Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, March 4, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago – 1908
George Brown Jr., 73, died. He was buried in the St. Alban’s Episcopal Church cemetery.
People going to see Sussex-Lisbon boys play for the Menomonee Falls High School team paid 25 cents for admission.
50 years ago – 1958
Menomonee Falls Town Hall hosted a meeting to discuss a possible new high school that would serve Butler, Lannon, Menomonee Falls, Sussex and Lisbon.
The Sussex Drama Club met at Community Hall to plan events.
Sussex shoe repairer Phil Haertle celebrated his 69th birthday.
25 years ago – 1983
The Sussex Fire Department held twice-a-week hands-on training sessions to get used to its new $300,000 85-foot ladder truck.
Bill Ross put in his last day of work as Sussex village administrator Feb. 28.
Todd Wandsnider at 167 pounds was Hamilton’s top perfomer at the state wrestling tournament with a fourth-place finish.
10 years ago – 1998
Lt. Larry Wagner was named Sussex Firefighter of the Year.
Sussex had to start dealing with the problem of radium in the municipal water systems.
The Sussex Teen Club Center in the 71-year-old Sussex Community Hall was renovated at a cost of $10,000, plus a lot of volunteer labor.
5 years ago – 2003
The Sussex VFW continued to hold its meetings in the basement “dugout” of the former VFW clubhouse, which reopened as Wee Welcome Inn Day Care Center.
Peter Abbott was hired to edit the Sussex Sun.
Hamilton junior wrestler Josh Pinter, at 119 pounds, finished the season with 32 wins and 11 losses.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, March 11, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago – 1908
Menomonee Falls saloons, taverns and bars that sold spirits had to shut down on Sundays.
The special purchase for the month was horse whips. Norma1ly $1, they could be purchased for 75 cents.
50 years ago – 1958
Maude Kraetsch, a Lisbon farmer’s wife, was the Sussex-Lisbon columnist for several newspapers: The Waukesha Freeman, the Hartland News and the Menomonee Falls News.
Mrs. Clarence Waller of Lannon and Sussex’s Mrs. Ray Podolske were leaders of Lannon and Sussex summer playground activities.
25 years ago – 1983
A fire at Lannon’s Schlafer Auto Body Inc. garage cost the owner $25,000.
The Sussex Library celebrated “Art Fling-83,” showing art by schoolchildren.
The Piggly Wiggly Store in Lannon had an ad in the Sussex Sun promoting Stroh’s beer 12-packs for $3.39.
Mark Ernewein, Pat Walczak and Greg Taubner all earned Braveland honors for the Hamilton High School basketball team coached by Rich Ludka.
10 years ago – 1998
Taste of Gourmet, an upscale coffeehouse, was set to open in the former Van Valin home next to Sussex Village Hall.
A hungry thief stole $163 worth of pizza from the Tombstone Pizza plant.
5 years ago – 2003
Sussex and Lisbon started studying ways to share equipment and services.
The Hamilton School District considered buying a $2 million plot of land from the 73-acre Fleissner farm on Silver Spring Road.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, March 18, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago – 1908
The Farmers Institute was held in Sussex for two days, March 3-4. It was conducted by W.C. Bradley and H.D. Griswald. Lisbon residents presented a local talent show both evenings.
50 years ago – 1958
The Lannon Parent-Teacher Club named Amos Budahn as its president.
Lannon announced its intention to annex 168 acres northwest of the Village. Ward Kunz had an interest in that land.
Eva Greengo of Sussex, 89, died. She and her husband, Albert, had operated a farm in northern Lisbon until 1952.
25 years ago – 1983
An auction of the late Roy Stier’s estate on Sussex’s Main Street drew more than 300 bidders.
Paul L. Peterson filed a lawsuit against the Town of Lisbon for $4.5 million. His earlier legal actions against the town demanded $4 million and $5 million.
The Hamilton boys basketball team’s season ended 18-4 with a two-point loss in the sectional finals to Milwaukee Madison, 54-52.
10 years ago – 1998
Olive “Ollie” Krueger died at age 95. She once operated the Brook Hotel in Sussex, and later Krueger’s Tap (Killarney’s) with her husband, Bernie, in the 1940s and ’50s.
McAdam’s Pick ‘n Save held a ribbon-cutting for its Sussex store.
5 years ago – 2003
Sussex tried to cut the radium in its water supply with a new dual well, mixing a deep, but slightly radium-contaminated, well with a radium-free shallow well.
Incumbent Robert Winter and former Village President Terry Gissal ran for the Lannon village presidency.
Pages from the Past
Posted: Sussex Sun, March 26, 2008
By Fred Keller, Sussex Village Historian
100 years ago – 1908
The severed upper half of a newborn baby was uncovered by a dog in a pig pen on a farm east of Lannon. Waukesha Coroner Hill’s inquest showed that the infant had been born alive, but cut and killed by a sharp instrument. Later it was revealed that a 19-year-old girl had secretly given birth to the child. The lower half was never recovered.
50 years ago – 1958
The new Kolinski Lannon Concrete Co. opened its first plant on Main Street.
Ted Tetzlaff of Sussex started at center for the Braveland Championship basketball team that finished 12-7. Most of the team, including Tetzlaff, were high school juniors.
25 years ago – 1983
Don Holt asked the Village of Sussex for permission to move the huge old historic Will Edwards home from downtown Sussex to a lot on Silver Spring Road, across the street from Petro Pantry.
The Lisbon Fire Department put out a fire at the Kathleen Wamser home on Lynwood Drive that cost the owner $10,000.
10 years ago – 1998
Lisbon Assessor Donna Zimmermann resigned effective April 1.
Former Sussex Postmaster Bernice Harris was promoted to a management position in the Milwaukee post office.
Waukesha County Sheriff’s Deputy Pete Chycinski of Lisbon was promoted to lieutenant.
Pat Bartlett was elected Sussex village president, the first woman to hold the post.
5 years ago – 2003
The Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society opened its museum in the former North Western Railroad depot.
A proposal for “grade separation” to bridge Highway 164 over the Union Pacific Railroad crossing was rejected.