100 Years Ago

April 9, 1925 — Trees being put in on highway

W.R. Lawson, who has been making some changes in the irrigation ditches in the east end of town, has changed the old DZ I Ditch from the east side of the road to the west side, taking it down past the auto camp, where it can be utilized to irrigate the campground.

Mr. Lawson has planted trees all along the road on his side and the commercial club has made arrangements to plant the trees on the west side. A ditch will be plowed alongside the row of trees on the west side so that water can be taken to them with little effort.

This piece of work will add a lot to the appearance of that end of town and be a permanent monument to the activities of Mr. Lawson and other citizens.

75 Years Ago

April 6, 1950 — Airport Building Goes Up Rapidly

Roberts field administration building will be completed within five or six weeks, estimates A. Wilson Benold, contractor.

Work is progressing on schedule and the two-story structure is going up rapidly, with ten or 12 men at work.

Stone masons are putting up the walls of native rock, and other phases of the construction are going along well.

The city’s administration building will serve as airport headquarters and will be occupied by United Air Lines, Tilse-Bowman Air service and the CAA airways communications station.

A. D. Froman, representing the Civil Aeronautics administration’s Salem office, was in Redmond this morning making arrangements with the airport commission and city for the turnover of the first portion of federal funds.

The federal airport aid fund is furnishing 36 per cent of the money for construction, the city’s share coming out of funds already on hand, says J. R. Roberts, secretary of the airport commission.

Hatchery Event Attracts Hundreds

Sisters (Special) — The Sisters chamber of commerce served coffee to approximately 600 people from all over Oregon at the Wizard Falls fish hatchery open house Sunday afternoon.

The open house was sponsored by the Sisters group. A large number of Sisters people attended.

Plans are being made for the anniversary dedication of the fish hatchery for next year. It is scheduled for April 24, 1951.

50 Years Ago

April 9, 1975 — Redmond pulls out of building slump

Redmond apparently is pulling out of the doldrums that had kept construction at a lull since early last fall.

At least the value of building permits issued by the City of Redmond during March more than trebled the value of permits for February and was 25 times as great as for January.

The $124,276 worth of permits included three new residences with combined value of $67,600, commercial remodeling worth $23,396 and the renovation of the former fire department quarters in city hall for police use at a cost of $27,375.

The 69 permits issued during March by the Deschutes County Department of Building Inspection for construction outside the incorporated city areas of the county nearly doubled the value of permits for the previous month. The $919,250 valuation included $869,448 in residential construction and $49,802 in commercial. The only new commercial structure was a truck storage building worth $9,700 being constructed by R.L. Coats Construction. The $10,752 meeting room addition to the Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District station and carports valued at $28,000 for the Fourth Sisters Condominium were among the county permits.

Permits issued with the city were:

Don Fisher, new residence, East Rim Addition, $32,000.

Wilford Miller Jr., garage addition, 1552 N. Canyon Drive, $930.

Dale Patrick, sun deck, 1431 W. Indian Ave., $150.

Marie Shirley, kitchen remodeling, 1408 W. Evergreen Ave., $1,000.

Jack Tull, hang sign, 1117 W. Highland Ave., $46.

James Young, patio, 530 S. Ninth St., $850.

Stanley Sturza, trellis in front of residence, 1153 S. 12th St., $75.

E.A. Weigel, new residence, Parkway Addition, $20,600.

Darrell Smith Building, exterior remodeling, 632 S. Sixth St., $15,250.

U.S. National Bank, build fence for garden shop, 325 S. Fifth St., $100.

Eberhard Creamery, addition to cold room, concrete dock and panel office, Third and Evergreen Ave., $8,000.

Clyde Purcell, new residence, Heierman McCormick Addition, $15,000.

Richard Huff, interior remodeling, 413 W. Glacier Ave., $2,900.

City of Redmond, remodeling for police department, 717 W. Evergreen Ave., $27,375.

25 Years Ago

April 5, 2000 — DNA to Sherman tanks: Kids show their stuff

Redmond students showed off some their best work of the year Thursday during the district’s third annual Showcase Fair at Redmond High School.

The event featured presentations from all 10 schools in the district, including an elementary school historical costume presentation, a middle school piano recital and a high school display on DNA fingerprinting to name a few.

Redmond High School Junior Jadon Farleigh stood proudly over an electric car he helped build for a manufacturing class. When asked about the car, Farleigh fires off a blistering series of specifications.

The car weighs approximately 40 pounds, will have 12 to 18 gears and will reach speeds from 25 to 72 mph when completed. Although the car is a good example of the conservation of fossil fuels, Farleigh said that’s not why he helped.

“We’re going to race it,” he said. “Basically, we race for an hour and whoever goes the farthest wins.”

Some highlights of the program included a Tumalo Elementary storyline presentation on people from history. Students dressed as historical figures and recited facts about their lives.

Hugh Hartman Middle School seventh grader Alex Unger performed piano music he composed, and several other middle school students presented computer-assisted projects and written compositions.

Redmond High School students demonstrated the process of DNA fingerprinting using E Coli DNA, web pages they designed and original art work.

A high school automotive shop class showed off a 1,110 cubic inch 1942 Sherman tank engine they’re rebuilding.

Unlike previous fairs, this year’s event showed a broad variety of student work, not just projects from top students, according to fair organizer Rebeeca Barrett, a Redmond High biology teacher.

“This was really designed to show the community what kids are achieving not just the

brightest students, but run-of-the mill kids as well,” she said.

Barrett said one of the highlights of the annual event is the opportunity to expose younger students to projects they’ll tackle in later years.

“When they see all this stuff that kids at the high school are doing, they think ‘wow, I want to take physics or math in high school.” she said. “It really raises their aspirations.”