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Our timeline has been on hiatus since December as we figure out how to move forward with it.  With a new year comes a new format that we think is a little more fun.  We hope you like it.  

March 2024 Timeline

75 Years Ago - March 1949

Kroger advertisement for Florida Oranges
Bank of Oregon ad

Local News

The village of Oregon is being talked about way down in Florida this week.  The reason is that in the orange groves of Florida they are loading a truck of fine Valencia oranges and heading it on its way to the Kroger store in Oregon.  They have gone over maps of Wisconsin and all the intervening states between here and Florida to route the trucks and at the time of this writing they are on their way towards Oregon loaded with these grand juice oranges. These fresh-picked Valencia oranges will be on sale at the local Kroger store this week.

 

Miss Betty West, who has had three years’ experience as a beautician, has accepted a position in the Bon-Don Beauty Shop.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Bernhardt Frederickson, Mr. and Mrs. Anton Frederickson attended the military funeral services for Pvt. Arthur C. Jorgensen at Evansville Thursday afternoon. Pvt. Jorgensen was brought back for burial.    He was killed in action Dec. 17, 1944.  He was a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Bernhardt Frederickson and a grand nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Frederickson. That same evening Pvt. Jorgensen’s grandmother passed away after a long illness. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Evansville Lutheran Church.

 

Chief Ernest Culb has announced the appointment of additional officers for the Oregon Volunteer Fire Department.  For the rank of Captain, he named Ray Noyce and Donald Xander, and for Lieutenant, Norman Champion, Donald Bunnell, and Emmett Erfurth.

 

According to news coming out of Washington D.C. Oregon is to have a change of postmaster again.  The president has appointed Gordon Hanson of Rutland. This will be the sixth postmaster or acting postmaster to serve since the Democratic party has come into power. The position is supposed to be under civil service.  Such is politics.

 

The Oregon Girl Scouts are receiving instructions this week from their respective Troop Cookie Chairmen, preparing them for the National Girl Scout cookie sale. “Go Day” is March 7th when the girls will get orders only.  Cookies will not be paid for until they are delivered. The delicious ginger cookies will be made by the Oregon Bakery and will sell for 25 cents a dozen. Mothers presenting the material to the troops are Mrs. Lee Winch, Mrs. Carl Otteson, Mrs. Elmer Raasch, Mrs. Jerry O’Neill, Mrs. R. A. Wechter and Mrs. George Johnson.  Mrs. Edith Jens is district Chairman.  Money earned will be used for the Girls Camp Fund.

 

Random Shots

Dinner was an hour late in a local household because a neighbor woman dropped in with the remark that she “could only stay a minute.”

 

The Federal Reserve Bank has ruled that the purchaser of a new car must pay down at least one-third of the purchase price.  We can just hear granddad snort if some one had suggested to him that a man who could only pay down one-third of the value of a car who’d think of buying one of them

50 Years Ago: March 1974

Village News

Rapid progress is being made with the construction of Genesis Housing Building No. 2. An estimated completion date is June 1st or sooner, depending on the weather.  The units are all two bedrooms in this building and there is a full basement with plans for a room to be made into an office for Genesis Housing, Inc.  There are approximately 16 families on the waiting list for this building.  The board of directors has purchased an option on a 2-acre site in the Village of Brooklyn, which will provide enough space for 48 units in the future. Plans are now near completion to begin construction on a 16-unit apartment building on the site. 

 

The driver escaped unhurt in a milk truck mishap, which occurred as he was driving westward on Janesville Street in Oregon, attempting to turn left onto Hwy MM, enroute to Belleville.  The truck rolled over spilling approximately 5,000 gallons of milk into the creek, while approximately 3,000 gallons were saved and transferred to another truck.  As the truck rolled over, it took down a telephone pole.

 

Sports

Coach Rober Pribbenow announced the selection of Dave Statz as Most Valuable Player and Phil Mountford as Captain of the 73-74 Oregon basketball squad at the winter sports banquet in the high school cafetorium.  Panther letter winners were seniors Bill Burns and Statz; juniors Kevin Bavery, Dean Erfurth, Rick Helstad, Al McMannes, Mountford, Gary Schultz, and Tom Wickus and sophomore Dan Stone. 

 Two Oregon bowlers, Larry Beers and Jerry Johnson ended up as the champions in the Madison Bowling Association city tournament in the  handicap doubles event.  The two keglers bowled a 1229 total on series of 623 for Beers and 609 for Johnson. 

 

School

Oregon High School principal Henry Appel and his wife attended the National Association of Secondary Principals meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

 

Mrs. Weigand’s sixth grade students at Brooklyn Elementary School held a Native Costume and Taste Day.  Each student selected a different country of the world that was of interest to them. The students learned native dances, made individual country booklets and maps and a combined recipe booklet.  To culminate their research, the students made a native costume and served a common food of their chosen country to parents, staff members ands guests. 

 

Organizations

At the organizational meeting of the Oregon Chamber of Commerce directors, Dr. M.J. Wischhoff was unanimously named as president of the organization for the 1974 term, succeeding B. L. Booth.  Archie McCallum was also unanimously elected as vice-president, as was Shirley Johnson, who was re-elected as treasurer.  The new officers will officially assume their duties when they are introduced at the annual meeting, as will three new directors, Jeff Bergey Louis Fahey and John Wendt.  Retiring directors who have served their three years on the board are B. L. Booth, Don Doyle and Roger Segebrecht.  The annual dinner meeting will be held at the Stable on March 9th

 

The Town and Country Woman’s Club will enjoy an exciting program when the Banjo Man, C.C Richelieu,  makes his first appearance in Oregon at the club’s meeting at the Stable on March 12th.  Mr. Richelieu, one of America’s most respected banjo entertainers, has been featured on TV, radio and in the best clubs from coast to coast.  His repertoire of the old standards, the classics, show tunes, Dixieland and the Blues covers music for his audiences.  The Banjo man, with “the style that makes you smile” recently established his residence and business in Oregon.

25 Years Ago: March 1999

Local News

The Oregon Village Board will use a special meeting Monday, March 8, to decide on future municipal building plans.  The board’s sole agenda item is whether to allow Vierbicher Associates, an engineering and architectural firm, to go ahead with design development for a new Police and Municipal Court Building, adding to the public works building and revamping the Village Hall.  The total project budget is estimated at $4.45 million.  Last fall the estimates were at $3.9 million.  The police and municipal court building faced little opposition, as did the public works expansion.  The main controversy is with the Village Hall.  Expanding the village hall with a new mechanical room raised the estimated cost to $942,000 from $767,000.

 

Long time Oregon resident Syl Farris, 68, (and recently announced write-in candidate for trustee on the village board), died Tuesday following a heart attack while shoveling snow.  Farris had been employed by the village of Oregon for 30 years and at retirement in 1990 was the village’s Public Works Director.

 

Term limits in the village of Oregon may come to an end because of lack of interest in local politics. After a five year stint, the village board Monday adopted a resolution that will lead to repealing a village ordinance calling for service on the village board to be limited to three, two year terms.  

 

Pam Raschein and her sister, Michelle Wachter, were raised in Oregon.  As Pam puts it, “we were raised here, went to Oregon High School and both married high school sweethearts”.  As for their business, Oregon Floral and Stained Glass,  first budded here 17 years ago, and with the completion of the newly remodeled store, it is now in full bloom.

 

WISCO Industries hosted a group of Russian Business People on March 10.   Tatiana Averianova, and five male companions, two translators, and their driver arrived at WISCO shortly before noon.  The trip was prompted by a request from a member of the Fort Atkinson Rotary.  Rotary International and their area clubs are involved in this international exchange thru Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP).  This is an organization designed to help Russians increase their productivity.  It is likened to the Marshall Plan which helped war-torn countries regain their economic footing after World War II.

Russian delegation visits WISCO industries.

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