Column - 1909: Women were asked to stop abusing the telephone

Talk about it

The following is a collection of stories and other items that were included in Alexandria newspapers over the years.

100 YEARS AGO

June 1909

Use and abuse of telephones: The telephone is a wonderful addition to rural comfort and it is being abused by needless use. It is not the children that whistle over the lines; it’s the women and their idle chatter. A man never uses the phone except for business purposes, and seldom does he take down the receiver that he does not have to wait while women discuss the particular pattern in making a dress, or in baking a cake. Sometimes when he has his horses hitched and waiting, he is forced to wait almost a half-hour while neighborhood women exchange gossip. This is a plea to women to limit their conversations to five minutes unless circumstances are such to make further conversation necessary (which will not happen once in a year). Please stop the abuse!

50 YEARS AGO

June 1959

Walter Sarvie won first place in the “Tools” division of the second annual Inventors Congress at Redwood Falls. His 7-1/2 inch “Lock-matick” semi-automatic pliers were eight years in the making and will now be distributed nationally… Under a new state law, the Douglas County courthouse will close on Saturdays beginning in July… Thirty Grey Ladies of the Red Cross were honored at a special breakfast meeting for donating 3,005 hours at the hospital and nursing homes this past year… The Orbit, Alexandria’s ultra-modern drive-in theater, will have its grand opening this weekend… Alexandria’s streets will be jam-packed with shoppers and merchandise as merchants “ham it up” for the second annual Arabian bazaar sidewalk sale beginning on Friday.

25 YEARS AGO

June 1984

In honor of Vernon Maack, retiring director of Alexandria Vocational Technical Institute, 17th Street has been re-named Vern Maack Drive. Frank Starke was selected from a field of 22 applicants to be his replacement… John Michels won the refurbished 1983 Ford Torino at the Jefferson High School graduation party… Susan Meyer hit four straight strikes late in her final game this week to claim her first title in two years on the Ladies Pro Bowler Tour… Chris Leuders of Evanville was crowned Dairy Princess… Dick Dyke, who began his Alexandria newspaper career as a printer’s devil and worked his way to the top, has announced his retirement after 44 years… Golf pro John Basten has joined the fast-growing number of pros who are manufacturing their own clubs.

10 YEARS AGO

June 1999

Nolan Hart, son of Scott and Christi Hart of Miltona, will compete in state competition after being named winner of the New Star Discovery Most Beautiful Baby Contest at Viking Plaza… Under the guidance of Mark Schlangen, Discovery students, members of the High Adventure Crew that helps to build leadership and confidence, participated in a rock climbing experience… It’s “heads up” for a new golf course and planned community on the T.A. Erickson farm on the shores of Lake Geneva… Sixty-five fire trucks will parade down Broadway on Saturday as Alexandria hosts the 124th annual Minnesota State Firefighters’ Convention for the seventh time… Alexandria letter carriers will join with nationwide picketing for a pay increase of 3 percent to reflect their heavier workloads.

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Marge Van Gorp of Alexandria is a regular contributing columnist to the Echo Press Opinion page.

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