The Thorp Courier (Thorp, WI)
 July 14, 2010
Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Old Items Taken from The Thorp Courier files of 1910-1935-1960-1985-2000

100 Years Ago (1910)

A hotel and several dwelling houses were destroyed by fire at Curtiss on Friday morning last.
 
Jos. Grabalkiewicz and Jos. Kurzawa residing on the county line road north of here lost their homes by forest fires on Friday last.
 
Herman Friess shipped five carloads of livestock to Chicago on Sunday morning last.  F. W. Fischer shipped one car and Ben Krom one car.
 
Forest fires raged to a considerable extent along the county line between Clark and Taylor counties north of here on Thursday and Friday of last week.
 
75 Years Ago (1935)
 
July 4th, with the thermometer up in the nineties, found Thorp filled with a crowd of sightseers and Independence Day
revelers.  The program went off smoothly as scheduled.
 
The high school enrollment in the local school, Thorp, was 76 in 1915.  The graduating class numbered 8 that year.  By 1925 there were 134 pupils in high school and the number of graduates was 22.  This year, 1935, there were 40 graduates from a high enrollment of 180 pupils.
 
The three rural mail routes at Owen have been reduced to two, effective July 1st.
 
Butler Items – In the severe storm on Friday morning the bridge over Dickinson Creek and also the bridge known as the Audorff Bridge, were badly damaged.
 
50 Years Ago (1960)
 
Art Brisette of Owen got a “thrill-in-a-life-time” at the Owen golf course Sunday afternoon when he made a hole-in-one, and he’s got five golfers to prove it.  On no. 7 hole, which is 134 yards, Art Brisette took his trusty seven iron in hand to gain his newly gained fame.
 
The Thorp Courier installs a modern new photo-engraving plant on Saturday.
 
25 Years Ago (1985)
 
Ken and Sharon Sliwka are the owners of Leslie Marble Products, a new manufacturing business north of Thorp.  The Sliwkas bought the business, specializing in cultured marble vanity tops, in February in Antigo.
 
Thorp’s Parliamentary Procedure Team placed second in the nation competing against first place state teams from 39 states. Team members are Michelle Barth, Dana Jarocki, Cindy Mathison, Ann Oberle and Shelly Slowiak. Shelly Slowiak, Thorp High School senior, was named National FBLA Parliamentarian at the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Houston, TX, July 4.
 
 Bernard Mertens, a member of Thorp American Legion Post #118, is one of two candidates in the race for two officers of State Sergeant-at-Arms for 1985-1986.
 
10 Years Ago (2000)
 
New faces are welcoming customers to the Long Branch Tavern and Restaurant.  Jean and Phil Straskowski are now managing the establishment, which was already known for good food and spirits.
 
Adam Tollefson is one of several Thorp area boys who had accomplished the outstanding rank of Eagle Scout.
 Thanks to two entrepreneurs with a vision, Thorp will soon have a new childcare and preschool.  Pam Wright and Kari Baumgarten will be opening Small Wonders this fall to meet the growing need for quality childcare in the Thorp area.