100 Years Ago. . .
Sunday, July 20, 1924, a tornado struck the territory one mile west and three miles north of Osmond. It started at the home of Hugo Wecker, where it broke out a number of window lights on the house, tore some of the shingles off, tore up the cellar way to the house, and then passed on about a half mile northeast to the home of Thomas Sazama, where it tore things up right. They were in bed, it being about midnight, when they were awakened by a terrible roar, which lasted for a few seconds only, and then all was still. On investigating, they found that the cattle shed, hog house and engine shed, which sat about 50 feet southeast of the house, were all gone. They heard a groaning noise, and found that a 250-lb. hog was nearly dead, having been hit when the hog house was taken. A 2x4 was picked up and driven into the field a half mile away, straight down. A post set in a foot of cement was torn out. The cloud came from the southwest and hit first a grove of trees close to the buildings. These it tore up considerably, breaking off the branches and limbs and then passed on to the buildings. The corn crib was moved about a foot and the windmill tower receive a light touch and was badly damaged. After leaving the Tom Sazama farm, the twister passed on to the home of Frank Beck about a half mile northeast. Here it moved the barn off the foundation and turned the hen house around. Many windmill towers and small buildings were wrecked north and east of Osmond. This storm also hit at Norfolk, where a twister tore up trees on the lawns of the George Butterfield homes and other places, wrecked buildings, and picked up a tent containing a man and dropped it upside down in the Norfork River. Fortunately, he was able to get out and swim to shore.
75 Years Ago. . .
Officers of the Elkhorn Valley Baseball League, of which Osmond was a member, according to a routine bulletin issued by secretary Frank Allen of Pierce, decreed that: “Clayton (Don) and Burt (Bud) be suspended for five regularly scheduled games starting with the July 10 game for the abuse and foul language to the league umpires and for their intent and effort to strike the umpires. That the Osmond ball club and their manager Cap Theisen be fined the sum of $25 for failure to make any effort to prevent a riot that might have seriously injured someone, and for failure to have proper police protection available.” According to Osmond management, impartial fans, crowd and players, “Clayton, an Osmond player, disputed a second called strike by umpire Harry Pate, was out after swinging at a third strike. After being called out by the ump, Clayton turned around and called him a blind so and so, whereupon umpire Pate told him he was out of the game. Clayton then drew back his bat to strike Pate with it and in so doing knocked off his own cap. Cap Theisen and the Osmond players, thinking that Pate had struck Clayton, charged out on the field with ball bats and some of the local fans also on the field and they all abused umpire Pate in foul language. After
the game was continued and finished and the umpires leaving the field,
Osmond player Burt made several efforts to fight with the umpires and called them abusive and foul names.”
65 Years Ago. . .
It was 40 years earlier that a young doctor began a general medical practice in the city of his birth. That doctor was Clarence Edwin Rodgers and the town was Osmond. Forty years later, he was still ministering to the ill in this community who referred to him as their family doctor. Furthermore, he had no definite plans for retirement. Though Dr. Rodgers’ early delivery records were inadvertently destroyed some years before, an accurate estimate of births he attended he believed was about 2,000. This was almost three times the Osmond population at that time. He had been on the board of village trustees for some 25 years, was a volunteer fireman for 10 years and had been on the staff of St. Joseph Hospital here since its founding in 1945. The doctor had enjoyed two sojourns from business which could rightly be called vacations in his 40 years of practice.
Ed Pochop, son of Mrs. Bessie Pochop, was slowly recovering from third-degree burns suffered from a tractor fuel explosion, while he was harvesting oats. The burns extended over chest, arms, and face. He was treated at St. Joseph Hospital and then returned every other day for treatment.
The annual picnic for the employees at St. Joseph Hospital was held on the hospital grounds in the late afternoon of July 28. That year it took the form of a wiener and marshmallow roast after which numbers were drawn for prizes. Music was furnished by a hi-fi record player.
50 Years Ago. . .
Chick’s Grocery celebrated its 25th year in the Osmond business circle with free prize drawings and free water guns and balloons for the kids. Prize winners were: Corning ware coffee maker, Emil Gloe; 20-cup coffee maker, Erwin Bilau; punch bowl set, Sandy Springer; salad dressing susan, Hattie Kumm; food server, Sally Beacom; glass percolator, Wilma Rice; beverage set, Don Gloe; green salad bowl set, Mae Kratochvil; food server, Eva Hummel; insulated jug, Sharilyn Lemke and Gertrude Schmit; lettuce crisper, Harry Springer; carrot crisper, Delores Haselhorst; birthday cake — Lillie Stueckrath, Don Theisen, Ed Palu, Emma Gansebom, Sister Virginis, Ida Luebbers, Carol Geiger, Dorothy Enevoldsen, Pat Wagner, Dave Buchanan, Milford Kumm and Judy Haag.
A huge concrete base on which rested the cylinder press that once printed this newspaper now reposed at the city disposal grounds. It was moved from lots purchased by Osmond State Bank just north of Schultze Sooper, formerly Golter’s Store, after being broken in two pieces by Doug Webr of Breslau. The bank was going to erect a new building on the site, probably to be completed that December. The concrete piece was approximately 2 feet thick by six by 10. Its gross weight was estimated at around 13,000 lbs. When the concrete press base was poured was not known. It probably was in the 1920s. It was here in an old two-story frame building in 1929 when the late M. T. Liewer purchased the Osmond Republican from Carl Will. On it stood a single revolution “Country Campbell” newspaper press. It printed four regulation pages at a time, did a tolerable job, but was slow. It was sold for scrap steel at age near 100 years some seven years before and replaced by a 10-ton Meihle, which was then in use at the Republican office in 1974.
25 Years Ago. . .
Site preparation began for the construction of the new public library in the community. The structure was to be situated just south of the medical clinic of Dr. David F. Johnson, who with his wife, Lelia, donated the land for the new facility.
The Osmond 18-and-under girls’ softball team competed in the state Class C tournament at Hastings. They won their way to the tournament by placing third in the district tournament held in Osmond. At the state tournament, they lost two games — 15-2 to David City and 14-3 to Imperial.
10 Years Ago. . .
Several months earlier, the Osmond City Council began the process to install a new water well in the city in an effort to combat the high nitrate readings in existing wells. One of the criteria was to conduct a study of impact on installing the well. The city received the findings of the Depart ment of Environmental Quality on the proposed well, which stated that there were no significant impacts on the proposal.
