Lannon History
(in chronological order)
1960 – 1989
Compiled and Edited by Michael R.Reilly
Last Revised 03/03/2005
this issue updated 03/03/2005
1960: October or November – a big addition went up, and Erv Miller’s Suburban Market openswith groceries and a self-serve meat department. Two more additions were addedto the “warehouse” (?), more walk-in coolers, a walk-in freezer, andanother door for deliveries. For the Meat Dept and room to park the store truck,the compressors were taken out of the meat dept and installed on the roof. This is the time period that the store actually functioned as a true grocery store.
1961 – a new church addition is built in the basement of the St.James Catholic School.
1962 – Vincent Galbavy II, working at the Wislanco quarry,decides to buy a small 6-acre quarry located north of the Bugline Railroad andjust south of the Lannon Farmers & Merchants Bank (Associated Bank) by abouttwo blocks from brothers Brian and Patrick Cull. Today (Oct, 2000) known as theUnited Stone Corporation run by 1st son, Vincent Galbavy III.
– Nick Quartaro, thena Village Trustee, talks against installing sewers.
1962/June – 30 more acres were ceded from Menomonee Falls toLannon “for a future sewer plant”, as a result of a harmoniouspolitical “back scratching” decision.
1963 – tragedy struck Lannon baseball when long-timerscore/grounds-keeper Barney Joecks died in a car accident. In his honor, thebaseball field was renamed Joeck’s Memorial Park.
– Nick Quartaro is elected Village president by a two-vote marginon a platform of no sewers in Lannon (possibly no municipal water as well).
1964 – new Village Hall is built onthe southeast corner of Main St. (Hwy 74) and Lannon Rd.
1965 – the Lannon Lions Club is formed.
1960’s: late – the Lannon Lions Clubstart the grade school flagfootball program.
1966 – at some earlier time, the Lannon Fire Dept bought thebuilding, where the present Post Office is today, but they couldn’t make themortgage payments, so Postmaster Keith Gissal and his wife stepped in andpurchased the building and moved the post office into it. For a while, the postoffice was even located next door to The Dugout non Lannon Rd (now a smallapartment building).
1968 – Lannon gets an Farmers & Merchants Bank; temporary rental quartersare in the old J.J. Flanagan/Miller Food Store and Butcher Shop on the corners of northwest MainSt. and Lannon Rd.
/3/29 – RobertKirchnik, age 52, a volunteer on the Lannon Fire Department died of a coronaryheart attack while fighting a grass fire.
/Apr – Ward Kunz won election to Village Board as a write-incandidate.
1969/12 – the Hwy 41 freeway from the Milwaukee County line toHwy 45 is finally opened.
1970/Jan. – Lannon Fire Chief is Keith Gissal, Assistant ChiefsSyd Gissal, and Godfrey (Shupe) DeCristofaro, Captains Walter Becker and HarveyRossman, Lieutenants Robert Monacelli and LaVern Ehly.
/Feb – The Lannon andSussex Lions Clubs have scheduled a money raising grudge basketball game betweenthemselves to raise money for the Hamilton prom party. Tickets cost 50 cents.
/Mar. – A new gridsystem of house numbering was installed to replace the old willy nilly system (howmuch was done in Lannon?).
– The Lannon Lionettes were beaten by the Sussex Lionettes, 17-10, in a benefitbasketball game.
/Apr. – a new law requiredthat studded car tires be removed from cars by April 15th.
– The U.S. Postal Service was seeking a new post office in Lannon. They will beasking for proposals.
/June – Hwy 74 (MainSt.) was torn up from Town Line Rd. to Menomonee Falls for reconstruction.Lannon’s Main Street was totally closed for some time and Silver Spring servedas a major by-pass.
– Lannon’s Lt. David Joecks was decorated by both South Vietnam and theU.S. for heroism in Vietnam this past year.
/July 11 – Lannon’sFire Dept was on mutual aid to put out a huge swamp fire in the Tamarack Swampoff Mill Rd.
/Aug. – Lannon andWaukesha tie at 14-4 for LOL Eastern Division Championship, forcing a playoff.Lannon lost 3 games in 3 weeks to lose. The last game was attended by over 2,500people.
/Sept. – The LannonLions Club sponsored a street opening Oct 3rd to mark the reopening of Main St.after a long reconstruction; a ribbon cutting, parade, and dancing in thestreets were planned.
/Oct. – Monacelli Sports Center in Lannon sold Eskimo snowmobiles.
1971 – Father John Knotek (1968-72) leads the St. James’ congregation intorestoring the deteriorating old church; work completed in August.
1972/July, week of 1st – Lannon held a “Lonny DayFestival” at the Village Park and ball field.
/July, week of 8th -Lannon won 11 straight LOL baseball games.
/July, week of 15th -Lannon firefighters turned over their 1929 Seagraves fire engine to
/July, week of29th – The Lannon Easy Riders Snowmobile Club planned a grass racefor Sept. 30-Oct.1st.
/Aug., week of 12th -with Rick Clee going the route, Lannon won 17th game w/o defeat in theLOL, clinching the Eastern Division title.
/Dec.21st – – Erwin “Erv” “Greenie”Miller, the”Father of Lannon Land O’ Lakes Baseball” dies. Lannon grocer, sports sponsor and civicleader, Erwin E. Miller, 65, died Thursday December 21, 1972 at CommunityMemorial Hospital where he had been hospitalized for the past three weeks withLeukemia, heart trouble, and a bleeding ulcer.
1973 – On Friday, August 3, the first annual Erv. MillerBaseball Tournament was held. It was Lannon upsetting Menomonee Falls Lakers,7-6.
1975 – a season finale was added to the Lannon-Sussex flagfootball program – a “Flag Football Super Bowl”, using the mainHamilton High School sports field.
1975/Sept – The Lannon supermarket had new owners, HarryLangermann and his two sons.
/Oct., week of 3rd – DickGruetzmacher won his fourth batting title for the Lannon Eastern DivisionLOL’s team, hitting .450.
1976/Jan., week of 16th – Randall Lenz, age 20,the youngest trustee ever to serve on the Lannon Village Board, resigned becausehe was working, and a student in Madison.
1979 – the Sussex Sun becomes the officialnewspaper for Lannon information
1980 – Golden Jubilee
1984/Dec. – a 9 foot snowman was built with the 1st snowfall ofthe season.
1985/Jan. – Robert Ische of Lannon took over “Zimmermann’sCorner” in Sussex, renaming it “Dilly’s”.
/Feb. – After 37years on the job, Harvey Rossman will retire as Lannon’s Treasurer.
/Apr. – Lannonplanned retirement parties for Harold DeLany and Harvey Rossman. The party wascalled the “90 Plus”.
/May – Bill Galbraithof Lannon got his second wild turkey, one last season and now one this huntingseason.
– Village President Terry Gissal leads referendum push against borrowing $1.5million for construction of major addition to Hamilton High School; he hasgotten required signatures – 2,200 – referendum set for June 6th.
– Pam Gall took over as the replacement clerk-treasurer of Lannon at a salary of$6,000 per year.
– Village requests State approval to allow Lannon School to use an existingholding tank until sewer can be established. The 5,000 gal. tank has to bepumped nearly every day.
– St. John’s celebrated 90th anniversary with a fellowship dinner for 410.
/June/6 – St. James and Rose Hill (Sussex) cemeteries merge with St. James owning both.
/Aug./15 – tornado touchdown at Arthur and Fawn Drs.
– Good Hope Rd is rebuilt and widened in Lannon.
/Sept/12 – “Mrs.B”Bea Mattila, retired at Lannon’s Safeline bus fleet.
/Sept. – Lannon Boardannounced it would allow bow hunting in certain village areas.
1986/late – Nick Quartaro resigns as village president,the longest-serving of the nine village presidents that Lannon had.
1987/July, week of 15th – the Lannon Park quarry swimmingbeach had a drowning. (When did Lannon Park become part of theWaukesha Co. park system and be renamed Menomonee Park?)
/Aug.,week of 19th – Lannon planned to get tough on the cleanup of properties.(In Aug., 1992, the Trustees toured the Village looking for junk; the Boardwanted to rid the village of stored junk. Question -Did it take this long before any action was taken?)
/Aug.,week of 26th – a rash of thefts hit Lannon.
1989/Dec. – Jim Gantner of the Milwaukee Brewers was a specialguest at Lannon Elementary School.
– Fred Keller begins his column “Pages From Our Past” inthe Sussex Sun in issue 12/13/94