10 years ago (2009)
•A remarkable $4.5 million was disbursed among 12 local nonprofit groups this week, thanks to the generosity of the late Harvey Allison Ordung.
Several beneficiaries gathered in the commons of Luverne Public Schools Wednesday for a gifting ceremony.
By the time it was over, more than $4,566,000 was awarded to 12 different charities, fulfilling Ordung’s final wish.
Ordung, a bachelor farmer who spent very little money on himself, accumulated a great deal of his wealth through saving and investing, with a heavy emphasis on stocks.
Ordung’s favorite charity was Luverne’s Dollars for Scholars Program, which received nearly $3 million of the $4.5 million dispersed Wednesday.
DFS awards college funds to students graduating from Luverne High School.
Ordung often said, “My money was made in Rock County, and it only makes sense that it should stay in Rock County.”
25 years ago (1994)
•Gary and Marilyn Olhausen, owners of Olhausen Farm Power, Luverne, have signed a purchase agreement with Dennis Hohn, of Hohn Implement, Adrian, for the purchase of the John Deere dealership in Luverne.
The sale is expected to be final in early November.
According to the Olhausens, the Luverne business will be a second store for Hohn. Local employees have been notified, and Hohn said he expects to make no changes.
50 years ago (1969)
•A new case of Dutch Elm disease has been positively identified at the Luverne Golf Course according to Kent Ringkob, County Agent. This is the first case to be identified since the initial infected tree was found in the city of Luverne in the summer of 1967.
Golf course officials are making plans to isolate the diseased tree by soil injections of SMDC and then to remove the diseased tree and burn it. “Hopefully it can be stopped and protect the valuable stand of elm trees at the Golf Course,” Ringkob said.
75 years ago (1944)
•Robert Bauman, of near Jasper, is thankful that he is able to nurse several fractured ribs and a fractured bone in his leg this week.
It might have been more serious, for he was injured when he encountered an angry bull in the barn. For a while, and it seemed a mighty long while to him, he didn’t know whether he would live to tell about it or not for he was cornered, and the bull had the most advantageous position. However, he managed to keep the animal from charging long enough for help to come.
100 years ago (1919)
•Unless automobile drivers who live in or who have occasion to come to Luverne from other sections soon pay greater attention to the law prohibiting the driving of cars in the city with motor mufflers cut out, a large number of them are going to materially enrich the city’s treasury through the payment of fines. This “tip” emanates from the mayor’s office.
It is an open secret that at least fifteen per cent of the motorists traveling through the city pay very little attention to the muffler requirements, and many of them do not even wait until they get out of the business districts before they “open her up.” …
Mayor Wright is determined to put a stop to the cut-out muffler nuisance, and unless his efforts at once meet with vastly more co-operation than they have thus far this season, he is going to spread a specially designed “dragnet” that will catch the offender on the out-of-way side street as well as on the more heavily traveled thoroughfares.
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