Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

September 26, 2018  Page 10  

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 September 1918

 

Sunday was nearly an auto-less day, for the drivers pretty generally observed the request to conserve gasoline on that day.  About the only cars observed were those which were out on strictly business matters and very few autoists were driving for pleasure only.  I was a case of old times when old Dobbin did the work of hauling the family around.                                                                                    

•••••••••

Notice to Auto owners and Drivers!

 

We have been asked to report the license numbers of all autos running on Sundays.  Until further notice, going to church on Sunday in your auto is not considered essential.

 

Neillsville Auto Club Secretary, F.D. Calway.

 

(Evidently the people walked or traveled by horse and buggy to church on Sundays, because all the churches kept the doors open, continuing to post their regular church service schedules in The Press. DZ) 

•••••••••

Monday evening a detachment of Home Guards went to Greenwood to meet Lieut. Volk, who had arrived home from France that evening.  The Guards formed an escort for the young man, who is a Greenwood boy who had just arrived home from service in France.  He has been detailed for work in the army cantonments in this country.  He gave a very pleasing talk to the Guards and assembled friends and the event was very pleasant to all.                                                                                                          

•••••••••

During the Clark County Fair, dances will be held at Paulson’s hall, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Sept. 12, 13 & 14.  Good Music.  Everybody invited.                                  

•••••••••

Had it been generally known to the people of this city and vicinity, a crowd would no doubt have gathered at the Soo Railroad depot last week to witness a sight never seen before, consisting of 25 pair of silver black fox, which were being shipped from Prince Edward Island, Canada, to Medford where one of the largest black fox farms in the United States is located.  The animals were valued at $100,000.  The shipment passed through here in the night and was accompanied by J.B. Monnette, a Chicago banker who underwrote the stock.  The Medford  company has already spent $15,000 building a ranch for the safe keeping of the Fox.  Mr. Monnette is quoted as saying that some Wausau parties, for a fox farm located near there, recently purchased 32 pair for which they had paid $13,000.  As foxes breed in large numbers, and prices keep up, undoubtedly it will prove a paying enterprise.  Marshfield Herald

 

(The Fromm Brothers Fur and Ginseng Farm, located in the Town of Hamburg, Marathon County, between Wausau and Medford eventually became a wealthy enterprise, as the four brothers worked at learning how to raise silver fox and through experimenting, trial and error, successfully grew ginseng.  The fur market peaked in 1929, with the business ending a few years after World War II.  The growing of ginseng still thrives in the surrounding area.  The Fromm Brothers Fur and Ginseng Farm site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin.  In recent years, a scheduled summer tour has been available for those interested in viewing the buildings, ground and learning more history of the former Farm enterprise.  DZ)  

•••••••••

The Neillsville Canning Co. is buying pumpkins and will take, buy all of either field or sweet pumpkins available, delivered to the factory.                                                                  

•••••••••

Next Saturday, I will offer for sale 260 feet of good sheds and one 20x30 barn, now occupying the premises at the rear of Dangers store.  Good terms may be secured on the purchase. …  A.H. Halverson, Owner.

 

(The Dangers Store was located on the southwest corner of West 7th and Hewett St. until being razed by a fire. The above listed buildings for sale were located behind Dangers Store, a site later to become occupied by Urban’s Sales & Service. DZ)                                                     

•••••••••

School opened last Monday in Neillsville with a total enrollment of 406.  Of this number, 146 are in high school, 223 in grades and 37 in Kindergarten.  Wm Zemke is the new teacher in manual training.

•••••••••

Am. Buttner, the blacksmith at Christie, has made arrangements to sell gasoline, oils and spark plugs at his shop in Christie.                                                                         

•••••••••

No more Ford pleasure automobiles are to be manufactured until after the war.  The endless stream in which they poured from the big Detroit plant has been completely shut off.  The last “flivver” rolled from the assembling ways in the Michigan motor capital Friday evening.  Whatever Ford cars are manufactured from now until the end of the hostilities will be for use of the government, for trucking, transportation of men and supplies, or for ambulance purposes.                                                                        

•••••••••

Black River Falls has adopted a public moment of prayer.  At noon each day in the week a church bell rings, at which time every resident of the city is expected to offer up a short prayer for the soldiers and sailors of the nation.                                                                                                            

 

September 1953

 

Centennial Days, at the Jackson County Fair in Black River Falls, Thursday thru Sunday, August 27 thru 30.

 

Centennial Pageant Thursday, 8 p.m. to be put on by Organizations of Jackson County: Pioneer Days, Transportation, Logging, Industry, Early Life, Schools & Churches.

 

Big Grandstand Show – Friday – Saturday -  Sunday – Afternoons and Evenings – Fair Dances Fri., Sat. and Sun.   Big Midway, Exhibits & Fireworks! Single Admission, 50’ - Children under 12 - FREE.

•••••••••

The Neillsville Congregational Church is losing its steeple. It is being razed, mostly by volunteer labor.  It will not be replaced.  Instead, a roof almost flat will cover the tower on which the steeple has rested.

 

The removal of the steeple was a major operation.  Studying the job and reckoning the hazard, the trustees concluded that there was need for the employment of at least one worker of experience and skill in climbing and working on high places.  Accordingly, an arrangement was made with Kenneth Short to do the highest aerial wrecking, with the volunteers in places somewhat less hazardous.  The workers soon found that Mr. Short knew ways to make himself as secure as any others on the job.  When working on the ladder, he fastened himself to it by a lineman’s belt and tackle.  He and his helpers roped his ladder securely to the solid lower members of the Steeple, and when Mr. Short was attached to the ladder by his belt, he was plenty safe.

 

While Mr. Short worked from his ladder, the other volunteers moved gingerly about, getting hand holds where they could.  They handled a surprisingly amount of lumber, most of which was solid and is being salvaged for further use.

 

One of the interesting discoveries was the large proportion of the nails used in the steeple consisted of the old square, kind iron. The workers did not accept this as final evidence that wire shingles were not in vogue when the Congregational Church was built.  They found steel nails also.

 

The reason for wrecking the steeple was that it leaked like a sieve and nobody cared to replace it.

 

The decision to remove the steeple emphasizes the change of viewpoint about church architecture.  In the days of when the Congregational Church was built, a steeple was looked upon by many as a necessity.  Pointing upward from the height, it had a symbolic meaning.  But though most Protestant churches of that day were provided with steeples, there was plenty of precedent through the centuries for having churches with towers only with no steeples atop them.  Characteristic of this style of church architecture is Westminster Abbey in London, one of the historic churches of the Church of England; also, Notre Dame of the Roman Catholic faith in Paris.  Both the English Abbey and the French Notre Dame have artistic tower, two at the front of each of those great churches.  Other great churches were built with domes, like St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London.  So, the trustees of the Congregational have plenty of precedent for throwing the steeple away.

 

(The Congregational Church was built in 1892 and served the congregation until about 1961, being razed soon after.  It was located on the northwest corner of the intersection of West 5th Street & West Street, site of the present Unity Bank.  DZ)

 

A photo of the Congregational Church, taken after the steeple had been removed.  Part of the steeple’s base was left and capped off, with a wooden cross, having been placed on the base portion.  It was on the northwest corner of West 5th and West Street.

 

•••••••••

Three Clark County men are planning to leave Saturday to hunt mule deer and antelope in Wyoming’s Rock Mountain foothills. They are Dr. William Olson and Harry Liebzeit of Greenwood and Carl A. Olson of Neillsville.  They expect to be gone about eight days.                               

•••••••••

Mrs. Dorothy Waters has left a vacancy in the Home Ec. Department of Neillsville High School, having taken a position at a school in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The vacancy will be filled by Mrs. Kenneth Olson.

•••••••••

Mattes Livestock Market Thorp, Wisconsin, 16th Two-Day Anniversary Sale!

 

Wednesday & Thursday, September 16 & 17 – Wed., 200 to 300 Horses, and Thurs., 400 to 600 Cattle.

 

Maggie and Scotty with their troupe from the WEAU radio station will entertain you on Wednesday.

 

Souvenirs for everyone & Free Door Prize, each day.  Come dressed in cowboy regalia if you can.

•••••••••

Neillsville High School Warriors offensive football team line-up consists of: Forest Larsen, Ronald Davis, Peter Sydorowicz, Dennis Maus, Lewis Hoffman, Merlin Gerber, Gary Northup, Bob Gutenberger, John Nozar and Jim Wavrunek.                                                                                       

•••••••••

Bill and Bob, the oxen who were a feature of Clark County’s Centennial celebration last July, will lead the parade at the national plowing contest near Augusta Saturday.  The parade is scheduled to start at 11:00 in the forenoon.

 

With the two whiteface oxen will be their owners, Delbert (Bud) Struble and Heron (Pink) Van Gorden, and their trainer, Chapman (Chap) Paulson, all of Neillsville.

 

With the event being a national one, with plenty of interest in it all over the nation, there is a possibility that news cameras and news reel cameras will spread the fame of the oxen and their owners over pretty much of the country.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

•••••••••

The growing season of 1953 in Clark County came to an end Sunday morning, Sept. 13.  The temperature went below freezing all over the county.

 

The frost had held off long enough to give the farmers a very excellent crop year, with ample feed on practically every farm in all parts of the county there is at least an average amount of protein feed; and on most farms an above the average.

 

(Now, in most recent years, a killing frost has held off until the end of September or into early October. DZ) 

•••••••••

At Russell’s 20th Anniversary Sale!  Friday, Sept. 18 –

All Day FREE! Coffee & Donuts for Everyone!  Balloons, Candy Suckers For the Children!

•••••••••

A&P Store Specials!

Wealthy Apples, bu. $2.99 – Tokay Grapes 2 lbs. 25’ - Bartlett Pears, 14 lbs. $1.69 –

Angle Food Cake, lg. 49’ - Silverbrook Butter, lb. 69’ -

A&P Longhorn Cheese, Mild, Cheddar lb. 49’.

•••••••••

Hey Kiddies, The Penguin has Free Yo-Yos, while they last!

A Yo-Yo will be given with the Purchase of Every Quart of Penguin Ice Cream!

 

(Do kids now know what a Yo-Yo is, or how to use one?  I remember the fun of spinning a Yo-Yo, and the contests, challenges that went with learning other maneuvers that could be done.  DZ) 

•••••••••

Ground for the new Memorial Hospital, a $536,000 project to which people all over the southern part of Clark County have contributed and in which they are interested, was broken this week.

 

In formal ceremonies, Herman North, president of the Memorial Hospital association, and Herbert M. Smith, vice president, turned the formal shovelful of dirt on the new hospital site in Sunset Hills, on Neillsville’s west side.

 

At the same time, those active in the hospital used the occasion to appeal for additional contributions for the Memorial Hospital, which they anticipate will be ready for use about next August.

 

While the formal blare and trumpeting of the money-raising campaign is past, and the hospital to serve a wide area of Clark County, and beyond, has been assured, the need for additional money, in quantities, is still very much with them.                                                                                  

•••••••••

Work at building the new Neillsville High School gains momentum.  The foundation of the southern side of the building has been prepared for the laying of concrete.

 

Seven bricklayers began work Monday morning.  More are expected soon.  The total crew now at work numbers 34.  Superintendent for the L.G. Arnold Construction Company is Ed Petschow.

 

(There were two major construction projects being worked on at the same time within Neillsville, that of the Neillsville High School and the Memorial Hospital. DZ)

 

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