(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)
25 Years Ago — Aug. 24, 1998
New residents Dennis and Sabina Noble are not pleased with the City of Wayland’s long-standing policy against burning. They want to burn brush once a year, like they did at their previous home.
A group of bicycling retirees made a stop in Bradley during their 38-state, 13,000-mile two-wheeler journey.
Wayland Township officials now insist that the Daktal bash can’t go on without a permit. Supervisor Jose Blanco said there were numerous complaints about the festival noise, alcohol and drugs in the previous year.
Mike Gonzales is the new owner of the local Homestyle Buffet and he promises more freedom for cooks to prepare dishes for which they are passionate about.
The Expedite Trucking Co., with 13 employees, has opened in Dorr Township.
Tia Phillips and Steven Brooks are co-owners of the new Country Class Café in Hopkins, formerly Darlene’s at 106 E. Main St.
Anita Modreske, a member of the Wayland City Council, has been promoted to vice president at United Insurance in Wayland.
Arthur C. Johnson, president and chief executive officer at United Bank, a 1968 graduate of Wayland High School, has been elected president of the Michigan Bankers Association.
Jim Pahl and Jack VanDuine have launched the Ambucare Transport Service for people who are not ambulatory or in nursing centers.
Residents in the Sandy Ridge subdivision are petitioning Dorr Township to have their gravel road paved because of excessive dust.
Six young ladies, Audrey Leep, Amber Manchester, Natasha Porter, Lindsey Wykstra, Leslie Anderon and Sara Zuidema, will seek the Miss Martin pageant crown Aug. 23.
Local farmers are reporting that this year’s crops are reasonably healthy, but prices not so much.
Groundbreaking was held for Willow Creek Estates, featuring 31 single-family homes, between 144th and 146th avenues in Leighton Township.
Preston Bruxvoort has been selected principal at Moline Christian School.
Wayland girls’ varsity basketball coaches Zack and Jennifer Moushegian are welcoming back standouts Nicki Merchant, Kara Potter and Jessie Merchant for an optimistic outlook for the 1998 season. The defending league champion Wildcats have won 18 district titles, six regional championships and two quarterfinals victories.
Sarah Grygiel is the top returnee for Wayland High School girls’ cross country, but the boys’ team lost school record harrier Jason Moore to graduation.
50 Years Ago — Aug. 21, 1973
Wayland City Manager Raymond France informed the City Council that a 99-bed nursing center will be built at the corner of East Elm and Lorene Streets. The estimated cost of constructing the Sandy Creek Nursing Center is $450,000 and owners operate under the Area Wide Planners of Zeeland.
Hopkins Public Schools will open Monday, Aug. 27, for teachers and the following day for students.
Steeby Elementary this fall will implement a new “departmentalization” system in which the fifth and sixth grade students will receive instruction in different classrooms, much like a middle school. Different classrooms will feature math, social studies, reading, science and language arts.
Marilyn VanderVeen and Joel Fisher were named winners of the $100 bond prize at the Wayland Community Fair.
Wayland teachers and the school board ratified a new two-year contract. Starting teachers will get an annual salary of $8,059. Maximum year pay for the most experienced teacher will be $12,140.
Wayland High School student Craig Suhusky has been invited to play clarinet for the Michigan State Fair Honors Band in concert on the east side of the state.
Mrs. Wayne James, 20, of rural Wayland, sustained injuries when the car she was driving was struck by a Penn Central railroad train on 142nd Avenue.
Thea Wyatt, a member of the Wayland Junio High School band, was a winner in the baton twirling contest at the high school band room.
Thomas Permoda, a Wayland High School graduate, has received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich.
Jane Kessler, Rick Mauchmar, Vicky Schwartz and Jack Lehocky were the instructors this past summer for the Wayland Recreation Dept. swim lessons at Middleville High School pool.
75 Years Ago — Aug. 27, 1948
Marshall Towne and Buzz Stuch, co-chairs of this year’s Cowbell Carnival, are promising the biggest and best celebration ever of Sept. 9, 10 and 11. The Happy Holiday Amusement Co. will provide rides and attractions, and the Knapp Family musical group of radio fame will be featured. An amateur contest will have as first prize a trip to Chicago for an audition on WLS-radio.
Eddie Harding of Grand Rapids has been hired as assistant manager of the Wayland Municipal Airport.
He has 15 years of experience in aviation, including a stint during the war.
Kenneth McBride, 18, suffered injuries in a tractor accident at his father’s barn and was rushed to Allegan Hospital. He is recovering from a deep wound.
The Leighton Grange will have an ice cream social Sept. 2.
Mrs. James Rybicki, formerly of Hopkins, and her son, Elmer, were killed in an auto accident near Chicago.
The local Humane Society has announced that a large number of dogs and livestock have been found to be tied out without access to shade and water.
A coroner’s jury has determined that both sides were at fault in a boating accident on Green Lake that took the lives of three people, including occupants of the rowboat and the speedboat.
Emily Louise Ritz, 51, formerly of Wayland, was injured in a traffic crash on Byron Center when the car driven by her husband, Charles, left the road and struck a culvert. She was recovering in Butterworth Hospital. Charles suffered a broken rib and fractured nose.
The South West Party Line Extension Club held its first picnic on Murphy’s Point, Gun Lake, with 50 attending.
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher wrote in his column, “It is just too hot for words.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Albert Deal and Chuck Hall of Hopkins went to Michigan Central College to participate in a two-day course on coaching.
Hopkins registered a 10-2 baseball victory over Grand Rapids Seating.
The first student at the Wayland Municipal Airport to pass his private pilots’ flight test was Joseph Ihler of Gun Lake.
Irving Brown, who was familiar in Hopkins as a drug salesman, died at his home in Allegan.
Congressman Clare Hoffman, in a column titled “The Red Menace,” declared that the Roosevelt Administration included communists and fellow travelers and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt supported them.
John Johnson has purchased an excursion boat that will accommodate 40 people. It will be docked at Gun Lake Lake and available for rides.
Mr. and Mrs. Haven Tarnutzer are pleased with the progress of their son, Tom, who has suffered from pneumonia and is a patient at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:
• The Hoosier Hot Shots in “The Arkansas Swing.”
• John Emery and Hillary Brooke in “Let’s Live Again.”
• Margaret O’Brien, Robert Preston and Danny Thomas in “Big City.”
• Mark Stevens, Richard Widmark and Lloyd Nolan in “The Street with No Name.”
100 Years Ago — Aug. 24, 1923
Orangeville farmer Henry Count, 71, died at the home of Dr. A. Hanlon, who unsuccessfully attempted to amputate his leg after a traffic crash in Middleville.
The debate at the most recent Grange meeting was over whether farm women should help with chores outside of the home, with Mrs. Crocker taking the affirmative side and Mrs. DeVree the negative.
The large barn owned by F.D. Cutler was destroyed by fire. The blaze started during cleanup of threshers. Some livestock were destroyed.
Sylvenus Paul, a pioneer who came to Wayland in the 1850s when it was just wilderness, died just about a month shy of his 90th birthday. He worked as a carpenter for the old Wayland hotel, owner by Nelson Chambers. He and his wife, Lydia Truax, had seven children.
Miss Edith Jones and A.K. Richardson were the drivers in a traffic collision in Leighton Township. The drivers and their passengers suffered cuts and bruises, but their injuries were not serious. Adding insult to injury was the discovery that thieves that night took two tires and rims from the Richardson vehicle. “Such unprincipled thieving when the culprits are found should be given the full benefit of the law,” Rollo G. Mosher commented.
Fishing at Gun Lake this year is very good. Martin TenHoon, visiting from Champaign, Ill., caught a bass that weight four pounds and six ounces.
Moline State Bank is offering customers 4% interest on deposits if left at the bank for at least four months.
Members of the Evangelical Church in Leighton collected $39.59 for the benefit of blind girl Irene Chapple and her attempts to secure an education in Lansing.
Now showing at the Regent Theatre downtown: Dorothy Dalton in “The Siren Call.” A Mack Sennett comedy, “Beware of Boarders.” Ethel Clayton, “If I Were Queen.”