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The Mindoro Cut — a roadway passage 74 feet deep and 26 feet wide carved out of mostly solid rock — turns 100 this year. In celebration, the community of Mindoro is going all out this Sunday to ensure a happy and memorable birthday for the deepest hand-hewn road cut in the nation. Food, fun and history — especially history — will dominate the proceedings.

Among the many events scheduled are a historic walking tour of Mindoro, the first ever Mindoro Business Showcase and a rousing re-enactment of the gun battle that ensued after four outsiders were spotted robbing the bank one dark night in 1932.

The celebration will be centered around the Lions Club shelter in Mindoro because there is really no room for a celebration along the ridge line where the cut was constructed 10 decades ago.

For a village with a population of fewer than 400 souls, Mindoro has far more than its share of history. Back in the December 1855, it was the site of the first store between Black River Falls and La Crosse. That store stayed in business for 113 years.

And the village’s largest employer, Mindoro Creamery (now part of the Swiss Valley Farms Company), has been in continuous operation since 1896.

“My great-great grandmother was the first white child born in La Crosse County outside of the city of La Crosse,” said lifelong resident Carol Storandt. Storandt belongs to the Friends of the Mindoro Public Library, the group that has organized the centennial celebration for the Mindoro Cut.

Storandt and other members of the Friends say they’ve been impressed and gratified by the degree of cooperation they’ve received as they put together the affair, as well as the enthusiasm that’s been shown — especially from those who have only lived in Mindoro a short time.

Gloria Beaser, chair of the Friends of Mindoro Public Library and a lifelong resident of the community, recounted something that happened last week when, as part of the promotion process, the centennial committee tried to duplicate a photo taken in 1908 at the cut. “Everyone was dressed in period costumes and one of the younger girls said she felt a chill down her spine as we stood there, a sense of oneness with the community and with those who came before.”

“My ancestors have been here forever, but some of the people involved with this have only been here three years, yet we all have the same spirit,” said Carol Miller. Carol’s great-great grandfather, Charles Welda, was the proprietor of the Mindoro Hotel and operated a saloon in the late 1800s.

“We’re doing this on a shoestring budget and the cooperation we’ve gotten from the community has been incredible,” said committee member Shirley Gates.

“It’s been a domino effect — people have really come together for this,” added her husband Doyle.

The centennial has taken on added significance since it was learned that the cut can now lay claim to the title of deepest such cut remaining in the nation. There was a slightly deeper cut in Ohio, but it was destroyed when the road through it was widened.

Setting records was not on anyone’s mind when construction of the Mindoro Cut began in the fall of 1907. The motivation was to provide a better way for dairy farmers in the West Salem area to get their product to the creamery in Mindoro and then back to the train station in West Salem.

Hacking a passage through the sandstone ridge that divided Mindoro from communities to the east was backbreaking work. About 14,000 cubic feet of rock would eventually be removed. In the beginning the ridge was too steep even for horses and mules. Workers hauled away rock in wheelbarrows balanced on narrow planks of wood.

It was said that Louis Miller — one of two contractors on the project and a stern taskmaster — gave workers three chances to keep their wheelbarrows on the plank. A third failure and they were fired immediately.

Wages were $1.25 a day and you had to pay for your own meals from a cook shanty on the site. Miller’s mood probably worsened considerably when the sandstone revealed much harder rock underneath (he reportedly lost money on the project). Final cost to the taxpayers of La Crosse County was $11,241.29.

Much of the credit for awareness of how special the cut is — and for its ultimate preservation, must go to Bruce Schliefer and his 4-H Club leader Marie Tracy. Back in the late 1960s, as part of a 4-H project, Schliefer decided to get a historic marker placed at the cut.

At the time there was talk of widening and improving the road. Fortunately, that never happened.

The cut and an accompanying stretch of Highway 108 was granted National Register of Historic Places status in 2007. A plaque commemorating that designation will also be unveiled on June 29 and a video of the ceremony will be available for viewing at the Lions Shelter.

Placement on the National Register of Historic Places was largely due to the efforts of John and Joan Dolbier who moved just downslope from the cut in 1994 and Leo Clark and Patrick Amlaw, two UW-La Crosse students who wrote the nomination under the supervision of Barbara Kooiman, historic preservation specialist with the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center.

The day’s activities will begin with the annual ecumenical “church in the park” service sponsored by American Legion Post No. 507. That service will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Mindoro County Park just west of Mindoro on Highway D.

Festivities will commence at 11 a.m. at the Mindoro Lions Shelter just east of Mindoro on Highway D, but activities will be scheduled throughout the town in the afternoon.

Historic photos, clippings and memorabilia unique to Mindoro will be displayed near the Lions Shelter and there will be opportunities for lifelong residents to share personal recollections of yesteryear.

Shirley Gates emphasized that the information will be shared in a relaxed and mostly informal manner. “We’ll have different setups around the Lions’ Shelter. People are not going to get up and do speeches but will be at various spots so that those interested can follow their level of interest. This is going to be a wonderful thing — a reunion for many people.”

Carol Miller mentioned that Mildred Allen, 94-year-old author of a book about Mindoro’s history, will be in attendance and may also give a talk.

A highlight of the afternoon will be a re-enactment at 1:30 p.m. of the 1932 bank robbery. It can best be viewed from the historic “boardwalk.”

The re-enactment is based on historical research by Mrs. Marvin Schiller and Estella Bryhn and adapted especially for the centennial celebration by Keith Baker, retired local banker who will be the event’s narrator.

“He’ll be up on the boardwalk with a microphone and a P.A. system,” Beaser said.

Another afternoon highlight will be a self-guided walking tour of Mindoro. Brochures, as well as golf carts for those unable to walk, will be available.

In honor of the occasion, the post office is offering a special commemorative stamp cancellation between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Hot off the press and available for the first time will be the 2009 Mindoro Historical Calendar.

For those who’ve worked up an appetite from all that activity, the Lions Club will be serving food. “They’re the real movers and shakers in this community and we’re glad they’ll be doing all the food so that we (the Friends of the Library) don’t have to,” Doyle Gates said.

In addition, there will be a book sale and a plant sale. The Farmington First Responders will do free blood pressure checks and the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department will have some of their equipment on display.

Finally, for shutterbugs, the Friends of the Mindoro Public Library are sponsoring their third annual photo contest. The theme is “Focus on Mindoro” and categories include animals, children, flowers, scenic Mindoro and people/activities in the Mindoro area.

Although there is bound to be plenty of opportunities in that last category, the day really will belong to those who have gone before.

“It’s all about history and honoring what they (our ancestors) did. We owe our forefathers so much. The least we can do is pay tribute to them, talk about them and appreciate what they accomplished,” Miller said.