As Albert Lea started another year with new calendars 60 years ago, the Tribune published the results of a poll based on ideas for making the city a better place to live in the future.

This poll had originated in the local office of the Minnesota State Employment Service and was based on a question asked of 600 employers in the summer of 1949. That question was, “What additional goods and services should Albert Lea have that it does not now have?”‘

Of the 600 employers queried, 128 responded. Then, for some unknown reason, the results of the poll weren’t published in the Tribune until the Dec. 30, 1949, issue.

This report based on the poll, stated, “Albert Lea needs more places of adult entertainment, more diversification of industry and several additional services and facilities …” However, the adult entertainment part was actually based on more family-type recreational facilities. Some of the suggestions were for a municipal swimming pool, a first-rate ballroom, a public boat landing, more neighborhood playgrounds, a community center and a new “uptown theater.”

Other suggestions resulting from this 1949 poll were for a junior college (to replace the local one closed in 1943), a viaduct over the railroad tracks on South Broadway or Newton Avenues, public restrooms in the city’s central business district and even a municipal liquor store.

Some of the suggestions became realities in later years. Yet, there were other proposals that never quite evolved. One was for the clean up of Albert Lea Lake. Two others were for “a steam bathhouse and a canning plant to pack (process) carp from surrounding lakes.”

As the holiday season ended 60 years ago, there was an interesting news report that may have caught the attention of area citizens. According to the Tribune, in the period between Dec. 24, 1949, to the end of the year, there were 26 babies born at Naeve Hospital.

Back in late 1949 and early 1950, area citizens didn’t have television to watch. However, they did have the radio, movie theaters and several dance halls for recreational and listening purposes.

The Tribune was publishing a daily radio log based on the program listing for four area stations that were affiliated with the nation’s major broadcast networks.

The local station leading this list was KATE, an affiliate of the American Broadcasting Company. KGLO of Mason City, Iowa, was the area’s prime source for programs from the Columbia Broadcasting System. WHO from Des Moines, Iowa, was one of several area stations affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company. And KAUS in Austin was then a part of the Mutual Broadcasting System.

For just over a decade, Radio Station KATE had studios in both Albert Lea and Austin and was the major broadcasting voice of the region. This changed on May 30, 1948, when Austin’s KAUS started broadcasting.

To help celebrate the change to a different calendar and a new decade, area folks could attend the New Year’s Eve midnight show at the Broadway Theater. The film that night was “Always Leave Them Laughing,” starring Milton Berle and Virginia Mayo. As a bonus. there was a color cartoon. All seats were 55 cents, tax included.

To the north in the next block was the Rivoli Theater where a double feature was the New Year’s special. One of the films was part of a series based on the then very popular newspaper comic strip, “Blondie.” This particular movie to start off 1950 was “Blondie Hits the Jackpot.” The second film on the program that night was a western sagebrush saga, “Hellfire.”

A lively option for active entertainment six decades ago was dancing. In that era there were two basic types of dance music in this part of the nation —  old time and new time.

Old time was the ethnic type of polka and waltz music, plus folk melodies and songs, brought by to Minnesota by the immigrants from Germany, Bohemia and Scandinavia. New time was the more modern melodies based on fairly current and popular American music.

For those folks who liked to drive and dance at an out-of-town destination, Austin’s Terp Ballroom was the place to go six decades ago. On Dec. 30 would be a Sadie Hawkins Dance with music by the Six Fat Dutchmen from New Ulm. For the old time music fans that evening, the Tribune ad said, “Girls be ready — boys be brave.” On New Year’s Eve hats, horns and noisemakers would be furnished to accompany the new time music by the Lynn Kerns Orchestra. Bob’s Hillbillies was the music group scheduled for the New Year’s night dance at the Terp.

One of the New Year’s Eve dances in Albert Lea was sponsored by the Eagles Lodge and the local Army National Guard unit. This dance would be at the Armory, then located at the corner of South Washington Avenue and West Clark Street. Music was by Marvin Kluckeburg and the Golden Aces. Free noisemakers and hats were part of the festivities that evening.

What was advertised as the “biggest New Year’s Eve party in town” would be at the American Federation of Labor Hall, 115 S. Newton Ave., with music by the Melody Men. Admission was $1 per person.