This Week in Odessa History

100 years ago

From The Odessa Record

July 16 , 1915

Playing through all the matches in tip top form Odessa tennis entries at the Big Bend tournament, held this week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Davenport, captured every final event and brought home every prize which was put up for the winners. Besides Odessa, which had 14 contestants in the tourney and Davenport which had 20, Sprague had 3 entries and Hartline 2.

Those who took part in the tournament were: Mr. and Mrs. Hy W. Rieke, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Thiel, Miss Orlou Ganson, L.C. Weik and Joe Weik, O.F. Minch, Louis Zicha, D.C. Holmes, Wesley Kessler, Jacob Schatz, John Schoonover and Will Isaak.

The first load of the 1915 wheat crop was brought to Odessa yesterday by John Hopp and delivered to the Portland Flouring Mills company. The wheat was of the Jones Fife variety, tested 60 pounds and graded No.1. There has always been considerable rivalry among local farmers to bring in the first load of new grain each year and for the past several year Geo. Heimbigner has been the fortunate one.

75 years ago

From The Odessa Record

July 18, 1940

With the pouring of one of the topmost blocks, in the east abutment section, part of Grand Coulee Dam reached its highest elevation, 550 feet above the lowest bedrock, last week. Other such blocks, fifty feet long and thirty feet wide, will follow rapidly, until by September, both ends of the dam will have been completed. The fertile lands of the Columbia Basin, which will be reclaimed through the life-giving waters behind Grand Coulee Dam, stand ready to supply reserve quantities of food for any emergencies. Forethought and wise planning have made this 1,200,000-acre empire one of the nation’s “aces in the hole.”

Odessa, with its temperature reaching to 103 last Thursday, spent an uncomfortable last week end. During the early part of this week, the cloudy weather broke the heat but did not end the discomfort.

Christ Haase, 87, one of the early pioneers of the Odessa area, died early Thursday morning, after a brief illness. He was taken sick while in town on Tuesday. Mr. Haase was born in Kulm, Russia June 8, 1853 and married there, raising his family. About 42 years ago, following the death of his wife, he left with his family for the United States, stopping for a time at Ritzville and then locating on a ranch north of Odessa. An active man, Mr. Haase disdained riding and would walk from his ranch to town, until old age compelled him to give up this practice. Survivors include five sons, Nathaniel, New Leipsig, N.D .; Fred, Odessa, and Dan, Jack and Dave, at home; three daughters, Mrs. Fred Schneider, Odessa; Mrs. Mary Bohnet, Canada, and Mrs. Rebecca Wolsborn, Odessa; 22 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

50 years ago

From The Odessa Record

July 15, 1965

The first load of wheat from the 1965 crop in the Odessa area arrived at the Lauer branch of the Odessa Union Warehouse Tuesday, July 13, Winston Weber, manager reports. Others arriving with new wheat at Lauer on Tuesday were Leslie Schrag and Chris Greenwalt. The early cutting is coming from the area near Highway 10. The first load of wheat to arrive in Odessa was brought in by Bob Deife yesterday (Wednesday) noon from his farm just north of town.

A sign of the diversification of crops which could well become a major factor in the area within a few years, was evidenced yesterday, too, when Jerry Schafer arrived with a load of peas from his irrigated lands west of Odessa. Weber reports the peas to be the first to arrive at the Odessa terminal.

Construction activity involved two bridges, one in Odessa and the other south of town, the addition of the nursing home wing to the Odessa hospital and an addition to the Odessa Drive-In. Brush clearing, rock removal and land leveling were also under way at the site of the golf course west of town, with work on the irrigation system set to begin soon.

25 years ago

From The Odessa Record

July 19, 1990

Members of the Odessa town council Monday night wrestled with a citizen’s charge of animal Abuse. Rueben Roloff, armed with a petition that contained over five pages of local signatures, told the council a neighbor had left two dogs tied in a yard, untended and without food water, for several days. Roloff also had signed statements from other neighbors, of them saying the writer had never seen such mistreatment of animals in more than 60 years. The other statement contained charges much the same and attested to actions by town crew, Odessa police and the town’s mayor in water the animals at separate times.

10 years ago

From The Odessa Record

July 14, 2005

The Odessa Town Council Monday night accepted a settlement giving two former police officers a total of $70,000 for their claims of pay due for on-call time while they were employed by the Odessa Police Department. Kelly Watkins, now a Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy, will receive $40,000, and Lyle Hendrickson will be paid $30,000 as a result of a settlement agreed to after more than four years of litigation and negotiations and the Town of Odessa. The two, represented by attorney Michael Kinkley, brought suit against the Town in February 2001, claiming unpaid wages for time they were on call but not on duty. Their original claims for back pay were far higher than what they received in the settlement. A spokesperson for the Town said Watkins’ original claim was for $89,000.