August 1933

There will be an old time dance at Keller’s Silver Dome Ballroom on Tuesday, August 22 with music by the Silver Dome Orchestra.  Admission for ladies is 10c each and gents will pay 25c.  Dancing during the Clark County Fair week will have the king of comedy, in person, Arch Adrian and his 9-man band.

Keller’s Silver Dome Orchestra often provided music for dances at the Newly-built Silver Dome Ballroom, in 1933.  The ballroom was also owned by the Keller Brothers.  Left to right in the above photo are some members of the Keller Orchestra: Bob Dryden, Paul Keller, Eva Quinlan, Hank Keller and Bill Keller.  (Photo courtesy of Roy Keller)

Other scheduled dances in the area are: Aug. 23, at the Levis Community Hall; Aug. 20, at Riverside with music by the Dux Band; Aug. 22, at Garbisch Hall, music by Dick’s Orchestra; Aug. 19, Hake’s Barn with Rhythm Ramblers band; Aug. 20 at Henry Seltrecht’s Barn, 7 miles south of Lynn, 1 mile south of Hwy. 73; Aug. 20 at Lake Arbutus Pavilion, Hatfield, with the Modern Rhythm Boys providing the music; Aug. 25 at the Marshfield Wildwood Park, dance of the year, music by Milwaukee’s waltz king, Bill Carlsen and his 12-piece band.  A benefit dance for the Columbia baseball team will be held at Klatt’s Barn, 1 mile west and 1 mile north of the Hewettville town hall on Aug. 31. There is entertainment Friday, Saturday and Labor Day at Clarence Hell’s Palm Garden at Hatfield.  They will serve fried chicken and nickel beers.

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Ben Buchert, who lives south of Thorp, was in Neillsville Thursday, bringing with him his remarkable violin to place on exhibition at the Clark County Fair.

The violin, made by Mr. Buchert, is a very wonderful piece of workmanship. All fair visitors should look it up when they are at the fair.

It was Buchert’s intention to take the instrument to the World’s Fair, but he decided to put it on local exhibition.

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A band concert and ice cream social will be held at the Forest Side School, in Chili on August 28.  A ladies’ baseball game, featuring the Gardner Sluggers vs. Forest Side White Socks will be the first event on the program.  Following the ball game, a band concert will be given by the Granton Band. There will be contests held for accordion players, fiddlers and children singing.  Come, sing or play and win a prize.  The Seven Maids will sell hamburgers, pop and ice cream at their stand. The proceeds from the social will be used to buy a phonograph or to start a music fund for the school.

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The Shortville baseball team won two more games last Sunday, defeating Neillsville 13 to 9 and the Hatfield CCC boys, 16 to 13.

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Attend the chicken dinner to be held on August 27 at Zion’s Lutheran Church, in Fremont, 2 miles south of Chili on Highway 10. Adults will pay 30c each, children 10c.

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Romantically inclined residents of Neillsville who are using Schuster Park as a rendezvous at night have carried their joke too far, according to August F. Arndt, street commissioner.  Arndt may take drastic steps unless the frequenters of these little woodlands do not mend their ways.

Recently, the petting parties have been breaking the electric lights in the park so as to make their presence more obscure.  On a jaunt through the park recently, after noticing no lights burning, Arndt discovered the globes broken while a large number of autos were found parked along the drives.

As none of the cars were occupied, Arndt was somewhat at a loss to know where to begin his hunt for the persons responsible for the damage.  However, the park is to be watched and persons found destroying any property will be arrested.

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The auction of Clark County delinquent drainage tax land, held Monday and Tuesday by Clark County Treasurer James Fradette, resulted in 228 forties being sold.  The land remaining in the drainage district is now the county’s property and can be purchased from the county treasurer in the regular way.

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Due to the extreme dry weather, O’Neill Creek has gone into a state of almost complete retirement.  Only a thread of water, a few inches wide, remains.  A crew of volunteers composed of Clark County Game Warden Herman Tiedeman of Thorp, Ernest Snyder, Louis Kurth, Harry Donahue, Leo Miller and several others, netted the trapped fish and hauled them in cans to the Wedge’s Creek pond by the Pinecrest Golf course.  It was estimated, by Tiedeman, that 2,000,000 small fish were transplanted to the pond.

Black River is at the lowest stage within the memory of many and is scarcely visible among the rocks.

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Shop the A&P Store for weekend bargains.  Butter, 23c lb, Wisconsin aged American Cheese, 20c lb, Fancy Brick Cheese, 19c lb. and Mild Longhorn Cheese, 18c lb.

August 1953

Guy Clarion Youmans, 72, was interred Tuesday, in the Neillsville City Cemetery.

Youmans was the grandson of B. F. French, old “Doc” French of the pioneer days. His mother was Nettie French, daughter of B. F. French.  He was born in the old French home, the site of the present Neillsville Public Library.  In telling of his boyhood, a few months ago, he said that he was not delivered into this world by his grandfather, but by a full-fledged licensed practitioner.  “Doc” French, though he had a rough-and-ready knowledge of medicine and gave emergency help in the early days, was never licensed to practice medicine.  His profession was that of a lawyer.  

Guy’s father was Clarion A. Youmans, a lawyer of standing in the second generation of the makers of Neillsville.  The name long persisted in the Neillsville community through its use to identify the old Youmans mansion on Pleasant Ridge.  Lawyer Youmans came into possession of the mansion and the large farm.  Guy was with his father when the place was coming into the family ownership.  This event subsequently gave direction to Guy’s life, for, with his father’s encouragement, he went to the University of Wisconsin for a short course and came back, in his young manhood, to take over the farm enterprise.

After some years, the Youmans farm was sold and Guy became an officer of the old Dairy Exchange bank.  In that capacity, he was written up in the American Farmer. The article was seen by the officers of the Chamber of Commerce in Brunswick, MO.  They invited him to come to Brunswick as secretary of the Chamber of Commerce.  He served in that capacity for three years; then went into road building.  During that occupation, dynamite was used and he became blinded by an explosion.  This ended most of his activities.  The last 20 years of his life were spent in darkness.  About a year ago, he returned to Neillsville to be at home. His household consisted of his wife and his daughter, Rita Louise, who spent the weekends in Neillsville.  During the week, Rita was at Stevens Point where she works as head of the Home Economics Department of the State Teachers College.

In returning to Neillsville, the Youmans family renewed their old friendships and their old relationships.  Mrs. Youmans was Hazel Flynn before her marriage, coming of another old Neillsville family.  She is a sister of Arthur Flynn and of Mrs. C. R. Sturdevant.

In the immediate family, there are only Mrs. Youmans and the one daughter, Rita Louise.  Mr. Youmans is survived by two sisters, Viola Youmans and Beth, wife of Major General C. L. Sturdevant of Silver Springs, MD.

In his early days in Neillsville, Youmans was active in civic affairs.  He was one of the five charter members of the Kiwanis Club here.  Since his return, he was especially honored by the Masonic order for having rounded out 50 years as a member.  He was active in the fair association.  He was a member of the Methodist Church.  In harmony with these interests of his life, Youman’s funeral was held at the Masonic temple, with Masonic rites performed and Rev. Virgil Nulton, the Methodist minister, officiated.

It is an interesting coincidence that in this Centennial year of Clark County, Neillsville was called upon, only a few weeks apart, to inter two of the scions of the oldest families of the community.  Guy Youmans was the grandson of B. F. French, a member of the French family, which runs back to the earliest years.  “Doc” French was an associate of James O’Neill, Sr., the founder of Neillsville.  Of this founder, a grandson has just been interred, Harry Darling, son of Maria O’Neill, the younger daughter of James O’Neill and his first wife, Jane Douglas.

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The 12-ton tower of the new Community Drive-In Theater at Christie was hoisted into place last Thursday morning by a 75-foot crane as preparations for the opening of the theater neared completion.

The tower rises 54 feet into the air and is 48 by 36 feet with the picture size being 41 by 32 feet.

Arlo Clausen, who has had 23 years of theater experience and who will manage the new, locally-owned drive-in, announced this week that plans are being made for opening the theater on or about August 15.  The layout includes a snack bar, rest rooms, in-the-car speakers, and has a capacity of 250 cars.  The theater’s location, west of highway 73, had been approved by the State Industrial Commission.

Commenting on the new drive-in, Clausen said: “The location was picked for its beauty.  It has an exceptional setting of majestic mounds.  To see a sunset from there is to see a great natural picture.  Being off the highway far enough, the sound of traffic will not bother, nor will the car lights.”

The Community Drive-in will show first-run pictures and have ‘buck-a-night’ four times a week.

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Abbotsford has won the semi-pro baseball title for this district and will represent the district in the state tournament at Milwaukee.  They won the final game against Stratford on Sunday evening, 3 to 2.  In that game Jackie Leonard, though the losing pitcher; struck out 19 men.  He was wild at the start and issued passes which resulted in two scores.

In the tournament, the Stratford team was rough on the Neillsville Athletics, winning the semi-final game by a score of 12 to 1. All the breaks went against the Athletics.  Also, the Stratford boys, who were hot, helped quite a bit.

The Athletics played a consolation match Sunday night, but refused to be consoled, losing their game to Port Edwards 3 to 2.

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The Neillsville Public Schools have acquired 60 acres of land near Lake Arbutus for a school forest.  The land is in Section 30, Town of Levis, in the neighborhood of the homes of two Indian families, the Jesse Mikes and the Thompsons.

When the school district moved to acquire land in that area, the original purpose was to get 80 acres.  But it was found that the land desired, though belonging to the county, had upon it the home of the Thompsons and grounds used by the Indians for camping and ceremonials.  The Indians were concerned at the prospect.  The Thompsons had not paid taxes and the title had reverted to the county. Yet, the Thompsons claimed that information had been given them long ago that they did not need to pay taxes.  The 80 acres in question contained the Thompson home.

Rather than to create a difficulty, the officials of the school district agreed that the forest area should consist of 60 acres instead of 80.  This gave the Thompsons opportunity to buy 20 acres from the county, including the site of their home.  The school district acquired the remaining 60 acres from the county.

The deed also specifies that the Indians may use the grounds for camping and ceremonials, subject to the supervision of the Neillsville Superintendent of Schools.

The purchase of this land for a school forest provokes an inquiry as to the school forest land on U. S. Highway 10, west of Wedges Creek. That land bore a sign, indicating that the Neillsville school district lost interest in that forest quite a few years ago.  The reason is that the school acquired no substantial interest in that forest; according to the arrangement in vogue at the time that forest was started.

The school proceeded for several years with planting, putting out an aggregate of about 15, 000 trees. Then somebody by chance or otherwise, read the fine print in the agreement and found there that the school children could have all the fun they wanted in planting trees in the forest, but that the timber, when the trees matured, belonged not to them or the school district but to Clark County.

Upon that discovery, the school quit trying to do the work.  Entitled to receive about 5,000 trees per year from the state nursery, the school distributed them among farm boys who agreed to plant them on their home acres.  Now, finally, the school is acquiring land outright, upon which it can plant and can have what grows.

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Clark County has many ghost towns, or near ghost towns, the relics of the early lumber days.  Some of them are Hemlock, Hewettville, Columbia, Romadka and possibly Tioga.  Doubtless, some readers of the Press will know of other towns.  The centennial committee would like photos or information about these towns.

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Recently acquired marriage licenses in Clark County are those of: Alexander A. Hayday, Minneapolis and Dixie Jean Cardarelle, Neillsville; Robert Vesel, Greenwood and Vivian Standiford, town of Beaver; Robert Charles Reitz, Marshfield and Mary Ellen Haslow, Chili; Donald Ellingson, Greenwood and Nancy Hohl, Greenwood.

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Walter Sisson, who purchased the Janesville Settlement School, has started to tear down the chimney.  He is getting it ready to be moved to his farm.

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Four men of Clark County were reported aboard the Marine Carp, first transport from Korea since the signing of the armistice.  The ship left before the truce and was due at the port of New York on Tuesday of this week.

The Clark County men aboard the ship are: Cpl. M. Barnett, Thorp, Cpl. E. Garbisch, Granton; Pfc. R. Gierl, Colby; Cpl. G. Reinart, Neillsville.

(Last week’s Good Old Days column omitted July 1898, on the first segment of the page. D. Z.)

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Responses

Arch Adrian
Contact: Fred Ingram
Email: fbingram@gmail.com 6128

Anyone have any information or memorabilia about this 1940's era band m?

My father used to play clarinet & sax with them