Editor’s note: To capture time accurately, language from the past generally is left unchanged. This may result in some antiquated or out-of-use language from time to time. We try to maintain the exact wording when possible, but edits are occasionally made for the sake of brevity or because such wording isn’t acceptable today.

25 years ago: Aug. 5, 1998

By the time we go to press next week, the Leavenworth County Fair will already be in full swing. Exhibitors will start arriving Tuesday morning and, in the horse arena, competition will be underway. Readers will find the Mirror Fair Tab in this week’s newspaper.

Ed and Frances Korb celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Korb are lifelong residents of the Tonganoxie area. The couple ran Korb Electric for 25 years before their retirement in 1976.

Larry and Susan Ross traveled to Overbrook for the 1998 Kansas State Blackpowder Championships. The couple brought home three state championship awards for their skills with black powder guns.

50 years ago: Aug. 2, 1973

A new building is being constructed at the Leavenworth County Fair Grounds in Tonganoxie and is scheduled to be completed in time for the fair starting on August 15. The building measures 60 by 120 feet and will be used for livestock and is located just east of the building built last year. George Sprague is in charge of construction and he and his workmen do not foresee a problem in being finished in time for the fair.

Bill Seymour is parade chairman and the theme this year is historical American events.

John Brassart was seriously injured at his work at a paper mill in Lawrence when two machines fell on him and another man. Mr. Brassart was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital where he had surgery on his left arm and stitches in his face.

A disturbance erupted at the U.S. Penitentiary. Warden Loren Daggart said one prison guard, Wayne Selle of Easton, was killed. Daggart said an inmate called him from the prison laundry and said he was holding four persons hostage. The warden quoted the inmate as saying the hostages would not be hurt if “the warden and the press showed up”. He believed the disturbance was a response to a major riot at the Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester, Oklahoma. Five guards suffered minor injuries and were treated at the prison hospital. By the next day the hostages held by the prisoners had been released.

A reduction in insurance rates for commercial cars has been announced by State Insurance Commissioner Fletcher Bell. The reductions would amount to a savings of about $459,000 for the insuring public of Kansas. The reductions could be attributed to improved driving records of Kansas, along with advanced highway safety measures and effective law enforcement.

75 years ago: July 29, 1948

Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Mills and daughter, Jane, will have a new residence soon on Fifth Street.  Looks like it will be a nice home.

We knew it couldn’t last having the pleasant cool days. The temperatures have been climbing higher and higher as the month of July passes, registering over 100 for several days in a row. Chiggers are making a comeback as well. Don’t forget to vote early in the day on primary day to beat the heat.

McLouth has a lot of things – three grocery stores and the Leavenworth Jefferson Rural Electric Co-op. But it has no theatre, no pool room, no drug store and NO DOCTOR! Most business can be taken care of in neighboring towns, but a city needs a doctor, because life without one is hazardous. There have been several mishaps over the last two years, which is when the town doctor had a stroke and was admitted to the Veterans Hospital, where he is still a patient. With his situation, the city folk have gone for two years with no help. There are close to 2,000 residents in the town and outlying areas, there is a need for medical service. 

Mrs. Hervey Quisenberry gave a book review at the new Plaza Unity Temple in Kansas City, Missouri. We have residents traveling in many different directions. 

Move over Yonally’s Bakery and Soda Fountain and take a look at Cain’s Drug Store offering a three dip soda. This is not a one day special but a daily feature. Only $.20 gets you this delicious treat. 

From the Livestock Health news, we learn that two horses who are twisted together at the neck are not showing one another affection. They are protecting their throats from bot flies. Tuberculosis control was first worked out by veterinarians and is now used to test children for the disease.  Anthrax which is deadly to humans and livestock can be carried by seagulls and buzzards!

100 years ago: Aug. 2, 1923

Fred Angell is fire chief of Tonganoxie. He also is a member of the Tonganoxie committee to arrange for the five-town picnic in his hometown on September 20. This duty brought him to Topeka yesterday for a conference with the Chamber of Commerce committee.

The meeting was in progress in the Chamber of Commerce rooms at Seventh and Quincy, just across the street from No. 2 fire station. It was Chief Angell’s time to speak. Suddenly the clang, clang, clang of the fire alarm sounded at the fire station and the roar of powerful motors broke in on the meeting as the hose and truck and ladders bounded out of the station and speeded westward on Seventh Street.

Chief Angell sprang to the open window and leaned out as far as he could and watched the trucks until they turned on Kansas avenue.

“I can’t stay here any longer. Go on with my speech,” he shouted to Mayor Heynen as he bounded out of the room and ran down the steps and followed the route of the truck on Seventh street.

Mayor Heynen also dropped the speech, and went to the same open window and watched his hatless chief making his best record in the direction from which the powerful motors was mellowed by distance to a low hum–Topeka Capital, July 27,1923

125 years ago: Aug. 4, 1898

Jarbalo Jottings – Dr. Cain repots a boy at Isaac Ecton’s.

Glenwood Gleanings – Miss Gertrude Hill of Tonganoxie visited Miss Grace Jackson over Sunday.

Hoge Happenings – Mrs. Rufus Klinkenberg and two children have gone to Texas on a visit to her sister from whom she has not heard for eighteen years.

Bert Needham had his right foot badly sprained last Friday, two miles west of town. He was riding on horseback. On turning out to avoid a team, the horse slipped at a ditch and fell catching the foot and making the use of crutches necessary.

Miss Lena Brown is clerking at E.B. Strickland’s on Saturday during the absence of Miss Taylor who is away on a vacation.

Moses Harvey and family of Fairmount passed through town last week on their way to spend a month or two in the mountains of Colorado.