Down the Decades

140 years agoIn 1884: Dan Riley and Henry Anderson will manufacture brick next summer. — The Rice Lake Lumber Co. has built a fine new road from north of Rice Lake to Long Lake.

130 years agoIn 1894: Tramps confined to the county jail are fleecing the taxpayers for free room and board. — Never buy whiskey for medicinal purposes unless the bottlers are known to be reliable.

120 years agoIn 1904: Rice Lake Mutual Fire Insurance Co. directors had their annual meeting. — The Board of Education deeded part of the high school grounds to the new Carnegie Library. — The Wisconsin Power Co. is offering flatiron holders as premiums. — A new sewer is expected on North Main Street's east alley.

110 years agoIn 1914: The editor of the Rice Lake Call has been warned by the Commercial Club to cease attacks on prominent citizens. — Joe Schliess of Bear Lake butchered a 332-pound spring pig.

100 years agoIn 1924: Ernest Breunett lost his left arm in an accident at the Haugen box factory. — A 104-year-old woman from Duluth has accepted Paul Fournier's challenge for a skating contest. — The plan for a soldiers' bonus is the biggest question before Congress.

90 years agoIn 1934: The county checkers championship competition is Sunday at Cameron. — Co. D weekly drills are in the Legion boxcar while City Hall is being remodeled. — Mayor J.H. Wallis attended the Democratic state central committee meeting at Madison.

80 years agoIn 1944: The January draft call includes 39 Barron County men. — Sgt. Billie Hunter and Staff Sgt. Glenn Emerson of Birchwood are missing in action in Europe. — Rice Lake Shoe Co. manager Erland Quinn is leaving for the service.

70 years agoIn 1954: James Yarish and Julian Bjoin announced their candidacy for mayor. — W.R. Crandall was installed as head of Odd Fellows lodge. — Robert Koepp of Rice Lake was named president of the county Holstein breeders. — Warden Jim Scolman will retire.

60 years agoIn 1964: Wilfred Couture, an auto mechanic here for 34 years, died Monday. — Arloa Stoik is the new Miss Rice Lake. — Boehmer's Shopping Center is being remodeled. — Supreme Court Justice Horace Wilkie will visit the city Monday. — Henry Ebner, 68, head of Ebner Box Factory at Cameron, died Friday.

50 years agoIn 1974: The Rice Lake Rotary Club gave nearly $9,000 toward the proposed municipal swimming pool. — Two pedestrians were killed in Rice Lake about a block apart and within a week of each other. — "Jesus Christ Superstar" is showing at the El Lago.

40 years agoIn 1984: A Canada goose taking flight north along Main Street barely cleared a station wagon Tuesday. — Police found two boys, chilled but safe, after their snowmobiles were submerged in thin ice on the lake east of Indian Mounds Park.

30 years agoIn 1994: More than 80 youths ages 13-18 earned Zero Hero awards for winter camping in the woods on the east side of Long Lake. — The roar of a military jet over Rice Lake around 5 p.m. Thursday prompted about 40 calls to the Rice Lake airport.

20 years agoIn 2004: A town of Stanley father and daughter were beaten and stabbed at gunpoint in their home Wednesday. — A training session Thursday in Barron is for farmers required to have licenses to purchase, transport and apply restricted-use pesticides.

10 years agoIn 2014: J.C. Penney at Cedar Mall is one of 33 stores nationwide to close, ending a 97-year era in Rice Lake. — Birchwood School is hosting a Brrrchwood Chill Challenge, an icy dip into Big Birch Lake to raise funds for scholarships.