50 years ago

Fire Hits Old Ottertail Creamery: The old Ottertail Creamery caught fire on Thursday, Jan. 6, 1972 early in the morning when a tire mold was turned on by the tire-capping business inside the building. The structure was quickly evacuated, and firemen from Perham, Ottertail, New York Mills and Henning all came together to extinguish the flame. An estimated $3500 worth of damage was done to the structure, and all equipment in the building would be evaluated before used again. The fire was likely caused due to a wiring issue.

Snow Storm Brings Most Activity Here to Standstill: Much like the past few days, Perham experienced a large snowstorm about 50 years ago on Wednesday, Jan. 12. Around two feet of snow fell, and many Otter Tail County roads were closed, including Highway 10. Visibility was limited in the snow, and Main Street was almost empty.

Real Estate: A five-bedroom country home with a full basement, double garage and 2.5 acres of land was listed for sale in the newspaper by Perham Realty. The building was about six miles outside of town, and sellers were asking $25,000.

From the Thursday, Jan. 13, 1972, Perham Enterprise-Bulletin

25 years ago

A 20-incher: Much like the previous week and 50 years ago, 1997 also experienced a large snowfall. An estimated 20 inches of snow fell for about 24 hours from Saturday through Sunday, which was one of the biggest winter storms in several years. Due to the storm, a storage shed at Rush Lake Lumber collapsed.

346 people served by this year's Perham Giving Tree: The Giving Tree helped provide a total of 346 people in need with gifts for the Christmas season, including 100 total families. This was about 50 additional people served in comparison to previous years. Jane Aschnewitz coordinated with program along with Steve and Lisa Sheets, and volunteers helped deliver all the gifts.

Now Showing: The 1996 live action 101 Dalmatians, starring Glenn Close, was showing in the Comet Theatre Jan. 10–12 at 7:30 p.m. each evening. There was also a special Saturday matinee scheduled for this film on Jan. 11 at 1 p.m.

From the Thursday, Jan. 9, 1997, Perham Enterprise-Bulletin