1923: Hartington will hold memorial service after President Harding’s death

Aug. 13, 1908

HARTINGTON — Work commenced on building a stone wall and the laying of sidewalk along the north side of the school grounds next to the drainage ditch.

Aug. 9, 1923

HARTINGTON — Never has he seen a more suitable site for an artificial lake than the one which has been chosen near Laurel by the Cedar County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League.

That is the opinion of F.C. Magruder of Grand Island, the engineer who looked the proposition over last week.

His enthusiasm over the Laurel site was very evident at a meeting of the directors of the League, which was held in Laurel Monday.

Tests made by well drillers showed that plenty of water will be available for the proposed lake. A stratum of water was found at a depth of 25 feet and water from it rose to within eight feet of the surface. Deeper tests shows an 18-foot bed of gravel at a depth of 62 feet.

Mr. Magruder estimated that if a large wall would be sunk, and a small engine installed which would pump about 500 gallons an hour, this would be sufficient to keep a fresh supply of water in the lake.

The dam which would hold the water in the ravine chosen as the site of the lake, will be constructed largely of dirt with a little concrete to act as a spillway.

The engineer reported that the composition of the soil was well adapted to the purpose for which it is now intended, for it will hold water well, the silt filling up the pores in the ground and causing the ravine to act as a basin.

According to present plans, the lake will be stocked with good game fish.

Aug. 9, 1923

HARTINGTON — In accordance with every other town in the United States, Hartington will hold memorial services on Friday afternoon for President Harding, who is to be buried at Marion, Ohio at the same time the services are held here.

The community here will gather at the City Auditorium at three o’clock. Representatives of the American Legion, the Commercial Club and the City Council met Tuesday to form plans for the service. The program for the service will include special music, short addresses by Mayor B. Ready and George Beste, a prayer, and the customary salute by a firing squad, followed by the playing of “taps.”

All the business houses in Hartington, including the courthouse, will close at 2:30 until after the conclusion of the event.

President Warren G. Harding died at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2 in San Francisco from a stroke of apoplexy.

The end came suddenly while Mrs. Harding was reading to him from the evening newspaper.

Mrs. Harding and the two nurses in the sick room knew the end had come when a shudder ran through the President’s frame and he collapsed. Aug. 16, 1928

HARTINGTON — E. E. Collins, who has been the secretary-treasurer for the Hartington Library Board since its birth in 1914, has been reappointed to the position.

Aug. 16, 1928

HARTINGTON — Four hundred residents in Hartington have used more than 125,000 gallons of water daily since the first of the month.