125 YEARS AGO: 1898
Attorney General Crow of Missouri has rendered an opinion to the state superintendent of public schools that a reading of the Bible by teachers as part of the school exercises is contrary to the laws, and that it is unlawful for a teacher to require pupils to repeat the Lord’s Prayer as part of the opening exercises of the school. He holds that these exercises are a form of religious worship and cannot therefore be enforced upon students under state and federal constitutions.
The newly elected street commissioner will be able to make himself popular by keeping the street crossings clean in muddy weather.
Carcasses of deceased horses and dogs are lying within or near the corporate limits of the village in the vicinity of the cemetery. The stench annoys residents of that portion of the city and is something that should be attended to by the authorities.
Jacob Buckman and some of the other residents near the Main Street bridge complain of the depredations of the a crowd of boys who make the bridge their rendezvous after dark. They tell of broken windows, stolen clotheslines and other depredations, which are no credit to those who commit them. Youngsters who get into such lawless habits are sure to run against a snag sooner or later in the form of the strong arm of the law.
100 YEARS AGO: 1923
Silver Lake and Hutchinson firemen were busy this past week. The Hutchinson department answered two calls for small fires and Silver Lake fighting a fire at the sawmill there. The sawmill at Silver Lake that belonged to Frank Bren, builder, contractor and sawmill operator, burned to the ground. The mill and several thousand feet of finished lumber that Mr. Bren intended to use in the building operations this spring were destroyed. The loss is estimated between $3,000 and $4,000 with a replacement value of twice that amount. No insurance was carried on the property.
75 YEARS AGO: 1948
Hutchinson voters for the first time since 1939 will ballot on the question of a liquor license at the annual city election to be held May 4. The question goes on the ballot following the filing of a petition signed by more than the necessary number of voters. The ballot will simply carry the question in this manner — For license; Against license. Hutchinson has been dry for many years, and has not voted on the question since 1939.
50 YEARS AGO: 1973
October Inc., an eight-track tape assemblage and distribution firm here, will open a variety shop, the Purple Parrot, sometime in April, according to Allen Putney, controller. The new shop will carry records, tapes, posters, black and strobe lights, candies, incense and handcrafted items.
A needle to the boss from employee Ferdinand Radunz of Hutchinson has brought him a signed certificate from Gov. Wendell Anderson plus a cash award. The needle, an instrument not a gibe, was developed by a 25-year employee of the state of Minnesota to improve his work as a netmaker at the fisheries headquarters of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Radunz, one of three full-time netmakers at the headquarters in Hutchinson where all the fisheries nets used in Minnesota are handmade, received this award for his idea and work. The needle made by Radunz, according to Kenneth Schumann, acting area manager here, resulted in a time savings of three to four hours for every complete quarter-inch mesh box-trap made.
25 YEARS AGO: 1998
Dorcas club at Peace Lutheran Church in Hutchinson hosted a goodbye dinner for the church’s Ladies Aid, which has been part of the church’s fellowship for 100 years. “The women were so nice and God was so good to us,” said Freda Schramm, Ladies Aid president. “It’s sad that we have to disband, but everything comes to an and, and that’s us.” Schramm has been the group’s president for more than 20 years.
It was a full house at the Hutchinson Recreation Center April 4. Families turned out to celebrate Easter with festivities and hear the Teddy Bear Band. The annual event is sponsored by the Hutchinson Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, Elks, Oddfellows and Jaycees.
Another strong month kept Hutchinson well ahead of 1997’s record pace for construction activities. The city’s Building Department issued 33 permits in March with a total valuation of construction of more than $1.14 million.
