This Week in Odessa History

The Great Northern Railway (today the BNSF) was ready to open its eight-mile-long Cascade tunnel on January 12, 1920, an engineering marvel of which all the world took note.

The railroad was looking at a larger picture than the small towns it had once turned to for business, and the larger picture didn’t include Odessa. It was the beginning of the end of rail service to the town a trend which was to continue until today, when not only is passenger service long a thing of the past, but freight operations serving the community are also only a fraction of what they once were.

The lead article in The Odessa Record on January 4, 1929, told of the first big cut in passenger service, which for practical purposes ended the railroad’s usefulness as a mode of transportation to and from Odessa. Here is the front page story:

Odessa will be one of the towns which will have no reason to rejoice over the Great Northern Railway’s great engineering feat in boring an eight-mile tunnel through the Cascades in less than three years.

With the company’s announcement of the opening of the tunnel for train service comes a new timetable which goes into effect January 13, which just “shoots to pieces” the train service of Odessa and a lot of similar towns which have heretofore enjoyed good service from the Great Northern.

The new schedule prevents businessmen from telephoning rush orders for goods to Spokane and getting them back the same day. That means a heavy loss at certain times, like harvest, when extras are needed quickly, when rush service helps save a matured crop of wheat as well as keeping down the payroll expense of harvest help.

75 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

December 23, 1937

All common day labor done for the city of Odessa will be at a minimum scale of 50 cents an hour, under a new ruling by the city council at the meeting on Monday night. Increased living costs and higher wages in other fields made the new wage essential, it was revealed. Under the old scale the city work called for 40 cents an hour for common labor and 50 cents for more skilled work.

Morris Bass, Odessa’s new shoemaker, is making extensive improvements in the building he purchased from F.B. Totusek, in preparing it for the work he is doing.

Mr. Bass has rented a suite of rooms in the Con Kiehn home and will live there. He has found the work for a shoemaker to more than fill his time during his early start, as the undone work is being caught up with.

25 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

December 24, 1987

Dr. James Cornell and physicians assistant Larry Sayrs of the Odessa Clinic signed contracts with Lincoln Public Hospital District #1 during the regular December meeting of the hospital board of commissioners,

Recruitment of a second family practice physician has been given top priority by both facilities. The combined first grade classes of Linda Ryan and Bev Scherr gathered in the school lunch room Friday afternoon to participate in basic Swedish yuletide activities. The class made decorations, colored greeting cards, heard a typical story and frosted refreshment. Highlight of the celebration came with the presence of Swedish exchange student Tom Svensson showed slides of his own country and patiently answered questions.

10 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

December 26, 2002

Penmanship is alive and well at P.C. Jantz Elementary School, even though The Record’s report last week of the Odessa school Board’s adoption of keyboarding instruction for fifth and sixth graders erroneously stated that Superintendent Warren Reeves said penmanship is no longer taught in schools.

“The elementary teaching staff descended upon me with volumes of proof that penmanship is taught in grades kindergarten through fifth grade,” Reeves stated in a memorandum issued to the Odessa school staff, its students and the community. Reeves explained that penmanship is important and will continue to be taught. Keyboarding has become an essential component of teaching and learning.