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From the files of the July 28, 1988 edition of The Ellsworth Reporter.

142 YEARS AGO

August 1, 1878

The Mill keeps up a steady puff.

Spring chickens $1.50 per dozen.

Saloons will close at 10:30 Saturday nights.

Ice cream at the Grand Central on Sundays.

Cucumbers getting plenty and Doctors wear a smile.

Those who file on R.R. Land should remember the fate of the Fort Harkerites; their buildings stand as a monument of too much haste.

East bound passengers do some tall swearing when they find that they have to ride 15 hours without eating. They call the Golden Belt Route the ‘starvation route’.

132 YEARS AGO

July 26, 1888

The Military Band are attracting considerable attention during their drill and marching tactics in the school grounds under the care of H.W. Barofsky.

The city water is being taken from the well again. That obtained from the wells near the river has become unfit for use.

The score in the baseball game between Ellsworth county and Salina county played this week in this city Tuesday was 16 to 9 in favor of Ellsworth.

E.S. Root finished threshing his wheat this week. He says it is of excellent quality, and he has some twelve or fifteen hundred bushels.

107 YEARS AGO

July 24, 1913

W.H. Faris, living southeast of Kanopolis, bought a Ford two-seated roadster from George Dimick of this city Tuesday.

The Franklin Stock company appearing at the Elite Summer Garden this week is attracting good sized audiences. The company is a fair one, with a good repertoire of plays. The cool weather has boosted the show business materially the past week, as one can sit through an evening performance now without melting.

Our soldier boys have gone to war, the Fort Riley maneuvers. Our mail carrier got excused this year because he was already serving Uncle Sam.

82 YEARS AGO

July 28, 1938

After an epidemic of “sleeping sickness” among the horses of Ellsworth county and all over the plain states for the past month, the disease seems to have declined decidedly over the county, veterinarians stated last Saturday.

Prominent Ellsworth county citizen, Senator J.B. Carter, is running on the Republican ballot for the position of lieutenant governor. Senator Carter is a native Kansan, born in Elk county and has lived his entire life in this state. For the past twenty-five years he has been a practicing physician at Lorraine and Wilson.

Attendance at the municipal swimming pool Tuesday evening exceeded the capacity of the pool and was far in excess of any previous evening’s attendance this summer.

57 YEARS AGO

July 25, 1963

About 300 people attended the service of installation for the Reverend Roland Drekler at Immanual Lutheran Church on Sunday afternoon.

Ellsworth may soon have a resident chiropractor once again. C.A. Pinkenburg of La Junta, Colorado, was here last week looking over the prospects for moving his practice to Ellsworth in the near future.

Lester J. Jouser of 508 Webb, Ellsworth, has been appointed a certified hunter safety instructor, it was announced by the National Rifle Association of America.

Mr. Larry Pacey, Ellsworth, won third place in a field of 80 entries in the State Go-Kart races which were held Sunday near the Municipal Airport.

42 YEARS AGO

July 27, 1978

Thirty-five bicyclists pulled into Ellsworth just before dark for an overnight stay at the St. Francis Boys’ Home, July 24. The travelers were coming from Canada, on their way to a Mennonite Conference in Wichita.

The Citizen’s State Bank women’s fast pitch softball team’s bid for the state tournament fell short as they were eliminated from tournament action after three games last week. The tournament was held in Kingman.

For the past few months members of the El-Kan Western Saddle Club have labored to upgrade the rodeo arena. Their efforts have included moving a building from Salina to accommodate an announcer’s stand and rodeo office; installation of a new concession stand; construction of all new cattle stand; construction of all new cattle pens and chutes; installation of new lightning fixtures; ground leveling of the arena floor and no small amount of painting.

37 YEARS AGO

July 28, 1983

The first lift-a-thon held at the new addition at the Ellsworth High School was a great success, according to EHS coach Jerry Marsh. The participants raised over $2,100 in pledges for new equipment in the weight room.

Effective August 1, Ken and Alice Robson will be the new owners of Callie’s Card Corner, owned by Callie and Loren Reber, Ellsworth. The Robsons will rename the store Robson’s Card and Gift Shop.

32 YEARS AGO

July 28, 1988

CHOITZ DRAWN FOR LOTTERY SHOW

When Evelyn Choitz, Ellsworth, sent in two sets of five non-winning Kansas Lottery tickets, she did not plan to be drawn as a contestant on Kansas Lottery Live, the lottery television show.

“I got a call on Thursday of last week saying that I was one of the six contestants for the July 30 program,” Choitz said. “I thought it was a joke, someone from work calling. She said “this isn’t a joke Evelyn Choitz, I’ll be sending you some information in the mail tomorrow.”

“I got a call at work from one of my girls the next day saying this it really wasn’t a joke,” Choitz said.

Choitz will be on the show this Saturday, July 30, at 6:30. Kansas Lottery Live which is broadcast on Channel 12, the CBS affiliate out of Wichita, profiles a different Kansas community each week. This week the community is Pittsburg.

Contestants on the show vie for $25,000 but automatically receive $1,000 just for being on the show.

Choitz’s husband, Ralph, and children, Nancy, Patty, Julie and Randy, will travel to Pittsburg with Evelyn to be in the studio audience.

“The whole family’s going to have fun,” Choitz said. “We weren’t planning to be $1,000 richer so it’ll be fun even if I don’t win.”

“I was hoping to keep this a secret but I guess not,” Choitz said. “Everyone keeps wishing me good luck. I’m glad that it will be over fast because I’m nervous.”

GEORGIA STOUFFER CELEBRATES 104TH

Ellsworth’s second oldest resident, Georgia Stouffer celebrated her 104th birthday a day early, with a reception at the Villa Hope at the Good Samaritan Retirement Center, Thursday, July 21.

Stouffer celebrated her birthday with her aunt, Mildred Holt, who celebrated her 106th birthday on July 17, members of her family and friends. Television stations KOOD from Bunker Hill and KSNC Channel 2, from Great Bend, were also on hand for the event.

Georgia Roth was born July 22, 1884 in Ellsworth to Belle Long Roth and Henry Roth. She was the first born of two children.

Georgia married Roy Stouffer in 1923 at Ellsworth. She has been a resident of Ellswowrth for most of her life except when the Stouffer’s lived in Iowa for a couple of years.

Both Georgia and Mildred are descendants of the D.B. Longs, early day pioneer Ellsworth family.

The historic items on this page appear as they did in the original publication.