When the Korean War began, the Cornhusker Ordinance Plant reopened to produce bombs for the war. The plant loaded, sorted, and packed eight-inch artillery shells and fuse-mine bombs.
Bobby Reynolds was born and raised in Grand Island. He played for the
Cornhuskers football team. In 1950, Bobby Reynolds scored 157 points
in nine games and also set a conference record of 1342 yards rushing.
Reynolds hurt his leg in two places trying to steal home while
playing for University's baseball team in his senior year. Bobby
Reynolds had a stroke while playing golf and died in 1985.
On April 29, 1954, Fonner Park opened their doors for the very first time. It was a cold and windy April day. Three thousand people came to see the races on that first day. The park was named after Gus Fonner. He had owned the land the park sits on today. He liked to ride horses. At one time he had been in the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. There is horse racing, horse shows, county fairs, and other activities that go on at Fonner Park today.
C. Ray Gates Elementary School was dedicated on Nov. 8, 1955.
Sharon Kay Ritchie was named Miss America in Atlantic, Iowa. She was 18 years old. Sharon was born and raised in Grand Island, Nebraska. She moved to Colorado to attend college and represented Colorado at the 1956 Miss America Pageant. Part of her job as Miss America was to tour around the country giving speeches almost every day.
Interstate 80 opened and went by Grand Island to Kearney.
In June of this year Grand Island was flooded because of heavy rain. It started to rain on May 26th, 1967 and got the ground wet. Then on June 4th, more stormy weather came in quickly. In two weeks it rained 14 inches. On June 14th, the worst flood in Grand Island's history started. North and South Grand Island were flooded. Five thousand people were evacuated from their homes. One third of the city was covered with water. Thousands of dollars had to be used to take care of the flood victims. South Locust became a river. Many Grand Islanders had a lot of cleaning up to do. Although the flood didn't hit Grand Island until June 14th, the events leading up to it actually started on May 26th. The flood was beginning to recede by June 28th.