130 Years Ago
July 5, 1895
Arthur Woodbury received a new peanut roaster this week that has all modern improvements.
125 Years Ago
July 6, 1900
More than five thousand people celebrated July Fourth in Alliance this year – in fact, it is difficult to estimate the number, because they were never all in one place. It was a constant stream of humanity in gala attire, pleasure bent.
120 Years Ago
July 7, 1905
A social will occur this evening at the Central school building in honor of attendants of the Alliance Junior Normal, same being under the direction of Supt. W. H. Bartz. The program will commence at 8 o’clock, continuing about an hour, and being followed by refreshments. Only normal people and those interested are invited.
115 Years Ago
July 5, 1910
L. R. Bostwick, photographer for the Omaha Bee, with W. W. Scott, a moving picture man, are in Alliance with the South Omaha stockmen.
110 Years Ago
July 6, 1915
Numerous people were very much disappointed yesterday owning to the failure of Cal Cox and Cy Laing to pull off their much-mooted boat race at the park. Each blames the other for the failure, Cox asserting that he was on hand ready for the race but that when it was time to come to the scratch his opponent could no where be found. And Laing says the same thing of Cox.
105 Years Ago
July 6, 1920
Since early yesterday morning the entire city has been stirred up over a report that the clothing of two boys had been found on the bank at Broncho lake. A few hours prior to this the police received word that three Alliance boys were missing.
100 Years Ago
July 7, 1925
Alliance spent a quiet Fourth of July this year and very little police work was necessary to preserve the peace and dignity of the community. Four charges of drunkenness and one charge of disorderly conduct were the sum total in police court Monday morning.
95 Years Ago
July 4, 1930
Rejuvenated to a point where they can win ball games like nobody’s business, the Alliance baseball crew will take on a double assignment this week, journeying to Fort Robinson Friday morning to tackle the soldier boys for the second time this season, and going over into the valley to meet the Bridgeport nine in a North Platte valley league feature Sunday.
90 Years Ago
July 5, 1935
The Fourth of July, the year’s most dangerous holiday, brought no fatalities to the Panhandle section and gave the public a reason to celebrate today, that no one of their relatives or friends was harmed. Alliance passed a quiet holiday, with no serious accident from car wrecks or exploding fire crackers.
85 Years Ago
July 5, 1940
A Red Cross benefit dance will be given by the Eagles lodge at the city auditorium on Wednesday evening, July 10. The entire proceeds will be turned over to the Red Cross for war refugee relief. Tickets will be 50 cents. Many local people, whether or not they can attend the dance, are planning on buying tickets to help the refugee relief.
80 Years Ago
July 3, 1945
County Judge P. E. Romig sentenced Ore Thompson Jr., 19, to 30 days in the county jail at hard labor and paroled Charles Rodenbaugh, 17, to his father, an auto mechanic of Sargent, Nebr., for two years after a hearing on charges of petty larceny.
75 Years Ago
July 7, 1950
We’ve heard of a cow in a silo and a pig in a well but have you ever heard of a horse in a swimming pool? The famous and the beautiful are never left alone. This even applies to the Alliance Rodeo “horse” tethered in front of the I. G. A. Market. Sometime during the Independence day holiday some ornery carnsarned critter up and took the “horse.” A hastily organized posse discovered, after a tedious search, the “horse” having a gay old time in the sand pile of the City swimming pool.
70 Years Ago
July 8, 1955
Alliance’s school district has a population of 8,159, it was revealed today in a final tabulation of the annual school census completed in mid-May. This is a gain of 377 over the 7,782 reported in the district a year ago.
65 Years Ago
July 6, 1960
Members of the Alliance Volunteer Fire Department and employees of the Burlington Railroad battled a fire in a large hay barn near the stock yards in Alliance Wednesday afternoon for nearly three hours before bringing it under control.
60 Years Ago
July 6, 1965
Thirteen persons, in separate cases, were assessed fines and costs on charges of intoxication in Police Court here over the holiday. Twelve were committed to City Jail for non-payment and one was released to leave Alliance. All but one pleaded guilty.
55 Years Ago
July 6, 1970
Power in much of Alliance was shut off for about an hour Friday night after a car crashed into the guy wires of a power pole at 9:15 p.m. on the south side of Highway No. 2 at the east edge of Alliance.
50 Years Ago
July 2, 1975
The school budget was approved by the Alliance Board of Education Tuesday evening amid concern that about $8,000 in expected stated funds might not be available. The official valuation of Box Butte County will not be determined by the county assessor until August, but as it stands now, the school’s mill levy is 62.53 mills with the unanimous approval of the school budget.
45 Years Ago
July 1, 1980
The hooded parking meters in downtown Alliance are just the beginning of downtown improvement according to members of the committee that succeeded in selling the plan to the Alliance City Council. The downtown meters were covered by the Chamber of Commerce officials Monday evening and contain the message of two hours free parking while you park and shop.
40 Years Ago
July 3, 1985
New rates at the municipal pool came back to haunt the City Council for a third time Tuesday evening as a group of swimmers came up to protest the action of a month ago concerning “lap swimmers.” At its June 6th meeting, the council heard from several swimmers concerning lack of time for lap swimmers at the pool.
35 Years Ago
July 3, 1990
AHS Students To Choose When Their Day Begins: In the next school year, Alliance High School students will be allowed to register for a seven-hour schedule to start at first period and go through seventh; second through eighth; or first through eighth.
30 Years Ago
July 7, 1995
Roger Bakkehaug of Alliance was severely burned in an accident at the Burlington Northern facility at First and Box Butte at approximately 3:10p.m. Thursday. Bakkehaug was reportedly working on an air conditioning unit when it exploded.
25 Years Ago
July 5, 2000
During last week’s Summer Learning Program, presented by Jonnie Kusek, executive director of Keep Alliance Beautiful (KAB), at Alliance’s Library/Learning Center, she emphasized the importance of litter prevention of waterways.
20 Years Ago
July 5, 2005
Since March of 2003, women and girls have had the opportunity to learn how to make themselves safer by participating in the RAD (rape aggression defense) System program. At that time, Box Butte County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Mark Lindburg became an instructor of the national program. Later that year, Alliance resident Tracy Swartz also became an instructor after taking a RAD class.
15 Years Ago
July 5, 2010
Recently, Faith Mills with Region I Substance Abuse Prevention, and Mark Keszler, a K-12 counselor with Banner County Schools, presented information about the Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) method of suicide prevention, providing the police with the means to help those who are experiencing thoughts of suicide.
10 Years Ago
July 6, 2015
It was a beautiful day for boating Saturday – sunny with a few clouds and just a hint of a breeze – and perfect to take some cardboard out on Lain Lake for the 2015 Lunatics Cardboard Boat Race, hosted by the Alliance Lions.
5 Years Ago
July 8, 2020
The Alliance High School class of 2020 is set to receive recognition on Saturday with a graduation ceremony that will be as close to traditional as possible. In order to follow social distancing guidelines set by Governor Pete Ricketts in his Directed Health Measures, the audience will be limited.
*Compiled from The Alliance Times-Herald Archives by Christine Melcher