By Lucas Jagodzinski

100 Years Ago

Two babies were given the honor of a free baby carriage because they were born on Christmas day. A local company headed by F. E. Rosenow provided a free carriage to those who were born in the city on Christmas Day. This year 2 carriages were given out to lucky families. However, two families just missed out on the prize by a few hours.

20 Years Ago

Dangerous circumstances force the premature closing of a potential central Wisconsin tourism hub before it’s fully able to get itself established. Dream City USA, a group led by Roger Clark and Randy Steltenpohl, had purchased the former Plover mall location with the hopes of turning into an epicenter of family fun and entertainment. The group had plans of adding a massive indoor go-kart track, a laser tag complex, batting cages and potentially a mini-golf course. Some of the group’s early attractions, including a teen dancing club, had already opened when the building had to be closed due to the presence of toxic mold and other health concerns.

The energy fair moves out of the town of Amherst. The Energy Fair, formally held at the Amherst Fairgrounds, was moving just outside that location to the town of Stockton, Wi. Stockton was chosen because of its ReNew the Earth Institute facility. This choice marked only the second time in the fair’s history that the event would take place in a location other than the Amherst Fairgrounds. The 2001 rendition of the fair boasted a record attendance of 15,300 people and even including some traveling from as far away as Senegal and Japan. The 2002 edition of the fair held in Stockton ran from June 21st-June 23rd, 2002.

10 Years Ago

The Crossroads Commons shopping complex in Plover got set to add some new stores to its roster in 2012. A new 2.9-million-dollar 47,500 square foot facility was slated to house a large portion of those new developments. On tap to be housed in this building were Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store, Christopher & Banks, Rue 21, Regis Salons and Get It Now. Space for an additional store would also be included on the lease for a store to be named later. Two of the stores, Christopher & Banks and Regis Salon, were businesses that had locations in the Stevens Point Mall before it closed. Village Administrator Dan Mahoney indicated the Crossroads Commons provided an opportunity for those businesses to find a new home in the area.

The 50-year lease for the U.S. Postal Service Office in Stevens Point neared an end and invoked fear for many in the area that the office would be part of budget cuts happening in the postal service as a whole.

However, postal service spokesperson for the district Sean Hargadon, attempted to quell those fears- “We are currently in negotiations with the landlord. We intend to be there to serve our customers. If there’s not an agreement, we’ll go into holdover, probably with a month-to-month lease.” Hargadon also confirmed there were no plans to eliminate the office and the worst-case scenario would simply be that they would have to find a new location for the office.