30 Years Ago
February 14, 1991
Brenner and Acker Capture Regional Titles On Saturday S-B Wrestlers Will Attempt Sectional Titles Saturday (photos Dave Acker and Bob Brenner) Oriole wrestlers faced tough competition over the weekend at the Regional Tournament held here, as Coach Lee LaFlamme advanced two of his wrestlers into the Sectional Wrestling Tournament to be held on Saturday in Altoona.
Juniors Bob Brenner at 130# and Dave Acker at 152# were both successful in their bids for a regional championship. This is the third straight regional title for Brenner, while this will be Acker’s first appearance at a Sectional tournament (story continues on…) 40 Years Ago
February 19, 1981 Oriole girls basketball team defeats Flambeau 45 – 39 Odder things may have happened on a basketball court, but you wouldn’t have though so had you been watching the girl’s basketball game Monday night at the gym. The usual happened, of course, the Orioles defeated a team, this one from Flambeau. But the circumstances surrounding that result were strange, to say the least.
First off, Stanley-Boyd was assessed ten technical fouls for failing to have the correct numbers on their jerseys as recorded in the scorebook. According to Coach Mark Hagen, a Flambeau request to have the Orioles wear their away jerseys was the cause of the problem, compounded by the scorekeeper’s failure to note the difference as the game began…but on a brighter note, the Orioles climbed right back into the game on balanced scoring from Kathy Kuehni, Laurie Lingen, and Julie Pearson. At the end of the first quarter they led Flambeau, 13-9.
50 Years Ago
February 11, 1971 Installation For New Pastor Held At FEF Church (photo) Pastor and Mrs. Dwight Cook and their daughters Janet and Cheryl are shown above. The Rev. Cook was installed as pastor of the Faith Evangelical Free Church on Sunday.
Infant Son buried at Junction Graveside services for the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Slowiak of Rt. 3, Stanley were held on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s Czestochowa Cemetery in Junction. He died Friday at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls where he was born.
Besides his parents, he was survived by two brothers, Mike and Andrew and two sisters, Patricia and Eugenia, all at home.
60 Years Ago
January 26, 1961 LOCALS updates (with bolded headers!) EIDSVOLD, by Mrs. Carl Johnson (Attended ADA Meet At Cornell) TAFT Township, by Mrs. Gus Elmstedt (Circle Officers Are Re-elected) WHITE BIRCH, by Mrs. John Holewinski (Little Daughter Baptized Sunday) MAPLE GROVE, by Mrs. Earl Mohr (Gets Discharge From Army) WEST WORDEN, by Mrs. Herb May (Return Home To Menasha) Brief Bits The University of Wisconsin’s famed solar energy expert, Dr. Farrington Daniels, received the first honorary degree conferred on an American by the University of Dakar, French West Africa.
70 Years Ago February 22, 1951 Walter Brovald accomodates in ‘Your Editor Gets Behind The 8-Ball:’ We don’t publish unsigned letters in our “Letters To The Editor” column – a rule we enforce for everybody’s good. But in this column anything goes, and an anonymous letter received last week raises a question that one often hears asked up and down Stanley’s main street *** “I don’t imagine this will do much good,” the letter begins, “but I thought maybe you or some reader could give me an answer to a question…I’ve been coming into Stanley to do my buying (and some selling) for almost thirty years now. Maybe I’m wrong, but in that time I’ve seen a big change in the city. Not only towards us farmers, but in general, too. When I first knew Stanley there was always something doing. I don’t mean things like shows and Fall Festival and that alone. I mean something was always on the fire—improvements here and there, and plans for making some part of city life better.”
*** “But lately,” the letter writer continues, “it seems as though the fire’s gone out. And by lately I mean ever since before the last war. Maybe that had something to do with it, I don’t know. That’s why I’m writing, Just to ask if any of the business men in Stanley, or other fellow farmers know why there isn’t the hustle in Stanley that there used to be.”
*** The letter was signed, “A Stanley Country Farmer,” and the envelope carried a Stanley postmark.
*** I can’t begin to answer the writer’s question, since I’m not acquainted with Stanley as it was “before the fire went out,” to borrow a little of his phraseology. Maybe, as he suggests, some of our readers have an idea. Is so, drop me a letter or a card (signed, please; we’ll withhold your name on request). But I did try to do a little checking in the old Republican files and notices that the late editor, W. H. Bridgman, was frequently concerned about the decline in spirit in the city, which I suppose is what “Stanley Country Farmer” referred to.”
*** In 1930 Mr. Bridgman wrote that he believed the decline began with the closing of the mills in the city and the passing of the great men that came here as part of that lumbering era. But he hinted, at other times, that he thought there were enough natural leaders in the city, in the 1930’s, to keep the city moving ahead if it wasn’t for other reasons – which he couldn’t put his finger on so far as I could find.
*** In talking with businessmen since I came to Stanley, this same subject has come up at different times. A number of them apparently feel that financial misadventures (the toy works, pea cannery, etc.) played a big part in dampening the progressive spirit of the city. Others have said they thought the town was getting old (platted in 1881)—that the city’s young people were moving to the city as soon as they were old enough to be independent.
*** There are some, I know, who would disagree with “Stanley Country Farmer.” They think that the development of Chapman Park and the athletic field there is an important indication of a still vital spirit.
*** A few business people think there’s just as much “spirit” in the city, but that it isn’t as out-in-the-open as it used to be—the idea being that church organizations, service clubs, and lodges are exerting a quieter but just as strong influence as was known in “the good old days.”
*** As I said, I can’t pretend to know the answer. All I know is what people have told me and as you can see, what different people think varies all the way from one extreme to the other. That’s why I thought that the anonymous letter deserved a little notice. Maybe there is a businessman or two, or some of those young people who have moved away, or some long-time Stanley Country residents who could volunteer some information. Maybe not.
*** Anyway, the subject’s worth thinking about, it seems to me. It’s certain that the question “Stanley Country Farmer asks is not a new one—a look at back volumes of the Republican proves that. I’d like to hear from you if you have an idea on the subject.
WALTER H. BROVALD (in cursive) 80 Years Ago February 21, 1941 FLIVVERING WITH HARRY Sights and sounds recorded by our reporter on his visits to the Farm Homes in the Stanley Country (By Harry Manley) Selling short in Wall Street, means buying something you can get, with money you haven’t got, and then later selling what you never had and did not pay for at more than cost. And city folks complain of farmers getting paid for not raising crops (to keep food prices stable).
90 Years Ago February 13, 1931 Jobs after the Market Crash!
RABBIT GROWING IS A CHANCE FOR BIG PROFITS FOR IDLE Small Investment and Quick Returns Are Inviting to Temporarily Unemployed.
A representative of the Raisan Brook Packing Company, Mr. E. C. Conley, has been in the Stanley Country recently to create interest in the rabbit- raising industry. This concern has two large packing plants with an investment of a half million dollars at Dundee, Michigan and at Rhinelander, Wis. And has a demand for its products far in excess of its ability to supply…Rabbits killed and regfrigerated and wrapped in cellophane transparent paper are now being supplied to the restaurants of Chicago, Detroit and Toledo and in addition to these are several canned food products made from rabbit meat….Rabbits at three months old sell for approximately $1.00 each, frequently more. The cost of feed and care is less than 25 cents (we sense Animal Farm coming on here).
Elsewhere: The Navy Department abandoned its plan to try General Smedley D. Butler by Court Martial after the General had written a letter of apology to the Secretary of the Navy. General Butler in a public speech had accused Mussolini, the Italian Dictator, of being a hit-and-run driver and the United States Government had made an apology (in 1936 Mussolini would invade Ethiopia).
100 Years Ago February 11, 1921 BRIEF PERSONALS Mrs. Fred Allen was an Eau Claire visitor Wednesday.
Casper Olson of Cadott was a Stanley caller last weekend.
Mrs. C. B. Culbertson spent Sunday with friends at Chippewa Falls.
Mrs. P. L. Kingman of Polley was in the city Tuesday, enroute to Thorp and Owen to visit relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lauer went to Cloquet, Minn. This week, where they will visit Mrs. Lauer’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip LaBlanc.
Mrs. A. H. Sturdevant, who visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. Mock, returned to her work at the State Home at Chippewa, on Thursday.
Mrs. Grover T. Pace entertained four tables at bridge Tuesday afternoon. Mrs. Edwin Roe won the prize. Delightful refreshments were served by the hostess.
111 Years and some months ago October 2, 1909 CONDENSED NEWS: L. C. Stanley the pioneer resident and honored citizen of Chippewa Falls died at his home last Saturday after a lingering illness.
Other obituaries: Mrs. Martha Eddy of Cadott; Rolla, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Moore, born in Edson and killed by a dynamite explosion doing construction on the railroad. Remains interred in St. Marie, Idaho.
120 Years Ago February 16, 1901 NEAR: LAND SALES BETTER.
A Quickened Interest In The Farming Lands Evinced By Sales And Inquiries.
The North Western Co. Selling Many Farms to Actual Settlers With Money To Improve Their Farms.
L. G. Moon reports the land sales of his company very brisk at present. During the week sales have been made to Mr.
Johnson of Neillsville, to O. S. Johnson of Strum and to Peter Robinson of this city. Each bought a quarter section and all are practical farmers and stockmen. Mr.
Moon says there is a decided improvement in the character of land seekers of late.
There are more well-to-do farmers and practical stockmen and dairymen looking for locations. There will be a large delegation here next Saturday from Southern Wisconsin which will include several students from the Agricultural College under the espionage (??) of Prof. Carlyle. They come, incidentally (to spy out the land?) to attend the great stock sale but primarily to see the country and to invest in lands.
Mr. Moon reports that over fifty good sales of land have been made by him since Jan. 1st. This promises to be a banner year in agricultural development for this section.
…AND FAR: CHILD NEGLECTED.
Humane Society Cares for Little Stella Westmore, Who is Ill of Typhoid Fever.
Sheboygan, Wis., Feb. 14.—[Special.]—One of the saddest cases that has come under the observance of the Humane society is that of Stella Westmore, aged 7, residing on the south side. A few days ago she was found by the Humane society agent almost in a dying condition from typhoid fever, having received no treatment whatever owing to the alleged indifference of her father, in whose care she has been since the mother’s death. She was immediately taken to St. Nicholas’ hospital and placed in care of trained nurses and a physician, but owing to the advanced stage of the disease but little hope is entertained of her recovery. She is a bright little child, and since the facts became known by the neighbors every attention possible has been given her.
Also in the news: Rev. Joseph Moran, formerly of Christ church in Eau Claire (the Moon family’s home church) and who had recently left for St. Paul’s Episcopal at Creston, Ia., died as a result of a railroad yard accident in that place.
124 Years Ago April 3, 1897 Obituary: MISS JENNIE NELSON Miss Jennie Nelson aged 15 years died at the home of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Martin Nelson about two miles south of town Tuesday afternoon. Miss Nelson was born in Denmark but came to this country with her parents when quite young. She had been troubled for some time with Bright’s disease. About a month ago she contracted a severe cold and pneumonia set in and a complication of the two complaints was the cause of her death.
