THE TIME MACHINE
From past files of The Star News
10 YEARS AGO
February 11, 2010
A proposed 177-foot tall water tower for the village of Stetsonville got the green light to proceed from the Taylor County Airport Committee Tuesday morning.
The water tower is planned as part of the multi-million dollar installation of a water system for the village to replace private wells, some of which have become or are projected to become contaminated as a result of a plume of petroleum spreading beneath a portion of the community.
The water tower had originally been planned for near the Stetsonville Elementary School on the villageâs northwest side, however, that location was deemed to be a wetland and the proposed tower needed to be relocated. The current location for the tower puts it within the flight path of planes landing at the north to south runway at the Taylor County Airport located approximately two miles north of the village.
25 YEARS AGO
February 15, 1995
Bob McNamar, Medford; Dale Mc-Namar, Rib Lake; and Kevin Gebert, Dorchester, were three of eight riders that completed 682 miles in 23-1/2 hours on their snowmobiles setting a new Guinness World Book Record for most mileage achieved within a 24- hour period.
Twelve riders departed Eagle River at 7 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2 and eight of them finished at approximately 6:40 a.m. the following morning. Mechanical, as well as physical, demands eliminated four participants, including Bob Henry of Arlington Heights, Ill., who finished 523 miles.
The riders route took them through northern Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with trail and snow conditions rated as poor due to lack of snowfall.
50 YEARS AGO
February 12, 1970
The rather bleak picture painted of the building construction industry on a national scale apparently has not been envisioned in Medford. Improvements and new construction up slightly in the city, city assessor-treasurer Alf Sandsnes issued 76 building permits during 1969, the preliminary cost estimates figuring at $616,000.
The building slump generally, as claimed by economists, has been blamed to hikes in interest charges and in Wisconsin to the new sales tax imposed on building materials.
75 YEARS AGO
February 8, 1945
The Medford Co-operative Creamery Co. in 1944 produced the enormous total of seventy million pounds of milk. This was the statement made at the Medford commercial Club meeting Tuesday evening by Ed. Carlson, the creamery manager, when called upon to tell something of the institutionâs expanding business.
The plant made three million two hundred thousand pounds of butter during the year, sold some 716 thousand pounds of whole cream, and made a quantity of cheese, in addition to making a tremendous amount of dried milk powder.
100 YEARS AGO
February 11, 1920
In a decision handed down this week the Railroad Com. refused to authorize the Medford Telephone exchange to increase its local rates until it gives better service and makes it plain to the Commission that it can adequately take care of its business. The Company applied on Nov. 29 for authority to increase its rates and a hearing was held Dec. 18. The Company operates an automatic exchange and serves 232 customers. The book value of its plant is given as $22,110. In the decision the Commission says it cannot give consideration to such a value as it makes the unit costs per telephone excessive.
125 YEARS AGO
February 9, 1895
It is a curious thing that adobe houses, the earliest type of houses known in this country, are again coming to be used, as several have been recently built in Colorado. Everybody who has ever seen a picture of a cliff dwellerâs town or of a pueblo village knows what an adobe house is. The adobe house is made of a peculiar sticky mud and is always sun dried. The bricks vary in size and are generally about 4 inches deep, 6 inches wide and 16 inches in length, while the outer walls of the adobe building proper vary from 2 to 4 feet in thickness.
