August 1957

A bottle of wine and $300 in cash await the last five survivors of “A” Company, 128th Infantry, of the 32nd Division, all veterans of the First World War who went from Chateau Thierry through the Argonne to victory in 1918.

These veterans gathered at the American Legion Hall in Neillsville Satruday night for a banquet, program and election of officers.  The banquet was served to 60 veterans, wives, sons and daughters by the American Legion Auxiliary.  The program consisted of speeches by County Judge Henry Bohn of Baraboo and by Leo Foster of Neillsville.  Judge Bohn is a veteran of “A” Company, and Leo foster is a veteran of Company “M”.

A picnic was held Sunday noon for the Company “A” veterans’ association, with about 60 in attendance, and following the picnic an election and business meeting was held.  It was decided to hold the next annual meeting at Reedsburg the last Saturday and Sunday in July 1958. The dates chosen to coincide with the dates in 1918 when Company “A” received its baptism of fire at Chateau Thierry.

Veteran s from the Neillsville area attending included: Charles Poole, Otto Kutchera, Joe Cardarelle, Gus Carl, Albert Kahnert (Dahnert?), J. F. Zimmer, Henry Hart, William Schroeder and Ernest J. Vine of Granton.

•••••••••

Jim Taylor of Green Bay will present a film and address on “The Magic Barrel” to the Neillsville Rotary Club next Monday night.

On August 12, Neillsville Rotarians will entertain the Greenwood Rotary Club at the Rotary Park, west of Neillsville.  Greenwood was the winner in an attendance contest several months ago and will be entertained by the local club.  Dist. Gov. Robert C. Moen of La Crosse will speak.

•••••••••

At a meeting held Tuesday night at the Forman School located two miles east of Christie, just off Highway “H”, it was decided to dissolve the Forman School, and split the area with the north section going to the Loyal School District and the south section going to the Christie District.  “Sixteen children were involved,” states County Supt. Leonard Morley.  Eight will go to the Loyal district and eight to the Christie district.

•••••••••

The Heathville School, located eight miles east of Christie just off Highway “H” in the town of Fremont, is undergoing considerable modernization this summer.

The ceiling has been lowered, acoustic tile has been placed on the ceiling, fluorescent lights have been added, water and indoor toilets have been installed, and a new oil burner will furnish heat for the building.  The basement has been recemented and the outside has been repainted in white.  The playground has been improved by the addition of several loads of dirt, which has helped level the ground and taken care of the drainage.

(During the late 1950s several rural school districts remodeled, modernizing their schoolhouse buildings in an effort to prevent consolidation.  However, eventually, one-by-one they were forces to close, to be consolidated. DZ)                                                                                                    

•••••••••

Approximately 150 relatives and friends attended the Open House Saturday afternoon and evening to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Turnquist at their home in Greenwood.  Supper was served to the guests, followed by a dance and late lunch.                       

•••••••••

The words “Neillsville High School,” in solid-cast aluminum letters now appear on the front of the High School.  The money for the purchase and installation was furnished by the classes of 1955, 1956 and 1957, and the class of 1925.  At the reunion of the class of 1925, two years ago, the assembled class members made the first donation.  Donald E. Peters, Neillsville Superintendent of Schools, reports that the letters are of highly polished aluminum.                                                                          

•••••••••

Luke Verhagen, 13-year-old Neillsville youth, was honored by his Pee-Wee baseball teammates, managers and other adults connected with the Pee-Wee league.  They presented him with an archery set last Thursday night in recognition of his saving a 13-year-old Alma Center youth from drowning at Russell Memorial Park.

•••••••••

When he celebrates his 50th birthday Friday Ed Marg also will celebrate 50 years of living on the same farm.  The son of Mr. and Mrs. August Marg, now deceased, Ed Marg was born on this Pine Valley farm, which his parents had cleared for farm use.  The early buildings were of logs, but Mr. Marg was born in a wooden frame building on the home farm, located about three miles northwest of Neillsville.

Ed Marg has never lived or worked away from this farm.  In 1929, he was married to Lillian Hagedorn and to this union, four children were born, Donald and Melvin as twins, Irvin and Caroline.  The farm consists of 52 acres under cultivation, 12 of woodlot and 56 acres in natural pasture.  During the years, he has specialized in Brown Swiss cattle, and has a herd of 34 cows, and has built up the condition of the soil so that last week he harvested 82 bushels of oats to the acre.  His corn crop is also excellent each year.

For the birthday party Friday, Mr. And Mrs. Marg will have Ed’s brothers, Fred and Albert Marg, his sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Bardeleben, and their sons and families, for the celebration.

•••••••••

For 78 years, Neillsville has had library book service, which has gown from 100 books in 1879 to 15,976 books as of July 1, 1957.  At a meeting held September 23, 1879, the Neillsville Library Association was organized with H. E. Deming, president, Ira B. Jones, treasurer, L. B. Ring, librarian and secretary, and with H. N. Withee, C. Blakeslee and Mrs. A. White, trustees. 

In 1881, the Neillsville library boasted 250 volumes and a room in the “True Republican”, Neillsville’s forerunner of “The Clark County Press”, was used for the city library.

In 1913, steps were taken to obtain a grant of $10,000 from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to build a Carnegie Library at Neillsville, and in 1915 this project was brought to realization.  In this period, Mrs. J. W. Hommel, Wm. L. Smith and Jeff Schuster took an active part as members of the library board, and as officers of the association, in bringing to Neillsville the brick structure to the corner of Hewett and Fourth Streets.

On December 10, 1895, $210.75 was raised through sale of life memberships at $10, annual memberships at $1, and school memberships at 25 cents.  A “tag day” in 1915 for the Neillsville Library was being held to raise money for the new Carnegie Library, which was then nearing completion.

Men and women who served as librarians are listed as: L. B. Ring, C. S. Stockwell, Laura (Glass) Thompson, Bessie Kennedy, Mayme (Woodward) Hoey, Mary (Corson) Smith, Frances (Hogg) Brown, Sadie (Cole) Hauge, Lorena (Kuehl) Rude, Miss T. Hornibrook, Miss Irene Varney Miss Marjorie McIntyre, Miss Elizabeth Boves, and Jean Spray.

In 1937, a children’s library was established in the basement, with Miss Delores Scott serving as librarian.  Since that time this department has had Jean Trogner, Mrs. Ivan Lauscher, Marian Carl, Mrs. Al Sollberger, Mrs. Albert Holt and Mrs. Belle Wildish in charge, and since the year of 1921, several of the librarians have been college university trained for the position.

Mary (Corson) Smith, has had the distinction of being the first trained librarian here, college or university trained for the position.

Mrs. Frances Brown, who served as librarian from 1921 to 1923, who returned as full-time librarian in 1940, is still serving in that capacity.

Seventeen people have served as president in the 78 years: J. W. Deming, Charles F. Grow, C. S. Stockwell, James O’Neill, Mrs. Frances Ring, Dr. Viola M. French, Miss Blanche Dickey, Mr. L. B. Ring, Mrs. S. M. Marsh, Dr. Viola Delaney, Levi Williamson, H. C. Clark, Mrs. Mary Hemphill, Wm. L. Smith, J. F. Schuster, George Crothers and A. L. Devos, who has served in that capacity for many years.

A few other citizens who gave much time to the Neillsville library program in the past as secretary or on the board of directors include: Mrs. Minnie Brameld, F. Hemp, Mrs. H. O. Huckstead, the Rev. and Mrs. George Longenecker, George Zimmerman, Beatrice MacMillan, E. J. Peters, Mrs. Marie Musil, L. J. Servaty, Dellis Tourigny and W. F. Woodward.

From 100 volumes in 1879, the Neillsville library listed 10,641 in 1909, and as of this date the total is just under 16,000.  Mrs. Brown reports during the depression years, when work was scarce, no TV and little radio, our library rented 49,000 books per year.  In 1956, there were 31,067 books rented.  During the past few years, the school library has been built up with a sizable collection of books and a full-time school librarian is on duty at all times.                                                                                                   

•••••••••

A move to incorporate the Clark County fairground into the limits of the city of Neillsville was started Tuesday by the county board of supervisors and the city council.

Originating with the county’s agricultural committee, the move is being made primarily to secure fire protection and city police authority for the 45-acre county-owned property.

It is the second annexation proceeding to be launched here this year, the first being the inclusion of property in the same area owned by the Neillsville Industrial Corporation.

•••••••••           

Mrs. Clint Burkhardt, the former Lois Feggestad, visited Neillsville Friday, served as a judge for 4-H club demonstrations and returned to her home at Alma Center Friday evening.  Mr. Burkhardt states that they are nicely located in a home at Alma Center.  Her husband is depot agent at Merrillan.  She returns to Neillsville to start her third year as teacher of home economics in Neillsville High School.

•••••••••

A lot of curiosity was aroused Saturday evening when a large city school bus was pulled in front of the Gearing garage by Mr. Jonalitis and brothers, George and Charles, with their families, all from Gary, Ind., were on vacation and had been at Big Pine Lake, in northern Minnesota, for 10 days’ camping and fishing.  On their homeward way their bus broke down near Augusta, and with help from Mr. Gearing, limped into Humbird, where they all spent the night and Sunday.  The bus was equipped to accommodate the group of 16.  Help from their home city came in the wee small hours, when they all returned to Gary.  Mr. Gearing will repair the bus and take it to Chicago, where the Jonalitises will get it.  The Jonalitis folks say, “There are swell people in Humbird.”                                                                                             

•••••••••

Joseph Ylvisaker, superintendent of the Neillsville plant of the Nelson Muffler Corporation, told members of the Kiwanis Club Monday night of the history of development of the local plant.  He said that September 3 is the target date for operation in the new building.                                            

•••••••••

Herman Hediger reports that his new milk evaporation plant has been in operation since Friday, and that Joe Cross, the inventor, was here from Ohio Friday and Saturday.

“It is so amazing,” states Mr. Hediger, “that no one would think the machine could do what it does unless he sees it.”  The evaporization takes place through refrigeration without steam.  It is the sixth plant of this type installed in America.

Mr. Hediger said that he read about the new process in a magazine, went to Oklahoma City, Okla., to see the first plant installed, was sold on the idea and came home to acquire a similar one.  On May 22, the installation of the equipment was started.                                                               

•••••••••

Sister Huberta and Sister Robertine of Milwaukee, and Sister Andrella of McHenry, Ill., came Tuesday for a few days visit with their sisters, Mrs. John Elsinger and Mrs. John Weyer of Loyal.

On Thursday, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Weyer took the five sisters to St. Lawrence, where another sister, Mrs. Otto Krebs, and Philip Redig joined them.  All went to West Bend to the home of their sister, Mrs. John Wagner, where a reunion of the Redig family was held.                                      

•••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest H. Snyder (the former Gertrude Farning), were married August 8, in Iowa and now are spending several days on a motor trip to Sault St. Marie, Mich.  They have been guests of Janie Paulus.

•••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Zank have started construction of a one-story modern residence east of their home, fronting on Bruley Street, just north of the “Toddy” Wall residence.

•••••••••

Wayne Short, nine-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Dale Short, Granton, was brought to Memorial Hospital Thursday evening, where it was disclosed that he had a fractured wrist.  Wayne was helping with the unloading of baled hay at the Short farm when he lost his balance and fell against a loose swinging door, going through the doorway and onto concrete ramp 15 feet below.  Minor lacerations and a broken wrist seemed to be the extent of his injury.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤