Peek at the Past

100 Years Ago

March 27, 1924

Supt. R. L. Massle came down from a visit to his home at Mona Thursday, bringing his family to live here. They will occupy the M. C. Roberts house on West Street.

A reception is announced for this Thursday evening at the Zane Hotel in honor of the Rev. Mr. Weber, new Episcopal pastor for Sundance.

Wallace Boulden, according to an Upton correspondent, recently sold a steer that weighed 1800 pounds in Newcastle and 1670 pounds on the Chicago market, being the heaviest steer out of 22,000 on the Chicago market that day. This is some steer and this is the second time within two months that a Weston County product has topped the Chicago market in weight. Hester of the Black Thunder country had a steer in his shipment that weighed 1650 at Chicago and was 50 pounds heavier than any steer among 20,000. This last steer brought about $140.

75 Years Ago

March 31, 1949

Benjamin “Tead” Weaver will again coach the Sundance High Dchool Bulldogs. This was announced following a meeting of the Sundance High School board Monday. Weaver accepted the contract that was offered him two weeks ago. In addition to his duties as coach of the school’s athletic teams, Weaver will teach social science in the school. It was announced that the Bulldog coach received a pay boost in his new contract. The contract will carry Weaver through his second year on the staff of Sundance high school. 

Another step toward a new school in Sundance was taken by the high and grade school boards at a joint meeting held Monday night. The boards decided to advertise for bids on construction of the school after accepting plans drawn and presented by Robert Brezina, Rapid City contractor. The plans were presented in an agreement made two weeks ago between Brezina and the boards. The contractor offered to draw plans that would enable the boards to construct a new building and keep costs near the $68,000 available for construction. After reviewing the plans, the boards decided to advertise for bids for construction based on the plans of Brezina.

50 Years Ago

March 28, 1974

Crook county schools were returning to normal this week after a “sick-in” called Monday by the Crook County Teachers Association resulted in many teachers in the county calling in sick Monday. Sundance High School, where 13 junior high and senior high teachers called in sick, was the only school to close. Sundance Elementary School, however, operated until noon on Monday. The Hulett and Moorcroft schools were in session although some teachers were out there. Rural schools also operated Monday. Dr. Hugo Hendrickson, county superintendent schools, said the teachers’ action came after the district school board, at its meeting Thursday, refused open salary negotiations with the teachers.

25 Years Ago

April 1, 1999

The new director of the Crook County Library Systems is Jill Mackey of Sundance. She replaces Gaydell Collier, who is retiring. Mackey has been employed at the Sundance library since October 1994; she has been children’s librarian since March 1995. She said that Violet Smith will continue as adult services librarian, and Debbie Tschetter will be taking over her duties as children’s librarian. The county-wide library system includes the Moorcroft branch library and provides support for the Hulett library which is a combination school/public facility. Mackey is a graduate of Sundance High School. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, through its Okinawa campus, which is the largest overseas college campus.