March 4, 1897 —
The Merchants Hotel, which had been conducted in this place for the past two years by Mrs. S. E. Smith, will close in a few days. Mrs. Smith has given us a good hotel and many are the regrets at her decision to close out.
Fred Culton and Gene Root are this week moving their personal effects to a farm on the Willow, where they will put in their time farming and cooking between times this summer. Gene’s efficiency in blowing a horn will come in good in notifying Fred and the neighbors when it is meal time.
100 Years Ago. . .
An interesting advertisement on the front page of the Oct. 16, 1924, Osmond Republican from The Novelty Co., Davenport, IA: Oh! Girls: Get a fortune telling chart. The very latest craze. Barrels of fun. Great for parties. Reduced to 15 cents. Boys: A sixteen page book of tricks with matches, coins, chairs, etc. Nothing extra to buy. Reduced to 15 cents. Both for 25¢.
In the High School Notes in the senior class section: If any of the business men are in need of a bookkeeper, they can be supplied by applying to the bookkeeping class.
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Pronneke purchased the restaurant of W. H. Van Kirk, taking possession Oct. 22, 1924.
Mr. Fritz Eggert rented his brick building to A. F. Hodgins, a travelling salesman from Iowa, who was going to open up a grocery about Nov. 1. He would also buy cream for Swift of Sioux City. Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins had a store at Booth, S.D. He was on the road while his wife ran that store, which they planned to sell out and go into business here in the Eggert building. He was a nephew of Jim Hardy, who was formerly the butcher in the Kersenbrock and Grosse Rhode stores.
Cizek Bros. lost 2,500 bales of hay by fire, the cause of which was unknown. They had this amount all baled on their ranch south of Plainview, but it all went up in smoke.
A. E. Childs had the misfortune to fall over a hog trough and break a couple of ribs. The next day, accompanied by Dr. Rodgers, he was taken to Norfolk for an X-ray. He was getting along satisfactorily.
75 Years Ago. . .
In a telephone call to Osmond from somewhere in Wyoming, it was told that two of the group of big game hunters from here had already gotten a moose. They were P. J. Stanosheck of Osmond and Dr. Hoopman of Norfolk. The hunters returned at various times during the next week and with moose, elk and deer with an aggregate dressed weight of 2,806 lbs. Included in the bag were three bull moose, two elk and six deer. Also in the sports bag were some 30 steelhead trout caught in small lakes.
Citizens of Osmond were recipients of about four different kinds of weather in about twice that many hours from Sunday evening through early Monday morning. Arriving first was rain starting early in the evening and continuing throughout the evening. Then shortly after midnight came strong winds and heat. Then several hours after midnight the heat gradually gave way to cold, thus giving us four samples of weather — cold, heat, rain and wind. The winds knocked down much of the corn in the fields that was nearly ready to be harvested. Many cornfields were flattened to the extent that it would be impossible to use mechanical pickers on them. Branches had fallen down all over town. Several corn cribs had blown over, according to farmers in this vicinity. Power then failed in Osmond in mid-morning Monday, until that evening.
65 Years Ago. . .
L. S. Van Ackeren, former Osmond drug store operator, found fishing in the waters below Gavins Point dam on the Missouri River quite fruitless as far as the prime object of his efforts was concerned. However, on one of the several times he was “snagged” he pulled a glass casting rod replete with automatic reel from about 20 feet of water. Turbulent waters below the dam claimed much fishing tackle, most of it terminal gear.
The Osmond Community Club, in regular meeting at the Osmond Cafe, voted unanimously to sponsor a 1959 Osmond residential Christmas lighting program. The plan was to encourage lighting arrangements through the distribution of prizes which would be given winners in a contest to be judged by impartial judges. Fifty dollars was set aside as prize money. How it would be distributed would be at the discretion of a committee composed of James Stratton, S. N. Westergard and P. J. Stanosheck.
A car being driven by Mrs. Bernard Albers was struck in the side by a school bus on Oct. 16. The accident occurred about 10 miles southeast of Stanton on a country road. Mrs. Albers was taken to a Norfolk hospital where she was treated for cuts and bruises. A gash on her head required four stitches. The car driven by Mrs. Albers was demolished. None of the passengers in the school bus was seriously injured.
Harry Thomsen Jr., co-owner of Thomsen Sand & Gravel of Osmond, lost part of the little finger on his left hand in an accident at the firm's gravel pit. The ring finger on the same hand was badly lacerated and required stitches in an attempt to save the member. Mr. Thomsen’s hand was drawn into a V-belt pulley as he attempted to loosen the sticking belt.
50 Years Ago. . .
Chick Reed presented OHS band instructor Richard Luhr a check for $88 — the proceeds from a pizza promotion held the previous weekend. Chick’s Grocery donated 10¢ per pizza sold to the band’s trip to the Rapid City Dakota Band Days festival in June. Mr. and Mrs. Luhr, the band members and other boosters helped with the pizza sales. Fifteen people won pizzas in a drawing held in conjunction with the pizza promotion. Each received one Tony’s pizza.
The fifth grade pupils of the three Osmond schools participated in the Junior Fire Marshal program. The program was sponsored by Adkins Insurance Agency with the assistance of the Osmond Volunteer Fire Department. The youngsters were required to inspect their homes for fire hazards and pledge to observe fire safety rules. As a part of their training, fire fighting equipment was taken to each of the schools and the pupils were permitted to explore the equipment. The highlight of the day for the pupils was a ride on the fire truck and the receipt of a shiny red fire marshal's hat.
Osmond Skelly Service held their 18th anniversary appreciation day with $18 specials and free carnations to the first 18 women. They also held a drawing for prizes. Adult prizes were: First, 18 silver dollars; second, 18 half dollars, and third, 18 quarters.
Children's prizes were: Boys - first, basketball; second, football; third, bull bank; girls - first, stuffed animal; second, Snoopy dog; third, bull bank.
25 Years Ago. . .
By the last week in October 1999, an estimated 1.1 million bushels of corn had been put in the bunkers at Battle Creek Farmers Co-op. It had been several years since the amount of corn in the bunker had approaches this amount. As bins were emptied, corn would be moved to them and subsequently loaded onto train cars for shipment. Manager Les Kruger indicated that it would take more than 314 train cars to transport all the corn.
10 Years Ago. . .
One of the events at the HOME Team tailgate party was the human foosball tournament. Winning the event was the L G Pumping team. Members were Nate Schieffer, Steve Lind, Jason Gubbels, Heather Berg, Kortny Berg and Garret Kuhl. The organization donated the proceeds from the fall tailgate party to the Osmond Q125 committee to be used for Osmond’s 2015 Q125 celebration. In total, the committee received $3,500 for the event. Another activity during the party was bidding on the “best seat in the house” to watch the Cornhusker football game. The higheset bidder was Gansebom Farms.
