This photo gives us a glimpse of Fords Prairie School as it appeared on Dec. 5, 1945. The photo's contributor, Louis Stoffer, remembers using wax paper to wax the slide and make it fast. All the neighborhood kids used to play on the slide, climbing to the roof by holding onto the sides and making their way to the top. The school had burned in December in a fire that was believed to have happened the day before this photo was taken. Rumor is that it burned because a fire in the boiler room had gotten out of control. Fords Prairie School was an eight-year-old school at the time it burned and Louis had attended all eight years there. He was in the class of 1938. This photo is from volume 2 of "Our Hometowns: A historical photo album of Greater Lewis County," and can be purchased at The Chronicle, Book 'n' Brush and the Lewis County Historical Museum.
1999 — Quonset Hut Jail Facility Has Grand Opening
Lewis County Sheriff John McCroskey held a grand opening at his new Quonset hut jail facility.
Citizens were invited to attend to “view wanted posters of people with ‘reservations’ on file,” the sheriff said.
1956 — Idea for Borst Park Racetrack Abandoned
Fifty people attended a “final showdown” tonight over whether a $120,000 recreation project at Fort Borst Park should include a half-mile auto racing track around the football field. A dozen Centralians spoke against the track, while only City Commissioner Alva Yeager was in favor.
“In view of the opposition expressed here tonight ... I’m beat, so I’ll admit it,” Yeager said, prompting “warm applause” from the opponents.
Plans to redevelop the park with athletic fields were cleared to go ahead after the controversy over the racecar track had been quelled.
2004 — Local Christmas Tree Arrives at White House
First Lady Laura Bush received an 18½-foot noble fir for the Blue Room at the White House. The tree was selected from the Mossyrock tree farm of John Burton.
John and Carol Tillman, Rochester, 2004 National Grand Champion Growers by the National Christmas Tree Association, delivered the tree in a horse-drawn wagon, with their two children riding in the back.
