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75 Years ago this month
2006

*Compiled by Sister Bernice Wessels, Museum Technician

75 Years ago this month - December 1931

Local News

• Four of the Forsmann brothers have pulled into the Hussman logging camp at Keuterville. They will be engaged at hauling logs this winter.
• Postmaster John Rooke recently received an automatic stamp cancelling machine. The machine is capable of cancelling stamps on several hundred letters per minute and will simplify work at the offices immensely.
• Public Notice is hereby given that coasting is prohibited on all streets, alleys and sidewalks within the corporate limits of the Village of Cottonwood. This command is issued in view of the several very narrow escapes from serious accidents in coasting during the past week. Signed: Village Board of Trustees
• Cottonwood’s new bakery, recently installed in the west room of the Dworshak Building, will make its initial bow to the public Saturday December 12. Free treats of hot buns, hamburger and coffee will be offered to all visitors between the hours 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• The election of the highway commission for the third district was held Monday afternoon. Votes for the candidates were as follows:
  Henry Schmidt - 51
  August Wensman - 35
  Ben Nuxoll - 23
  John Nuxoll - 2
• More that 800 children gathered in Cottonwood last Thursday afternoon to greet Santa and receive presents of candy and nuts.
• A beautiful set of antlers, artistically mounted, was contributed by Dr. W. C. Loft, to the museum which was opened recently. Mr. Henry Poxleitner of Winchester presented some clever wood carvings. Mr. Henry Agnew, Jr., also contributed by bringing in from Westlake, a deer skin and another deer head to mount. The faculty wishes to thank these kind friends.

National And International News

• NBC begins broadcasting from the Empire State Building transmitter.
• Building of the Rockefeller Center, New York is begun. Roy Hood is chief architect.
• Paramount Theater in Oakland is opened.
• First evidence of Latent Palm Print Identification [fingerprints] discovered in England.
• National Military Organization is founded in Jerusalem. It advocates armed Jewish insurrection against British rule and war against Palestinian Arabs.
• A new constitution is adopted in Spain.

Birthdays

• Rita Moreno – actress, singer
• Edwin Meese – American politician
• Mary Higgins Clark – novelist
• Scotty Moore – guitarist for Elvis Presley
• Wally George – American TV commentator

75 Years ago this month - November 1931

Local News

• Work on the hotel is progressing rapidly and the building will be ready for occupancy soon. Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings opened the restaurant and have been serving meals for the past few days.

• The first real snow fell here Monday and fully two inches covered the ground. It didn’t last long but the moisture will help make up the shortage that has been experienced the past year.

• Due to the kindness of Mr. Gerhard Uhlenkott and Mr. Eugene Kieber, all the boarders of St. Gertrude’s Academy had the opportunity of attending the play given by the pupils of St. Joseph’s School. All enjoyed the entertainment and expressed sincere appreciation for the splendid presentation rendered by the parochial school children.

• The museum is growing steadily. Part of the mineral collection and the rare geological specimens were a donation from the Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. Many specimens from the surrounding country have been added by friends interested in seeing the museum grow.

• The students of the biology class take great pleasure in mounting animals and placing them in an artistic setting about the room. Considerable interest has also been shown by parents and other friends who visit. Many have promised to add to the collection. The faculty and students appreciate the good will of all who try to develop this valuable asset to the Academy.

National And International News

• Parker Bros. receive a patent for the board game MONOPLY.

• Alka-Seltzer is invented

• The Warner Theater in Hollywood formally initiates a vaudeville season. Bob Hope makes an appearance telling stories while sitting down-stage on a barrel.

• Eddie Cantor hosts The Eddie Cantor Radio Show.

• Clark Gable begins his Hollywood career.

• DuPont begins mass-production of the first commercially available synthetic rubber, DuPrene.

• Alfonso XIII declared guilty of high treason and forbidden to return to Spain.

• Flooding in China kills 3.7 million people.

• The Chinese Soviet Republic is declared and the Red Army is established. Mao Zedong is elected chairman.

• In an effort to repress opium smoking and smuggling around the world, the League of Nations held a conference in Bangkok, Thailand to develop an international policy.

Birthdays

• Bill Walsh – American football coach

• Roy Campanella – legendary baseball catcher with Brooklyn Dodgers

• Ike Turner – American Musician

• Hope Lange – American actress

• Adolpho Pérez Esquivel – Argentine activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

75 Years ago this month - October 1931

Local News

• Father Verhoeven, recently of Shoshone, Idaho, arrived in Keuterville early this month to take charge of the local parish.  The former pastor, Father Martin, left for his new assignment in Aholt, Missouri.

• The sisters of St. Benedict are erecting a new barn near the former Monastery of St. Michael’s to replace the one which burned down a few years ago.  John Mager has just finished hauling the material.

• Charles Rawlings of Nezperce arranged to transfer his restaurant business from the Lewis County metropolis to Cottonwood.  He will open for business as soon as quarters can be arranged to receive him.

• On Friday, October 15, a general class meeting was held at St. Gertrude’s Academy.  The Student Body assembly was organized with Dorothy Jenny as temporary chairman.  The election of officers was proposed and the following were elected:

President – William Agnew
Vice President – Richard Orr
Secretary-Treasurer – Verla Durant

The chief object of the organization is to study Catholic writers of the present day and to raise funds for some charitable purposes.

• The students of the biology class are intensely interested in taxidermy. They have learned to mount birds and squirrels, and each specimen shows a marked improvement over its “predecessor”.  The latest mount is a porcupine.  Both teacher and class deserve credit for these additions to the museum which we hope to set up in the near future.

• With the opening of new school year in Nezperce, the Rev. Father Jentges took up his work as Pastor of the parish. Teachers and pupils are greatly interested in his catechism instructions.  Needless to say, they enjoy and appreciate his presence on the school grounds during the noon hour and his participation in their games.

National And International News

• Senator Dwight W. Morrow, former ambassador to Mexico and father of Mrs. Charles Lindberg, was found dead in his bed, having passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage.  He had pronounced himself in favor of repealing the 18^th amendment and had been mentioned as a possible Presidential candidate next year.

• Thomas Edison, without question the greatest scientist and inventor this country has ever produced, died at his home at West Orange,  New Jersey early Sunday morning at the age of 84 years. He left a widow and six children, besides the residents of an entire nation to mourn him.

• 1^st infra-red photograph, Rochester, New York.

• Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion.

• USS AKRON, first of a class of two 6,500,000 cubic foot rigid airships was built at Akron, Ohio.  Commissioned in late October 1931, she spent virtually all of her short career on technical and operational development tasks, exploring the potential of the rigid airship as a Naval weapons systems.  She crashed in 1933, during a violent storm over New Jersey.  73 men of the 76 aboard the airship died.

• The original Waldorf-Astoria is opened in New York.

• Norden bombsight demonstrated high altitude bombing effectiveness.

 Birthdays

• Charles Colson, Watergate conspirator

• Dick Tracy, comic strip crime-stopper

• Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican priest, Nobel Peace Prize winner

• Eddie Mathews, Hall of Fame baseball player

• John LeCarre, author

75 Years Ago This Month – September 1931

Local News

• The public school of Ferdinand opened Tuesday, September 1^st.  The teachers are: Professor Lewis, Mr. Croisis, Miss Tupor and Miss Moriarity.

• Miss Lena Kolbeck, one of the telephone operators here for the past couple of years, resigned her position and has been succeeded by Miss Margaret Terhaar.  Miss Kolbeck left for Spokane to enroll in the Kinman Business College.

• The Parochial school of Ferdinand started Tuesday, September 1^st with a large attendance.  Sisters Hyacinth and Marcella are the teachers for the coming term.

• Both the high school and parochial school of Cottonwood were closed and placed under quarantine by County Health Officer Chapman when the two year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kees was diagnosed with infantile paralysis. If no other cases appear before the close of the present week, hopefully the quarantine will be lifted and schools opened again next week.

National And International News

• To raise funds to help the unemployed in the Depression, the New York Yankees, the San Francisco Giants, and the Brooklyn Robins (forerunner of the Dodgers) agree to a series of benefit games.  Sixty thousand fans, paying regular prices, raise $59,000 in the first match-up as Babe Ruth homers and the Yankees beat the Giants 7-1. Lou Gehrig hits his 45^th homer in game one and drives in four runs for the afternoon to break his old RBI of 175, set in 1927.

•  Bing Crosby made his singing debut over CBS.

•  Keel laying at Newport News, Virginia of USS Ranger (CV-4) first ship designed and constructed as an aircraft carrier.

• “Sanctuary” by William Faulkner is published

• The September 1931 stock market crash was the worst monthly percentage decline of the Great Depression. A bank panic spreads across the nation with over 800 banks shut down.

• England abandoned the gold standard on September 20, 1931.

• The first organized attack on the Jews by Nazi Stormtroopers, Berlin.

• Jane Addams is the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace.

• A supplemental agreement to the Lateran Treaties was signed by the Italian government and the Vatican which allowed the Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) to operate in Italy for the benefit of young people as long as the organization refrained from political activity and limited itself to religious instruction.

Birthdays

• Anthony Newley, star of stage and screen.

• George Sudarshan, born in Kottayam, Kerala, a physicist of world renown.

• Anne Bancroft, actress

• Barbara Walters , TV personality

75 Years Ago This Month - August 1931

Local News

• Cottonwood public school opens this year on Monday, September 7.  All the teachers engaged last year were re-elected for the coming term except for Miss Sibert and Miss Twogood.  Miss Bernice Simon was hired for the commercial department and Mr. T. Hunt will teach 7th & 8th grades.

• St. Gertrude’s Academy will open school Tuesday, September 1.  The high school offers a 4-year course of regulation subjects and the elementary grades consist of the usual studies required by State Board of Education.  Both boys and girls may attend high school, although boys are not accepted as boarders.

• Reverend Father Martin who served as pastor at the Convent and Keuterville for the past several years is returning to the abbey of his order at Conception, Missouri.  Rev. Father Willibrord who is also from Conception, Missouri will remain for at least another year, we are informed.

• Post Master John Rooke has announced that first class postal rates to Canada and England from the U.S. will be 3 cents  to Canada and 5 cents to England. Post cards will be 2 cents.  The new ruling goes into effect September 1.

• Rt. Rev. Edward J. Kelly, Bishop of Boise on Thursday morning, witnessed the vows of sisterhood for Sister Aquinas Schaecher and Sister Cornelia Yates. He was assisted by six priests from surrounding parishes.

National And International News

• Babe Ruth hits his 600^th home run, off George Blaeholder of the Browns.

• Lou Gehring is hitless as he plays his 1,000^th consecutive game.  He is 307 short of Everett Scott’s record streak.

• The Yangtze River in China floods – 23 million are homeless.

 Birthdays

• Billy Shoemaker – jockey

• Jean Béliveau – Canadian hockey player

• H. O. Smith – molecular biologist credited with helping ‘open the door’ on genetic engineering.

75 Years Ago This Month - July 1931

Local News

• The town of Warren, once famous as a million dollar gold mining camp and scene of three separate gold rushes during the early days which brought thousands of miner into that district, sold for $900. The sale was necessary so that the few “squatters” now residing there might gain the title to their homes.

• Word was received here last week by relatives announcing the death of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Hudgins at Wallowa, Oregon. Mrs. Hudgins will be remembered as Miss Bertha Trautman.

• St. Gertrude’s Convent has a 6-month old Holstein bull for sale or trade for pigs.

• The new train schedule on the Camas Prairie line between Lewiston and Grangeville went into effect Sunday. The passenger train now runs to Grangeville in the morning and back again shortly after noon thereby delivering mail here from both Lewiston and Grangeville within a couple of hours. The changing of the train schedule will be of material benefit to Keuterville, Greencreek, and Winona residents as well as patrons of rural routes, allowing their daily papers to be delivered on the same day as publication.

National and International News

• Ice vending machines are introduced in Los Angeles. 25 pounds of ice sells for 15 cents.

• On July 4^th, the Independence Hall bell in Philadelphia tolled 155 times, each toll representing a year of American independence.

• The first “official” state celebration of the 4^th of July was in Massachusetts in 1781. Boston was the first municipality to officially designate July 4^th as a holiday in 1783. Also in 1783, Alexander Martin of North Carolina was the first governor to issue a state order for celebrating the independence of the country on the 4^th of July. In 1870 the first Federal legislation was passed giving Federal employees a “day off” from work, but without pay.

• Max Schemelling TKO’s Young Stribling in 15 rounds for the heavyweight boxing title.

• The first air-conditioned ship, the Mariposa, was launched.

• Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota destroyed thousands of acres of crops.

• Japan invades Manchuria.

•  France announces they cannot afford to send a team to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

 Birthdays

• Tab Hunter (actor)

• Gene Littler (golfer)

• Jerry Van Dyke (actor)

75 Years Ago This Month - June 1931

Local News

• Hugh Moynagh, father of Mrs. George Rustemeyer died. He was formerly of Idaho County and owned a farm east of Greencreek near Lawyer’s Canyon
• Mr. and Mrs. H.T. Agnew had a farewell for Dr. and Mrs. W.F. Orr and family who will spend the summer in St. Paul, then they will be going to Vienna, Austria to take a post graduate course in surgery.
• The marriage of Sylvester Beckman and Teresa Nuxoll was solemnized at the local catholic Church.  The Reverend Father Baerlocher officiating.
• The Benedictine Sisters will withdraw from their academy in Colton and will only maintain a parochial school there for another year.  The August Uhlenkott family will move to Colton later where Mr. Uhlenkott will look after the academy property and Mrs. Uhlenkott will cook for the teachers at the school.
• The Greencreek baseball team defeated Cottonwood Sunday.  The “Sodbusters” now hold the baseball championship of Camas Prairie. Out of 8 games played this year, Greencreek won 7 and lost one to Cottonwood.
• The marriage of Hilda Schaeffer and George Sprute was solemnized in the local Catholic Church by Father Wagner.  The bride is the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schaeffer.  The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Casper Sprute.  They plan living on the groom’s farm near Keuterville.

National And International Events

• The yacht St. Philiebert sinks in the river Loire in France.  Over 500 people drown.
• Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the 1^st-round-the world flight in a single engine plane.  They covered 15,474 miles in 8 days, 15 hours 51 minutes – a new record.

Birthdays

• Olympia Dukakis, actress (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias)

• Martin Landau, actor (Ed Wood, North by Northwest)
• James Tolkan, actor (Top Gun, Back to the Future)

75 Years Ago This Month - May 1931

Local Events

• An expert stone cutter will be in the locality soon for the purpose of finishing inscriptions on monuments.  Those desiring his services please communicate with the Chronicle office.
• The third annual Lewiston Clarkston Cherry Blossom festival will be held in Lewiston May 8 and 9.
•  August Seubert caught a 17 1/2 inches rainbow trout weighing 1 pound 14 ounces in Lawyer’s canyon. It is on display at the Lange Confectionery.
•  The swimming pool in the west end of town is almost full of water and the youngsters are eagerly waiting for warmer weather in order to enjoy themselves there.
• The first car of gasoline ordered by a company of farmers at Craigmont was received last week from California. The gas will retail at Craigmont at about 19 cents a gallon.
• The engagement of Miss Eleanor Weber, a teacher in the Clarkston schools for several years, and John Lightfield, a prominent farmer of the Cottonwood area was announced.  The wedding will be sometime in early June.
• 40 boys and girls received their First Communion in the Catholic Church of Ferdinand.

National and International Events

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad inaugurates the first air conditioned passenger train, the Colombian, between Jersey City, New Jersey and Washington D.C.

• Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS.

• First canned rattlesnake meat goes on sale in Florida

•  Pope Pius XI publishes the encyclical  “Quadragesimo Anno” (On Reconstruction of the Social Order).  It was written 40 years after Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical “On the Conditions of the Workers” (Rerum Novarum).

• Willie Mays birthday.  During his career, he hit 660 home runs, played in 24 All-Star Games and 4 World Series.

• The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

• The first wedding is broadcast on television on New York City’s W2XCR.

75 Years Ago This Month - April 1931

From the Baker Mercantile, Cottonwood

• Smart spring footwear at lower prices.  New models in sport oxfords and trim graceful pumps.  Also strap slippers. $2.88 & $3.95

Local Events

• Students attending St. Gertrude’s Academy will present a play at the local theater during the third week of April.

• 36 hours of incessant rain, the heaviest storm experienced in the Inland Empire for years, turned rivers into floods, streams into torrents, carried out bridges, covered railway tracks with dirt and gravel slides and tied up every railway line in this district except the one operating between Grangeville and Lewiston.  The total damage throughout the Northwest is estimated at a million dollars. The Columbia River is reported to have risen 12.6 feet above its usual level, having risen 6.6 feet in 24 hours.

• A disastrous fire broke out in the grain warehouse of the Ferdinand Grain Co.  It destroyed the property, the Vollmer-Clearwater warehouse across the tracks, a stock of lumber owned by Oswald Peterson, and did damage in the amount of more than $100,000 before being brought under control.

• Miss Margaret Agnew, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.T. Agnew won first honors in piano music in Lewiston in the annual district high school competition.

• Mrs. B. L. Hussman was admitted to the hospital.  She became the 100th patient since it opened last November 4th.

• Cottonwood, Gifford, Craigmont, and Grangeville schools will participate in a sub-district commercial contest at Cottonwood on the 18th.  Grangeville will enter 3 students.

• About five inches of snow fell the latter part of the week, followed by warmer weather and heavy rains.

• Catherine Helen, the 15 month old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Wren died from pneumonia.  Father Jentges officiated at the funeral.

• Grangeville school band which was organized last fall under the direction of R. K. Harris will present a concert April 15.  The band has 38 members, ranging from the fourth grade to the senior year in high school.

National & International Events

• Little Orphan Annie debuts on radio.

• Hostess “Twinkies” invented.

• 17 year old Jackie Mitchell, the first woman to play baseball in the minor leagues and to be signed to an all-male team as a pitcher, pitched an exhibition game against the New York Yankees and struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.  The next day, the Baseball Commissioner voided her contract, claiming baseball was too strenuous for women.  The ban was not overturned until 1992.

• An earthquake destroyed Managua, Nicaragua killing 2000.

75 Years Ago This Month - March 1931

• Mrs. Michael Hilbert, Keuterville died.  She was the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerhard Gehring, deceased. She was 24 years old and married 4 years. She leaves 2 children, a 2 ½ year old daughter and an 18 month old son. She is survived by 3 brothers, Ben, Joseph, and Theodore.  2 sisters, Lena Ahlers, and Sister Martina from St. Gertrude’s Convent.
• There was a heavy snow storm and heavy rain which gave good moisture that was badly needed.  More moisture will be needed to insure an average crop in this locality.
• Governor C. Ben Ross signed a new Idaho marriage bill that requires persons desiring to wed to give notice at least 5 days, but not more than 30 days before a license is issued.
• Some interesting activities from the legislature.  “Here We Have Idaho” was made the official song. 
• The House passed a bill for $225,000.00 for the library at the University of Idaho.

 Some advertisements found in the Chronicle this month:

75 Years Ago This Month - February 1931

From the Baker Mercantile, Cottonwood

• Peanut butter, 1 pound – 13 centsOranges – 35 cents a dozen

• Royal club coffee 3 pounds $1.19 or 42 cents a pound

• Campbell’s tomato soup, 6 cans for 54 cents

Local Events

• The new Cottonwood gym was dedicated this month. [It was situated on the land where the present St. Mary’s Hospital stands.]

• Two couples B.J. Stubbers and Francis G. Nuxoll celebrated their 40th wedding anniversaries this month.

• Dr. Wesley Orr was the medical doctor in Cottonwood and Dr. William Loft was the dentist.

• Rev. Cyprian Bradley became the chaplain of the Monastery of St. Gertrude and a faculty member of St. Gertrude’s Academy.

• The trains will change schedules in March. The Grangeville passenger train will leave Lewiston at 7:55 a.m. for Grangeville, arriving at 10:55 a.m. and will leave Grangeville at 11:20 a.m. and arrive in Lewiston at 2:10 p.m.

• Frank McGrane has received word that $60,000 of Federal and State funds will be allocated toward completing the 3 mile stretch of the North/South highway from Riggins north to the bridge across the Salmon River near that point.

• Mrs. Emmely Anne Chenoweth, a native of Ohio who came west in 1882, died Wednesday. She was 81 years old. The family first located on a farm in the Pataha region [near Pomeroy, Washington] and later homesteaded what is now the J.F. Jenny farm.

National and International Events

• Thomas Edison submits his “last” patent application. He dies later this year.

• New Delhi becomes the capital of India.

• The black and white movie Dracula is released starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. Also, released this year was Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as the monster.

• California gets the go-ahead from U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Born in February, 1931

• Actor James Dean on February 8

• Author Toni Morrison on February 18

• One-time president of Argentina, Eva Peron, on February 4.

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Revision 13 November  2007