A glance at the past, 75 years ago — September 1948

Aug 31, 2023

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Supervisors have taken drastic efforts to bring the road fund expenditures down to a level where it will be possible to stay within the 1948 budget. They are laying off 29 men from the maintenance and construction crews and all construction will stop on county roads.

The supervisors will sell a large amount of the heavy equipment used by the county for construction adding the money to the road fund. A total of $369,903 has already been spent. This leaves $49,597 before the budget total is reached. All but about $20,000 of the crushed rock has been delivered. The county is obligated for the balance of the contract. There is still about $30,000 cash left in the road fund. The maintenance fund has $10,000 and the construction fund is $20,000.

The maintenance crews will be cut to nine men in each of the Tama County districts. This makes a total of 31 maintenance men to be retained in the county out of the 60 men employed on maintenance and construction crews operating in the county. Tama County is one of the first counties to cut their program down to a workable basis after finding it impossible to carry on their road programs as a result of the increasing costs of labor and machinery.

Duane Mayfield 24, formerly of Fort Dodge, has been assigned to the Toledo district of Iowa highway patrol. This brings the number of patrolmen stationed here to four. Mayfield, a graduate of Fort Dodge High School, attended junior college and served four years with the U. S. Marine Corps, part of the time in the aviation branch. Upon leaving the service, he attended Drake University and was with the driver’s license department of the patrol for a year.

A groundhog appeared in Vining. His only comment on the weather would have undoubtedly been that it was too hot.

Groundhog Day is traditionally in February, but it came much earlier this year as the little weather forecaster failed to see his shadow. He didn’t have time. The appearance of the animal, which ordinarily would not have been seen in the daytime, was blamed on the hot dry spell which sent it in search of water.

A new business that will open this week is Lisle and Reichle Home Furnishings. They will occupy the building vacated by the Federated store on the south side of High Street. The Federated store, operated by Ben Vaughan, has moved across the street into the building left vacant when Vaughan sold his Factory Outlet store.

Weir Hardware has moved to the building vacated by the Farm Bureau on the southeast corner of High and Church Street, across from the Wieting Theater. The Carter Jewelry has moved into the building vacated by Weir Hardware on the northside of High Street.

Charles Roby’s shoe repair shop will occupy the space vacated by Carter. All of the business changes are taking place in the High Street block between Church and North Broadway. In addition, M. G. Mickelson opened his law office in the building west of the Chronicle, last occupied by J. E. Arends.

The Lisle and Reichie furniture store is owned by a partnership of Otis and John Lisle and Paul Reichie. Otis Lisle will manage the Toledo store. The group also owns a store in Cedar Rapids which was established in 1945. Otis entered the partnership after they decided to locate in Toledo. He formerly was part owner of three Rexall Drug stores in Kansas City. All three men are war veterans.

J. C. Weir has moved his hardware store into the building he purchased from the Farm Bureau. Mr. and Mrs. Weir and their two children will occupy the apartment above the store. The Weirs came to Toledo when he bought the McNicholas hardware. Mr. Weir had previously been in business in Jessup and Shellsburg. The new hardware location will give Mr. Weir more space and is planning on adding additional lines of hardware goods.

Leonard Carter will have about three times as much space in his new location as before. He has already added more merchandise and plans to continue to expand his stock of jewelry, watches and clocks.

Charles Roby, who has been in the shoe repair business in Toledo for 11 years, nine of them in the same location, will also have considerably more store space as a result of the move. He plans on increasing his stock of shoes and work clothes and will carry an extensive line of merchandise, featuring high quality and low prices. He will also be able to have a more convenient arrangement.

An open house for the Tama County Farm Bureau is being planned to showcase their new location in the building located at the west end of West High Street, formerly owned and occupied by the Loren Rank Hatchery and Feed store. The 50×100-foot building has been completely remodeled on the ground floor and was purchased at a price of $24,000.

In addition to the various service offices of the Farm Bureau organization, the County Agriculture Conservation Association (AAA) and the Tama Soil Conservation District offices are located in the building. The former AAA offices, now called the Production Market Association are located at the rear of the building on the southeast corner while the District Soil Conservation offices occupy the southwest corner of the building.

Officers are Burns M. Byram, Tama County extension director, Marvin T. Helgren, general insurance, and Miss Ruth Naylor, Tama County home economist. Other employees in the building were Miss Helen Hodina, Miss Alice Mochal, Miss Irma Mattingly, Miss Mary Grace Reid, and Miss Joan Vana.

Another of the projects of the Toledo Progressive Club has been completed. The new football scoreboard on Clark Field was used for the first time last week at the Toledo-Reinbeck game. The scoreboard is placed in the southeast corner of Clark Field and is large enough so that it is visible from any place along the sidelines. The background of the board is black and the numbers are white. It takes two boys to operate the new scoreboard.