Tonganoxie Mayor Herb Robbins implemented a Phase Four water emergency on Thursday as the city faced dry conditions and a broken wholesale water line. Heavy usage and a drain of the system (resulting after an independent contractor doing construction on U.S. Highway 24-40 broke the water line around 150th Street) have limited the supply to Tonganoxie.

The Tonganoxie Mirror is 115 years old! Begun in 1881 by George Broadbere, the Kansas newspaper has seen 13 other newspapers come and go in Tonganoxie. In The Mirror’s 50th edition, Walt Neibarger said newspapers were as prolific as guinea pigs in early days.

Neibarger and his family owned and operated the newspaper from 1926 to 1991, when he sold the paper to its current owners, Don and Mary Waterman.

50 years ago: April 22, 1971

Shilling Electric was having a free welding clinic showing off the new 295 Welder from 20th Century Manufacturing at 8 p.m. April 29.

Fred Del Bondio, aka Chum and formerly City Marshall, sold Opal’s Cafe to Mr. and Mrs. Bill Brown and was wished well as he pursued retirement.

Midwest Carpet was advertising sheet goods, tile and ceramics but also Packard Bell stereos and televisions.

Vernon Waters & Family First Hampshire Production Sale was at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.

Tuesday’s third  inch of rain didn’t dent the ongoing drought but was helpful none the less. 

75 years ago: April 18, 1946

And another update concerning the highway right-of-way … the state will go ahead with the purchase of this right-of-way and will pay two thirds of the cost. The most recent proposal includes an underpass on the Shilling Road, north of town.

Maynard Wipprecht is a grinning groom with news from the Red Cross stating that his bride has arrived. She will dock in New York this week from Scotland aboard the Queen Mary and will travel westward to Lawrence where they will make their home.

FFA sophomore George Mills received the highest score in livestock judging and has won a purebred Hampshire boar pig.

This is quite an honor as George is an underclassman and achieved such a prize.

Three more district schools have agreed to join with Jarbalo School to help with salaries and expenses. Eagle, Star and Skagg schools will operate a two-room school in Jarbalo with a common tax rate to support the school.

Heavy frost and a light freeze last week has damaged strawberry plants and tomato plants. The jury is still out on whether fruit trees will be delayed.

A little bit of rubbing elbows with the politicians happened this week in Lawrence when LuEllen Hall married. The young bride, a THS graduate had been neighbors with the President Truman family prior to him taking office.

Mrs. Martha Truman, his mother, and Miss Mary Truman, his sister were guests of the wedding. Miss Truman even played the wedding march for the processional.

100 years ago: April 21, 1921

Mrs. Mollie Myers is having an addition and some repair work done on the Myers Hotel building.

Monday morning of this week Wm. Seaman’s International truck burned, catching fire on the Lee Baker hill about a mile west of Hoge Station. Laming & Son carried insurance on the truck.

JW Evans entertained the eight-hand pitch club last Friday evening, with a few guests present to take the places of members unavoidably absent. Delicious refreshments were served during the evening.

An Indian appeared in town Tuesday advertising an Indian medicine and carried with him three or four snakes, one of which, a large horned rattlesnake, was placed in Ratliff’s drugstore window and was a great curiosity and drew the attention of the young and old. It was a large specimen and well worth seeing.

List and Hallett, the contractors who have the grading contract the first six and half miles east of town, were awarded a contract last Saturday for grading and paving about six miles of roads between Detroit and Chapman in Dickinson county.

This will close a gap between Junction City and Abilene, making a continuous hard road between the latter town and the east entrance to the Fort Riley military reservation a distance of 33 miles, which continues the Fort to Fort road that much father in the direction of Denver. When the road is paved between St.Marys and Camp Funston, a distance of 47 miles, it will give a continuous stretch of hard road 180 miles long to travel over via Tonganoxie.

125 years ago: April 23, 1896

Miss Clara Hadley will close her term of school at Honey Valley tomorrow.

By the use of the cathode rays, people will be able to detect good from bad eggs – in fact, they will be able to count the chickens before they are hatched.

Assessor Winslow is taking in the town this week, and is finding a terrible blight of poor people.

Will Wise appeared before Police Judge Pearson last Thursday afternoon, and entered a plea of guilty. He had been arrested the evening before for getting ga-lorious, mention of which was made in our last. The police judge assessed the damages and Bill immediately footed the bill, which transaction may be one was of kicking himself.