The Peter White Public Library in Marquette is pictured. (Journal file photo)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference staff at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

30 years ago

K.I. SAWYER — Some 180 Air Force pilots at Sawyer Air Force Base, originally scheduled to lose their posts by the end of 1993, will now be kept on until mid-1994, officials said. As a result, five bombers – Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses – will depart the base in mid-1994, said Byan K. Hubbard, chief of public affairs for the 410th Bomb wing at the base. The change is part of a larger force structure and realignment package announced Friday. Final decisions on the package, which includes changes that will affect bases in 28 states, await completion of environmental analyses, according to Air Force documents. “Civilians should be affected little by the change,” Hubbard said. “Really, what this does is delay changes. It’ll be business as usual until mid-1994. This will give us more opportunity to keep pilots flying.” The bombers belong to the 644th Bomb Squadron. When they depart, the members will join a combat crew training squadron near Shreveport, La.

60 year ago

MARQUETTE — Purchase of some property on S. Lake St., adjacent to some property which the city plans to develop as the site for the new steam electric generating plant, has been authorized by the city commission. Being purchased, in the amount of $4,000 from W.A. Zerbel of Marquette, is a section of property with about 115 feet of water frontage, east of Lake St. and east of the Soo Line Railroad Co. right-of-way. City Manager Thomas Moore said that inasmuch as the city owns the property on both sides of the Zerbel property, and the way it is situated at the base of the city’s proposed docking facility, there would be no advantage to the city in asking for competitive bids. The Zerbel property is adjacent to the Standard Oil Co. property which the city purchased on Sept. 30. The commission also amended its Sept. 30 purchase resolution to correct “an inadvertent error,” to show the considerations as being $63,000, instead of $60,000. “We had been talking in round figures,” stated City Attorney Waldo A. McCrea, “but $63,000 was the exact total under consideration..”