Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, July 29, 1948
• Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Peterson and Miss Marie Weber and son, Our Own Hardware Store, will leave Sunday for Minneapolis to attend the Annual Summer Meeting featuring Fall and Christmas merchandise of the Our Own Hardware organization, an association of more than 500 independent hardware stores in the Upper Midwest. Mr. Peterson said that the meeting was planned to review current merchandising trends and permit dealers to select stock for their Fall and Christmas seasons.
• Mrs. Henry Hoffer says she thinks her sweetcorn that stands 7 feet, 4 inches high is a pretty good record, and also she showed us a sample of the beans that she is growing that measured 6 1/4 inches. Joe Schandl Sr. brought in a cucumber this week that measured 8 1/2 inches around and 8 inches in length which is also good sized for this time of the season.
• Olaf Borg of West Lyons Township met with a painful accident Saturday evening when his horses ran him over and also the wagon loaded with a ton of hay. It broke his pelvic bone and also bruised him externally. Mr. Borg is in the Wesley Hospital at Wadena. Just how bad his injury is cannot be determined at this time. A host of friends wish him a speedy recovery.
• The Girls Scouts will have their final paper pick up Wednesday, August 4, beginning at 1 p.m. Town people please have paper by the curb. Out-of-towners may leave their paper at the A.C. Johnson, Jr., residence.
40 Years Ago, July 27, 1983
• Evelyn Erckenbrack of Verndale emceed the Senior Citizens Program Sunday afternoon at the Wadena County Fair during which Alice Wells, a former Verndale resident, now of Menahga, was crowned Outstanding Senior Citizen Queen by Representative Don Anderson. There were no king candidates this year. Mrs. Wells is now eligible for competition at the state level, the winner to be chosen and crowned during the State Fair.
• Verndale’s new street banners were hoisted aloft last Friday evening, thanks to Andy Schmith of West Central Telephone at the controls, and Bill Beven, city maintenance man, helping to hold the banners off the ground. Verndale’s annual celebration is less than two weeks away. This year, Verndale will observe its 100th anniversary of incorporation as a city, so an effort is being made to provide an extra-activity-filled two days of celebration.
• Dan Carlson held tightly to the black lamb he was displaying for Blaha Farms in the open class judging, while the judge checked its body conformity at the Wadena County Fair on Friday. The frisky lamb had broken ranks and was recaptured just prior to this picture being taken in order to be included in the judging.
• Dave and Karen Greenwaldt, Route 1, Verndale, are pictured and proudly display their most recent trophy won for participating in the Grandma’s Marathon from Two Harbors to Duluth on June 11. They ran the 26.2 miles together in 3 hours and 52 minutes. They were determined to beat last year’s run which they completed in 4 hours, 22 minutes. Last year they had to stop and walk part of the way, but this year, ran the entire route. Over 7000 participants started in this race. Others from this area included: Jim Lawson, Bob Bengtson and Warren Hinkle of Wadena.