June 3, 1897 —
HERD NOTICE: May 10th I will start the town herd. Cows taken and delivered to your door. E. N. Booth. A school program held at the Presbyterian church on Friday evening, June 11, 1897, consisted of music by the band, an invocation by Rev. Gortner, songs, recitations, orations and dialogues. Performances included those by Laura Matteson, Adel Leedom, Viola Rodgers, Ruby Kissinger, Mary Wanke, Mary and Lizzie Schumacher, Pearl Record and Nellie Blackmer.
100 Years Ago. . .
Manager Lundstrom booked three big nights of entertainment here, as he had a stock company to appear in the city hall, giving a different show each night. “Not a movie. Fun-fun-fun!”
The publisher wrote that a sewer system was something that was badly needed by Osmond, and he would like to see the question put to a vote at the election that spring. The city water was pumped from the town well, which was only 74 feet deep. This well was lower than all the cesspools in town, and there were 30 cesspools, all of which were 40 feet deep. The water bed of the city well was practically the same as the bottom of the cesspools, making the danger of contamination very great.
There was a bad auto mix-up at the corner three miles east of town when the Dodge touring car driven by A. Huwaldt Jr. of McLean and a Ford coupe driven by George Roskopf of Norfolk came together. No one was injured but the cars were badly damaged. The Norfolk News said: “The accident occurred in a peculiar manner, as each driver had stopped to give the other the right of way. Both started simultaneously, causing the cars to crash. The coupe was forced upon the hood of the larger machine, which caused the smaller car to turn over.”
Hans Thomsen was improving his soft drink parlor by the installation of a $2,000 soda fountain, equipped with an ice freezer. This would do away with keeping ice in storage. Hans also owned the building, which he purchased some time before, and would soon have one of the best and most up-to-date soft drink parlors that could be found.
75 Years Ago. . .
“ Here’s a billfold with a lot of money in it. It isn’t mine so I figured I’d better take it to the cop.” That was the brief but concise story of 9-year-old Clare Dirks of Osmond as he handed Marshall G.
W. Woolley a small, black billfold with $53 in “folding money” and some odd change in it. Clare, a fourth grade pupil at Immanuel Lutheran School, took the billfold to the marshall’s home. He had found it on a downtown street. It contained no owner's identification. The marshall contacted the newspaper to see if anyone had reported a lost billfold.
No one had. It was decided to keep the find secret for a few days to see if the loser would call. Next day, Jos.
Cizek of Osmond reported the loss and identified the lost billfold. Clare, who was on his regular paper route when he spotted the billfold, received a cash reward for his honesty. The newspaper thought he should have his picture in the paper as an added reward. Clare thought otherwise.
Rumors that Osmond’s new overhead street lighting system would end at Highway 20 at the south edge of town apparently were based on misinformation. L. C. Walling, district manager for Consumers, said that plans called for lights south of the highway, though not having the plans at hand, he could not say how many.
It was at the height of a March 7 blizzard about 4:30 p.m. when two school patrons, Edwin Kumm and Donald Netz, arrived at the school house in District 78 eight miles northwest of Osmond to evacuate the two remaining pupils and their teacher, Mrs. Donald Netz. The men, who lived more than half a mile from the school, brought a blanket and Marilyn and Jerry Kudera, 6 and 5 years old, respectively, and the teacher were told to hang on and take it easy. Out in one of the most severe blizzards of all time, the men took turns leading the blanket brigade following a north fence. The children had to be carried part of the way. The group arrived safely at the new farm home of the Edwin Kumms.
65 Years Ago. . .
The car of an Osmond rural mail carrier and a pickup being driven by Ed Buckendahl, operator of a Pierce implement agency, met in a headon collision near the Damon Korth farm about nine miles southeast of Osmond. The vehicles collided in a one-way traffic lane at the crest of a hill. Driver of the Osmond car was Francis Liewer, who was alone. The carrier reported his 1958 car had been brought to a near halt at the time of the crash. The pickup was unable to stop. Liewer threw his right arm over the front seat solid backrest.
The force with which his body lurched forward on impact bent the back rest. He was uninjured. Front assemblies of the car were virtually demolished. The entire engine was pushed back several inches. Mr.
Buckendahl suffered broken ribs and other internal injuries. He was taken to a Norfolk hospital for treatment.
If you knew the winter with its heavy snows and the trials and tribulations that accompanied such weather phenomena had been tough on you, count others in your predicament — the railroads. They included derailments at Plainview and Tilden and a snowbound Burlington near McLean. Add to those a troublesome delay in Burlington service through Osmond recently because of snowblocked rails. A huge rotary plow was dispatched from the eastern end of the line near Sioux City. It got as far as Laurel on Monday, and on Tuesday it continued westward and arrived at Osmond. A westbound freight train was following the newly-opened tracks.
Should pheasants be fed because of heavy snows in the Osmond area?
Yes. That answer was obtained by C. J. Theisen and Geo. M. Luebbers acting for the Osmond Community Club from a division of the Game Commission at Norfolk. It was recommended that farmers scatter ear corn in known pheasant habitat or in places where the birds might find it. If each farmer would scatter one bushel of ear corn, the men believed such action would go a long way toward increasing the strength of hens which not many weeks from then would be laying eggs and raising their broods.
Farmers might be reimbursed, if they wished, for the cost of feed if they would bill the Osmond Community Club.
50 Years Ago. . .
Twenty-five seventh and eighth graders, representing 10 county schools, participated in the newlyrevived Pierce County Spelling Contest held in Plainview. Named as 1975 Pierce County Spelling Champion was Brian Wacker of Plainview. The students took a 100-word written test, and the top 10 scorers then participated in the oral contest. Among the top 10 were Kay Fuelberth (Immanuel Lutheran School), Shari Buckendahl (Immanuel Lutheran), Peggy Peschel (St. Mary’s) and Donna Streich (Plainview Public), all of Osmond. Others participating were Ricky Pospisil and Leann Blunck, Osmond Community School; Colette Stanosheck, St. Mary’s School; Milissa Whalen and Barbie Bloomquist, District 43, McLean.
Minor damage was done at the Osmond Post Office on two different evenings. The office lobby was left open until 7 p.m. for the convenience of postal customers, said Postmaster Norman Windeshausen, but if the vandalism continued, it would be necessary to close the lobby at 4:50 p.m. when postal employees went off duty. He added that persons enjoying these acts should give serious thought to the penalty for damaging government property.
Winners in the annual business competition day held at Wayne State College were Wayne High School with 39 points, first place; Osmond High School with 28 points, second place, and Creighton High School with 22 points, third place. Patty Lorenz, Ginger Albers and Gail Krohn competed in the typing contest.
Sharise von Rentzell, Miriam Stengel and Teresa Theisen competed in the bookkeeping contest. Val Buckendahl, Tammy Koehler and Donna Kudera competed in the shorthand contest. Val Buckendahl placed third in the shorthand competition.
25 Years Ago. . .
Osmond High School senior Joanie Wrede received a first-place medal at the district speech contest with her informative speech on use of body language in communication, and qualified for the state speech contest.
OHS’s exchange student in the second semester of the 1999-2000 school year was Lavinia Protasoni.
She came to Osmond from Milan, Italy. While in America, Lavinia was making her home-away-from-home with the Kelly Hodson family.
10 Years Ago. . .
The Osmond TeamMates Chapter hosted a special kick-off event on Saturday, March 28, at the city auditorium. Dr. Tom Osborne, guest speaker, help celebrate the chapter’s first year in the TeamMates mentoring program. A freewill donation dinner was served, followed by a variety of activities in the afternoon.
