Here are some things I read in a bunch of old Daily News papers that my friend and 1948 classmate Betty Lee Singer brought me:
In 1915 in Dowagiac, the price of bread went up from five cents and 10 cents a loaf to eight cents and 12 cents due to the cost of flour.
In the same year, for $375 John M. Murphy bought 40 acres of land from Squire Buckels.
The land was located north of town and 700 cords of wood were taken from it.
In the summer of 1964 you would have thought that the Beatles had come in person to perform in Dowagiac.
The Beatles movie, “A Hard Day’s Night,” was showing at the Dowagiac Theatre, and the line extended nearly around the block.
Girls stood on their chairs screaming as if the four English singers were there in concert (Hey, I bet some of these girls are still around and kicking.)
Back in 1910, women were the workforce in Dowagiac.
James Heddon’s Sons had 55 women out of 81 employees.
Strouss garment factory had 80 women, and 10 women worked at the Beebe and Sons mint ranches.
In the Nov. 4, 1958, election for Cass County, Republican candidates were Harry Litowich, state senator; Floyd Wagner, state representative; Kenneth Poe, county clerk; Vaughn Bartlett, treasurer; Kenneth McLeod, sheriff; Rolla Schoff, coroner; Herb Phillipson, prosecutor; and Belzora Mullins, register of deeds.
Oct. 8, 1871, was the big Chicago fire.
On the same day in Peshtigo, Wis., 1,100 people were killed — three times the number who perished in Chicago.
In Dowagiac, heavy smoky clouds blew this way and hung over town and the surrounding area for days.
1977, Berenice Vanderburg is remembered for her 40 years with the Dowagiac Daily News.
Her career was before television or local radio, and that made newspapers the major source of information.
Most folks remember her column, “Looking Back,” and the one that was usually on the back page, “Downtown.” (I became addicted to these columns years ago and I wasn’t the only one.)
In her book, “A Dowagiac Collection,” she told she had written more than 10,000 columns.
(Boy, Berenice made me look like a piker! I’ve only had 484 columns since 1989.)
When I first started to write, she used to mention me in the paper and used to call me.
She told me she had ridden on my grandpa’s Cannon Ball Express.
I’m sorry she didn’t get to see my book before she died.