Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago

June 28, 2018

Three new roll-off boxes and six new trailers now belong to Phillips County, and they’ll be used for added recycling efforts, thanks to a $23,447.52 grant from Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Two new buses represent the largest purchases in capital project expenditures for 2018-19 in Holyoke School District Re-1J. The June budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, was approved at the June 19 meeting of the Board of Education. The new buses have been budgeted for a total of $200,000.

At the beginning of the June 19 meeting of Holyoke City Council, a public hearing was held to discuss a new liquor license application submitted by Los Parra’s, the Mexican restaurant on North Interocean Avenue that opened last August.

Up until now, Phillips County was the only county in northeast Colorado that didn’t have a local small-business consultant. Now that’s changed, as the offices of the East Colorado Small Business Development Center and UNC BizHub Collaborative have reinstated a Holyoke satellite office. Trisha Herman, executive director of Phillips County Economic Development, will be consulting for the East Colorado SBDC.

Ten Years Ago

June 27, 2013

After their first guests booked a room Saturday, June 15, Cobblestone Inn & Suites in Holyoke was officially open for business. Groundbreaking took place for the new hotel on Nov. 6, 2012, at 805 S. Interocean Ave.

Pictures in a Row, a film crew from Los Angeles, California, made a stop in Holyoke on June 24, and three local men got a chance to be in the spotlight. MV Equipment was one of six employers in Colorado to be chosen for promotional footage for WyoTech, a nationally known technical training school.

Dawn of Exploration — a local band that started in 2010 and includes members Jacob Vasa, Payin Becerra, Cody Fricke and Ben Martinez — has decided to transition from the garage to the stage, with a few shows currently scheduled in Denver.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

July 2, 1998

Jody J. Wiltfang is the new certified massage therapist running her own business, Soothing Soles Massage Clinic, out of Dr. Jerold Brandt’s chiropractic office.

On June 29, the First Security Bank of Holyoke changed its name to Bank of Colorado. The name change affects nine banks throughout northern Colorado which have operated under the First Security Bank name.

A new officer, Edwin Kulp, began work June 29 for Holyoke Police Department, bringing the force back up to four.

Rex Elder, who has been employed as a mechanic at Big A Auto Parts during the business’ entire lifespan of six and a half years, is retiring. Though the Big A business has only been in its location at 310 E. Denver for six and a half years, Elder has worked in that building since Nov. 15, 1943, when it housed a Chrysler garage.

Fifty Years Ago

June 28, 1973

It has been announced that AgriChem Inc. has purchased Wycon Chemical Company’s retail division marketing operations, properties and assets. The sale was effective April 1, with final closing completed on June 8. The business and facilities involved in the sale consisted of 17 retail agricultural supply centers located in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, including an agricultural service plant in Holyoke.

Strong, drying winds occurring during the past week caused some damage to fields of winter wheat, small corn, sugar beets and dry beans. Approximately 120 acres of sugar beets were lost due to wind damage. Daytime temperatures during the past week ranged from 72-102 degrees.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

July 1, 1948

Two crews of men, working out of the offices of the Highline Electric Association, started Tuesday of this week to connect the better than 430 farm homes up for electricity. The Bureau of Reclamation line which runs from Brush to Sterling to Holyoke was energized Friday, June 25, but it wasn’t until Monday of this week that power was tapped from the line to serve the rural hookup of the local association.

Three school districts located north of Holyoke voted at special elections in their districts last weekend to dissolve and to become a part of School District 39. District 41 (Liberty), District 19 (Grandview) and District 48 (Morning View) will become a part of School District 39 after July 25.

A special meeting of the Holyoke town board was called for last Saturday afternoon, at which time the board voted to grant a permit to the Holyoke post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to secure a bar license for their new home, which was just recently completed.

All first-period 1948 inspection certificates expire June 30, and while there probably will be no deadline set for obtaining new inspections until about July 31, all vehicle owners should obtain their new brake light inspections as soon as possible.