Remember When April 21, 2022

10 years ago (2012)
•Geronimo Wind Energy’s Main Street office in Luverne was abuzz with activity last week.
Owners of the land where wind turbines will be located were signing final contracts, learning the turbine locations and hearing construction site safety guidelines.
Geronimo Wind Energy President Blake Nixon said that activity will soon be evident in the rest of the community.
 
25 years ago (1997)
•A handful of Grand Forks flood refugees are making their temporary homes in Luverne.
About 20 employees of American West Insurance Company in Grand Forks are working out of the Tri-State Insurance Office, Luverne, trying to handle claims and conduct business as usual.
American West was acquired by Tri-State in 1987 as a sister company. It operated independently until a year ago when Tri-State in Luverne began to manage it under company President Curt Bloemendaal, Luverne.
 
50 years ago (1972)
•It’s cold and it’s dry, but Rock County farmers are fairly close to schedule, according to County Agent Kent Ringkob and ASC Executive Director Jim Lewis.
Farmers got off to a fast start this spring and there has been a lot of oats seeded already, Ringkob reported. Both men added that there has been a great deal of fertilizer already applied to fields, a sign that work is really on the way.
“We’ve had a good start on plowing,” Ringkob said, “and a lot of farmers have told me the soil is ‘mellow’ and works up well.”
 
75 years ago (1947)
•Announcement was made this week that Jake Schoon has purchased the Pontiac dealership franchise for Luverne from H. A. Shelby, and that he has leased the new building, owned by Alfred Shelby, on the corner of Cedar and Maple Street.
Schoon, who is now located in the former Masnon-Nesguthe garage, just across the street from the new building, said he expected to move within the next 30 days. Work on the interior of the structure is being completed at the present time.
The new building will give Schoon Motor Sales 6,800 square feet of floor space. Mr. Schoon said he would have a display and parts room, in an area 40 by 50 feet, and the remainder of the building would be utilized as an up-to-date repair shop. For the present, however, he intends to retain possession of his present location, he said.
 
100 years ago (1922)
•Two of Luverne’s manufacturing concerns, the National Concrete Materials Co. and the Quartzite Quarries, Inc., have secured substantial contracts for their products during the past week.
The National Concrete materials Co. was awarded a $36,000 contract for drainage pipe as a part of a $69,000 drainage system project let last week by the Nobles county board of commissioners.
The Quartzite Quarries, Inc. contract consists of an order secured this week by Manager Harper Shaffer for about two hundred carloads of crushed rock, to be shipped to Omaha, Neb., for use on the roads of Douglas county. An order also was secured for crushed rock to be shipped to Sioux City.