Ong Wins 1946 County Basketball Tournament

The favored Ong Red Devils took the 1946 Clay County Basketball Tournament held at the Sutton High School Auditorium. 

See the Story of the 1946 Ong Basketball Team Below.

Cute tournament trivia: The winner of the tournament and the winner of the losers' bracket received plaques. "Runner-up received nothing."

This account of the 1946 Ong Red Devil's Basketball Team is taken from the Ong Centennial Book  1886-1986.

1946 Expansion of Phone Service to Farmers

This item in the February 14, 1946 issue of The Sutton News announced the expansion of phone services to Clay County farms.

 

Lohmeier and Marsh WWII Memorial Services

In February 1946 two local men who had been listed as missing in WWII were re-classified as deceased. Families then held memorial services.

 

Dr. John W. Thompson - Biography

Dr. John  W. Thompson was a doctor in Sutton in the early 1900's. His daughter-in-law wrote this biography of him which was serialized in The Sutton News in early 1946.

 

P.V. Woller - New Hire - 1946 - Sutton High

This announcement in The Sutton News on February 28, 1946 welcomed Mr. Paul V. Woller to Sutton High as the new math, science, and history instructor.

Mr. Woller's tenure at Sutton High endured for many years.

Edgar Farmer proposes a Farmers Strike Making National News - 1946

Edgar and Clay County made national news in an Associated Press news story about an Edgar meeting of 216 farmers led by V. Hubert Johnson, a local farmer. Johnson proposed a national “strike against strikes” with farmers withholding products from the market in protest of the numerous strikes in various industries. 

Two weeks later this follow-up story appeared in The Sutton News on February 14, 1946

Gamble's Store Opening in Edgar - 1946

A new Gamble Store owned by Clarence Clouse opened in Edgar in the old J.G. Walley building on the First of February 1946. Mr. Clouse was an Edgar resident since 1932. The first Gamble store opened in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1925 (Bert Gamble) and there were 513 company owned stores, 1487 authorized dealer stores, 14 warehouses in 24 states. 

Near Tragedy of Matteson (Sallie Barbee) Family - 1946

Doc Nuss to the rescue.

Sallie (Matteson) Barbee and her parents escaped from a very serious situation in their farm home in January 1946.

We stumbled upon this story while researching the 75-years-ago segment of our weekly newspaper column in the January 10, 1946 issue of The Sutton News. 

I think we surprised Sallie when we told her we had found this.

1970 Clay County Census Report

From the January 7, 1971 issue of The Clay County News - 1970 Census report for the county.

 

Lillian King, Wife and Mother of County Newspaper publishers

Lillian King was the wife and mother of the long-time publishers of The Clay County News. She died in 1971

 

1971 4-H Queen & King - Valentine & Kauk

4-H honors have been perennially news for the whole county. This story is from January 14, 1971.

1971 Basketball Team at 8-1

The Clay County News on January 14, 1971 speculated that the 8-1 Mustangs were soon to be rated.

 

Trigger and Rod column - Bill Hinel

Some may remember this column from about 50 years ago - this in a December 1970 issue of Clay County News.

 

1920 County Census Report

This is the 1920 census report for Clay County. It gives the comparison for 1900 and 1910 for each political subdivision.

I've heard persistent comments that the population of Sutton topped out at 2000 at some point in the past, usually given as about 1900. I'm guessing that that is a misrepresentation of someone at sometime taking the Sutton Township statistics and assigning them to the city of Sutton. The township includes the 36 square miles with the farms, almost all of the city of Sutton, and half of Saronville. That was a bit over 2000 during 1900 to 1920.

Griess Name & Sutton was Featured in 1922 Lincoln Paper

This article in a 1995 issue of The Clay County News told the story of a 1922 article in The Lincoln Sunday Star about the Griess family of Sutton. 

The original 1922 article follows.

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The headline banner of the Lincoln paper on July 30, 1922 surely caught the eye of Sutton locals.

This collage of photos was the centerpiece of the 1922 Lincoln Sunday Star article.