Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI, July 1, 2015 Page 15

There will be a general Fourth of July picnic next Sunday at the Ross Eddy grounds and the public is invited to bring their picnic baskets and partake. There will be speakers, games for the children and other methods of amusement.

Monday, the city street crew flushed the paved streets with the fire hose and put it in first class condition. It was as clean as a hound’s tooth when they got through and if the city fathers will now make an effort to keep it that way, Neillsville’s business section will look might fine.

On Tuesday evening, the stockholders of the Commercial State bank held their annual meeting and re-elected the old board of directors. H. M. Root was re-elected president, W. J. Marsh vice president, G. C. Youmans cashier and A. H. Haderer assistant cashier.

For Sale - 10 acres of land, 8-room house, full basement under house, good barn and other buildings, just outside city limits. To escape high taxes, just the place for a truck farm. Will also include 4 cows and other personal property; for further information, call at this office.

Emil Tober, our cheesemaker and his wife spent Saturday evening at Chili with Mr. and Mrs. Otto Anding.

It seems that blueberries are not very plentiful this year. At least not in the places they were last year.

News is rather scarce this week, nothing doing since the Fourth. Most everyone took a forty-or-fifty mile ride Sunday looking for blueberries.

Lost - Someone has lost the crank for his Buick car; if found, please return to his office.

Now is the time to order that Mayhew Electric lighting plant from W. C. Bullard & Sons, 1 door north of the Big Store.

The West Weston Community Club will hold a picnic in Erich Schoenherr’s woods next Sunday, July 18. The members are requested to bring food and refreshments for the lunch to be served.

James Paulus last week bought the George Rude poop factory and is now in charge of it. He has added a new Ford delivery truck to the equipment and proposes to keep the Neillsville territory well filled up with Neillsville pop. Jim is a hustler and aims to make ice one of his main advantages.

The Street Improvement Bonds issued by the city of Neillsville are now on sale at the office of the city treasure, Carl Stange. Anyone desiring a good 6 percent investment will find these bonds a good buy. Only a limited number are left.

Vic Woelffer has just installed a fine new soda fountain in his drug store. The fountain is a fine one and thoroughly modern in its construction. The fountain is of white marble and the back cabinet of oak, the combination makes a most striking appearance, setting off the drug store in fine shape.

For Sale: Everett six-cylinder touring car in good shape. Would make an excellent truck; will be sold cheap. Inquire W. L. Smith.

Beautiful 80 acres of unimproved, high, rolling land, good soil, in Clark County near Town of Globe on Tioga road; Price $30 per acre. Owner, Paul Holmes, Chicago, Ill.

Harold Balch and family of Madison spent their vacation camping at Merrill Springs, on Lake Mendota, and returning to their apartment in the Jastrow building they were informed that a huge box of burglars’ tools had been found in the basement. However the burglars visited Prof. Jastrow’s wine cellar and proceeded to get stewed. They got no farther and no one was robbed. All silverware and valuables were taken care of by the tenants themselves.

For Sale: Bees and hives, some two-story hives for extracting honey. Will sell at a low price. Honey will take the place of sugar. Get a few hives of bees and get the high price of sugar down. Will Lowery, Granton, Wis. R. F.D. 3.

Hannah & Martin have sold Mrs. John Wasserburger’s property on Sixth and West Streets to William Wenzel. The property includes the residence, barn and a fine corner building location, on which Mr. Wenzel expects to build a new automobile sales room.

The ladies of the Congregational Church will hold an ice cream social on the church lawn, Thursday afternoon and evening of this week. Ice Cream, cake and wafers, 20¢.

In 1926 a roving photographer captured some farmstead scene around the Neillsville area. It is interesting to not show one or two of those farm yards look much the same today. In contrast, there are some with most, or all, of the original structures gone and a few with extensive remodeling on the farm houses and outbuilding. The above photo is believed to be the farm of Victor Counsell west of Neillsville. Pictured are Victor Counsell and Louie Counsell. (Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts)

J. L. Neverman is closing out his business on the Main Street of the Old Home Town. He has been at it 38 years; the longest of any retailer now active in Neillsville. Surveying the local scene, he could recall only one man now in business who antedates him, and that of J. F. Schuster.

Mr. Neverman has spent the entire 38 years in one location, a frame building belonging to Judge O. W. Schoengarth. When he started up there he had capital of $96, money which he had earned and saved in a logging camp. He started out to run a coffee and tea store and the proper name of the business, to the very end, was the Neillsville Tea & Coffee Store. But that name and that policy were presently lost from sight. It was “Neverman’s Grocery” very soon.

With $96 to go on, and with tea and coffee to stock, there wasn’t much left for trimmings. So when a salesman came along and was given a small order for crackers, and only crackers, he slammed his book shut and went away from there. Mr. Neverman didn’t get the crackers then and he never bought crackers, or anything else, from that source thereafter.

Various local men had no confidence in Mr. Neverman sticking it out, and they told him so. With $96 in capital and virtually no experience, the prospect was nothing to brag about. But other salesmen were more accommodating than the cracker gentleman. When they trusted J. L. Neverman, they always got some money on account, even though he might not be able to pay it all. The result was that he kept his credit good.

Mr. Neverman intends now to catch up on his fishing and resting. He has quite a distance to go in that behalf, for he kept that old-time kind of store, open most of the time. Whether it was Sunday or holiday, there was always opportunity to fill a need, emergency or otherwise, by trying at Neverman’s. That meant a confined life, with virtually no play in it. So Mr. Neverman now plans to make up his play for 38 years.

Surrounded by empty shelves and the impediments of a business closing out, Mr. Neverman had his misgivings. Could he turn from the habits of 38 years and form new ones? Could he really play or had he forgotten how? Then here was a certain loneliness and homesickness, in turning from the old ways. This he confessed to W. J. Marsh, who dropped n on him. And Mr. Marsh could sympathize. Seven years ago he stood in like case in the basement of his old store. He had closed out the stock and signed a lease to turn over to another, his old location. Looking upon the remains of equipment and litter, Mr. Marsh considered the like emptiness of life for a man accustomed to the busy routine of a retail store. With him at the time was the representative of the J. C. Penney Co., the man who had negotiated the lease of the building. Overcome because of the change, Mr. Marsh wept, unashamed. Understanding his unhappiness, the Penney man offered to tear up the lease and pave the way for a return of Mr. Marsh to his accustomed life. But that was not the answer. It was not the lease, which was in the way; it was the accumulation of the years. And nobody had yet found a way to make a lease on life and time, or to tear it up.

With the U. S. Third Division, Salzburg, Austria - More than four and a-half tons of gold, hidden on order of Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, has been found by American soldiers.

The hoard, valued at $28,000,000 was in the form of British, American and Italian coins and in blocks. It was dug up by doughboys of the Third Division from beneath the house of the former mayor of Bad Gasten and a nearby building. It had been buried three feet deep.

Originally hidden at Ribbentrop’s estate on Lake Fuschl, near Salzburg, it had been moved only under the retreat of American advance.

It was contained in bags wired and sealed, with the seals of the German legation at Bern and various Nazi government offices and boxes wrapped in paper bearing the typewritten addresses of various Nazi high-ups. All was fitted into three large metal lined boxes.

The Fifteenth Infantry Regiment and 121st Reconnaissance group of this division loaded the treasure on the trucks and brought it along to divisional headquarters at Schloss Klessheim, just outside Salzburg.

It is under guard now but the Third Division feels rather blasé about the whole incident, having recently discovered masses of art treasures, priceless manuscripts, and several similar huge hoards of gold as well as a third of Europe’s total radium supply in their combing out of this area. Right now Maj. Roman E. Clem, Third Division provost marshal, has one of Ribbentrop’s gold bars as a paperweight on his desk.

We need eggs to feed the Army. Bring them in to Quality Egg Co. in Neillsville. Open Friday evenings until 9:15.

Mr. and Mrs. Ole Botnen received a letter last week from Mrs. Botnen’s sister, Miss Ernesen, who lives in Lillinhenr, Norway. She and her family have lived in Norway during the Nazi occupation. She stated in her letter that they are all well. Most clothes and shoes are very scarce but they have received food supplies and clothes from Sweden and much from the Norwegian relief in this country. The town in which they live is about 40 miles west of Oslo, Norway. The letter, which took six weeks to reach Neillsville by air mail, was dated May 22.

Mayor Anderson has received from the national housing agency notice of approval of a conversion program for Neillsville. Under this plan priorities can be obtained to convert large buildings into two or more apartments, including residence, thus easing the shortage of housing. Details of the plan are available from the Mayor.

Herbert (Tubby) Lowe has bought the Hamilton Hotel building on Seventh Street, corner of Clay. The building, long used as a hotel, has been vacant of late. Mr. Lowe intends eventually to remodel the building for living apartments. At present it will be used for furniture storage.

Self-service foods will be inaugurated soon in Neillsville by the great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. That organization will enlarge and remodel its present quarters and will set the store up upon self-service lines. The remodeling will begin immediately, and in a few weeks self-service will begin.

This will be the first experience of local people with self-service. By this plan the customer enters the store, secures a little cart with baskets, goes directly to the shelves and counters, chooses what he wants, takes all of his purchases to a checking counter at the front of the store and makes settlement there just before leaving.

Self-service was started some years ago in the larger cities, and has been gradually spreading into the smaller communities.

When more than 100 different articles made from feed bags are displayed by one Green County homemaker group, it is easy to imagine how many homemakers throughout Wisconsin are relying on flour and feed sacks to provide sturdy cotton material for household articles, clothing, and even dresses.

(Flour and ground poultry feeds were place in cloth sacks, which were of colorful, floral print. My dad had orders to buy two sacks of feed with identical print so mom would have enough cloth for sewing a dress. A plain fabric could be used for sleeves or other trim to complete the garment. DZ)*

Albert Smith of the Neillsville Tire Shop has completed Neillsville’s first business construction of recent years and is moving into his new building at the corner of Division and South Grand. The building is of cinder and concrete blocks, with built-up roof. Its size is 30’ x 50’. Mr. Smith has been in business in Neillsville seven years. He has until now been a tenant in the Howard building, corner of Fourth and West. More than a year ago he purchased the site at his new location and has now completed the new building.

Sgt. Jerry J. Cernick, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cernick of Neillsville, has arrived at Camp McCoy’s personnel center for redeployment. He served with the 807th T.D. Bn, Co. B in northern France, where he won the Bronze Star.

First Lieut. LaVern C. Gaier of Granton has received the Bronze Star medal for meritorious service. The award was mad on Luzon, prior to Lieut. Gaier’s departure for the States under the army’s demobilization plan.

Lemons, 300’s doz. 37¢; Calif. Oranges, doz. 34¢; Crisp Carrots, 2 bchs 17¢; Crunchy Celery, stalk 18¢; IGA Catchup, 14 oz. 19¢;

The Neillsville School Board meeting of this year will mark the retirement of C. R. Sturdevant as school clerk. Mr. Sturdevant has announced that he will not be a candidate for re-election. Mr. Sturdevant is in his early seventies. His health has not been good in recent months. He is lightening his labors, out of necessity.

*(I remember wearing dresses, underskirts, garter waists, made by my mother and using feed and flour sacks embroidered for dish towels, etc. Dmk)

Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.

Become a Clark County History Buff

Report Broken Links

A site created and maintained by the Clark County History Buffs
and supported by your generous donations.

Webmasters: Leon Konieczny, Tanya Paschke,

Janet & Stan Schwarze, James W. Sternitzky,

Crystal Wendt & Al Wessel

CLARK CO. WI HISTORY HOME PAGE