From Our Early Files Oct. 11, 2023
25 YEARS AGO
October 15, 1998
The Northfield Mercantile Café was chosen by Discover Wisconsin Radio as its “Restaurant Pick of the Month” for September. The program is part of Discover Wisconsin Productions, a company that promotes Wisconsin events and sites nationally and internationally. The selection was made by DW Radio co-hosts Stephanie Klett and Rick Rose, who visited the care on a Sunday in June. The arrival of Klett, Rose and a video crew came as quite a surprise to Dawn Dutton, who operates the café and an adjoining antique shop with her husband, Duane.
Whitehall’s West Side Commercial Park may be getting another occupant in the near future. The city council’s property committee last week Tuesday heard of a buyer interested in purchasing land in the business park, which is located on Hwy. 121. City officials weren’t identifying the potential buyer other than saying that it is an individual interested in locating a small business.
An Independence man will be inducted into the Winona State University Athletic Hall of Fame this weekend. Al Kulig will be one of three people so honored during the WSU Homecoming. During his career at Winona State, Kulig compiled a 22-6 career record, striking out 211 batters in 213 and two-thirds innings and posted a 2.99 earned run average. A native of rural Whitehall and a World War II Navy veteran, Kulig graduated from Winona State in 1954. He then returned to Independence, where he had graduated form high school and was owner/operator of Kulig Candy Company until his retirement in 1984.
A 79-year-old Arcadia man, Clifford Giemza, was pulled from his vehicle before it was hit by a freight train Monday in Trempealeau. The Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department reported that Giemza was southbound on Main Street in Trempealeau when the vehicle left the roadway and got hung up on the railroad tracks. He was trying to free the vehicle from the tracks when two bystanders removed him from the truck as the train was approaching.
The Arcadia city council last Thursday annexed 1.04 acres of land that clears the way for a Kwik Trip store to be built at the intersections of Highways 93 and 95. The store will be built on the southeastern corner of Highways 93 and 95 and will be adjacent to Pat’s Country Market. Paul Hansen of Kwik Trip said they will try to have the store open by Christmas.
Since forming in 1985, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau First Responders have received the support they’ve requested, but after 13 years of service, not only have time changed, but expenses have continually gone up as well, according to G-E-T First Responder Pam Grover. To help cover the rising cost or providing emergency medical services, the group have asked each municipality for $3 per capita, up from the $1 per capita it has requested since forming.
Since 1917, tobacco retailers have paid $5 per year for the right to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products in the city of Galesville. They lost their bargain rate as of last Thursday’s city council meeting when the city council voted to raise the fee to $50.
The Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department received several calls over a four-day period earlier this month from county residents who reported that their mailboxes had been vandalized. In some cases, the vandal or vandals used a pumpkin to smash the mailboxes. In others, they used an ax. In at least one instance, the caller reported that mail also had been scattered and chopped up with an ax.
With a 44-35 win over Arcadia last Friday night, the G-E-T football team clinched its first playoff slot since 1982.
50 YEARS AGO
October 18, 1973
The Whitehall district school board Monday night turned down a request from Louise Goodpaster for the use of the Sunset Elementary School gymnasium on Thursdays by a group of fifth- and sixth-grade girls’ basketball players. The Rev. Clifford Ritland of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church appeared to comment that there was an informal agreement between the district and the local churches not to hold school events on Thursday, so as not to conflict with confirmation classes and other church functions.
Independence quarterback Ron Guza ran for two touchdowns, the second with a minute and a half remaining in the game, as the Indees defeated the Norsemen 14-8 Friday.
Eugene Haines and Sons, Arcadia, will be among the Trempealeau County farm owners honored at the county soil and water conservation district and farmers home administration recognition banquet Nov. 9 at Bridget Catholic Church in Ettrick. Others to be recognized the same night will be Elias Kramer, Trempealeau and James Hovre, Ettrick.
The Arcadia Raiders traveled to Galesville Friday night and clinched the 1973 Coulee Conference football crown by manhandling the Redmen of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau to a tune of 34-8. Offensively for Arcadia, Kim Reuter rushed for 112 yards in 16 plays. Kim accounted for a pair of Arcadia tallies and boosted his season rushing mark to 698 yards in spite of missing last week’s game at Holmen. It is the first time in six years the Redmen did not win the conference.
Franklin Pronschinske was reelected to a new three-year term on the Arcadia Utility Commission at the regular monthly meeting of the Arcadia city council.
The Galesville nursing home project has made good moves forward in the past few weeks. Arrangements for financing are made. The preliminary drawings are completed and may be reviewed in the lobby of the bank.
Twenty-six youth from the First United Presbyterian Church in Galesville participated in a “Walk for the Hungry” through Community Hunger Appeal of Church World Service. Many of the youth walked from Galesville to Blair, but nine energetic youth trudged their way back to Beach Corners to make a total of 25 miles. Through their efforts, the group collected pledges totaling more than $605.
75 YEARS AGO
October 14, 1948
The new oil-burning furnace installed in the Whitehall school building this past summer has been tested and pronounced ready for operation. It is believed to be the only such furnace in a rural high school in western Wisconsin. As it is fully automated and maintenance has been reduced to a minimum, janitor Oscar Larson will have more time to attend to taking care of the classrooms and the building at large.
Redecoration of the Pix Theatre is being completed this week, Sigvald Knudtson and his crew having been engaged in papering the outer and inner lobbies. The entire theatre had been repainted, new carpet has been laid in the lobby and down the aisles, and a new office provided for manager Colonel Larson.
Mrs. F.O. Bitter topped off the fishing season with first-class luck. Taking an afternoon off to go to Lake Arbutus at Hatfield, she landed a 42-inch, 20-pound muskie with a light fly rod and a small hook.
Sixteen Whitehall FFA boys participated in the junior livestock exposition held at the Eau Claire County fairgrounds Oct. 4, 5 and 6. Lloyd Berg placed fourth in the individual judging contest, and Richard Radsek and Vernon Hanson were among the top five percent in scores. Exhibiting were Berg, Radsek, Hanson, Ardell Linnerud, Neulen Johnson, Peter Speerstra, Phillip Hanevold, Virgil Risberg, Kenneth Giese and Norman Froseth, Linnerud, Johnson, Speerstra and Hanevold winning recognition.
Three schools visited the Pigeon Falls Cooperative Creamery last week as a result of the dairy study unit taught in all schools in Trempealeau County. The schools, and their teachers, were: Pleasantville, Mrs. Thelma Linnerud; Huskelhus, Mrs. Blanche Halvorson; and Pigeon Falls, Everett Guse and Thelma Hagen.
The dedication of the new $400,000 St. Joseph’s Hospital, one of the most momentous occasions in the history of Arcadia, took place under sunny skies and in the presence of a large crowd of people Sunday afternoon. A public address system was set up for the occasion so that people could hear clearly what was taking place.
The annual rat extermination campaign in Arcadia will be conduct Oct. 18 to 25. Lyle Scott of Platteville, professional exterminator, who conducted a campaign here last year has been rehired by the city. He is putting a campaign in Galesville this week and will come to Arcadia from there.
100 YEARS AGO
October 18, 1923
One of the interesting programs to which patrons of the school may look with pleasurable anticipation is the address of Miss Aimee Zillmer of the state Department of Public Health, who will give a lecture to the adult public next week Wednesday at the high school auditorium. The Parent-Teachers’ Association is fostering this movement, and all members of the organization are being asked to help spread the word.
Hensel Jacobson and Clarence Johnson of Pigeon Falls left last week by car for California. The boys are taking the Lincoln highway, and are carrying a camping and cooking outfit, prepared to stop wherever night overtakes them. They will spend the winter in the golden west, and escape the unpleasant weather that the weatherman has in store for us the next several months.
Arthur Klandrud of Galesville pleaded guilty before Judge Crosby at Black River Falls last week to selling moonshine, and was given a fine of $400 or six months in jail. At the end of a week of jail life, he decided to pay the fine and was released.
A large tractor and three teams of horses were necessary to pull the Mohawk bus back onto the road between Blair and Hegg Tuesday evening.
Trempealeau and Buffalo County hardware dealers held a group convention at the Hotel Arcadia.
Ladies of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Arcadia served a chicken supper, with entertainment after in the auditorium.
Aluminum kitchen wear has just hit the market. Hammer and Enghagen shows a fine line of the cooking utensils.
A new telephone directory has been issued. The directory lists a total of 1,385 phones. Galesville, 427; Centerville, 216; Arcadia, 584; Trempealeau, 98; Independence, 46 and Whitehall, 42. The Ettrick exchange has been eliminated.
125 YEARS AGO
October 13, 1898
A fire originated in the sleeping room occupied by August Ringstad on the second floor of the Solsrud, Kidder and Co. block in Whitehall Thursday afternoon. It seems that Mr. Ringstad was not feeling well and returned to his room to lie down. He was presumed to have been smoking a cigar and laid it on his trunk, placing his coat too near it. The room was filled with smoke which issued from the windows and was observed by passers-by. The fire was easily extinguished with a pail of water, and a serious conflagration averted.
Prohibitionists met here last Saturday and placed the following candidates in nomination: W.P Massuere, Arcadia, for member of assembly; H.A. Field, Osseo, county clerk; Hans Arneson, Lincoln, register of deeds; D. Wood, Lincoln, county treasurer; G.A. Markham, Independence, clerk of circuit; Henry Ruseling, Eleva, sheriff.
At the regular meeting of the Whitehall village board Monday evening, a petition of the residents of Scranton and Abrams streets was presented, asking for an extension of the water mains on Dodge, Abrams and Scranton streets.
Blair — Martin Thompson has made a miniature locomotive, and Monday evening demonstrated it in the presence of several other boys. When it failed to start in motion, a fellow present who had some experience running a creamery engine suggested that a little more steam appeared necessary. Young Thompson acted on the suggestion, whereupon the boiler exploded and threw boiling water over several of those standing around, scalding Thompson and little Alfred Hanson, the latter quite badly. Thompson has abandoned the idea that he knows all there is to learn about steam.
Arcadia — Frank Soppa, a member of the Red Cross society, returned home Tuesday. From actual experience, he is able to quote considerable history of the late war. He has also seen several of the best officers.
