125 YEARS AGO: 1898
Local temperance people have arranged to have an address from Hon. Samuel Dickie of Michigan, chairman of the Prohibition National Committee. Sometime in May Mr. Dickie will make a tour of the state at that time and Hutchinson is to be one of the points visited.
J.H. Tardy and his son, Henry, left Hutchinson for Minneapolis where it is expected they will join a party going to the Klondike gold fields. The elder Tardy will be going under contract as a mechanic at $15 a day and the younger Tardy will be engaged as the attorney for the company.
Robert McAlmond died at his home in Bonniwell’s Mills of a violent attack of the grip. His sickness was only of a week’s duration. Mr. McAlmond was 63, and had lived in the vicinity since 1866, previous to which time he had been a sailor. He was a native of Nova Scotia. His wife survives him, as do three children. His remains were buried in the Hutchinson cemetery.
100 YEARS AGO: 1923
Another new firm is welcomed to Hutchinson with the purchase of the O.A. Kohler company stock and fixtures by P.E. Schoeneman and Ewald Mattsfield from Jens Juul. The new proprietors plan to continue the business in the same place under the firm name Schoeneman & Mattsfield with a new line of goods in all departments. No changes in staff are contemplated.
Paul Fisher sold his farm of 160 acres in Cosmos Township to Herman Arndt, also of Cosmos. The purchase price was $70 per acre. Mr. Arndt was already the owner of 280 acres of rich Cosmos soil and bought the Fisher place for one of his sons. During the high-priced times a couple of years ago, no land could be bought in the country west of Hutchinson, no matter how far from town, at less than $100 per acre. Since then, the Luce Line extension has been completed west of Cosmos, which should have the effect of increasing land values.
75 YEARS AGO: 1948
The Hutchinson Historical Society has been the recipient of a large number of relics of by-gone age, all of them heirlooms and each article priceless in its own right by virtue of age, beauty and background. The donor is Miss Nellie Pendergast, 81-year-old Duluth resident, whose tie to Hutchinson lies in her ancestry. Miss Pendergast is one of nine children born to the late Roswell Pendergast, a founding father of Hutchinson who came here as a young man in November 1855 to clear the land for settlement. He was in the company of the Hutchinson Brothers, Judson, John and Asa, Col. John Stevens, Lewis Harrington and six others.
Hutchinson residents have seen a rise of 2.4 feet in the amount of water traveling over the dam at the start of the spring ice break-up. It promises to provide a higher river stage than any reported in the past seven years. Starting the week of March 26, 1948, Monday morning, the flow then measured 9.8 feet at the dam. Wednesday morning however the river rose 2.22 feet, bringing it to 12.12 feet. Thursday morning brought another slight increase with the water going over the dam at 12.24 feet.
50 YEARS AGO: 1973
Larry and Cheryl Cornwell will become the new owners of the Hutchinson Bowl effective June 1. They are purchasing the establishment from Mr. and Mrs. Al Jahnke who have operated the bowling alley at its present location since it was built in 1957.
25 YEARS AGO: 1998
Nearly 30 people each weekday open their front doors rather than their refrigerator doors for lunch. And in walks a Meals on Wheels volunteer with a smile and a fresh, hot, balanced meal. It began with eight meals on that first day in 1973. Now after almost 25 years, from October 1973 to December 1997, volunteers have delivered 130,242 meals to senior citizens, people home after surgery, disabled people and anyone else in need. More than 120 volunteers drivers rotate, connecting with the Hutchinson Community Hospital cafeteria to pick up meals.
The Jose Cole Circus, now celebrating its third decade as a traveling circus, will perform one show March 27 at the Hutchinson Civic Arena.
Budget details, proposed staff reductions and a proposed activity addition will be among discussion topics at the next Board of Education meeting.
The first reading of Hutchinson’s new proposed tobacco ordinance is scheduled to take place March 24 at the City Council meeting, but final adoption would not take place until April 14.
