This Week in Odessa History

100 years ago

The Odessa Record

August 4, 1916

School building remodeled: Everybody has noticed the improvement of our public school grounds since the planting of the locust trees this spring, of which 65 are now making a great first season’s growth, but there are few that realize that changes have been made on the inside of the building which are even more noticeable.

For the fourth time since the organization of the district and the building of the first little frame school house about 16 years ago, new buildings or additions have enlarged the capacity for students over that of the original seat of learning.

The financial condition of the district did not warrant the erection of another school building at the present time and as there was a lot of waste room in the old building, it was decided to utilize some of the hall space which with a little other remodeling will practically furnish another room which will relieve matters for possibility a couple of years when the district will be in a better position to build a modern high school building which should be equipped with both auditorium and gymnasium.

Enforce Sunday closing law. Sheriff John A. Level and Prosecuting Attorney J.D. McCollum were in Odessa Monday investigating several complaints that had been sent to the sheriff’s office that certain Odessa business houses had been occasionally selling merchandise on

Sunday. Before leaving the officers stated that it was their intention to prosecute any violation of the Sunday closing law any where in the county and notices to that effect have been published in sections from whence complaints come. While here they also destroyed a few gallons of whiskey seized by local officials a few weeks ago. The liquor was poured out in the street while a contingent of harvest hands looked wistfully on.

75 years ago

The Odessa Record

August 7, 1941

Withdraw land for water storage. Eleven thousand four hundred and forty-four acres of public land in he Columbia Basin project area have been withdrawn from entry, according to an announcement from the Department of the Interior. The withdrawn area would be inundated in the event a dam and reservoir are constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in order to recapture and impound some of the return flow irrigation water from the irrigation project. Site of the proposed dame and reservoir is in the vicinity of the sand dunes south of Moses Lake in the Potholes area in Grant county, in the Quincy Irrigation District. Grand Coulee Dam is now impounding Columbia River water for the project, and the distribution canal system is being located. The land to be irrigated will be brought in gradually as the irrigation system is constructed, at the rate of about 50,000 acres annually.

Stage show attraction at Ritz Theatre. By far the most pretentious stage show ever booked at the Ritz theatre will appear as a special added attraction Sunday and Monday, in connection with the feature, “One Night in Lisbon.” The stage acts are under the direction of Roy Gordon and are direct from Hollywood. They consist of comedy, music, acrobatics, dancing and singing.

50 years ago

The Odessa Record

August 4, 1966

Wheat and combine burn. Nearly 80 acres of some of the best irrigated wheat in the Odessa area burned, along with a late-model self-propelled combine, at the Aaron G. Braun farm 11.5 miles southwest of town Thursday afternoon.

Straw and chaff beneath the machine ignited, spreading rapidly around and into the combine as well as the uncut field. Mr. Braun and son Dave were forced into a hurried escape by grain truck with flames licking the running boards.