30 years ago

ISHPEMING – Two things have been saved by the longtime members of the Bethany Lutheran Church: a 110-year-old organ, and about $75,000. Church members have recently uncovered most of the original 1,015 pipes from the 1885 Schuelke Pipe Organ in the attic of the Church’s education unit. Some custodian believed that some of the old pipes, with their squared edges, were once steps from a set of risers. The organ console, pipe stand, and about 150 new pipes will need to be rebuilt at a cost of about $225,000, without the old pipes, the same organ would cost $300,000. The organ is being shipped to Iowa, where it will be renovated and provided with replicas of missing parts based on a similar organ in an Iowan Catholic Church. Half of the cost of repairs came from a bequest to the church, the rest was raised by members in a couple of weeks.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE – The Department of Commerce has updated their home ownership statistics, revealing a new high set in Marquette County. In 1950, the official Census of Housing showed that 63.6 percent of local units were owner occupied, and by 1965, the ratio hit 69.3 percent. Marquette’s figures fare favorably within the U.S., as the average percentage of homeownership sits at 64.1 percent. These numbers have been assisted in part by both increased family incomes, and affordable mortgage rates. Families are still trading up their homes (selling and buying larger/fancier houses), but remolding has also been on the rise. All of Marquette County home owners spend a total of $3,429,000 year on such renovation projects.