Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, March 6, 1950
• The Verndale Commercial Club sold the Lampert Lumber Company building in Verndale last week. Harold R. Windels of north of Bluffton was the highest bidder and will dismantle the building and remove all the lumber to erect buildings on his farm. He is expected to have the building cleared from the premises by the middle of April.
• Dick Seal of Alexandria, a former Verndale boy and son of Mr. and Mrs. Glendon Seal, writes: “I’ve been following sports by means of the Verndale Sun, and this year when basketball season came, I wondered who would write sports after Bud Conley went to St. Cloud. And, along came Gordon Backberg who has done a good job.” Dick is a sports writer for the Lake Region Farmer at Alexandria.
• A fire Wednesday night destroyed three frame buildings on Wadena’s main street and firemen from three towns fought to keep it from spreading to other structures. The flames were noticed at 7 p.m. in the Wadena Food Store. They destroyed the building housing the store, Murray’s land office, Engh’s Bakery, a barber shop and Masonic Lodge rooms over the food store. The loss was tentatively estimated between $100,000 and $150,000. Fire departments from Sebeka and Verndale aided the local department.
40 Years Ago, March 13, 1985
• Verndale’s barber, for most of the past 35 years, died suddenly a short time after arriving at Tri-County Hospital on Tuesday, March 5. He had been shoveling snow at home and at his shop prior to suffering a fatal heart attack. Mr. Kopp had been a barber for 35 years, some of which was at the former Air Force Base located north of Wadena. He had also driven school bus for 13 years and was a member of the Volunteer Fireman’s Association, the American Legion and United Methodist Church in Verndale.
• Ten residents who live or own property adjacent to County Road 114 met with County Engineer Gene Mattern and his assistant, Maurice Priebe, to hear plans being made for resurfacing that road this summer. Mattern said the cost estimate is between $160,000 and $175,000 depending on the bids received by bunching several projects together. Mattern told those present that because the money that has been designated for the road will probably all go into the project, there would be none left for removing and putting fences back up etc., so that unless they have the cooperation of the landowners, they would be unable to undertake the project.
• You can tell who won by the expressions on the faces of Verndale Coach Bill Buckreis, team member Kevin Kneisl, cheerleader Michelle Anderson and fans as Verndale defeated Pine River to claim the District 24 championship title last Friday evening at Wadena.
15 Years Ago, February 21, 2010
• Do you hunger for fresh, succulent summertime fare, but haven’t the time nor desire to grow it on your own? Farmers markets have become a familiar sight and a way to meet that need along many roadsides in the summer and early fall—a sight that a few area people are hoping to bring to Verndale. If this is something that interests you, there will be an organizational meeting on March 20 at the Verndale Senior Citizen’s Center at 9:30 a.m. to discuss this possibility.
• The Hewitt Museum, perhaps the only building of its kind left in Minnesota, will be getting a $156,369 face lift thanks to a Minnesota Historical Society grant called a Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant. The city of Hewitt and the Hewitt Historical Society also added $5000 each as a condition of the grant for matching funds.
• The public is invited to the Wadena County Dairy Princess coronation and dinner on March 27 at Donovan’s Hall (Pizza Ranch) in Wadena. Princess candidates are judged on communication skills, personality, enthusiasm for dairy promotion and general knowledge of the dairy industry. Dairy Princess candidate Kelsie Trosen is the daughter of Allen and Karen Trosen and is 19 years old.
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