100 years ago

April 6, 1916 — Co-operation was the accepted slogan endorsed by the most representative assemblage ever massed under one roof in Central Oregon. When he conceived the idea bringing people of Central Oregon together and cementing them into one compact body for mutual benefit, C.H. Irvin, the energetic president of the Redmond Commercial Club, built far better than the most optimistic realized. Some even thought such a movement was a chimera of the brain of a dreamer, but the man, the originator of the Good Roads idea, was not to be diverted from his theory that in a unified front the people of Central Oregon could benefit themselves in many ways, and with his characteristic energy went to work to bring about the fruition of his hopes.… Being the initial meeting, little actual real work was done but the foundation was realized and we expect great and good results to follow, and that at the next meeting, which is to be held in Prineville within a month, the serious work of the association will be taken up in earnest.

75 years ago

April 3, 1941 — By this summer, two weeks ahead of schedule, Water Superintendent George Heighes, expects to have the city’s new $4,000 summer reservoir and processing plant ready for use and will probably have the city mains on low-head by Monday. The new installation, which makes the former head works look like a bathtub, will eliminate, Heighes is confident, the summer flavor problem that for years has been plaguing the city. Only a glance by a layman at the new construction is enough for a conviction that great changes are bound to result. Last year, Heighes experimented on a small scale at the head works with the methods he is now employing.

50 years ago

April 7, 1966 — Hugh Hartman, superintendent of Redmond schools, made a trip to Medford recently and picked up nearly 8,500 small trees from Charles Hoover to be distributed in Deschutes County and 400 for Crook County, he announced today. Anyone desiring trees may pick them up between 8 a.m. and noon Saturday, April 9, at Hartman’s residence, 309 N. 10th Street. Those interested must bring containers with dirt in them for the little trees, Hartman said. Trees available are 1,500 Michigan maple, 1,000 western larch, 3,000 northern and Norway spruce, 2,000 sierra redwood, 250 Chinese arborvitae, which is a miniature shrub, and 500 white birch. There will be more white birch and red cascara shipped later from the Michigan Nursery, Hartman noted.

25 years ago

April 3, 1991 — A Redmond manufacturer that received a pack of incentives to remain in Redmond four years ago will close its doors this summer or fall. Irwin Saw Co. announced Thursday that it will lay off its 59 employees, close its Redmond plant and incorporate the manufacturing into its headquarters in Wilmington, Ohio, by July or early fall. Gravy Williams III, manager of the plant announced the company’s decision during a somber press conference late Thursday afternoon following an announcement to employees. The decision could not be reversed even if the economy should see a turn-around in the next few months, Williams said. “There is no pulse in the body. It’s a dead duck,” he said in response to a question about whether the company might change its mind if the economy turns around.