Oregon History Timeline for July 2018

100 years ago (1918)

The 4th of July celebration and auction sale was held for the benefit of the Red Cross. After all the expenses were covered a net profit of about $2,660.00 was realized. A portion of this amount was shared with the organizations in the townships of Rutland, Dunn, and Fitchburg. The main speaker of the day was Judge Walter C. Owen, a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. One of the many activities of the day included a ball game between the singles and married men; the former won 10 to 3. The day concluded with a dance at the opera house.

The Annual School Meeting was attended by about forty voters. The treasurer reported that the district was out of debt and had a balance in the treasury of a little over $300.00.
Actions taken at the meeting included the appropriation of $6,500 for the coming year. The re-election of J. S. Cusick for a three year term. Students will continue to pay for their own textbooks.
The following teachers were announced for the coming year: high school principal, U. T. Cady; high school teachers, Miss Mary Barry, Miss Catherine Chapman, and Miss Florence Freund; seventh and eighth grades, Miss Valley C. Ralph; fifth and sixth grades, Miss Hazel Hindes; third and fourth grades, Miss Clara Boyle; first and second grades, Miss Edna Lewis; and kindergarten, Miss Mary Burt.

A special farewell service was held at the Presbyterian Church in honor of their organist, Mrs. Nona Ellis, who will moving soon.

The state highway system will soon be marked with triangle signs outlined in black with the number of the road along with the abbreviation “Wis” shown within the triangle. The state trunk highway system comprises 5,000 miles of roadway. Although each county will be responsible for the maintenance of the roads within its boundaries, the cost up to a certain amount per mile, will be repaid to the counties by the state from the proceeds of automobile license fees.

John Ames had the misfortune to fall from a load of hay on the Arthur Sholts farm, receiving quite a jolt. However no serious effects developed and he is recovering nicely.

L. G. Booth left for Minneapolis and returned with a Buick car for George McDermott.

Ringling Brothers Circus will be coming to Madison on Tuesday, July 30th. They will feature a brand new spectacle entitled “In Days of Old” telling the story of the golden age of Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, and King Arthur.

The community sing in the park, featuring three local singers, Miss Catherine McWilliams, Miss Meda Chappel and Don McGill, was a big success.

A special election [referendum] was called for July 20th for the purpose of issuing bonds in the sum of $3,000 for the purpose of extending the Village’s water works system. The proposition passed 60-18. The extended areas of water service included parts of North Main St., Market St., North Second St., [Johnson St.] and North Third St. [Lincoln St.] (Note: The streets west of North Main were numbered at this time.}

WL-Ames
W. L. Ames was appointed deputy food administrator for the township and village of Oregon. He will have charge of food questions in this territory concerning food efforts and regulations during World War I.

50 years ago (1968)

Winners of the Oregon Super Market Anniversary Sale contest were Denise Doyle, winning a pony; and Rev. Otto Abrams, a portable stereo.

White’s Soda Grill, located in downtown Oregon on South Main Street, [currently the Main Tap] held a Grand Opening. Featured were 25-cent hamburgers 5-cent cokes .19-cent chocolate sundaes and free coffee and cake. They will be featuring a fish fry (perch) every Friday for $1.00.

It was announced that Bill’s Service Shop will be opening next month at 110 North Main Street. The owners and operators are Mr. and Mrs. William Abbott. They will service all makes of vacuum cleaners and sewing machines as well as selling new vacuums.

E. A. Kozlovsky
The Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Rotary Club and Oregon PTA sponsored a special program in the school’s cafetorium on July 14th in honor of retiring school district superintendent, E. A. Kozlovsky. It was proclaimed “Mr. K’s . Day”. The program included a mock trial, sentencing him to a life of leisure. His responsibilities as a administrator had started in 1936 when he was named the supervising principal of the high school and grade school. At that time he had charge of 13 teachers and about 350 students.

Seventy-five electors from the Oregon Consolidated School District attended the annual budget and meeting of the school district. On a ballot vote a petition was adopted 67 to 7 that in the future, as the terms of the present board members expire, that new members will be apportioned as follows: 2 members from the Village of Oregon; 2 from Fitchburg; 1 from Dunn and Blooming Grove; 1 from Oregon and Montrose Townships; and 1 from the Village of Brooklyn and portions of the townships of Brooklyn, Rutland, and Union. This would replace the current elections-at-large system. Hubert Schroeder and Leo Buchner were re-elected to a three year term on the school board. The officers of the school board for the coming year were Cletus Byrne, president, Phil Peterson, vice-president; Ed Lawry, secretary; and Leo Buchner, treasurer.

The Village continues to lose its many elm trees to dutch elm disease.

Rev. Charles Hubanks is resigning as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. He will be accepting a call to serve a Presbyterian Church in Ainsworth, Iowa.

The Village of Oregon increased in population by 38%. A special census of Dane County taken in May of 1968 showed the population of the Village as 2,344. This compared to the population at the time of the 1960 census which was 1701.

25 years ago (1993)

Red Brick School
The School Board examined preliminary floor plans for the Red Brick School with the possibility of using it for school district purposes, The estimated cost of restoration would be about 1 to 1.5 million dollars.

Eric Grover and his son Kyle got a ride on the REMAX hot air balloon. The balloon was at Foxboro Golf Club as part of a UW wrestling golf fund raiser.

Brek Burgweger, president of the local FFA Chapter, received the Wis. FFA Degree at the Wisconsin 64th. FFA convention held at Green Lake.

The Oregon Straw Hat Players presented a production of “Bye Bye Birdie” based on a book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams. The production was directed by Joel Kapusta; , produced by Mary Rowe; set designed by Dave Lawver; and the music directed by Patricia Hetland. The cast included Carrie Kapusta (Gloria); Chris Brown (Albert); Judy Heitmann (Mrs. Peterson); Beth Rufer (Rosie); Kurt Boyd (Conrad); Sonja Benson (Kim); Pat Newman (Randolph) and Lars Svance and Marge Mach (Mr. and Mrs. McAfee).

The Oregon School District expected an increase in enrollment of 200 for the coming year. The anticipated enrollment is estimated to be 2926.

Matt Kenseth took home top honors in the “Spirit of 76’ late model; claiming the 76 lap midseason championships at the Madison International Speedway (located in the Town of Rutland just south of Oregon).

A heavy rain fall damaged many places in the village, flooding out many families in the areas of Soden, Lincoln, and Prairie View Streets. Lundey’s Greenhouse on Wolfe Street also sustained significant damage to their business.

10 years ago (2008)

The Village Board authorized the sale of $5.075 million in bonds to fund the reconstruction of the downtown area and other major projects. It was noted that Moody’s Investor Service had upgraded the village’s credit rating from A2 to A1. This rating could provide a more favorable interest rate on future borrowing.

The 2008 Oregon Marching Band, with their new uniforms, adopted the name, “The Shadow Armada”. So far this year the band had won first place trophies in their circuit competitions at Prophetstown Ill; Dakota, and at Fort Atkinson. The name of their program this year was “Collision”. The band went on to win to take top honors at the MACBDA Championships (Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association).

The Deer Park Buddhist Center, located north of the Village of Oregon in the Town of Dunn along Schneider Drive, held its opening ceremonies as a spiritual home and repository of Tibetan culture. The $6.1 million dollar temple had been years in the making. The Dalai Lama, present at the event, blessed the Temple at the opening ceremonies. The 14th Dalai Lama is the spiritual and state leader of Tibet.

Oregon’s new off-campus alternative high school and Integrated studies (OASIS) will open in the Oregon Community Sports Arena, which is under construction just south of the high school.

Cindy and Doug Smyth announce plans to open a Cousins Subs franchise at 990 Janesville St. in the business complex near the Stoughton Hospital Sports and Rehabilitation Center.

Gary Gorman, president of Gorman & Company. Inc., was the recipient of the 2008 Historic Preservation Award presented by the Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators for Gorman’s preservation and restoration of the 1922 former Red Brick School. The project took nearly 3 million dollars to accomplish. The headquarters for his business is now located in the building.

The reconstruction of downtown Oregon gets on its way. One of the first projects was installing new water mains.

The Village Board reviewed two estimates for the restoration of the 1899 water tower. The possible cost to the Village was estimated to be about $250,000.

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