Cyrus’ 100th celebration

Sept. 6, 1962 – Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for a new home for the aged, the Lakeview Retirement home, at the corner of Birch and Franklin Streets. Assembly homes, Inc. was constructing the 44-bed unit which was expected to be completed by February 1963.  Construction of the Glenwood Retirement Home, a 41- bed structure, had begun two weeks earlier.

The absence of contests in many races indicated that voter turnout would be light for the primary election in the county. State Sen. Edward E. Barsness was opposed in his bid for a second two-year term by Delbert Anderson, James B. Olson and J. H. Peterson, all of Pope County.  

Sept. 7, 1972 – The lack of a single contest for a county position was expected to indicate a very small voter turnout in the primary election. The only contest of local interest was for the senate in the new District No. 15A. Running for the senate seat were Rep. Bill Shores of Murdock, Rep. Odean Enestvedt of Sacred Heart, Charles Berg of Chokio and Margery Burns of Milan. In the contest for the state house were Delbert Anderson, Dick Beveridge and Joe Merrill, all residents of Pope County. 

Ruben “Bean” Eide left the county post he’d held for 33 years. Eide first became registrar of deeds on Jan. 1, 1939, when the country was working its way out of the great Depression, Hitler was working his way across Europe and the United States was still three years away from war. He was born in Randall but graduated from Glenwood High School since his family moved here then. Eleanore Larson, deputy registrar, was named by the county commission to fill the remainder of his term. 

Sept. 2, 1982 – Area football teams were set to kick off for the first game of their season . The Glenwood Lakers would meet Ortonville. Coached by Steve Hill, the team was hoping to better its 1981 record of four wins, five losses. The Villard Mallards would open against Bellingham/Marietta. The Mallards were playing in the Pheasant conference’s nine-man title in 1981 and had gone all the way to the state championship game against Argyle, a tough act to follow. The Bucks opened the 1982 season against Chokio/Alberta. 

George Crocker, the “imported agitator” for powerline protests in the county was still alive and well and living in Lowry where he published a newsletter for GASP, the General Assembly to Stop Powerline. Gasp was still meeting in Lowry on a regular basis to monitor powerline issues. 

Cyrus was about to celebrate its 100th anniversary as an organized community. The land was originally owned by the Sioux Indians. The first white settlers appeared in the area in 1866, and the branch line of the Norther Pacific insured the growth of the community, originally called Scandiaville. 

Sept. 7, 1992 –  The warning siren sounded in Glenwood for 50 minutes on Wednesday afternoon as the sky was speckled with tornado funnel clouds. Pope County Sheriff Gerald Moe said that eight funnels were reported to be sighted in a one-hour period. Two farms, located three miles north of Cyrus, were the only sites  reported to have damage from the tornadoes touching the ground. 

School doors for the 1992-992 school year opened for 1,811 students in the Glenwood/Lowry, Starbuck and Villard school districts. 

A public hearing to consider the sale of city park land to the Glenwood Retirement Home (GRH) was set. Gordon Amble, executive director of GRH, presented an architectural design of the proposed site for a 30-unit assisted living development for the elderly to the Glenwood City Commission. 

The Glenwood/Lowry school board passed a resolution to close Central High School in Glenwood . The resolution read cited the vacancy of the building and the fact that “bringing the Central High School building into compliance with five codes would place an undue financial burden on the taxpayers of District No. 612” as reasons for closing the building. 

Sept. 9, 2002 – The victims and the heroes of Sept. 11, 2001, were remembered one year after the terror attack at New York City and Washington D.C., shook a nation and started a war against terrorism. A special public ceremony was scheduled at the Pope County Courthouse. The law enforcement personnel were honored guests at the program. 

A total of 1,493 students sat at their desks as the first bell of the new school year rang. The student enrollment figures came in a little short of what administrators had been hoping for, the district lost 81 students from opening day the previous year. A large chunk of the decline was due to a large class graduating and a smaller class coming in. 

The Pope County Board of Commissioners presented Pope County veterans Clint Folin and Tilford Olson with diplomas from the French government, thanking and commending them for their contribution to the liberation effort during World War II. Folin served in the U.S. Army, stationed in central Europe, between 1943 and 1945. Olson served with the Army of Normandy and in central Europe and received two purple hearts for efforts between 1941 and 1945. 

Sept. 10, 2012 – There were smiles, handshakes and a round of applause at the Tuesday Sept. 4 county board meeting as commissioners officially declared Tuesday Sept. 4 2012 “Mary Schley Day.” The day was named to honor long-time Pope County Human Services employee, Mary Schley, who recently retired after 33 years of service.

A vehicle crashed last Tuesday evening damaged a fire hydrant on the corner of Minnesota Avenue and First St. NE in Glenwood, and the city has contracted to repair the hydrant on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, according to Public Works Director Dave Perryman. The repair work will mean that the water service will be interrupted for some downtown businesses for a few hours once the work begins. 

Marthaler Chevrolet moved over the weekend to its new location on Highway 29, just north of Bobber’s Marine in Glenwood. The vehicle inventory filled the newly constructed facility and lot over the weekend, leaving the downtown location. Work on the new facility started last fall.