From the files of the March 22, 1984 edition of The Ellsworth Reporter.

136 YEARS AGO March 20, 1884

Last Saturday was a busy day in Ellsworth. At one time Douglas avenue was completely blocked with wagons and carriages.

Charley Bell wants men to work on the railroad.

A.N. McLennan informed us last Sunday that a girl baby had made its appearance at his residence. He was happy.

E.P. Wheeler of this city, is engaged in raising fine poultry.

Mr. Larkin will start for New York City, this Thursday evening, for another large stock of goods which will be his second purchase for 1884. ...

111 YEARS AGO March 25, 1909

Morris Arnold was up from Wichita last Friday. Saturday he and Frank Hissem went to Abilene in Morris’ automobile. They had bad luck, and were fifteen hours on the road.

Chas. Henke has built a cement cellar and is making other improvements around his home on Second street.

J.N. Berkeley, of the Ellsworth Produce company, shipped a car of eggs to Denver and one to Los Angeles, last week.

Story & Easterly will contract for cement sidewalks at 9 cents per foot.

Dan Kottman is having a cistern built at his home on Kansas avenue. ...

87 YEARS AGO March 22, 1933

One of the worst dust storms this vicinity has ever experienced blew in just before midnight last Friday night following a day of dust and screaming south wind. The change was instantaneous, from a high south wind to a stronger north one. The north wind brought with it a dust film as blinding as a heavy fog. Drivers out at that time said they could see the wall of dust approaching some time before it reached them. It was a queer looking sight. With a swoop the wind spun around and the veil was all about them. It did not only blow dust. It blew pebbles as well. Housewives inspected their premises in dismay Saturday morning. Dust lay everywhere. There was a coating on the furniture and on the rugs, and little piles of it where the opening was.

A deal was closed the first of the week between Beatty & Santry, present lessees of the store room occupied by the Ruth Rice Style Shop, and the Skaggs Safeway company takes over the old lease and will occupy the place for their grocery store. ...

... 61 YEARS AGO March 26, 1959

The Safeway store, one of Ellsworth’s top grocery stores, is closing its doors this Saturday, March 28, and will leave Ellsworth. Negotiations are underway between the Safeway Company and John Markham, owner and operator of the Ellsworth J-O Food Store, for the building on central North Douglas. The Safeway store began operation on North Douglas thirty years ago.

The temperatureclock was put into place on the southwest corner of the Citizens State Bank the first of this week. ...

... 46 YEARS AGO March 21, 1974

Max Moxley, publisher of the Sterling Bulletin, announced the sale of the Bulletin to Mr. and Mrs. Karl Gaston, Ellsworth this week.

Sale of their three area weekly newspapers was announced this week by Mr. and Mrs. Marlin Robinson, Wilson, to Mr. and Mrs. Karl K. Gaston of Ellsworth. The three publications are the Wilson World, Holyrood Gazette and Bushton News. ...

... 36 YEARS AGO March 22, 1984 Ice causes countywide blackout

A sudden, rude blast of winter worked its way into Ellsworth County over the weekend and left nearly all of the county without power for some period of time. Officials at Western Power and Smoky Hill Electric Cooperative said 1,500 area homes were without power at some time.

The storm also closed the Ellsworth-Kanopolis schools, the Ellsworth County Courthouse and caused tree limbs to break under the weight of the ice.

Loren Bates, manager of Western Power said the storm downed about 50 poles which cut service to four county corners. Bates said that 40 of the 50 broken poles were in the Holyrood area, leaving them without power until late Tuesday.

“This is the worst ice storm we’ve ever experienced,” said Bates. “Every one of our customers was without power at one time or another.”

Allen Paull, manager of Smoky Hill Electric Cooperative Association, Inc., said that he really has no idea how many power poles were down. Paull said during the storm Monday that at least 100 poles had toppled under the weight of the ice, and he expected the number to be much higher by the time the storm had run its course. “Why don’t you ask me how many poles are up?” Paull asked.

Paull said that it is not unusual for such a large number of poles to have snapped under these weather conditions. “There’s a tremendous weight on them with the ice, and when the wind blows, the lines get to bouncing around and it makes the situation even worse.”

Bates said that the power lines being down was not the main problem contributing to the power outages in Ellsworth city. Bates indicated that the big problem was ice contamination. The dirty ice was causing short circuits in city transformers.

Bates said he believes the reason the ice was so dirty was because the wind was from the southwest at the beginning of the storm. Arizona and New Mexico had reported problems with blowing dust at the time. This dust may well have caused the power outages in Ellsworth.

Paull said that workers for Smoky Hill Electric and Western Power worked together to restore power as quickly as possible. “We had workers out until 4 a.m., and then they were back at it at 6 a.m.,” said Paull. A crew of contracted workers is expected to arrive soon and help with the work efforts.

Bates said that workers came from Plainville and Ness City and a contract crew from Great Bend all helped to restore power to Ellsworth County residents. ...

Blast levels Lorraine exchange

A natural gas leak is being blamed for an explosion that leveled the Southwestern Bell phone building in Lorraine. “It appears that there was a natural gas explosion,” said Ron Bork, mid-central Kansas manager. “At this point we really don’t know for sure what caused the explosion.”

Bork said that all four walls blew out of the station and the roof came down, but to his surprise 75 percent of the area customers did not lose service. Bork said that the equipment was still functioning despite the explosion and the roof falling on top of it. The company has erected some temporary walls around the equipment and is still operating.

Bork said that Southwestern Bell is self insured and will absorb the loss. He indicated that the building would be restored on the same foundation. Bork said that he was not sure of the dollar amount in damages.

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