This Week in Odessa History

From the August 1, 1940 edition of The Odessa Record:

Probably one of the contests which will prove of greatest interest to women at the fair this fall will be the dollar house dress contest.

This contest is open to every woman and girl in Lincoln county, and it is hoped that many will compete. There are two lots, one to be made by girls under 18 years of age, and one for adults. The only regulation is that the total cost of material, trim, thread, and pattern must not exceed one dollar. If the pattern has been used before or will be used again this may be taken into consideration and only a percentage of the initial cost of the pattern included.

The value of the contest lies in the fact that it should encourage women to make their own house dresses and thereby secure longer wearing, better looking, and better fitting dresses which are easier to launder than could ordinarily be had for one dollar.

Of course, just making a cotton house dress which does not exceed a cost of one dollar does not assure one of the above mentioned qualities. The qualities are secured only through careful planning and good workmanship.

1. Style, becoming to the individual, and simple and easy to launder. For instance flared or gored skirts in place of plaits and plain rather than fancy sleeves for ease in laundering and ironing.

2. Material – Good wearing qualities, fine and regular weave; color-fastness to both washing and sunlight; guaranteed against shrinking; and color and pattern of print of the type which will not show soil or wrinkles badly. Usually a small all over design in medium or dark colors is most satisfactory from this standpoint.

3. Trim – simple, inexpensive and as sturdy as the rest of the material in the dress.

4. Construction – all pieces exactly on the thread of the material when cutting; all stitching tied at ends or stitched back, and careful pressing while the dress is being constructed. All work should be of the kind that can withstand hard wear and also be neat and attractive.

100 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

August 2, 1912

Farmers on the second ridge north of town are feeling pretty good over the returns from this season’s crop. Some of the spring wheat on Wm. Schmierer’s place is making a yield of 20 bushels per acre and Mr. Schmierer expects an average yeld of 25 bushels or better from about 640 acres he has planted to crop this season. Other fields in the same neighborhood are yielding in about the same proportions and the grain is plump and will grade No. 1. In other sections of the Odessa country wheat is yielding from 20 to 30 bushels per acre and the wealth derived from the wheat fields this season promises to bring about a revival of trade and promote the prosperity of the merchant as well as the farmer.

75 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

August 5,1937

The wheat harvest, delayed by the bad weather of last week, is in progress again, with combines operating in all parts of the area except the north country. That region will likely get under way during the coming week.

Yields are holding up to expectations and weights are showing well. Truckers are busy hauling the wheat from the fields, with much of this season’s wheat being handled in bulk.

Greatest difficulty in the present harvest is the high weed crop, brought to problem size by the late rains. Hurried cutting is being made to escape the growth, leaving the straw and weeds at higher levels than formerly.

The school board met at the high school on Thursday afternoon to give taxpayers of the district an opportunity to review the budget for 1938. As no objections were made the original budget was approved.

It provides for $55,000 for school purposes next year, with a corps of 18 teachers and a fleet of 12 busses to bring in pupils from districts which are consolidated with Odessa.

25 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

August 6, 1987

A town council meeting heralded for brevity and highlighted by a field trip to the new police office site took only 50 minutes of Monday evening.

Mayor Dorothy Schauerman recessed formal proceedings briefly for the field trip, a tour by councilmembers of the planned site for police chief Randy Carlson’s work area – the former kitchen along the south wall of the community center.

The area is vacant after a move by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce took equipment and utensils from the area to the new kitchen situated between the community center and its annex to the north. Police officer Chip Hunt is expected to obtain building supplies locally this week and get the remodeling under way.

10 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

August 1, 2002

Digging down through earth and rock which had been covered for a century by concrete, the Halme Construction crews hit upon a few relics, but nothing spectacular. There were no catacombes or underground labyrinths, said Sam Todd, Wyatt Engineering’s construction inspector for Odessa’s First Avenue enhancement project.

The nearest thing to a dungeon which crews unearthed was a 17-foot-deep cesspool, into which effluent from the storm drains once emptied.

Wheat harvest in the Odessa area is close to being halfway finished, with growers completing the last of the dryland cutting and ready to start on the irrigated crops.

“We’re at about 50 percent intake,” Odessa Union Warehouse Cooperative general manager Keith Bailey said Tuesday, referring to grain taken in at OUW elevators. Yields are all over the board, he said, from poor to good. Test weight is also variable.