From Our Files

• Aug. 7, 1947

J.W. Patton celebrated his 89th birthday anniversary by taking his first airplane ride which was planned by Lyle Shinkle, C.R. Pettijohn, Art Linder and Will Bumann, owners of the plane, and by Lambert Fechter, the pilot. The ride consisted of a sightseeing trip which lasted 45 minutes over Hartley and extended as far as Lake Okoboji.

The Park Hotel dining room, famous for many years for its delicious food, was reopening under the management of Lillian Gathman and Meta Heuer. Sunday’s specialty was chicken dinners served from noon to 2 p.m.

The Hartley Athletic Club, sponsors of the town’s independent baseball team, made preparations for sponsoring an independent football team. The club had on hand the necessary amount of the newest type of football gear to equip 25 men. Some games had already been arranged.

• Aug. 3, 1972

Two Hartley candidates emerged victorious in hotly contested primary election races. Ingwer L. Hansen defeated incumbent Walter Kruse by less than 200 votes for the Republican nomination for House District 3. Kenneth Nurse, Democratic candidate for State Senate District 2, was unopposed. In other races, Lester D. Menke defeated Everett Dodge to be the Republican nominee for the House District 5 seat, while Ila Tanhoff, of Everly, lost her bid for the Democratic nomination.

Brian Steele, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Steele, of Sutherland, was among the winners in Youth Magazine’s Creative Arts Contest. His entry was a theme-based batik entitled “Resurrection,” measuring nine feet by three feet in size and depicted numerous symbols of new life. It was on loan for display at Trinity United Church of Christ. Steele was a sophomore at Westmar College in LeMars.

• Aug. 7, 1997

The Hartley Fire Department received a check in the amount of $690 from Farmers Mutual Insurance Association of O’Brien County. The funds represented a portion of the proceeds from the golf tournament sponsored by the association and IMT Insurance Co. A total of $2,640 was raised at the event, benefitting 13 area fire departments.

The Hartley City Council authorized having pre-applications taken for a potential housing rehabilitation program. The board of O’Brien County Economic Development was determining which cities in the county had housing in need of rehabilitation and were willing to provide a 25 percent local match.

Hartley Public Library began offering free Internet access through a hook-up provided by Rural Connections. The library also was awarded a $521 grant from the SILO Internet Connectivity Grant Project, with the requirement that it provide matching funds.

From Our Files” is compiled by Sentinel-News sports editor/staff writer Mike Petersen.