A Century of Greenwood County, KS History - Eureka Herald, 1968

1961

H.F. Brenton announced his purchase of the Coin-o-Matic Laundry at Third and Oak. Econ-o-Wash at 108 North Elm street was sold by Dale Purkeypile to Mr. and Mrs. Billy J. Hawthorne of Eureka. With an assessed agricultural valuation of $16,725,035, more than one-third of the county's assessed valuation of $45,397,814, agriculture must be recognized as Greenwood County's No. 1 industry.

A.E. Green, owner of the Green Insurance Agency, announced the appointment of Stanley Marshall as manager of the agency, succeeding J.W. Weed. Hundreds of Masons and members of affiliated groups were expected in Eureka in February for the formal dedication of the new home of Fidelity Lodge No. 196, A.F.&A.M., at Sixth and Main streets. Grand officers were to conduct the dedication

Another milestone in the Fall River Watershed program was achieved when, On February 9, at the end of the 40-day waiting period for any protests, the board formally adopted the watershed work plan. The first step on the projected development of a city park area at the scene of Eureka's birthplace, on the west bank of Walker's run, took place in March. The spring was cleaned out, cemented and encased in a rock wall. New metal steps led down to the spring. On discovering this clear gurgling spring at this site on August 14, 1857, Edwin Tucker and others of the founding fathers were reported to have cried "Eureka!" and determined to establish a permanent settlement here.

The Eureka Garden Club, with permission of the mayor, Arley D. Burt, invited citizens and civic organizations to purchase trees in the Centennial tree-planting program. The mayor suggested as possible planting sites, the Eureka city park, the north and east boundaries of Greenwood Cemetery, the Ohio Street ball grounds and certain areas of Eureka Lake. Several trees had been purchased for the Eureka Country Club by individual members. A violent tornado lashed across Greenwood County the afternoon of March 26, leaving six homes in the Thrall area wrecked beyond repair, other building flattened or unroofed, telephone and electric service disrupted and residents shocked and stunned.

R.C. Reno purchased the building at 412 North Main and was to open a hardware store about June 19. David Jackson, manager of Foodtown, announced the promotions and transfer of two of the store's personnel to Coffeyville. Elliott Mann, assistant manager, and Paul Jackson, produce manager, left for Coffeyville, with Ray Sjorland and Phillip Bratton of Eureka taking their places.

Don Jones announced the sale of Don's IGA Foodliner to Jim Saunders, who had been acting manager since October, 1960. Jones, who built the store building in 1954, retained ownership of the building. E. Dwayne Meadows purchased the Eureka Accounting Service from Mrs. Lois French. An open-type hay shed at the Eureka Auction Sale grounds and about 1400 bales of hay belonging to Herb Rockhill, auctioneer, went up in smoke with a $1250 loss.

Open house was held at three Eureka schools, improved with funds from a $275,000 bond issue approved in April, 1960. On October 1, a new corporation, Advanced Well Service, Inc., was formed by George Barnard, Merle Mitchell and Bill Thompson. something new was found in the latest telephone direction, instructions about Area codes, the modern way to place long distance calls.

Traffic was rolling on new Highway US-54, a four-year project costing $2,229,000. Highway traffic through Eureka was re-routed over the new east-west River street project November 3, bringing into use also the new diagonal alignment east of town to the east junction of K-99 with US-54, commonly called Tonovay corner. The length of the new rout from Main street east was 6.8 miles, or a savings of approximately 1.2 miles in length.

1962

Mr. and Mrs. William Weber announced the sale of the Eureka News Stand to Max Downard. A new shoe shop for sales and repair was to open in the Osborne Building, 208 North Main. Charles McKenna of Hutchinson planned to move some of the equipment soon. Announcement was made of the sale of McManis Implement Co. to Pete Ott & sons of Lamont. The new business was to be known as Ott's Implement Co., carrying the slogan, "You Otta Do Business With Ott's." A complete line of John Deere implements and parts was to be carried.

Improvements at the Greenwood County fairgrounds were underway, which, when completed, would provide additional barn space, rest room facilities and make the race track the only approved Quarter Horse track in Kansas. Grand opening was held for the new Goodyear Service Store, 201 North Oak. don Wells was the manager and Kent Cornett was to be sales and service manager.

The First Christian Church marked its 100th anniversary, being founded in Eureka in 1862. An all-weather landing strip 50 x 2600 feet was being constructed which, when completed, was to greatly encourage air travel to Eureka. Executive planes, light planes and even a DC-3 were to have no excuse or reason to avoid landing at Eureka's well-located airport. Stanley Willis, former resident of Eureka, purchased the Greenwood shoe Shop, 106 East Third, from Jim Dixon.

The Bluestem Lodge, ultra-modern 20 unit motel on East River, held open house on July 15. Norman J. Hand and Chuck Hand , brothers, were the owners-operators. Eureka Motor Co. announced it had been appointed Cadillac dealer for Greenwood County. This made the company the dealers for all General Motors automobiles, including Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac.

All aerial photography was completed and all center stakes for tentative dam structures for the Fall River Watershed project were set. Six sites were selected for the first phase of construction and the board was to proceed to obtain easements from landowners. The Eureka city commission voted unanimously to purchase a new fire truck, a 750-gallon-per-minute front mount pumper, from the General Safety Corp., in the amount of $12,962 and the chassis from the Bush Motor Co. in the amount of $3,750.

C.C. Hoover of Medford, Oregon, was to give away 12,000 trees to school children of Greenwood County in his "Spruce Up" operation. Hoover made the gift in honor of his wife, the former Elsie Wallace, and other members of the Wallace family in this area. His gift of trees was of inestimable worth to the county. Members of the First Southern Baptist Church dedicated their new church at 300 South Jefferson in October.

Announcement was made of the grand re-opening of the Ben Franklin store, recently purchased by Almon A. and Mary Atkins and currently under the management of Lanford Barnett. The Rock Island Lumber Co. was sold to the A.C. Houston Lumber Co. C.R. Lewis was retiring from the Rock Island. Lyman Hawthorne was manager of the Houston Lumber. With the completion of the 2,600-foot all-weather runway, the Eureka Airport attained approval status of the Federal Aviation Agency. The airport could accommodate any twin-motored plane.

Monett Albeck, 17-year-old high school senior from Copenhagen, Denmark, had been chosen for a year's study in Eureka High School on an American Field Service scholarship. Miss Albeck's study and residence here was made possible by the determined effort of the Eureka High School French Club and its sponsor, Mrs. Audre Basham, as well as by generous contributions of many other groups and individuals. The student was to arrive in August and reside in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle English.

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1963


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