100 years ago
A lady friend advised the Oak Harbor News laundry department editor that a dripping pan placed over the irons keeps them hot without so much fire. Try it.
H. Riksen received a fine new top buggy on Monday.
The new board of directors of the Oak Harbor Fruit Growers Association was set to hold their first meeting. They requested that as many stockholders as possible be present, as matters of vital important would be discussed and acted upon.
75 years ago
Caesar Tesch was nursing a broke rib and painful bruises, suffered when he was pinned under a 1 1/2-ton stump at the Lewis Ogden place. He was freed by Mrs. Lewis Ogden and Edgar Ogden, who, in desperation, summoned enough strength to move the stump.
Loss was estimated at about $25,000 when the eight-room residence of Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Clarke of Greenbank burned to the ground. Mrs. Clarke, who was alone in the house at the time of the blaze, managed to escape with only a few household articles. Cause of the blaze was undetermined. The house was considered one of the show places of Whidby Island when it was built about seven years prior.
50 years ago
Mayor R.O. “Graybeard” Ellis stopped at the barbershop to see if his beard needed a trim yet. Barber Tom Cleveland measured the growth with a yardstick and decided that the mayor should come back at a later date. The beard was being grown for the beard contest the Jaycees were sponsoring to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of Oak Harbor.
Two young men having a little fun gave several public officials a scare by climbing on the girders of the Deception Pass Bridge. Both men, 21 years old and part of VP-17, were charged with creating a public nuisance.
Burglars broke into Freeland Pharmacy, ripped open the safe and stole more than $2,000 and all the “hard” narcotics that were in the safe. The thieves broke into the store by ripping out part of the air-conditioning unit on the roof and dropping to the floor some 15 feet below.
25 years ago
A proposal was brought up to build a 185-foot cellular communication tower in Oak Harbor. The main purpose was to bring cellular phone capability to Island County.
A home at Brighton Beach in Old Clinton was demolished Friday, March 9, by a landslide. Much of the lower half of the house was buried in mud, and the upper story ended up in the cold water of Saratoga Passage. In the area where the slide occurred, only a few feet of space separated the houses from the bluff.
Looking Back is compiled from the Whidbey News-Times’ archives as the newspaper celebrates 125 years in business and the City of Oak Harbor its 100th anniversary of incorporation.
