Randall held his up, reminding everyone of the observance.
15 Years Ago, February 11, 2010
• Jim “Jimmy” Wurst is anxious to be back in the business of serving small town patrons with his recent purchase of the Stampede in Hewitt. He and wife Kendal previously owned Wurst Bar in Bluffton from 2000-2009. After selling the establishment, Wurst worked to get a contractor’s license and began to build homes, but missed being around people and yearned to get back into a business where he could have that interaction once again. He had known that The Stampede was for sale and finally decided to look into purchasing it when things slowed down in the construction business.
• A recent snowfall and the gathering of families and students of Verndale School set the stage for the beginning of the Snow Daze celebration on Monday evening including a coronation ceremony. Pictured are Queen Darian Nadgwick, the daughter of Keith and Gayle Nadgwick of Bertha, and King Justin Kern, the son of Aaron and Holly Kern of Verndale.
• The Verndale Boys Basketball team hosted Underwood and Pine River-Backus last week. Both games saw the Pirates get out to a slow start that they could not recover from. Against Underwood, the Pirates were led in scoring by Zack Meidinger with 21 points, and Caleb Burczyk and Dallas Ehrmantraut contributed 12 and 10 respectively.
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