125 YEARS AGO: 1896
The Hutchinson Brewery ships an average of two wagons of beer a week to Brownton.
From towns 20 miles away, people came to Hutchinson to hear Mary Elizabeth Lease speak upon the great questions that now interest the people of this great country. By a misunderstanding, she was announced for a lecture on temperance. She struck hard on the vice of drinking but her lecture was largely a plea for moral, physical and intellectual uplifting of mankind in accordance with the doctrine of "whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do you even so unto them."
100 YEARS AGO: 1921
Is there a yoke of oxen in McLeod County? If so, will the owner report to J.M. Eheim, chairman, or A.R. Quast, secretary, at the McLeod County Historical Pageant Committee? Pageant directors guarantee that anyone looking for some publicity, excitement, will get plenty of it out of furnishing a yoke of oxen. The oxen, as they haul the great prairie schooners, will receive more enthusiastic applause than would a world renowned operatic tenor or a star baseball player.
75 YEARS AGO: 1946
Inspired by their own difficulty in getting overalls, the Square Clothing Co. has set about finding out how long people have made their work togs last. Prizes for the most ragged pairs of overalls brought into the store are offered in a Leader advertisement. The contest is open to the world, and the only requirement is that the overalls have to be clean. "If your overalls are so tattered they dissolve completely in the wash, you can't compete."
Parachute men are indispensable in the Army. Anyway, they don't get to come home. Pfc. Sammy Luthens found that out when he returned to Washington after his last furlough. He expected to be discharged but instead he was sent to Japan where he is now with his old unit, the 511th Parachute Division at Aomori, on the island of Honshu.
50 YEARS AGO: 1971
Great uncertainty among draft-age men in McLeod County has been created by the current Congressional impasse over extending induction authority. Curtiss Tarr, the Selective Service director, stressed the importance of explaining to draft-age men the high probability that draft calls will resume in the near future and that the current impasse in Congress is not likely to affect any registrant's chance of being drafted.
The first reported case of Dutch Elm disease prompted the Hutchinson City Council to take quick action on an ordinance to assist in the control of the disease. In response to previous inquiries, the city had received from the League of Minnesota Municipalities a sample ordinance governing control of the problem. Thomas Stafford of Hutchinson had suspected the disease in the only tree on his lot, had sent samples to the state laboratory and had reported to an alderman when the test came back positive. The city park crew cut the tree down and removed it for burning.
25 YEARS AGO: 1996
Rick Kjonaas, McLeod County highway engineer, outlined the county's plans to rebuild State Highway 261 during the County Board meeting at Winsted City Hall. The portion of the road between Winsted and Lester Prairie is slated to be completed in 1997, and the county has set up a number of meetings to keep landowners informed.
People's Platform: No one drives a reasonable speed in Hutchinson around the ball parks. It's time to get speed signs around the ball parks and the pool on Linden Avenue. Why can't the city spend some money to put up speed signs to protect children?
Budget planning is heading into the home stretch for directors of Hutchinson's city departments. With the deadline for setting the preliminary levy for 1997 just a little over a month away, city officials now have in hand estimates of what the state will provide in Local Government Aid, or LGA. Hutchinson can expect 2.32% more in state funding in 1997, increasing from the $1.37 million for this year to nearly $1.41 million next year.
Dr. Kenneth Peterson, who treated patients in Hutchinson for more than 43 years, died July 28 at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. He was one of the founders of the Hutchinson Medical Center.
