Paul Reimer and E.E. Smith bought the grain elevator from Lou Spelts, owner and operator of Spelts Grain Company, in January 1919. They opened Reimer-Smith Grain Co., pictured at right, at 220 N. Baxter Ave. on April 1, 1919. The building pictured in center is Holyoke Equity Merc. Co., which discontinued business in1920 and was succeeded by Farmers Co-op Co. In 1920-21, Reimer-Smith built a new wood elevator, pictured at left, on a site just west of the Town of Holyoke power plant. This newly constructed elevator was traded in 1922 to the Holyoke Farmers Co-op Elevator for a site and small elevator the co-op owned just west of the original Reimer-Smith elevator. Reimer-Smith sold all its land, buildings, equipment and inventory to Wright-Lorenz Grain Company of Salina, Kansas, who began operations as Phillips County Grain Company on June 1, 1984. — Source: Phillips County Museum
Peekin' into the Past
Five Years Ago
Dec. 11, 2014
When Holyoke Re-1J School Superintendent Bret Miles’ employment offer as executive director for Northeast BOCES was confirmed at the Nov. 24 BOCES board meeting, the search for a superintendent became a priority for the Dec. 1 Holyoke school board retreat.
HHS senior cheerleader Alexandria McCallum was named to the CHSAA Spirit All-Elite Team at the Colorado State Spirit Championships on Dec. 6 at the Denver Coliseum.
Ten Years Ago
Dec. 10, 2009
A standards-based report card is a new concept, and one that Holyoke Elementary School staff and administration are dedicated to studying thoroughly. Principal Kyle Stumpf said the staff has revamped the report cards several times in order to make the reporting system work for this district.
The Northeast Colorado Health Department has opened up the H1N1 vaccine to all northeast Colorado residents.
Regional historian Doris Monahan will be in Holyoke on Dec. 12 to autograph two different books she’s written.
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Dec. 15, 1994
Grant Salyers was recently reconnected with his daughter and son whom he hadn’t seen for 25 years. He also discovered he has a 5-year-old grandson he knew nothing about. Wanda and James, his children from his first marriage, have been searching for him for years.
Two U.S. Department of Agriculture offices in Phillips County were recently informed of a plan to combine the two offices into one. The Natural Resource Conservation Service in Haxtun, formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service, and the Consolidated Farm Service Agency in Holyoke, formerly called the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service, will be combined into one office, either in Haxtun or Holyoke.
Fifty Years Ago
Dec. 11, 1969
Unless the doctor-hospital situation is resolved within a very short time, the Lutheran Hospital and Homes Society may ask to be relieved of the operation of Melissa Memorial Hospital, which has been running in the red for the past several months.
Light snow and freezing temperatures continue to hamper harvest in the area for the past week. Beet harvest advanced at a rapid pace until mid-week when snow and cold hampered harvesting operations. About 2,500 acres of sugar beets are left to be dug. The balance of the beet crop is in poor to fair condition due to freezing. Corn harvest is almost three-fourths done.
Seventy-Five Years Ago
Dec. 14, 1944
Holyoke business places are requested to suspend business from 2-3 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 16, that a War Bond auction may be held with 100 percent cooperation from everyone to boost the Sixth War Loan quota in Phillips County.
Action taken in police magistrate court here recently may serve as a warning to anyone tempted in the future to run their cars over fire hose anytime the firemen have hose in the streets or alleys. Two men were called into court and each fined $10 and costs, totaling $15.30 each. The offense was committed at the time of the fire at the Foster Lumber Company yards Nov. 30.
American families have put more than $52,000,000,000 from their wartime incomes into the three basic savings channels of War Bonds, savings deposits and life insurance, the Institute of Life Insurance reported.