"The Two Streets of That Town"

July of 1916 was brutal. Early on, temperatures started climbing … and just kept on climbing. The heat wave crested late in the month: from 26th through the 30th, the mercury rose to near 100° every day — to 103° on the 27th — and at night never fell below 80°. And not a drop of rain had fallen since sometime back in June.

Before the month was halfway through, William Wollenberg, Sr. appeared before the Hobart Town Board with another request. The hot, dry weather was turning the roadbeds to dust, even the graveled ones. As people drove in to do business at the Grand Trunk depot, Charles Goldman's store and Gust Lindborg's blacksmith shop, they raised clouds of dust. Ainsworth had no road-oiling equipment; Hobart did. Could Hobart help Ainsworth out? Just one 500-gallon tank of road oil was needed, and Ainsworth would pay all the costs.

This time his petition was granted. Hobart's horse-drawn oil wagon went down to Ainsworth and oiled "the two streets of that town."

Two weeks later William came the town board meeting to settle up. The town fathers presented him with a bill for $28.85, and he paid it in full. The Gazette added, "Mr. Wollenberg incidentally left a goodly quantity of good cigars, which were enjoyed 'to his health.'"


Sources:
♦ "Town Board Doings." Hobart Gazette 28 July 1916.
♦ "Town Board Doings." Hobart News 13 July 1916; 27 July 1916.
♦ "Town Board Meets." Hobart Gazette 14 July 1916.
♦ "Worst Heat Wave Ever Experienced in This Locality." Hobart News 3 Aug. 1916.