75 Years Ago
November 8, 1934
• The new First National Bank of Dell Rapids was held up Wednesday afternoon and robbed of approximately $5,000. Three men rushed into the bank. One stayed in the lobby to guard and ushered everyone coming in, right on in. The work was done so quickly and quietly that details were difficult to get. One ran to the back of the bank and ordered everyone to hold up their hands. One jumped over the counter where Conrad Paulsen worked and gathered up the cash. He asked M.E. Wicks to open the vault. They took all money available, but left the gold. Paulson, Mrs. Harvey Blow, and Wicks were taken hostage and dropped off five miles east of Dell Rapids.
• The election went strongly Democratic in South Dakota and the County elections.
• On Nov. 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill that admitted South Dakota to the Union, making it the 40th state to join the Union.
• Sara Zella Gannon is starting a night school at her home Tuesday and Thursday evenings. You’re never too old to learn!
• Logan Township farmers reported the corn crop is not yielding very highly and it is not of good quality.
• District 27 teacher Foresta Wood invited her pupils to her home. They played games, ate a nice supper and were taken in two cars to the movie “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,” and all driven to their homes.
• Corn picking is well under way and a few days more will see the most of the corn cribbed. Some farmers have the job completed. Most of the corn is being picked by hand this year, although some mechanical pickers are being used. Fred Anderson has been picking with his two-row picker for his brother-in-law, Einar Dalsgaard.
• Wedding: Alva Mae Robey and Henry T. Crisp, Nov. 3.
• Death: Soren O. Hagen, 50.

50 Years Ago
November 5, 1959
• Eleven year old Terry Shively was burned about the legs while trying to stamp out a grass fire. He will require skin grafting.
• Owen Haak, a Trent farmer, was injured while unloading corn from the picker. The cuff on his overall became caught in the power line from the elevator to the hoist and tore most of his clothing from his body.
• A total of 4,898 farmers have filed applications for contracts in the Soil Bank Conservation Reserve beginning in 1960. The total acreage included 766,730 acres.
• Dell Rapids High School winners of the declam contest were Vickie Hovde, poetry; Maureen Davis, humor; Dean Arnold, dramatics; and Solveig Larson, oratory. They were to represent Dell Rapids in the District contest at Humboldt.
• Cheryl Peterson was selected to sing in Pasquettes, women’s chorus and dance organization at South Dakota State College.
• Births: a daughter, Sandra Lee, to S Sgt and Mrs. Richard Drummond; a son, Mark David, to Mr. and Mrs. David Reaney, Oct. 22; a daughter, Laura Marie, to Mr. and Mrs. Palmer Berg, Oct. 28; a son to Mr. and Mrs. Melvin George, Nov. 3.
• Wedding: Shirley Fossum and Dave Daniell.
25 Years Ago
October 31, 1984
• Incumbent state’s attorney Jack Hanson was to face stiff competition against Tim Wilka in the coming election.
• The Seventy Annual Patchwork Extension Club’s Arts & Crafts Fair was to be held on Nov. 3 in the Dell Rapids Elementary Gym. Already 52 booths were booked at $10 a booth.
• Energy Assistance applications were available. To be eligible, a household’s total gross income could not exceed $7,470 with one in the household; $10,080 with two; $12,690 with three; $15,300 with four; $20,520 with six; and $25,740 with eight, etc.
• St. Mary Cardinal Cross Country team took second at the State Meet in Huron. Cory Peichel was top finisher with an 11th place finish in 18:05. Rick Brandner took 14th in 18:12 and Dean Evans finished 21st in 18:26. Laurie LeBrun’s ninth place finish in 12:09 was tops for St. Mary. Cindy Klein took 30th with 12:39 and Tricia Pederson was 40th in 12:53.
John Van Dam got eighth in 17:17 for Dell Rapids High School.
• Births: a daughter, Jamie Marie, to Randy and Nancy Hoogendorn, Oct. 20; a son, Sheldon Murphy, to Brian and Nancy Davis, Oct. 19.
• Deaths: Emma Larson, 72; Augusta V. Matz, 96; Harold Wehde, 66; Hortense Faris, 92.

10 Years Ago
November 10, 1999
• The Dell Rapids Main Street “Women in Business” were to host a holiday open house in preparation for Christmas shopping season. Stores were to remain open Friday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Festival of Trees, sponsored by the Dell Rapids Society for Historic Preservation was to be starting Thanksgiving weekend and run through Dec. 4.
• The following members of the St. Mary High School Class of ’49 met in Sioux Falls: Jim Brown, Marcella Rave, Betty Kuper, Jeanette Penning, Arlene McFarland, Donna and Clay Edmond.
• Caitlin Bunkers, Kylie Kommes, Carrie Ahlers and Jodi Michel were pictured painting the crosswalk markers on the street by the Middle School. The city had already put their equipment away and gave them permission to do the work by hand.
• Joe Ahlers celebrated his retirement from the Dell Rapids Post Office after 30 years as a rural mail carrier.
• On Oct. 30, 1999, a historical marker was dedicated commemorating the 1938 National Corn Husking Contest.
• The Dell Rapids and Baltic Fire Departments were called to the dump ground where a fire burned out of control. The departments have been kept very busy because of the dry conditions. The Fire Marshal had issued a fire advisory, but locals have continued to set blazes on their property.
• Dr. Ron Beck has established a scholarship in memory of his wife, Gloria for a Dell Rapids student attending a church-affiliated college of university in South Dakota.
• Births: a son, Trevor Dennis James, to Doug and Janine Hahn, Nov. 5; a daughter, Shyanna Marie, to Shane and Janet Paul, Oct. 27.
• Deaths: N. Lorain Overvaag, 86; Agnes M. Schaefer, 87; Dena Rave Heeren, 101.