Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago —April 28, 2016

The Oltjenbruns four-generation homestead in the Amherst area, once home to August and Emma Welper, was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places on Feb. 2.

Rhonda Osborne and Kathleen Kropp are partnering together to offer counseling services in Holyoke. Osborne Counseling LLC and Kropp Counseling LLC are doing business as Life Spoken Counseling, headquartered at 143 S. Campbell Ave.

Several visitors were present for the April 19 Holyoke City Council meeting to express their concerns with Ordinance No. 4-2014 regarding golf carts. The primary concern is the amount of insurance required for a street permit. The city plans to lower the amount of incident insurance at the next meeting through an emergency ordinance until a revised ordinance can be drafted.

Ten Years Ago — April 28, 2011

Holyoke City Council members will be searching for a new police chief after they voted 5-2 to not reappoint Phil Biersdorfer during their April 19 meeting. Roughly 20 citizens attended the meeting to show support for Biersdorfer.

A $40,000 one-to-one match grant for interactive whiteboard study was awarded to the district by the Morgridge Family Foundation. The district will now have around $93,000 to spend on technology.

The need for more space to accommodate numerous ministries led members of First Baptist Church to vote in favor of building a new church in Holyoke. The new church will be located south of Melissa Memorial Hospital. Current plans have the completion date set for July 2012.

Twenty-Five Years Ago — May 2, 1996

Water was recently drained from the city well located at the corner of Baxter Avenue and Carnahan Street so it can be tested for nitrates before the peak water-demand months start this summer. A high nitrate count caused the closing of this water well on Sept. 11, 1995.

All families are invited to GPRC’s Family Kite Launch and Fly on May 5 at Phillips County Fairgrounds.

Five underground gas tanks and one oil tank were removed from the former Sinclair property on the northeast corner of Denver Street and Interocean Avenue last week. Owner Judy Schliep said she opted to have the tanks removed for a prospective property buyer. The Schlieps purchased the local station in June of 1983, and Judy closed it in April of 1994 after her husband’s death.

Fifty Years Ago —April 29, 1971

Students of Holyoke High School and Holyoke Grade School gathered approximately 54,000 pounds of bottles, cans and other trash in their cleanup campaign.

Holyoke Jaycees and Holyoke VFW Post 6482 are the new sponsors of Babe Ruth baseball in Holyoke. Schmidt Motor Supply Inc. and Reimer-Smith Grain Co. have sponsored Babe Ruth teams in Holyoke since they were organized 14 years ago.

Seventy-Five Years Ago —May 2, 1946

Veterans with overseas service have organized a VFW post here, and the members desire that more veterans who qualify join the new service group. The new organization is named the Zeiler-Owens-Lindsay Post in honor of the first three men from this community who lost their lives in overseas service.

The Holyoke Lions Club organized a Cub pact with 16 boys enrolled at a special meeting held at the Methodist Church Monday evening. Another den will be organized in the Amherst community.

The U.S. Patent Office has been granting patents to inventors for 152 years. When World War II broke out, the government stopped issuing patents, and every known human idea was laid aside unless it could be utilized for military and naval purposes. The greater part of the United States Patent Office was moved to Richmond, Virginia, “for the duration,” but the patent office is coming back to Washington and the office is “experiencing its biggest boom in history.”