Compiled by Don Hoiness from archived copies of The Bulletin at Des Chutes County Historical Society.

100 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 10, 1915

Oregon to be horse market

That Central Oregon will be one of the biggest sources of supply for horses going to the armies of belligerent Europe, if the struggle continues through another year, is the opinion of A.J. Evans, a prominent horse buyer of St. Joseph, Missouri, who has been in this part of the state for several months buying horses for the French government.

This fact, says Mr. Evans, is not due to any scarcity of horses in the United States, because only three percent of the horses available for military purposes have been bought up, but is due to the high grade of stock that has been purchased so far and sent to Europe.

Mr. Evans and several horse men left Monday night for St. Joseph with 100 head of horses. These, he believes, are probably as high grade animals as have gone to the front since buying began in the northwest. He is particularly interested in the Central Oregon animals owing to their soundness and freedom from many of the blemishes found in animals which buyers have been compelled to accept in some parts of the country.

Any fears that the supply of horses in this part of Oregon would be exhausted or even threatened with exhaustion were dispelled by Mr. Evans when he stated that there were more available animals in this part of the state than any other where he has traveled. Up to this time more than 2,200 head of horses have left Central Oregon through Bend for war uses. According to Mr. Evans’ statement, more than a half million dollars in cash will be left with Central Oregon stockmen before the close of the European war and even when the horses are brought to this amount there will be no dearth in the state.

Indications are that bidding for Oregon horse flesh will be more active in the coming six months than it has at any time this year.

Strahorn enters Central Oregon

Famous railroad builder has an engineering party now at work in country south of Bend and is getting definite facts as to costs to determine future action in this field.

Robert E. Strahorn, builder of the North Coast road and of the Portland, Eugene & Eastern, from the presidency of which he recently resigned, has started an engineering party at work in Central Oregon. Careful surveys are being made of the more expensive portions of the routes, which Mr. Strahorn has been considering for the development of Central Oregon, for the purpose of obtaining exact information as to costs, etc. Assisted by the information so obtained, Mr. Strahorn will decide whether he will proceed with the enterprise.

75 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 10, 1940

“Whistle bomb” hits near king

King George narrowly escaped a German “whistle bomb” today as Nazi air raiders dived through cloudy skies in steady attacks on many British objectives, including London.

Not a minute before the king arrived at a hall in central London, a great bomb hurtled from the clouds and sent hundreds scurrying to shelters.

Almost before the sound of the bomb had died out the king arrived on schedule and entered the building.

Following the king were two flustered stenographers, one of whom suddenly recognized the king and clapped her hands to her mouth in amazement.

“Cor!” she exclaimed, “I could collapse. And he comes out during air raids too!”

The king was making an investigation of the shelter situation in central London, accompanied by Admiral Sir Edward Evens, the newly appointed “shelter dictator,” when the bomb fell near the building they were about to enter.

The explosion came as anti-aircraft guns resumed a heavy barrage after a comparative lull of an hour or longer. The crack of guns reminded strolling Londoners and office workers that the air alarm sounded several hours ago was still on. The beginning of the raid was marked by heavy antiaircraft fire in central London.

For several minutes during the early part of the raid, roof-top watchers cheered as they potted away at a single German raider which kept hopping from cloud to cloud.

British claim big submarine toll

Seven German and two Italian submarines have been sunk by British warships and airplanes during the last few weeks, the admiralty said today and others have been damaged.

The admiralty also reported that the British submarine Osiris had torpedoed and sunk an Italian destroyer of the Curatone class (there are four of the class, each of 966 tons and carrying 105 men).

The admiralty’s communique was intended to allay some of the fears over the sharp rise in British merchant ship losses due to German U-boat attacks. Pointing out that it was not the admiralty practice to announce the destruction of enemy U-boats, the communique said, “It should not be assumed we are not scoring successes when no announcements are made.”

Heaviest raid of war hits Berlin

Britain’s longest and most intensive air raid of the war on Berlin early today and last night killed at least 20 persons and for nearly five hours packed air raid shelters with thousands of persons caught as they were leaving theaters and movie houses.

The Reich capital was attacked by seven waves of British planes flying so low that they could be seen plainly. They dropped parachute flares to light their targets and then high explosive and incendiary bombs crashed in the most violent attack of the war.

50 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 10, 1965

Austin takes over reins of chamber

Management of the Bend Chamber of Commerce was taken over today by Chuck Austin, named earlier in the year to succeed Marion Cady.

Austin, who comes here from Salem, was on the job early today. At noon he attended his first general conference.

Austin will be joined on Saturday by his wife, Bea, and their three children, Linda, 5, Lynette, 3, and Stephen, 1.

The new chamber manager is no stranger to the community he is to serve. The son of the Rev. R.H. Austin, stationed in Bend for a time as pastor of the First Baptist Church, the new chamber manager spent most of his boyhood in Bend, leaving in 1955.

While attending high school, Austin was a top football player and went on to the University of Oregon to gain regional grid recognition.

This past weekend, Austin attended a conference of state chamber secretaries in Klamath Falls.

Tumalo Creek dam site discussed at meeting

Possibility of a dam site on Tumalo Creek other than one which would flood Shevlin Park was mentioned at Wednesday night’s meeting of Bend’s city commissioners.

Commissioner Bill Hudson said preliminary studies of new topographical maps suggest an alternative site might be in the area just below where the Tumalo Irrigation District’s Columbia Southern canal takes out of Tumalo Creek. This is upstream from Shevlin Park.

Hudson said maps show this area could provide greater storage capacity in a lower dam than at the Shevlin Park location.

The ponded area behind the proposed Shevlin Park dam, Hudson said, would lie over a major fault in the area. This is a negative factor, he pointed out, because it could make retaining water difficult. The ponded area for Hudson’s suggested upstream site would not lie over the fault.

Field studies would be necessary to determine the feasibility of his suggestion, Hudson said.

Cost of obtaining the land would also be a factor, Hudson said, and this would need to be determined.

25 YEARS AGO

For the week ending

Oct. 10, 1990

Developer eyes athletic club

A Eugene developer with an interest in historic preservation is examining the Bend Amateur Athletic Club building, once the hub of the community’s social activities.

Rob Bennett, the owner of the Bennett Management Office, confirmed that his group has done some “very preliminary” studies of the 72-year-old structure.

The Bend-La Pine School District declared the building surplus, the initial step toward selling the dilapidated three story brick building on Wall Street.

Bennett is also president of Downtown Athletic Club Inc., which has operated the Eugene Downtown Athletic Club since 1985. Bennett’s firm renovated a downtown department store built in the early 1900s to create the club.

“Our interest would be a step-by-step process to determine if that building would be feasible for athletic club use,” he added.

In its heyday, the Bend Amateur Athletic Club building was a jewel. The 1,200 seat auditorium featured a stage, dressing room and box seats in the balcony. Other features included a four lane bowling alley, Bend’s first indoor swimming pool, club rooms with fireplaces, reading rooms, a small library and a padded wrestling room.

The Bend school district bought the property in 1925 and used it as a gym and a site for high school plays and commencement ceremonies.

The district closed the building in 1978. Since then, it has been vandalized and neglected to the point that refurbishing the 40,000 square-foot facility would cost far more than $1 million.

One report — when the building was still in use — recommended evacuating the site when winds gusted more than 40 mph.

Leaks in the roof have caused serious water damage, including the collapse this summer of a 10-by-10-foot section of interior ceiling.

“In our judgment, if the building goes through one more winter without being waterproofed, I think it would be very difficult to continue to try to save the building,” Bennett said.

During the past 15 years, community leaders have mulled a number of suggested uses for the site, including a community theater, a performing arts center and a library, although none has gone beyond the tentative planning stage.

Note to readers: The building fell into disrepair and was renovated between 1995 and 1998 and reopened in 1999 as the center for the Boys & Girls Clubs. Jim Crowell led the fundraising effort along with Fred Hornback, Butch Holdon and many other volunteers and it took several years to raise the $2 million dollars needed to renovate the building.

Historical center’s doll exhibit brings little girls’ dreams to life

A room full of nothing but dolls. It’s every little girl’s dream.

Thanks to the Des Chutes Historical Center, little girls — and their moms, dads, sisters and brothers — can relive the dreams of the past century during the center’s antique doll show.

The doll show, the center’s first such event, features the private collection of Zona Ford of Bend and the center’s Dorothy Vandervert First Lady Collection.

The Vandervert collection is a complete series of dolls depicting the wives or hostesses of the nation’s presidents, from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan. The dolls are dressed in gowns that are replicas of those on display at the Smithsonian Institution and were handmade by Vandervert, who donated the collection to the center before her death.

Other dolls on display include one from 1889 and a pair depicting the Campbell Soup twins.

The center is in Bend at the corner of Wall Street and Idaho Avenue across from the Deschutes County Library.