100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 29, 1920

The 56 longhorn steers recently purchased in Mexico for the Round-Up roping and bulldogging events were unloaded at Stanfield last night evening after having made the long journey from Pecos, Texas, on the border. The steers are a young and snappy lot and pronounced as fine as any ever brought here. Dan Clark, livestock agent for the O.W.R. & N., made a special trip to the border to obtain the animals, as is his annual custom, and he arrived here with them. The Charley Irwin outfit will be here shortly, including both relay and bucking horses. Irwin will come later with a number of performers and is out to win the lion’s share of the prizes this year, he says.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 29, 1970

How did you observe Women’s Lib Day? Aug. 26 was the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. We made a survey this week among the women of the community and promised complete anonymity so they didn’t hesitate to voice their opinions.

A young mother said she spent the day “being thankful for my happy position in life with my husband and three children.” A librarian said, “I don’t see any point in all this women’s emancipation stuff, but of course I don’t know very much about economics. I’d rather be a clinging vine than have equal status.” A graduate student majoring in business claimed, “I prefer being a minority in my field. I get more help from the men. … I’d hate to have to share a dinner check.”

However, not everyone indicated they like the status quo. “You bet I’m for Women’s Lib, if it will raise our salaries,” said a divorcee. “Women work 40 hours a week for half the pay a man gets for the same hours.” A policewoman replied, “Yes, I think women are discriminated against in their work, and what they are paid for it. We do all jobs here that the men on the force don’t want to do, and we’re paid about half as much.”

The League of Women Voters is an organization that grew out of women’s suffrage. The Pendleton League will have a get-acquainted meeting Sept. 3 to launch the fall season. “Please don’t use the publicity about this meeting on Aug. 26,” pleaded the president, Mrs. Fred Barnum. “We don’t want to be identified with Women’s Lib.”

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 29, 1995

Helen McCune, the former principal at the Pendleton junior high school named in her honor on Dorion Avenue, would have been honored by the work that officially started on Monday. That was the word from former students and teachers who spent years inside the halls and classrooms of the Hellen McCune building and who attended the ground-breaking ceremony. The old school, which has sat vacant for several years, will be renovated into a city hall/library complex, sitting between the city-owned Vert Auditorium and the Helen McCune gymnasium. John Strove, a gray-haired former student at the school, said, “In the past, this building was just for education, now it’s for everyone.”