Lake County Past: Feb. 25

Talk about it

From Lake County newspaper archives.

100 years ago, 1911

The official figures are somewhat less than expected, but, on the whole, the result of the count will be satisfactory to the citizens of Two Harbors. The census of 1910 gave us a population of 3,278 and those who look back at our accomplishments during the past ten years have every reason to feel proud. Our population will come fast enough when we really get down to the business of developing our agricultural resources.

Call waiting

A medium predicts that we will be soon be able to telephone to the dead. This will be a nice way of passing the time while we are waiting for the exchange to connect us with the living.

75 years ago, 1936

County Auditor Paul Nelson received the application blanks for old age pensions and already has 80 applications on file. He visions a total of a hundred for Lake County. The county board will rule on all applications which must be from residents of the county 65 years or older and without means of support. According to the best available reports, approximately 6,000 persons now are being paid old age pension, which averages $12.50.

Hardwood

The outstanding basketball contest of the year will be played Monday, March 2, when a group of Two Harbors merchants, Lake County public officials and MD&N employees oppose the high school team. These public-spirited men are out to show the young boys just how the game was played when the old-timers were stars for their respective teams. Mayor Brickley, now coach, has gathered a squad of basketball players who rank second to none as experts in the cage game. Proceeds of the game will be used to purchase equipment for the high school teams.

50 years ago, 1961

The Two Harbors City Council approved by a 4-2 vote a motion to set up a self-reading system by consumers of city gas and electricity meters. Under the present system city utility meters are read only every other month and consumers pay on an estimate of utilities used on months the meters are not read. No definite date was set for the new system to go into operation.

25 years ago, 1986

To buy or not to buy, that was the question when fuel prices took a plunge and the decision needed to be made whether to buy now or wait to see if there would be a further drop in prices. Within the past month prices on fuel oil have gone down roughly 20 cents per gallon, bringing prices to the 85 cents a gallon delivered in the Two Harbors area. Taking advantage of the prices, people in the northland have actually begun to let their wood stoves go out on occasion and have let the fuel furnace take over the chore of heating.

Want more history? The Lake County Historical Society is a good place to start. It’s at the Depot in Two Harbors, 834-4898 or visit lakecountyhistoricalsociety.org. There’s also the Bay Area Historical Society in Silver Bay (226-4534), the Finland Historical Society (353-7380 or 353-7550), and the Historical Committee of the Isabella Community Council (323-7644).

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