MENU100 Years Ago
Life in Viroqua from the Vernon County Censor:
JULY 30, 1924
After a strenuous two weeks in the field camp of instruction the local Guard Company entrained for the home station Saturday noon.
Everything went fine until we were about two miles from Westby where the train left the track and tore along completely tearing off all the trucks, from a refrigerator car and one coach. All the cars were off, excepting the baggage car which contained all the equipment used by the company. Only one man was hurt...
Look over our large display of the famous Lewis closed crotch union suits. We have all styles at popular prices. Ellefson & Johnson, Masonic Building.
Norris Olson and Lloyd Thompson narrowly escaped injury a week ago last Sunday, when the car which they were driving went down an embankment on the hill this side of West Prairie and tipped completely over. Both men escaped without a scratch... In trying to pass a car Thompson steered off the road into some tall grass, thinking the ground was on the level with the highway. The car suddenly careened over. After righting their car Thompson and Olson proceeded on their way with no more serious damage than a twisted top and a broken mirror on the searchlight.
DeSoto, July 28 – The many passengers who were on the steamer Capitol last Monday, were quite alarmed and disappointed when one end of the large churning wheel was crushed to pieces on a rock or sand bar some distance below Brownsville. The boat was anchored to trees on the island. After waiting six hours a government dredge boat came to the rescue.
JULY 23 1924
On account of so many band boys being out of town, with the National Guard, and on vacation, it did not look very promising for a concert, but the old boys rolled to the call and about thirty-five musicians from the school and city bands, presented a very pleasing program in the park last Friday night.
Monday morning, abut nine o’clock, fire broke out in the rear of the J.O. Hanson & Son store, from an unknown source. The fire truck made a phenomenal response to the alarm, being in front of the store before the alarm had died away. The flames were quickly subdued, and with very little damage to the building, but between fire, and smoke and water, the stock of the Cash Store is at least an eighty per cent loss...
Webb Schultz, pitcher, a member of the Copper Sox baseball team of Houghton, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan League, has accepted an offer from the Chicago White Sox team of the American league to join that club next spring... Webb pitched for the famous Viroqua team the season of 1921.
Westby, July 21 – The farmers of the community were guests of the Kiwanis Club last Sunday, when they took a booster trip through the county.
Readstown, July 21 – Ruby, the little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon Grim of Sylvan, gave her parents a bad scare last Wednesday. They had been using arsenate of lead or [sic] poisoning potato bugs and left the spoon...on the table. The child...ate what was left on it. She was immediately brought to Readstown and an antidote administered by Dr. Pierson. The child is apparently suffering no ill effects from her experience.
JULY 16, 1924
Tuesday evening, at the Fair Grounds, one of the national lecturers of the (Ku Klux) Klan addressed an audience of about 300 people. The members of the local Klan were there in uniform, and a large class was initiated after the lecture. Two fiery crosses were burned, and the thirty-foot electric cross which glowed during the entire ceremony was an inspiring sight.
C.J. Kuebler & son, Kenneth, have sold an interest in their tire business to Stanly Solverson. The new firm has purchased the Western Tire Station, and Kuebler business has been removed to the new location across from Clark’s garage, where they will continue to handle the popular Delco light plants and retail and repair tires and tubes.
NOTICE FOR BIDS
I will receive bids for painting the interior of DeSoto school house the contractor to furnish labor and material and complete job by August 20, 1924. All bids to be in by July 26, 1924. D. ADAMS, School Clerk.
The annual school meeting for the Viroqua district was held in the auditorium of the new high school building last Monday evening. There was a large attendance...
Fresh milk, 8¢ a quart, delivered. East Side Dairy, Melvin Solberg, Prop. Telephone 16R4.
Frank Potts and Harry Lake went to Rantoul, Illinois, on Sunday, where they took the cadet air service examination. Twenty young men took the examination, seven of them passing – and we are glad to learn that both of our boys were among the seven.
The local band will give a popular concert Friday night at the Park.
JULY 9, 1924
Friday, July hte [sic] Fourth was a quiet day in the city of Viroqua. No Celebration being put on here our people attended the celebrations at outside points, or enjoyed picnic parties. The weather was ideal and the day was highly enjoyable.
The Censor office is indebted to J.J. McKenna for the gift of four luscious boxes of cherries fresh from the big fruit farm near Gays Mills. The cherries are now at there [sic] best on the big farm – so “do it now.”
Due to the prevalence of reckless driving in the city of Viroqua several drivers have been arrested and fined in the past few days. This is an unpleasant duty devolving upon the police officers and officials of the city of Viroqua, and they ask that all drivers observe the speed laws and auto regulations so that it will not be necessary for them to take drastic action.
WESTBY CITY NEWS
The annual school meeting of joint district No. 7 was held on July 7th... The plans for the new high school building have now been approved by the industrial commission and contractors bids for the construction of the same will be taken at an early date.
Kickapoo Valley League game at Viroqua Fair Grounds next Sunday afternoon at 2:30. Bud and Westby will cross bats. Plan to be there and enjoy a good game.
Leave your old, discarded rugs and linoleum at the Inter-State Oil Station to cover rough boards in a floor for a very needy family near the creamery.
WASH DRESSES
Regular and extra sizes and all good values...ginghams, with a fine selection of colors $1.98; Dotted voiles Ginghams, Plain voiles $2.98; Normandy voiles, Plain voiles – English Broadcloth – Ginghams $3.49; Choice of the better wash dresses of all kinds values up to $4.00. H.E, ROGERS Masonic Temple Building VIROQUA, WIS.
JULY 2, 1924
The annual summer convention of the State Horticultural Society will be held in Gays Mills, August 20th and 21st. Gays Mills is adjacent to the famous Kickapoo Orchards of 670 acres. A large part of this acreage is now in full bearing.
WESTBY CITY NEWS
The Westby City Band gave its first open air concert in the Rest Room Park on June 27... There was a large crowd of people present who heartily appreciated the splendid concert given...Westby’s first service station was opened on Saturday. The building is not entirely completed as yet, but it will be in the near future. The Dahlens Service Station is a very pretty building and it will be an asset to the city and to tourists.
Readstown, June 30 – A crew of men were here this week erecting signs for highway 41 and 11... Roger Gray brought to the postoffice two stalks of alfalfa raised on the Frank Aikins farm which measured 5 feet and 3 inches in length... Several from this vicinity went north last Sunday to pick strawberries.
FINE WINTER WEATHER
The middle west continues to be blessed (?) with the finest of winter weather; Saturday night, at midnight, snow fell over this section until the ground was white. On Tuesday morning, July 1st, the ground was covered with light frost, and heating stoves and furnaces were called into action to make life livable. And it rains every day. Verily winter lingers in the lap of summer, and all crops are feeling the depressing effects of the most unseasonable weather which this section has ever experienced.
When the roof leaks reroof with mulehide, not a kick in a million feet. For sale at the Nuzum Yard.