Jan. 6, 1898 —
Arthur Brown has removed his barber shop and bath into the building just south of this office where he is better prepared to attend to the wants of his customers.
The Mill Management are now putting in a new 50 horsepower engine. When this improvement is made we will have one of the best equipped flour mills in north Nebraska.
Invitations were out for a mask ball to be given at the Woodman Hall on Friday night, Jan. 14.
100 Years Ago. . .
A number of stores in Osmond were giving Cash Savings Script stamps for purchases at their stores. Sponsored by Bankers’ and Merchants’ Saving Plan Inc. of Omaha, a book of script was worth $2.50 in cash or merchandise at any script giving store. Participating merchants included Bruegman & Reed, groceries and meats; W. E.
Sandifer, the Osmond Pharmacy; L.
E. Taylor, the clothier; The E. J. Huey Garage, gas, oils and accessories; H.
W. town Lumber Co. Inc., lumber and coal, and R. L. Senift, jeweler and optician.
A special “Screen Scrapbook” for the movie “The Pony Express” was inserted into the Jan. 21, 1926, issue of the Osmond Republican. It contained pictures and information from the movie, which was shown at the city auditorium on Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 27 and 28. The Paramount movie starred Betty Compson, Ricardo Cortez, Ernest Torrence and Wallace Beery.
Admission was 15¢ for children and 40¢ for adults.
Before a crowd of between 300 and 400 paid admissions, the Osmond Post of the American Legion pulled off another successful athletic program in the city hall. The first event was a boxing match between Ole Town and Johnnie Theisen, which was a real exhibition of boxing skill. Next was the battle royal between Wayne Taylor and Raymond Wright, who went after one another with hammer and tongs. Their exhibition was so good that many of the crowd figured it was worth more than the price, and showered the boxers with coins after the match. Other wrestling matches included those between Pete Borgman and Ed Bichlmeier; Glaze Reed and Pete Salisbury; Casper Shuck and Joe Lange; Carl Thomsen and Carl Reed. Boxing matches were between Paul Thomsen and Leslie Henderson, both ex-servicemen; Lyle Roberts and Roy Koppelmann; midgets Dwain Albers and LeRoy Riessen; John Hoffman and Albert Borgman; Donald Roberts and Leo O’Brian; John Thomsen and Jack Hanson, one of the big attractions of the evening. For another of the big hits of the evening — and a very unusual one, read next week’s Bygone Years.
75 Years Ago. . .
At the January meeting of the hospital auxiliary of St. Joseph Hospital, nine members were on hand to roll bandages and do other work helpful to the Sisters. The year’s project was going to be to earn money for dish washing machine to lighten the work of the Sisters, and to add yet more to the modern sanitation of the hospital.
The beaver population at the Osmond Gun Club grounds a mile southwest of Osmond had increased to the extent that members felt something must be done about it.
A representative of the State Game Commission was called to get advice on the problem. He estimated there were more than 20 beavers who called the lagoon home. To exterminate the entirely would be almost impossible.
Trapping, he said, would yield little or nothing in income. Principal damage done by the animals was due to tunneling into and through the dam. One hole had lowered the water level of the pond 2-3 feet. Water was being pumped into the pond in an effort to keep fish alive until spring's warmth thawed the ice cover. At the gun club grounds, the animals were working on several dozen trees, some of them two feet in diameter.
Playing at the Osmond Theatre, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, “Curtain Call to Cactus Creek,” starring Donald O’Connor and Gale Storm; on Wednesday and Thursday, “Bride for Sale,” starring Claudette Colbert and Robert Young. Plus, on stage in person, Jimmy “All-right” Morgan, “singing your favorite mountain songs. Heard daily over WJAG, Norfolk, NE.”
Hopes brightened for the family and friends of “missing” soldier Robert Wortman. They had received a “missing in action” letter from the War Department, but then received a letter from Robert himself shortly after. Now a second letter was received, telling his parents he was okay and hospitalized with laryngitis. He wrote, “The day before yesterday my company run into a little mishap and an awful lot got wounded and killed.”
65 Years Ago. . .
On the Josephine Schmitz farm, farmed by Frank Goeres a few miles north of Osmond, Adam Wietfeld, Osmond farmer, narrowly escaped death but was injured when he attempted to fix a grain elevator which was run by a gas motor. His clothing became tangled in the machinery and when he was helped from it by co-workers, it was found that the clothing had been torn from a large portion of his body. A heavy coat, which he was wearing, saved his life when it became a factor in stopping the engine. X-rays showed broken ribs and a badly injured leg.
Mrs. LaVerne Johnson left her two and one-half-year-old daughter, Shirley asleep and went to the basement to do some work. While her mother was gone, Shirley awoke, found some fuel oil, and drank it. She was rushed to Osmond for medical treatment and was admitted to St.
Joseph Hospital for the remainder of the week. While in the hospital, Shirley also suffered from pneumonia and measles.
The mercury at Osmond and most other points in the Midwest dropped to the season’s low early one morning. The official reading here was a frigid 20° below zero.
Ronald DeBord, son of Curtis DeBord of this place, was believed to have been on the carrier Saratoga when fire broke out on it in the Mediterranean. News reports stated that four officers and three enlisted men died in the fire.
Osmond High School seniors had their senior class pictures taken at the city auditorium by a Sioux City photographer. Faculty pictures for the school’s yearbook were also taken that day. The following day, the same photographer took group pictures [band and chorus groups, clubs, etc.] at the high school for use in the school annual also.
50 Years Ago. . .
More than 300 persons registered at the Osmond Co-op, Inc. open house, according to manager Jim Gibbs. In conjunction with the open house, the co-op served pancakes and sausage.
As a promotional feature, a free trip to Kansas City was given with the purchase of a specified amount of livestock feed. In all, 60 persons qualified for the trip.
There was a new addition to the business department at Osmond Community School.An IBM memory typewriter was leased for 20 school days from the service unit at Neligh. Students receiving training on the machine included clerical, laboratory, advanced typewriting, beginning typewriting and data processing. Some features of the automated typewriter were: erasure-free original copies; documents could be edited and content changed without retyping the entire document; the memory typewriter had 50 storage bins, which allowed 4,000 characters to be stored in each.
Five World War I veterans were present for the annual oyster feed held by American Legion Post 326. Present from the local post were Victor Stech, Rex Record, John Bahr and Ferd Kumm. Ed German of the Pierce post was present and recognized as a WWI veteran and as a founder of Post 326. Other local WWI veterans unable to attend the meeting were Joe Blunck, John Adkins and Walter Fuelberth.
25 Years Ago. . .
A new chief finance officer at Os mond General Hospital was named.
Jodi Aschoff, an 11-year employee of the hospital, was named to the position. In announcing the selection, hospital CEO Celine Mlady said, “Jodi brings knowledge and experience to the position.”
On a three-point basket in the first quarter of the Bloomfield basketball game, senior guard Andy Ketelsen scored the 1,494th point of his career. With that shot, Andy surpassed Doug Stratton’s career record of 1,491 points that was left untouched since 1977.
10 Years Ago. . .
The Osmond Tiger Concert Band had five very talented students attend the Lewis and Clark Conference Hon- or Band in Wayne. The five students who attended were Cierra Pfanstiel, tenor saxophone; Karli Ferry, french horn; Alex Alderson, trumpet; Aleia Kumm, tuba, and Shyann Rohloff, bass clarinet. Four of the five received medals for first and second chair.
Cierra, Karli and Aleia each received first chair in their sections, and Shyann received second chair.
