From the Osmond Republican Files
Oct. 10, 1895. . .
Earnest Uecker is doing mission work at his home in South Branch today and tomorrow.
If you intend having a public sale, don’t forget Bert Buchanan, the best auctioneer in this part of the state.
Rev. Rouse, the new minister for this charge, came in the first of the week, and will probably hold services on Sunday.
Amel Peters and wife, north of the village are rejoicing over the advent of a sweet little girl baby that came to them on Tuesday.
Several loads of corn have been marketed in town at 20¢ per bushel. Corn will not be so plentiful as once supposed as it is only making from 25 to 30 bushels per acre.
The village ordinances are all printed on elegant book paper and will be bound and delivered on Saturday. It makes a pamphlet of 28 pages and is quite interesting reading matter.
100 Years Ago. . .
Miss Laura Schmidt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Schmidt of northeast of town was badly hurt in a most peculiar and unusual manner. She had just sat down to milk a cow, when the cow suddenly fell over onto her, badly bruising and injuring her, and also smashing one finger, which was caught between the edge of the milk bucket and the cow. It was necessary to amputate a portion of the finger, and at the time of the writing of the article, it was impossible to tell just how badly Miss Schmidt was hurt. She was in bed from the injury and was suffering intense pain.
On Feb. 26, 1924, shortly before noon, the high line was cut in and Osmond was now connected for 24-hour service. The newspaper publisher congratulated the electric man, Mr. C. F. Boye, and hoped that he made lots of money, and had less trouble with the new arrangement. As most of the readers knew, the Tri-State Electric Company extended their line to Osmond and Mr. Boye had leased the same, buying the current of the company and selling it to Osmond patrons. Osmond was now on the same line as Bloomfield, Wausa, Magnet, McLean, etc., the current for this part of the country being manufactured in Sioux Falls.
The Catholic Ladies’ Guild gave a special card party at their hall. Flurrying snow and cold kept only a few home. There were 16 tables. A delicious luncheon for 72 was served. After the game, dancing. It was 1 a.m. when the merry party broke up. “You bet it was a good time.”
75 Years Ago. . .
An organization meeting of a study center took place at the Osmond High School. This group was going to meet weekly from 6 until 10 p.m. under direction of Miss Lulu Way of Wayne State Teachers College. The course being offered was “Introduction to Education." Osmond was the first town to initiate evening educational classes under the guidance of the Wayne college. The following list of teachers and students were enrolled: Mrs. Minnie Haskins, Mrs. Alda Dawson, Mrs. Ella Warneke, Mrs. Merle Thomsen, Mrs. Mere Story, Mrs. Lillian Hixson, Mrs. Lorraine Schomer, Mrs. Spatz, Mr. Harry Haskins and the Misses Margaret Behrens, Mary Beck, Darlene Herbolsheimer, Vivian Broekemeier, Theresa Windeshausen, Dorothy Pfanstiel and Dorothy Wagner.
Rural and city folks up and down the valley of the Elkhorn, meandering river of many tributaries in the northeast section of the state, were seeing a gradual diminishing of unprecedented quantities of snow, even as they kept a watchful eye to the future and possible flood conditions.
The weather had been all that could be desired in the way of orderly snow elimination. The snow had melted, condensed and evaporated until a foot or so was all that remained on level ground. High drifts storing untold quantities of water which too warm weather could send gushing down creek beds and eroding farm lands, were still to be found in windbreaks and around farm lots. Some folks had gone so far as to predict that the flood danger was already eliminated in the Osmond area. Many others were more skeptical.
65 Years Ago. . .
A sprawling Osmond frame building which underwent extensive remodeling in 1951 was purchased by the tenant, Wallace Kahler. Announcement of the transfer was made by the seller, E. J. Huey, and the new owner. The “Huey” building is one of Osmond’s oldest business buildings. Mr. Huey, who purchased it in 1946, said he believed it was built about 1900. It was completely remodeled in a multi-thousand dollar improvement project carried out in 1951. The 50x120-ft. building is located directly across the street west of the Osmond post office, and south of Thomsen’s Corner. E. J. Huey moved to the building in 1939 with his firm's Ford franchise and repair shop. He retired in 1956 and since then, the rear portion of the building was rented by Kahler, operator of “Wally’s Shop,” a car repair business. The front portion was occupied for a time by Moore’s Transfer, a grain hauling firm, which had moved in 1958 to its own place one block south.
Osmond voters were notified of caucuses of Citizens and Peoples parties to be held at the auditorium on March 3. At the sessions, voters were to select candidates for city and school office. If such selections were not made by public caucus, the law provided for petition candidates within certain time limits. In recent years, most Osmond candidates had been nominated by caucus.
50 Years Ago. . .
During the annual meeting of the North Central Dairy Herd Improvement Association at the Osmond city auditorium. Harlan Henzler, DHIA Supervisor, was recognized for 10 years of service and dedication. Norman Lorenz was honored as the only charter member of the association. It was due to Norman’s efforts in 1961 that the DHIA had its birth. Norman was the initial supervisor testing milk using milk buckets, scale and dipper. Norman recalled that the milk price was around 42 per hundred. He had the distinction of being the only member who had served as supervisor, president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.
Those fabulous 50s certainly must have some sort of attraction — they returned to the TV screen in the form of a weekly program and a “50s” day was held in many schools in the area, and Osmond High was no exception. On the day of Osmond’s competition in the Class C district basketball tournament at Norfolk, a fabulous “50s” day was staged, sponsored by the OHS Pep Club. Even the faculty took part — “greasy-goo” for the ducktail haircuts, jeans, full suits, flare skirts (halfway to the ankle) and all. The day’s activities were concluded with an “old-fashioned” pep rally. Cheerleaders wore authentic uniforms of the era some 20 years previous.
A happy volleyball team returned to Osmond after it received the third place trophy in the Pierce Invitational tournament. Immanuel Lutheran School students faced Plainview in the first game and came out on top 9-6 in the first match, but lost in the next two
12-10 and 10-8. Osmond then went on to defeat Bloomfield with scores of 10-5 and 13-11. This win seemed to give the girls the confidence they needed for their contest against the tough St. Paul’s team. Osmond won the first match 11-9, lost the second 6-3, and won the third 13-11. In their final game, Pierce proved to be too tough for them, winning in two games, 11-0 and 11-4. High scorers in all games were Gail Krohn, Lori Kumm, Donna Koehler, Connie Buchholz and Joy Pfanstiel.
25 Years Ago. . .
Five Osmond High School wres- tlers qualified for the state competition in 1999: senior Nathan Vinson at 145 lbs.; junior Brandon Brunckhorst, 103 lbs.; freshman Nick Schieffer, 135 lbs.; sophomore Ryan Friedrich, 140 lbs., and freshman Adam Krienert, 171 lbs. At the state meet, Friedrich placed sixth for the Tigers.
It was a good day for burning trees. . . The temperature topped out at 67 degrees, and Kent Schuettler was in the process of burning some trees. About mid afternoon, the Schuettlers called the Osmond Fire Department to their acreage a half-mile west of town. Sparks from the tree fire ignited the roof of a building which was a short distance to the north. The flames quickly spread to hay which had been stored in the building. The Schuettlers were able to save a wheel barrow and tools from the building.
10 Years Ago. . .
Osmond High School selected Dennis Haselhorst to be recognized as a Jim Winch Service Award honoree of the Lewis and Clark Conference. This award is presented annually at the Lewis and Clark Conference basketball championship games. Dennis was recognized for his years of service to OHS in installation and maintenance of scoreboards and public address systems. He had also been a major donor in the acquisition of the systems. Richard and Sharen Luhr were also recognized. They spent many years as the band and chorus directors at Osmond and worked tirelessly for the music programs in the conference.
