Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago

Nov. 16, 2017

Following months of deliberation, Holyoke City Council was divided on the issue of hiring a fifth police officer. As of the Nov. 7 meeting, the department has the go-ahead to begin the search for its newest employee.

Transition is ongoing at Holyoke’s lumberyard, as Martin Montelongo and Rosa Ogaz get settled into the new Holyoke Lumber, picking up where Tom Wirges left off with Holyoke Building Center. They purchased the business Nov. 3 from Wirges, who owned it for five years.

Trisha Herman is the new Phillips County Economic Development Corporation director and will transition into her new duties this month. She is replacing Julia Biesemeier, who has served in the position for two and a half years and is leaving to take a position with Haxtun Hospital as public relations and marketing director. Herman has been executive director of Phillips County Family Education Services since 2010.

Katie Andersen recently assumed the role of general manager at the Peerless Theatre. Just one week into the transition, Andersen has been busy working alongside her predecessor, Micaila Frazier.

Ten Years Ago

Nov. 15, 2012

Bill Spindler, longtime owner of Spindler Lumber, sold his business Nov. 1 to Tom Wirges, who has changed the name to Holyoke Building Center.

Phillips County recently purchased the Scormor Lanes property east of the courthouse to use for storage for the county. Bob Thompson and Marshall Thompson owned the local bowling alley for nearly 30 years before deciding to close it this year. The building started as a roller rink in 1947.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

Nov. 20, 1997

The Holyoke Dragons topped Monte Vista in the 2A state semifinals and will now host Burlington in the championship. Although HHS has played in the title game several times, this is the first year it’s been on the home field.

There are 350,000 bushels of corn piled on the ground outside the Grainland Co-op elevators in Haxtun and Fleming — twin testaments to the national shortage of railway grain cars. The piles have risen in farm towns across the country since the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads merged last year. The system hasn’t adjusted to the joint operation, and the grain car shortage started in August.

Fifty Years Ago

Nov. 16, 1972

For the second consecutive year, initial payments to sugar beet growers will set an all-time record high, the Great Western Sugar Company announced today. A total of $75.6 million will be mailed to GWS growers on Nov. 20, surpassing the 1971 record of $61.7 million.

The Holyoke Lions Club held a banquet last Thursday night at St. Patrick Catholic Church to welcome 16 new members into the club.

Word has been received from Sen. Peter Dominick that the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation last Tuesday awarded a $14,000 grant to the town of Holyoke to convert the present sand greens to grass greens and construct a utility building at the Holyoke Golf Club. Matching funds in the amount of $14,000 will have to be provided either by loans or gifts.

Holyoke’s second major snowstorm hit the area last Sunday afternoon, bringing approximately 10 inches of new, wet snow to the area before it ended late Monday night, bringing the total snowfall this winter to about 23 inches.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

Nov. 20, 1947

The grand opening of the Dirks Roller Rink will be held Friday, Nov. 21. An estimate of the number of couples that the rink will accommodate is 200. There will be room for approximately 90 spectators.

A movement is on by the temperance people of the state to stop the sale of liquor at filling stations. There are only a comparatively few places where liquor is sold at filling stations.