July 2023 Timeline
100 Years Ago: July 1923
Charles Hook has purchased a Madison cement stave silo to be erected on his farm southwest of Oregon. This makes the second silo on the Hook farm, the first being a tile silo which was built a number of years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Mike Crotty and children spent Sunday at Crystal Lake, Illinois with relatives and friends. Miss Katherine Crotty left that evening for Dundee where she will remain for the rest of the summer.
Miss Christie Johnson spent a few days at the house of her brother, Charles, at Stoughton the first of the week.
The Swan Creek Sewing Club was entertained at the home of Mrs. Howard Terwilliger Wednesday afternoon. Mrs. William Williamson of Oregon attended.
On Saturday, July 29th, Rev. and Mrs. Jack Linn will begin their third annual tent meeting at Stoughton. Their beautiful brown tent will be pitched on or near the Cemetery Park.
Work on the Hallelujah Tabernacle, which is being built by Rev Jack Linn on Janesville Street, will begin on Monday. A full report of the plans, purposes, ambition, motives, etc. of this work will be published in the near future.
On the 4th of July, the baseball team went to Stoughton and played the Stoughton league team. Up to the 6th inning the Stoughton team didn’t have a look-in, the score being 4 – 0. Oregon should have had 5 as Burdette Ace was called out at the plate in the 6th inning, on the worst decision we have ever seen an umpire make and live to eat breakfast the next morning! (The final score Oregon 4, Stoughton 2.)
50 Years Ago: July1973
- Oregon Band News: Oregon High School Band is participating in another “Biggy” this weekend, when they perform in the “Flags of Freedom” rally at Sun Prairie on Friday and Saturday. We all know what great strides Mike Davis and his proteges have made in the field of marching band competition and we are sure that they will be a big center of attraction again this week at Sun Prairie. (OHS Band captures the “Flags for Freedom” championship).
- Remember, on July 29th the band will be leaving on an Eastern Tour of National Competition participating in 9 competitive shows for 10 days in many states and Canada.
Mrs. Marge Oelmann recently returned from a week’s stay at the home of her daughter and husband, Mr. and Mrs. John Collins Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she greeted her new granddaughter, Amy Kay.
A new federated woman’s club, meeting in the afternoon, will be started this fall ln the Oregon school district area for any woman that is interested in joining the daytime group. The organization will be called the Town and Country Woman’s Club.
The state division of highways has approved the location and design proposed for the relocation and reconstruction of STH 138 between Oregon and Stoughton.
Ed Lawry, Roy Shenefelt and Rich Behnke have retired from the Oregon Board of Education after long and dedicated service.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Smith, accompanied by their two little granddaughters, Lisa and Andrea Waefler, enjoyed a trip to Door County last week. On Monday of this week, the Smith’s daughter, Rosemary, who is a grad student at UW Platteville, was home for an overnight visit with her parents
25 Years Ago: July 1998
- School district residents had the opportunity to enjoy the pool with their favorite inflatable pet when the annual summer Family Float Night was held at the Oregon Pool. The event was open to family groups who were residents of the school district. Family members could each bring an air mattress, inner tube or inflatable toy with them to the pool and swim for two hours.
- The Summer Fest midway was a popular spot following the parade. The Avalanche, merry-go-round, super slide, motorcycles and roller coaster were just some of the more popular rides. Hundreds of athletes braved the hot sun and heavy air to participate in volleyball, softball and tug-of-war tournaments. The famous Oregon Summer Fest parade took place under beautiful blue skies. Four local entries took home awards, which included, Most Beautiful-St. John’s Lutheran Church; Most Pleasing-Oregon 4-H Headliners; Most Thematic-Brooklyn Mighty Mites 4-H and Most Creative-Oregon Area Historical Society.
“Any development in Oregon must be looked at for park land,” stated the Park Board Chairperson. “Our goal is to develop parks within close proximity of neighborhoods to help serve the population of the village. In addition, it is nice to have a park within walking distance.” Oregon’s Parks Board developed three new parks that summer. Stone Ridge located off of Cherrywood; Forest View located off of Lynne Trail; and High Meadows located off of Ames Street near Scott Street. “The most important thing we want to communicate about developing new parks is that we welcome input.” the Chairperson explained.
The village’s Master Plan commission met with the Dane County Regional Planner to begin the several month long process of updating and amending the plan to meet the village’s needs. The first meeting was essentially a history lesson about Oregon’s growth over the previous five years. That review led to a discussion on what the commission may put as the central topic of the Master Pan’s update — where the new urban service boundary would be drawn. and what changes would mean to the current look of Oregon.
Partners in Education (PIE) got a short airing at the Oregon School District board meeting as the board extended even further the time it took to tackle the future of the school system’s site based management system. The board had been looking into the role PIE would play in school issues since Spring 1997 when Netherwood Knoll Elementary decided to disband their site based team. Since then the Board of Education has held several meetings over PIE’s future.
10 Years Ago: July 2013
- The fourth of July fireworks display in Brooklyn, which was in danger of being cancelled two years ago, is expected to take place this week at Legion Park. The fireworks show was not held last year because of the extremely dry, drought-related conditions.
- Memories of last summer’s drought were washaway last week when the Oregon area was drenched in roughly 10 inches of rain in six days. Last Friday village parks and streets were managing the deluge, though many homeowners were dealing with flooded basements, said Oregon public works director, Mark Below.
- Carandale Farms in the Town of Oregon had to cut short its popular pick-your-own strawberry season because the fruit absorbed too much of the unrelenting rain and was susceptible to mold and other problems.
- Two men try to clear off puddles so Summer Fest’s annual softball tournament can proceed on Saturday afternoon.
- No More Thin Ice: A financial cloud and rumors of foreclosure have hung over the Oregon Community Sports Arena for much of the past year. Both disappeared this week with the news that ownership of the indoor ice skating facility will soon change hands and that the State Bank Of Cross Plains has agreed to refinance its mortgage and forgive “a significant portion of the debt.
- The Shadow Armada summer marching band from Oregon High School last Saturday claimed the first place trophy from the Mid-America Band Directors Association competition at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. Between June 21 and last weekend, the group took first place in every field competition it entered this summer.
- The 1998 Oregon High School Summer Marching Band took first place in the Show Band Competition in Traverse City, Michigan. They were awarded with a prestigious plaque and they also brought home the National Cherry Festival Queen’s Cup traveling trophy. More than 3,000 people from all over the United States attended the field competition which was sponsored by the National Cherry Festival. While in Traverse City, the band also marched in two televised parades. The people of Traverse City welcomed the band with open arms and were extremely accommodating.