December 2022 Timeline

100 Years Ago: December 1922

• Stanley and Gordon Kivlin are in Chicago attending the International Stock Show.  They accompanied Mr. Fiedler of the First National Bank of Madison.  Stanley is given this trip by the Bank as the prize which he won in the calf club when he won the first place with his yearling Holstein heifer.
• The football game between Oregon and Stoughton scheduled for Thanksgiving day did not materialize.  Stoughton called it off. Whether it was because of the little shower in the morning, or because of a yellow streak is not known, but there is a disposition to believe the latter is the case. 
• A three act comedy, “The Wrong Room” will be presented in the opera house Thursday evening by members of the Young People’s Missionary Society of the Methodist church.
• The Sophomore Class has the privilege of starting a new school paper.  They have elected the following officers:  Regina McDermott, Editor-in-Chief;  Robert Matsen and Wallace Anderson, Business Managers; Roy Butler, Editor of Poetry and Jokes; Jesse Custer, Raphael Martin and Harvey Fincher, Advertising Managers.
• Perry Netherwood and Bernard Garvoille were in Whitewater last Wednesday where they purchased four full blood Guernsey cows to add to their dairy herds.
• A basket social and program will be given at the Fisher Vallely school on Friday evening.  A prize is offered to the lady bringing the prettiest basket.  Clara Rasmussen, teacher.
• and Mrs. William Keenan gave a family party on Christmas for Dr. and Mrs. H. A. Keenan Warren B. Chandler.

50 Years Ago: December 1972

• Henry Appel, principal of Oregon High School, announced this week  the Bank of Oregon has donated a set of filmstrips and booklets covering the topic of banking.  Mrs. Vicki Decker, business education teacher,  commented that the filmstrips and booklets will be an invaluable aid for the business education classes.
• George Litch accompanied her grandson and wife, Mr. and Mrs. John Ames and their children, Dana, Heather and Andy, to Richland Center on Turkey Day where they were guests of Mrs. and Mrs. Pettigrew and family.  While there, they also called on other relatives, the James Leyda family.  Mrs. Pettigrew is a daughter of Mrs. Litch and James Leyda is a grandson.
• and Mrs. Tom Shakelford and Andy,  Mr. and Mrs. Larry Waefler, Liza, Ann and Amy, and John Robson, local were Turkey Day guets of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Waefler and Debbie, 468 Orchard Dr.
• David J. Briggs, 357 N. Main St., flew to Tennessee for the Thanksgiving holidays  to visit his grandfather, Dr. David J. Briggs.  Also visiting there were David’s uncle Pastor Edward C. Briggs and family of Daisy, Tennessee and David’s father, Dr.  John M. Briggs of New York City.
• Fahey True Value Hardware will be the name of the huge new business enterprise on Oregon’s north side, just south of the Oregon Motel property in the village industrial park.
• Janis Larsen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mareno Larsen, who was baptized and confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church, was commissioned Sunday in the same church.  The dedicated and courageous new missionary is a 1959 Oregon High School graduate and attended Dana College I Blair, Nebraska.  Miss Larsen leaves December 27 for Nairobi, Kenya.
• Oregon’s $1.58 million levy was approved with a $5.14 mill rate, 12 cents lower than the proposed rate in November. The levy and mill rate support a $2.7 million general operating budget and another $2.1 million in spending that goes to debt, capital improvements and fund accounts. The $5.14 mill rate is based on the assessed value of property in the village of $307,699,654, and is 103 percent of what the state says is the value of property.

25 Years Ago: December 1997

• The Oregon Chamber of Commerce donated their original “Scenes of Oregon” print to the Oregon Public Library for all to view and enjoy. Scenes included local churches, historical buildings downtown, and many others that captured the quaint essence of Oregon. 
• Prairie View School musicians were busy preparing for their annual winter concert to be held in the large gym. The fourth and fifth grade orchestra and chorus students presented a seasonal concert of holiday and traditional numbers. All family and friends were invited to attend the special evening of music.
• Freedom didn’t last long for two escapees of the Oregon State Farm, whose escape was thwarted after about eight hours of freedom by an observant Brooklyn farmer. The pair were apprehended by the Rock, Dane and Green County Sheriff’s Departments on North Crocker Road, just south of Brooklyn.
• The American Youth Horse Council recognized Oregon resident Ray J. Antoniewicz, extension horse specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, at the 1997 Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup, held at Louisville, Kentucky, for his efforts in the horse industry. They presented a plaque with his name engraved and the inscription “For His Significant Contribution to the Equine Industry and in Particular, the Education of Youth,”

10 Years Ago: December 2012

• The company that at one time owned all 80 acres in the Alpine Business Park is, after a more than 6 year delay, finally going to build its own production facility there.  Lycon Inc. is planning to build its new ready mix concrete plant in the coming months and be operating by around June 1 next year.
• Local kids fare well in robotics competition,  The 7^th and 8^th graders team, “Bot Patrol” from Oregon won the Teamwork award and the competition and finished 10^th Participants created a medicine dispensing machine and presented the idea in a video game format.
• Ron Johnson and his friends, Ken Roh and Jim Miller pooled their money, skills and knowledge and began building their first turbine and tower three years ago on Ron’s property.  The wind turbine was built at Ron’s 24 acre Union Road property between the villages of Oregon and Brooklyn in late November.
• Oakhill Correctional Institution’s new warden officially begins work next week.  John Paquin has been appointed as the new warden of the minimum-security prison with 700 inmates. 
• December brings cold weather and busy times for Wendy Gavinski and her business Divas Snowgear.   The young Oregon Based company is marking its third snow season and the business had been good. Several years after a lack of snowmobile riding gear for women prompted Gavinski to start making her own, Divas Snowgear now has customers across the world and more than 28,000 likes on Facebook.

• The Dane County economy has generally improved this year, with local  businesses posting increases in profitability and sales revenue, although the jobs picture remained largely unchanged, according to a survey released last week.
• First dog park coming next year:  The village board last week approved a recommendation from the Park Board to create the park on the east side, south of Jaycee Park.  The 12.5 acre park will be bordered on the north by the Oregon branch of the Badfish Creek, on the east by highway 14 and on the south by Park Street.  The west boundary is where North Perry Parkway will eventually be extended to connect with S Perry Parkway.