Looking back: Baseball team faces a test

25 years ago, 1983

Seven bridges linking Wisconsin with Iowa and Minnesota, including the Eisenhower Bridge in Red Wing, are due for inspections in the next two weeks as a result of the collapse of a span in Connecticut last month.

An 8-year-old St. Paul Park boy became the second person to drown on the Cannon River in five days, according to the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Department. The river is currently running about 18 inches higher than normal.

Goodhue County District Attorney Gary Fridell opposes changes to sentence guidelines recommended by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission. Terms for repeat offenders would be reduced to curb the growing prison population.

50 years ago, 1958

Hiawatha Speedway owners and operators Charles Truman, Al Schlichting and John Polk have completed arrangements for an unusual racing event to be held at the Burnside track. Eight cars of the modified classification will make their first appearance of this classification ever in Burnside.

Helen Bunch, Welch honey maker and winner of local, state and national prizes for her honey, will be featured in a series of Fleischmann’s Yeast advertisements this fall.

The state Supreme Court has cleared the way for Meyer Machine Co. to build a plant on property purchased from the Mission Covenant Church in Burnside. The court found that the church had the right to sell the property for industrial use.

100 years ago, 1908

N.J. Nelson, 720 McSorley St., has secured a patent on a device that will pick up and deliver mail bags while a train is traveling, despite its rate of speed. The tests have proved the device works as planned.

Red Wing welcomed 50 veterans of the 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry as they arrived in town to attend their 24th annual reunion. One of the speakers described the parting of the 3rd from Red Wing 47 years ago as they headed off to the Civil War.

Colvill Park will be secured by private contributions, as the ladies of Red Wing have taken up a movement for a public bathing beach and picnic grounds. The drowning of a boy the other day emphasized the need for a beach where there will be no danger of lost lives.

Compiled using news articles and Goodhue County History Center records.

Tags: community, historical, society