This Week in Odessa History

Baseball was king in Odessa in 1914 and for many years before and after that.

Odessa was a member of the Big Bend League, which included such other contenders as Krupp (Marlin), Wilson Creek, Ritzville and Ephrata.

The whole town turned out for the games. In fact, almost the whole town went along to the other towns to cheer the team. A special Great Northern train would be chartered to take them there.

April 5 was the opening day of league play in 1914, with Odessa playing Wilson Creek in Odessa. The Odessa Record gave this report on the front page of that contest in its issue of April 10, 1914:

After having apparently cinched the game in the first five innings by running in five scores while the Odessa team failed to get a man over the plate, the Wilson Creek team lost the opening game of the Big Bend League season here last Sunday by the close score of 7 to 6.

Things looked blue to the local fans until the last half of the fifth, when the home boys got fairly into the game and with a run in that inning and two more in the next, prospects took a decidedly brighter hue.

The game was started promptly at 3:45 p.m., when president F.J. Guth threw the first ball to Mayor Thiel. The sphere was at least a foot in diameter and a howl of delight went up from the bleachers when a Wilson Creek batter failed to connect with it. The band was there to help make the occasion a gala one, and a large crowd of rooters, many of them in autos, showed their interest in the national game.

Wilson Creek opened up the game in whirlwind style, scoring two runs in the first inning. In the third inning, they annexed another point and in the fifth, two more runs. Up to this time, Odessa had failed to score, when Kissler sent out a nice hit, and Morrill followed with a two-bagger, scoring Kissler.

In the sixth, Rolstad stepped up to the plate and smashed out a pretty hit, followed by a line drive across third base by M. Janikula, which was too fast to handle. Schultz got another hit and scored Rolstad, while a wild throw by Cunningham allowed Janikula to score. In the seventh, the home team secured another point when Morrill came home on a wild pitch and a passed ball, after Cunningham had dropped his fly back of first.

Odessa took the lead in the eighth, when M. Janikula, Schultz and P. Janikula scored after pretty drives by Schultz and Morrill.

The visitors annexed their sixth and final score in the ninth, when Cunningham and O’Leary got hits. A pinch hitter for F. Schumaker failed to make the stellar showing, which the bleachers looked for after his sensational debut, and the final score stood. Wilson Creek, 6, Odessa, 7.

100 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

April 12, 1912

Some interesting figures are being compiled by the Northwest Development League to show the value of a colonist and his family. Here is a problem in long figures which looks reasonable. If the increase in population in the American Northwest during the last ten years of 2,000,000 people caused our lands to increase in value $2,812,40,181, how much is a colonist who works the land worth? These figures show that for every person added to population the value of our lands was increased $1,406. If a family consists of two and a half people on the average, each family increases land values $3,515. On the other hand and added to this, it is conceded that every family spends locally from $600 to $1,200 per annum. On this basis a family which works the land is worth about 5,000 to the great American Northwest.

Among a collection of notes from parents to teachers are the following:

“Dere Miss: Please excus mary been late as she as been out on a herring.”

“Dear Madam: Jane has had to stop home as I have had twins. It shan’t occur agin.”

“Der sir: Ples excus Harry. He haddent no trousers and his fether woulddent let him cume widhout any.”

“Dear Miss Smith: Please excuse my Rachel Abraham. She had to fetch er mother’s liver.

“Sir: I must strictly forbid you punishing Thos. again for anything he does, as we never do ourselves except in self-defense.”

75 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

April 8, 1937

A proposal to end the dust problem in Odessa by putting a dust prevention coating on the streets of the business section which had been put off until the spring months, was resumed this week at the Wednesday luncheon of the Commercial Club.

Club members told of the trip to Davenport earlier in the week, where they saw a demonstration of Raylig, a dust preventative and road surfacing material. Figures were shown the group that estimated the cost of fixing a strip through town at approximately $250 a mile.

License Director Harry Huse said Wednesday 36,112 more license plates had been issued up to April 1 for this year than for the same period in 1936. Total issue was 463,768, compared with 427,656 for 1936.

25 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

April 9, 1987

The 1987 Rural Emergency Conference sponsored by Odessa’s organization of Emergency Medical Technicians, drew more than 100 EMTs, paramedics and health professionals from communities throughout eastern Washington to the daylong session.

The Odessa Chapter of Ducks Unlimited, will host its fourth annual evening meal on Saturday, April 25 at the Odessa community Center.

The 6 p.m. starter has been switched from a formal banquet to a more casual evening with fun and games planned. The banquet has been replaced by a goose pit steak feed.

10 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

April 11, 2002

Work is progressing on the $503,591 expansion program which will give Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center a vastly improved physical therapy department. The project includes enclosure of the portico under the north wing of the hospital building, the addition of new exercise and gymnastic equipment and the rearranging of the existing therapy department to allow for three rooms for private treatment.

In five months, the town of Odessa will be 100 years old.

On September 13, 1903, the citizens of the Odessa community voted 50-1 for incorporation.

The town has sprung up from a railroad siding named Odessa by the Great Northern Railway, when the railroad was built through eastern Washington 1892.

By 1900, Odessa’s main street, First Avenue, was lined with businesses, restaurants, a hotel, and, of course, the ubiquitous saloons, four of them.

In 1902, Odessa was booming, and so there was a need for sidewalks, a waterworks and other municipal improvements and services which only incorporation could provide.