THE TIME MACHINE

From past files of The Star News

10 YEARS AGO

March 18, 2010

A plan to give Northcentral Technical College several million dollars worth of county buildings and property in exchange for promised expansion of education facilitates in Medford faced scrutiny by a pair of county committees last week.

A joint meeting of the buildings and grounds committee and the land information committee reviewed the “contribution and transaction agreement: with county attorney Steve Anderson on March 11.

The county has already agreed “in principal” to the swap, which cleared the way for NTC to seek federal grant money. NTC hopes to use federal grant money along with its own funds to renovate and approximately double in size the existing agriculture service center off of Donald Street.

25 YEARS AGO

March 22, 1995

Because many libraries are confusing about their reason for being, it is important that Medford retain its present library building at the head of Main Street.

That was the message members of the Library Board heard last week from Lonn Frye, an architect with the Chicago firm of Frye Gillan Molinaro.

“Libraries are a major visual image to the city. They need to make a statement, You don’t want it confused with the local 7-11 store or the doctor’s office,” Frye said. He had been invited by the board to make a presentation concerning Medford’s current library building and its potential.

Frye said the present library — built in 1916 with funds from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie — is an architectural jewel on an incredible location, but has an unproductive interior.

50 YEARS AGO

March 19, 1970

A flash fire Tuesday morning raced through the Doberstein Lumber and Fence Co. sawmill west of Medford, leveling the 26x88-foot frame structure in a matter of minutes. The owner and operator, Frederick Doberstein, said yesterday that the loss, partly covered by insurance, was estimated to hit more than $28,000.

Believed to have been caused by the backfiring of a diesel motor, the fire broke out at 10:10 o’clock, according to fire chief Les Ketelhut. Firemen kept the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and piles of sawlogs, the department called back again at 2 p.m. to control a new flareup.

75 YEARS AGO

March 15, 1945

A truck owned and driven by R. H. Gruenke of Auburndale, headed for Rib Lake on highway 102, collided head on with the car driven by Rudy Vlach, who was coming west on 102 Thursday, Mar. 1. Another car and tractor owned by George Niggemann, parked on the crest of the hill near the Niggemann grounds

about 11/2 miles east of highway 13, obstructed the vision of the drivers. They both turned toward the snowbank to avoid hitting and collided head on.

100 YEARS AGO

March 17, 1920

The council last Wednesday evening took up the street paving proposition and pretty definitely came to the conclusion that Front Street from the library to Broad Street, River Street, and Division Street from the court house to Whelan Avenue should be paved.

An engineer was present and estimated the cost at about $50,000. The brick pavement he thought would cost $2.80 per square yard and cement would be $3.25.

125 YEARS AGO

March 16, 1895

The biggest ditch in the world is being dug in Illinois, and from 5,000 to 8,000 men have been employed upon the work almost constantly for over two years. This is the largest number of laborers employed upon any single work of improvement in the United States, certainly, and perhaps in the whole world, for no other great canals, but one great railway, and no extensive systems of dykes, docks or dams are now in course of construction anywhere.