BACKWARD GLANCES - Fire department called to fire it started

1962—50 years ago

• The fire department was called to the site of a fire it set when area residents saw smoke rising above a house the department was burning down as part of its regularly scheduled exercises.

• RFHS grad John Olson was on a business trip, staying in an Aberdeen, South Dakota hotel, when it was demolished by a windstorm blowing a brick chimney through the roof.

• Redwood County’s draft quota for July was filled when Gerald Weber, Lyle Guggisberg, and Raymond Friedley left for training camp in Minneapolis.

• Redwood County ranked second in corn production in the state in 1961, with 11,581,000 bushels.

• To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S./Dakota war of 1862, a bus company arranged a four hour tour of the battle’s significant sites.

1987—25 years ago

• Myrtle Kreckow and Oscar Galstad were chosen as the county’s outstanding senior citizens for 1987 at the county fair.

• The city removed hundreds of tons of accumulated sludge from the wastewater treatment plant ponds before it could install a new aerating system.

• Cliff jumping into the Redwood River in Ramsey Park, especially near Ramsey Falls, was made a misdemeanor by the city council.

• High temperatures and humidity pushed the city’s electricity use to a one-day record high, with 11,040 kilowatts burned up on July 20.

• The school board authorized staff to explore leasing a new photocopy machine. The present machine had turned out over a million copies in the three years of its lease.

2002—10 years ago

• Lori Anderson of Redwood Falls was named the first-ever Minnesota Department of Corrections Agent of the Year.

• The ninth annual Redwood County Relay for Life raised a new record of $95,103.89.

• The Red Cross brought a new concept in blood donorship to Redwood Falls: double red cell donations.

• The Twin Cities and Western railroad company has been carrying out about 4,800 tons of crushed granite out of the Morton quarries every week since mid-May as ballast for railroad track repairs.

• Costume making for the upcoming Redwood Area Theatre production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was at fever-speed: each and ever member of the large cast had several costume changes.