Over the Years

50 YEARS AGO
June 27, 1957 — In the wake of a deadly tornado in Fargo, Hillsboro city commissioners adopted a tornado warning system to alert residents of possible dangerous weather using three two-minute long blasts on the fire siren.
Hillsboro Civic and Commerce Association collected donations for Fargo tornado victims. Mayville High School band members cancelled their performance at the Calgary Stampede and voted instead to give the money raised for their trip to aid disaster victims in Fargo.
Cool, wet weather abated the threat of a grasshopper outbreak in the county. The weather had also slowed spraying operations to control the pests in the county, according to county agent Jim Welsh. (more…)

50 YEARS AGO
June 20, 1957 — By order of the Hillsboro City Commission, the community would return to Central Standard Time beginning Sunday, June 23. The decision to switch back from Daylight Saving Time was based on a straw poll of more than 300 area residents from town and the surrounding rural area.
Banner editor Bill Kremer noted that no new homes were under construction in Hillsboro. Meanwhile, Larimore, N.D. was booming, thanks to the new Air Force Base being built nearby.
Harold and Bea Anderson marked their 24th year in the grocery business in Hillsboro. (more…)

50 YEARS AGO
June 13, 1957 — Marilyn Hanson of Hillsboro and three college friends embarked on a trip to Europe. Hanson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.T. Hanson, planned to employ all modes of transportation — fly to New York, sail to England and drive a rented car in Paris.
The Hillsboro Jaycees were bringing the circus to town. The Ring Brothers Circus featured elephants, seals and a slew of international performers.
Traill County ASC committee chairman Arthur Hauge urged area farmers to vote on wheat marketing quotas and penalties on excess wheat. Nationwide, 87 percent of wheat growers who voted in referendums favored marketing quotas for the 1957 crop.
Sixty-eight Hillsboro National Guardsmen left Saturday for annual training at Camp Grafton. (more…)

50 YEARS AGO
June 6, 1957 — Four days after federal officials put Hillsboro’s plans for a new National Guard armory on hold, city hall was notified that bids for the construction project would be opened later in the month. City officials had been told there was no federal money available to fund the project. Banner editor William Kremer speculated that somebody in Washington must have found “a few hundred thousand dollars lying in the bottom of the cookie jar.”
More than 60 diplomas were presented at the 26th annual Traill County 8th grade graduation in Hillsboro. Students from one and two-room schools in the county are honored at the ceremony.
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Hillsboro broke ground for a new $132,000 Sunday school addition to the church. (more…)

50 YEARS AGO
May 30, 1957 — Plans to build a new National Guard armory in Hillsboro suffered another setback when architectural drawings for proposed armories in Hillsboro and Mayville were rejected by officials in Washington, D.C. The veto came as a surprise to local officials since the plans were nearly identical to blueprints approved for a new armory in Lisbon, N.D. Without approval from the federal government, construction was not likely to begin as scheduled during the summer. The official reason for the rejection was that federal funds for new armories had been depleted. Hillsboro officials believed that federal funds had been allocated months ago and planned to resubmit the proposal for consideration at the start of the new fiscal year — July 1. (more…)