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: June 16, 1999

The Friendship Valley Get-Together Club met on May 27th at the new home in Lansing of Nancy Jones with 11 members present for a noon salad luncheon.

Thousands came out to enjoy Tonganoxie Days and the town got the chance to really strut its stuff this weekend. Forty-nine vendors were in attendance. KLWN Radio in Lawrence was on hand to do a live broadcast starting at 1:00 pm. Billy Spears provided music for the dance at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.

50 years ago: June 20, 1974

Miss Anita Fitch, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Ray Fitch, graduated from the Friends Bible College of Haviland, Kansas. Rev. Ray Fitch is pastor of the Friends Church in Tonganoxie. Anita has taken a position as Pastor of the Friends Church in Washington, Kansas.

There will be a cancer dressing workday at the Christian Church on June 24. This is a community project. Please plan to attend and volunteer your services.

Tom Laming, lifting in the Mo. Valley AAU Jr. Olympics in Kansas City, set a record in his age and weight class. He snatched 143 1/4 pounds and cleaned and jerked 198 1/4 for a meet total of 341 1/2 pounds.

Miss Debra Rucker, a former Tonganoxie resident, won the Miss Topeka Beauty Contest held in Topeka. In July she will enter the Miss Kansas Contest to be held in Pratt, Kansas. Miss Rucker is a junior at Washburn University. She is the granddaughter of Mrs. Martha Haize.

In Linwood, fifteen full-time and part-time farmers have assembled their creative talents and are rehearsing a Wild West “Gunsmoke” comedy entitled “A Boy Named Sue.” It is based on the Johnny Cash song of the same title. It is filled with television’s Hee-Haw type country humor and lightning action. The show includes all the familiar characters of the television “Gunsmoke” show. These country boys have a natural understanding about country humor and know how to give it the right interpretation. It takes a special breed to spend all day tending to heavy farm labor and finish the day studying 30 pages of script. They will be ready for their grand performance July 19 and 20 at 9:00 P.M.

75 years ago: June 13, 1949

A miniature barbershop quartet won highest honors at the talent show at the high school. The four crooners were Freddie Mills, Larry Hughes, Jackie Taggart, and Gary Elston.

Father’s Day is just around the corner. Yonally’s Bakery has delicious Devil’s Food Cake for dad. Cox’s Jewelers has nice tie clasps for the old man.  

The South Pole reported 87 inches of snow last night.  Might be nice to send a little bit our way.

This from 25 years ago – “Children found loitering the streets after 9 pm will be rounded up and taken to city hall.  A warning siren will sound.” Guess you can leave the kiddies there for the night. 

Our corn crop is growing by leaps and bounds. The wheat harvest has started and is proving to be average to high yield. Hooray for Tonganoxie farmers.

Three sets of identical twins live in and around Tonganoxie and each set has experienced some interesting events. Charlene and Darlene Seaver were riding in dad’s pickup truck when the front wheel came off. Both girls were thrown out but not harmed. The Hemphill twins are on vacation in Colorado. Sarah and Mary Cox have quieted down since their fall off a bike on Pleasant Street.  

100 years ago: June 19, 1924

The Klan Park, a beautiful place of shade trees and blue grass located just west of town, has been cleaned up and made a delightful place for picnics and parties, with swings and plenty of seats. The Klan of Tonganoxie extends an invitation to those who are looking for a place for picnics or other kinds of meetings, to use their park at any time they are not using it themselves. All they ask is that care be used in keeping the grounds clean and that the properties be not damaged.

John Christensen has been having some remodeling done at is home, Mr. Peterson and Mr. Papenhausen doing the carpentry part of the work. Walter Quisenberry is doing the papering. E.H. Skaggs is doing the plumbing and sewer connections. An old-fashioned basket picnic at the park one mile west of town is planned for all postal workers in Kansas City, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Topeka, and Tonganoxie. Good speaking, lunch, horseshoe pitching, games of amusement, and a match game of baseball between the post office teams of Kansas City and Topeka.

125 years ago: June 15, 1899

Deeds were placed on record last Thursday, by which Thos. Reardon transferred his farm east of here on Stranger, to James Alexander and in turn the latter deeded the former a farm near Hazel Ridge school house known as the Anderson farm.

Mr. Reardon will retain possession of his old farm until October 20 but is as yet undecided whether he will occupy his new place. He intends to sell off everything from his old place, and if he moves to the Hazel Ridge place he will begin with new herds and flocks.

In the police court of Kansas City, Mo., a young woman was fined $10 Monday morning, for stealing a pocketbook in a department store. She gave the name of a highly respected young lady of this place who was at home at the time the incident took place. The young woman arrested evidently lives here or is well acquainted here. The question is who is the kleptomaniac using somebody else’s name to hide her identity?