Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, August 5, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago 1908
The pastor of Sussex Zion Church was the Rev. Grauer.
Worthy Master of Sussex Ashlar Lodge 193 was Frank Harris.
50 years ago 1958
A new Hercules guided missile was on display at local stores to show the public what the Lannon Nike Base had in store for Russia if World War III were to start.
Civil defense was a big priority that year, with many people building and stocking bomb shelters.
25 years ago 1983
Lillian Butler celebrated her 90th birthday.
The Sussex Land O Puddles baseball team, sporting a 19-1 record, represented Sussex and the State of Wisconsin at the American Amateur Baseball Congress Regional at Wichita, Kan., Aug. 11-14.
10 years ago 1998
The Lannon Stonemens Scott Hagen threw a no-hitter against Genesee, winning the LOL game, 13-0. He allowed just one runner to get on base.
Sussex added nearly a mile of pedestrian sidewalks, including one to Pick n Save and another to Armory Park.
A dog, S. Wilde, won the annual Lions Daze raffle.
5 years ago 2003
Problems hit wells next to Halquist quarry in south-central Lisbon.
Sussex Village Park opened a disc golf course.
A Lannon gift shop was forced to remove lawn decorations that violated the villages zoning codes.
A dead crow in Sussex tested positive for the West Nile virus.
The state expanded the intersection at Main Street and Highway 164 to accommodate the new Kohls store, then under construction.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, August 13, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago — 1908
The priest at St. James Catholic Church on Townline Road was the Rev. Paul E. Scheidel.
Two telephone companies served Sussex, Lisbon and Templeton: the Pewaukee Sussex Telephone Co. under President A.T. Weaver and the Lisbon Telephone Co. under President William D. McGill.
50 years ago — 1958
Dutch Elm disease hit the Lisbon area.
Farmers & Merchants Bank’s Sussex branch celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Sussex bought a 78-acre parcel west of the village from the Kufalk farm as a village park for about $36,800.
Rose Samanske’s monkey took home the blue first-place ribbon at a pet show at a Sussex playground.
25 years ago — 1983
The Lisbon Town Board rejected a petition to move the 112-year-old William Graeves home from Lisbon Road and Waukesha Avenue to another site in the town. Vulcan Materials owned the two-story stone home that Elm Grove builder Robert Novak wanted to save. All that’s left is the cornerstone, which was given to the Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society in 2007.
10 years ago — 1998
The Lannon Stonemen’s Ron Kozlowski was the leading hitter in the team’s Land O’ Lakes division as it played for the LOL championship again.
The Sussex Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Dick Titus, a pitcher on the Sussex LOL grand championship team of 1973.
After a dry July, two early-August rains caused floods.
5 years ago — 2003
Lannon nixed a two-year tax freeze on a 2-2 vote. Village President Bob Winters and Trustee Caroline Ames voted for the freeze. They were defeated in the next election (presumably for other reasons).
A Sussex man was scammed out of his expensive motorcycle with a fake cashier’s check.
Martin Jannsen was named Boy Scouts of America Central Region president.
St. John’s of Lannon offered full-day kindergarten classes.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, August 20, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago — 1908
Anna Marie (Eisenhauer) Stier, wife of Jacob Stier, died Aug. 19, 1908, and was buried in Sussex Zion Church Cemetery.
50 years ago — 1958
Richard and Thelma Weber’s two-year-old son, Peter, died after ingesting gasoline from a pump at the family farm just east of Halquist quarry.
Lannon Village President Joe Turner resigned. The Village Board then elected Village Trustee Frank Clucus president and added Louie Gissal to the board.
25 years ago — 1983
Chester Hext, a Lisbon farmer who could trace his ancestry back to the Pilgrims, died at 89.
The Sussex High School 1920-1947 all-class reunion drew 385 people to Marchese’s Danceland.
10 years ago — 1998
Charles M. DiPiazza was named Lisbon police chief.
Anita Malsch died one day short of her 100th birthday. Her family ran the former Malsch Furniture Co. in Sussex.
Katy Holt was editor of the Sussex Sun.
5 years ago — 2003
Former Mammoth Spring Canning Co. executive and Olde Templeton Inn owner Carl Stolper, the driving force behind the push to acquire land for a Sussex Village Park in 1958, died at 83.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, August 27, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago — 1908
The pastor of Lisbon Presbyterian Church was the Rev. C.W. Tarr.
The local telephone company had this rule: “Do not hold the line over three minutes, five at the most.”
50 years ago — 1958
The Sussex Village Board met with some angry villagers who opposed acquiring the 78-acre parkland west of the village. The board pointed out that the $36,000 cost would be somewhat mitigated with the sale of the old baseball-softball field to the school district for $12,000 and the sale of the old Lisbon Town Hall to a private party for $4,500.
25 years ago — 1983
The third annual Whiskey Corners Buffalo Chip Throwing Contest drew more than 100 participants to fling buffalo dung.
Aqua Pools suffered a major fire, with damage estimated at $175,000.
Reiner Nettesheim was honored at the annual Old Engine Show at Sussex Village Park.
Sussex Sentry on Main Street failed to get a liquor license from the Village Board.
10 years ago — 1998
The Sussex population grew from 5,039 in 1990 to 7,675 in 1998, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pauline Haass Public Library held a flower show, with Library Director Joy Boots serving as one of the judges.
The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department investigated a fire that burned school toys at Maple Avenue School.
Bob Geiser of Sussex visited the Peasmarsh Church in England, where pioneer couple James and Mary Weaver married in 1800. (James is considered the father of Sussex-Lisbon.)
5 years ago — 1993
The Lisbon Town Board voted to take down the fence around Pioneer Richmond Cemetery.
Sussex and Lisbon continued to grow, with the village boasting 9,351 residents and Lisbon 9,595.
Fred Eimermann was hired as Hamilton’s new football coach, replacing Chargers legend Stan Grove.