On Saturday, volunteers from Midland Railroad and Mid America Historical Steam Restoration joined workers from Berkel & Co., Bonner Springs, in cutting up the pastoral octagonal silo which sat on the u80=acre property owner by Tonganoxie USD 464. Built in the 1920s, the silo will be cut into three sections and then transported to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame where it will be reassembled on a brand-new concrete foundation and displayed as a piece of agriculture history.

Tonganoxie storyteller Tim Manson gave animated presentations for a group gathered in the Tonganoxie Public Library on Saturday morning. Manson, tractor tire salesman, said he tells stories to inspire the imagination. “As a storyteller, I’m selling you nothing but blue sky and good times,” he said. He said books tickle the imagination better than movies and electronic media, because the latter do all the imagining for the viewer.

Manson also said that imagination was fundamentally required to understand abstract concepts. He used physics as an example, noting that it was impossible to understand how electricity moves through a wire without first imagining it doing so.

50 years ago: Nov. 25, 1971

Front page photos in the Mirror included Ken Mark, sophomore at Donnelly College, shown attending the Little League Chili Fund Raiser with Royal’s pitchers Paul Splittorf and Jim York talking to local youth.

The total taxes collected in Leavenworth County were $7,731,234 which was an increase of $645,983 over last year.

Murray Pharmacy was offering a modern family prescription and tax deduction record system as a free service with a printed form in this week’s paper.

Zoellner’s was selling Handy Andy gloves for 69 cents a pair.

Thanksgiving prayers and greetings were found throughout this week’s Mirror from local businesses.

75 years ago: Nov. 21, 1946

And another whopper of a vegetable garden story is here for your reading enjoyment! The gardener at the Pomeroy farm showed up with a giant turnip, 19 1/4 inches in circumference, 17 inches long and weighing 4 pounds. It was a purple top variety for any of you who might want to try your hand at planting some next spring. Haven’t heard about the flavor of this big boy.

This letter from a reader in Oberammergau, Bavaria, who describes a 300-year-old story of a small village of people high in the Alps. A terrible plague was sweeping through the countryside killing many of the residents. They turned to prayer and soon the plague was gone. They vowed as a community to present a play called “The Death and Passion of Christ”. So, they did so every decade. They were interrupted with the arrival of Hitler who did not think this little play fit with his plan and so an underground jet propulsion laboratory was built in the village for the Third Reich. Now that the war has ended, the people of the village have made plans to present their play again. Thus, a continuance of their efforts from 300 years ago.

A friendly adventurer just returning from Normandy reports that the young men who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy, in small sleepy villages, and along hedgerows are content. There is a holy silence hanging over all the land where many of our boys lost their lives.

Hunter Lumber has ready-pasted DDT cedar closet wallpaper on sale. It kills all kinds of pests and is not hazardous to humans or domestic animals. Two boxes will cover the average closet.

First prize in the Ahrens Hybrid Seed Corn company ox weight contest went to Raymond Riley. He won one leather jacket for correctly guessing the world’s largest oxen weighed 3,410 pounds. Runners up received 1/2 bushel of Grinnell Seed Corn. Many offered a guess, but Billy the Ox was much bigger than they could imagine.

100 years ago: Nov. 24, 1921

A truck and two men with all the markers were in town Monday on their way east marking the Victory Highway. The new hard surface road will extend the entire distance between New York and San Francisco. The Victory Highway is being laid out as a memorial of the victory of the World War.

Tonganoxie is extremely fortunate to be located on this first national or coast to coast highway to be hard surfaced. The road is said to be hard surfaced from New York to St. Louis, and by the end of another year the hard surface will be completed nearly halfway across Kansas. The Victory Highway is now open from Reno to Lawrence.

Hundreds of farmers and businessmen were in Leavenworth last Saturday afternoon to attend a called meeting to consider the high tax levy proposition in this county. The County Commissioners told the taxpayers that they had themselves to blame for most of the raise in the taxes.

The sentiment seemed to prevail that the Victory Highway was the main reason for the raise in taxes.

It was said at the meeting that the engineer’s expense for the first one-half mile of the Fort to Fort road was $14,000. But the actual expenses were $22,900. Part of the high expense was caused by the inability to get material, making the work last for nearly two years.

A good part of those present were there to see and hear what was done, and were not in sympathy with the malcontents, believing that the County Commissioners were not at fault.

125 years ago: Nov. 26, 1896

The local gang of joint keepers have employed J.H. Wendorf to defend them. Through an agreement reached between the prosecuting attorney and Wendorf, the cases have been set for trial next Saturday at nine o’clock.

We understand that the citizens in and about Six Corners were preparing to take a band to make it interesting for Tom Breese. They will probably hold off until they see what becomes of the present case. Breese, so it is said, declares he will never pay a fine. He threatens to either jump his bond or go to jail. He is taking all the risks for the money there is in it and does not propose to give any of it up.

It is quite likely the defendants will demand a jury when the cases come to trial in Justice Pearson’s court. The Mirror sincerely hopes that the community will not be disgraced by a verdict not in accordance with the law and the evidence.