Remember When?

56 YEARS AGO • JUNE 9, 1960

TF SWIMMING POOL TO OPEN WEDNESDAY

Thompson Falls’ heated community swimming pool will open for the summer Wednesday. Miss Nancy Friday has been employed as lifeguard and John Duffield will be an assistant.

The pool will be open for three two-hour shifts daily Tuesday through Sunday of each week. It will be closed Mondays for cleaning. Children up to 10 years old who are able to take care of themselves will swim daily from 1 to 3 p.m. Boys and girls 10 years and older will swim from 3 to 5 p.m. and adults and families with small children will swim from 6:30 to 8:30 each evening.

A charge of 15 cents per swimmer will be made for each swimming session. No season tickets will be sold.

Mayor M.C. Sutherland said that a maximum of 35 swimmers will be permitted in the pool enclosure at one time. “If more than 35 youngsters show up to swim, some will have to wait their turn.”

When more than 35 youngsters appear at any one session, the swimming time will be divided as evenly as possible so that all will have equal time in the pool, Mayor Sutherland said.

The city’s first public swimming pool was located on the corner of Preston Avenue and Washington Street. It was tiny but it kept kids out of the river for the most part.

60 YEARS AGO • MAY, 1964

TURKEYS

Mrs. Al Burghard spotted a flock of eight to 10 turkeys in their hay field north of town last week. The turkeys seem to be gradually moving westward.

Mrs. Norman Allen gets credit for sighting wild turkeys the farthest west. She saw two Monday on the Austin field just north of Graves Creek, on the James Conlin ranch. She said she could hardly believe her eyes at first, but got such a close look at one of the birds that she recognized it as a wild turkey.

Mrs. Jim Murphy pulled a switch on seeing the first robin of the spring. She reported the first black bear sighting Monday. The bear was seen between the Murphy and Bierwagen ranches on the Blue Slide.

And Ben Cox Jr. spotted a turkey gobbler and hen up Clear Creek Monday morning - the first sighting reported south of the river in this area.

Thirteen Merriam’s turkeys, a subspecies native to Colorado, were brought into central Montana in 1954, followed by 18 additional birds from Wyoming in 1955. They adapted well to their new environment. As their numbers increased, they were relocated to other areas within the state to establish. Many people in our area now consider them a menace. The town of Libby secured a permit recently to remove 20 of the birds from the city limits.

HATS OFF TO THE JAYCEES

Jaycee chapters all over the nation have a reputation, well earned, of being an organization of young men who believe in action. Thompson Falls members are living up to that billing.

The local chapter is less than a year old, but it is making its mark as an organization which is doing things. Already theJaycees have been a factor in reviving the Cub Scout movement here. They’ve participated in the sponsorship of the summer baseball program. They’ve offered to erect street signs in the city.

Two major projects are ahead for the group: 1. The staging of a Centennial Roundup Saturday, June 27; and 2. Construction of a civic center building.

Both are big undertakings and it is doubtful that any other organization in Thompson Falls would have attempted either alone.

Thompson Falls needs a civic center building. The structure and the Jaycees plan for this community will serve a real need in this community.

As an organization of action, the Jaycees deserve the public’s support.

The Civic Center became a reality and is now known as the Thompson Falls Community Center located by the City Pool and High School. In the past it has also served as a polling place, a youth center, a venue for dances, weddings and anniversaries, a church, an emergency center and most recently a preschool.