Oregon Area Historical Society

October 1925

Work on Highway 13 Almost Completed 

     The cement work on Highway 13, between Oregon and Evansville, has been completed as far as the North Madison Street railroad crossing at Evansville. The grading work on the cut-off north of Evansville is also ready for the cement gang and work will be completed, as far as the cement laying is concerned, next week.

      The cement is supposed to season under a covering of sand or soil for 21 days, but at this time of   the year, it will be safe to cut the seasoning time to 18 days, so that the highway will be ready for traffic in time for the big football game at the University of Wisconsin on October 17.  Hundreds of drivers are expected to come from Michigan by way of Chicago for the game. The highway is now open as far as Union.

October, And No Frost

      The weather has been more like late summer than fall. October is one-quarter gone, and so far, there has been no frost. Some trees are shedding their leaves, and a few hard maples are turning, but overall, everything is green. The rains of last week have given a new start to vegetation.  Frost has held off remarkably, and those who have been delayed in cutting corn have had three weeks longer than usual. 

 C.W. Netherwood Returns to Oregon

     Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Netherwood are moving from their residence in Monticello to Oregon.  Their household effects were moved to the village on the first of last week. While it is the case with moving back home for Mr. Netherwood, it means the first change of the kind which Mrs. Netherwood has experienced in more than half a century. Her first husband, the late F. J. Breylinger, was one of Monticello’s pioneer businessmen who located there many years ahead of the railroads.

     The many friends of Mr. Netherwood welcome him back to Oregon where he had been identified with the development of the village since the time it was known as Rome Corners. Mrs. Netherwood is also heartily welcomed into our midst.

Poor Roads Delay Mails

     Poor sections of roads generally force rural route carriers to abandon auto delivery during the late fall, winter and spring and resort to horse drawn vehicles instead which greatly  delays mail service.

     Rural carriers are directed to confer with their postmasters with a view toward bringing specific cases to the attention of the proper highway authorities. If the repairs needed are not forthcoming, the post-office department will consider the elimination of the sections involved from the delivery routes, so that patrons on reasonably well-kept roads may be better served.

Business Places to Close Wednesday Nights

     Beginning with Wednesday, October 21, the local business places will close on mid-weeknights until further notice. This is following the practice in vogue the past two winters. The only open evening will be on Saturday.

Touch of Real Winter (October 29, 1925, Observer edition)

      The community was given its first touch of winter Sunday night and Monday morning.  Large flakes of snow, and many of them, fell turning to slush upon reaching the ground and impeding  automobile traffic. The snow collecting on trees and bushes gave them a heavy load to carry and a great many branches and limbs were broken off. Local citizens brought out their snow shovels for the first time this year, and the removal of the heavy snow from the walks gave them a real test.

     Monday night the weather turned colder, freezing the snow left on the ground. Tuesday snow continued to fall all day and as the paper goes to press the outdoors has the appearance of mid-winter.

October 1950

Ground- Breaking at St. John’s Church Sunday

     Ground -breaking ceremonies for the new St. John’s Lutheran church will be held Sunday morning, Oct. 8th, following the morning worship service.  This will be the beginning of a long-awaited building program.  Plans are to complete the basement of the new church this fall so that services can be conducted there. 

     The service at the old church location will begin at 11:40. Pastor Berthelsen will be in charge of the service, assisted by members of the Church Council and building committee. Every member is asked to bring a shovel and help with the beginning of the good work.

Nels Peterson

     Nels Peterson, 84, a resident of the Village of Oregon and Oregon township for 66 years, was found dead of a heart attack in his home Wednesday afternoon.

     Mr. Peterson was born in Langeland, Denmark, June 15, 1886.  He came to this country at the age of 20. Mr. Peterson was united in marriage to the former Minnie Madsen in Oregon on January 1, 1895.  She preceded him in death in 1940.  They located on a farm west of Oregon where they lived 42 years.  In 1937 they moved to the village of Oregon.  

     He was a retired farmer and was a member of the Oregon Masonic Lodge.  He served as supervisor and assessor of the town of Oregon for many years.

     Surviving are two sons, Walter of Goulds, Fl. and Arba C., Oregon and four grandchildren.  

     Funeral services were held at the Booth Funeral Home Friday afternoon, Oct. 29, Rev. A. Henry Hetland officiating.  Mrs. Sofee Lalor was the soloist, and Donald McGill was at the organ.  The last Masonic rites were conducted at the gravesite with Past Master L.J. Sprague of Madison presiding. 

Donald McGill Receives Notice of Great Honor

     A signal honor came to Donald McGill last week when the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, in session in Philadelphia, elected him to receive the honorary 33rd Degree in Masonry.  This is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a member of the craft.  The candidate for the degree is selected on the basis of his outstanding Masonic activity and service he has performed on behalf of Masonry.  All brethren of the fraternity will agree that Don merits the great honor that has been bestowed upon him.  The degree will be conferred upon him in September 1951 at Boston Massachusetts. 

Random Shots

     The first few days following the opening of school the pupils and teachers devote their attention to sizing up the enemy.

     Some define middle age as that time in everyone’s life when a night out is followed by a day in.

October 1975

Fr. Schumacher –New HMC Pastor  

      Father Schumacher is a native of Northwest Iowa, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a graduate of Marquette University, Milwaukee. He worked for the Stoughton Courier-Hub, Janesville Gazette, and the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance of Madison prior to entering Saint Francis Seminary.  He served parishes in Sauk City, Wisconsin Dells, St. Bernards-Madison, University Catholic Center and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Madison. WI.

     For the past five years he has been pastor of St. Patrick’s in Cottage Grove, WI which just prior to his transfer, dedicated a new rectory and Catechetical Center. He is a substitute chaplain at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center.

Oregon High School Homecoming     

     The community will be a buzz of activity this weekend, as the Oregon High School Homecoming takes place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alumni, students, fans, and the football team which has won its first two conference games this year are getting ready for a big  win over Columbus, one of the toughest teams in the conference.

     There will be the usual pep rally on Thursday night, and a big parade on Friday afternoon. The game will start at 7:45 and will be followed by a “record hop.”  Saturday night will feature the semi-formal Homecoming dance. 

Village Bicentennial Committee       

     The Bicentennial Committee for the Village of Oregon has been meeting for several months. The committee is composed of representatives of sixteen village organizations, four youth groups, and four local churches. 

     Activities will include an antique show featuring articles on loan from local residents. Thirteen trees to be planted in the new park and these to be the official state trees of the original colonies. Movies depicting the origins of this country to be shown in cooperation with the Bicentennial Committees of the Towns of Oregon and Fitchburg. Oral histories of older residents are now being tape-recorded to be housed at the library and be available as a reference resource. An inter-denominational service is being planned by the four local churches.

Oregon Woman’s Club Dedicates Dega Park

     Saturday, October 25, was the formal dedication of the Dega Memorial Park on Florida Avenue in Oregon.  Mrs. Maynard Stoehr, president of the Woman’s Club and Vice President Mrs. Dennis Breyer officiated. Cub Pack 350, Weblo Den 1 provided the opening ceremony under the leadership of John Gallagher. Mrs. Breyer welcomed the guests and read a history of the efforts that led to the park’s completion. Mrs. Stoehr then presented Mrs. Margaret Dega and her three daughters with a plaque commemorating Hugh Dega’s professional services to the people of Oregon. Honored guests, Norman Champion, Charles Crary and the Dega family were introduced. Mrs. Dega and Champion cut the ribbon officially opening the park.

October 2000

Four Brooklyn Farms Honored for a Century of Contribution

     David Charles Anthony is still going strong at 71.  Thirty-eight years ago, the dairy farmer took over his property from his father David Chesteriat Anthony, who inherited it from his parents in 1898.  And some day, Anthony’s son, John Peter, will likely take over the operation.      

     “I’m gonna quit one of these days.  My son, Robert David was killed in a farming accident four years ago.  I’m farming for him now,” Anthony said sadly.

     Anthony’s son and grandson help milk their 40 cows these days on the 80-acre farm, located at 470 U.S. Highway 14. 

     Anthony’s great grandparents came to the state from Pennsylvania or Ohio more than 150 years ago. 

     His mother, Ione Anthony was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse.  His parents had two other children, Rodney John and a girl Mary Jane. 

     For 40 years Anthony also worked as a carpenter, well known throughout the area for the quality of his work. He married Jeanette Haas, a farm girl from Sauk City. Together they raised their two boys and now have four grandchildren. 

     Mildred Smith still gets up at 4:00 in the morning.  “You can’t get it out of your system,” she said with a laugh.

     From the time her husband, Kenneth, who passed away in 1953 until 1967 when her barn was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, Smith, 89, ran the family farm on Glenway Rd. in the Town of Brooklyn. 

     She also raised the family of two boys and two girls, and she says she’s still the boss.  

     “It was a night and day thing,” she said.  “I took over milking around 60 cows in two shifts.  I did all the planning and everything.  I raised chickens and hogs, but after the barn burned down, I decided to sell them.  I kept the heifers.  Then we had beef cattle, around 50 most of the time.  They’re not worth anything.”

     Smith was born and raised in Skunk Hollow, in Pleasant Valley, located in southern Dane Co. Her farm of 416 acres goes back to 1867, when it was passed down from the Hazeltines and McGlocklins to Edgar and Eugene Smith. “They bought it for $780,” she said. The house she lives in was built in 1913 for $4000. 

      When Cornelius O’Brien purchased those first 80 acres in 1861, he could not have known that his great-grandchildren would build homes and live on the property.  Now almost 140 years later, the elder O’Brien’s grandson Ralph lives with his wife, Margaret, at the old farmhouse, built in 1875, at 509 Glenway Rd. in the Town of Brooklyn. 

     “My father Phillip was born here, and I’ve been here all my life,” Ralph O’Brien said.  “I farmed together with my dad.  I sold out my herd about 5 years ago.”

     Ralph’s dad died in 1956, and in 1959, O’Brien married Margaret Lally, who was teaching the 6th grade in the Oregon School District. They had six children.

     “I had no health insurance at the time the kids were born.  It’s just in the last 25 years that people have had it,” O’Brien said.  “I don’t think it cost more than $100 for each birth.”

     The O’Briens have traced their family roots back to Cork, Ireland, the home of Cornelius’. Cornelius was born in Pennsylvania in 1839.     

 John McCormick has lived all his life on Bell Brook Road in the Town of Brooklyn. A lifelong bachelor farmer, McCormick, 81 leads a simple, peaceful existence, tending to his home and caring for the few animals remaining on the farm. McCormick traces his family’s roots on the property to 1873. 

He’s able to identify that year because of a photograph of his grandfather, Pat McCormick, which was taken in 1873, when Pat was 26 years old. “He was born in Ireland and buried in Oregon,” John said.   

 “The house burnt in 1933 according to John.  My mother had a three-burner kerosene stove and was cooking food on it but went upstairs to do something.  My dad was goin’ up to the field and just happened to look back and saw smoke coming from the house. We were lucky no one was hurt.  We slept with the neighbors until the house was rebuilt.”

     John remembers being paid $1.00 a month to go to the school to light the fire in a wood burning stove on cold mornings.  He remembers it was -12 below zero one morning. 

     McCormick continued the family dairy operation until 1989 when he fell from a hay wagon and was seriously injured.  Today he lives with only the company of his Blue Heeler, Suzi, on the land that holds so many memories of the McCormick’s.

To read these stories in their entirety, please visit the Oregon Area Historical Society at 159 W. Lincoln St. in Oregon. We have many old Observers at our museum.