125 Years ago: 1901
The Missouri government signed new legislature that stated county boards of education should be made up of a group of people rather than just a commissioner. There were nominations for this new board position in Nodaway County, including Prof. Wright, Prof. McCann and Mr. Rathburn.
At a local dairy meeting, the Elmo cheese factory announced it changed its model of payment from hourly work to a salary-based payment for its workers. The cheese factory also changed to paying the milk providers of the town every 15th and 30th of the month.
Memphis railroads offered a $500 reward for anybody able to catch a train robber. Judge Slover, a Clyde resident, was visiting a barber shop in Kansas City when he and the barber caught the man and returned him into the police. They split the reward in half!
Easter Sunday took place this weekend, and all the churches in Maryville observed the holiday. The Maryville Tribune newspaper declared that the South Methodist Church was the most beautiful in town. The Freemasons fraternity visited all the Protestant churches of Maryville and delivered sermons on this day as well. The group had 37 members, and 23 of them participated in these Easter visits.
Maryville resident Mr. Bellows had been bringing shorthorn cattle to Nodaway County from Texas, Chicago and South America. He then sold the cows at prices between $1,650 and $3,700.
75 Years Ago: 1951
Nodaway County reported 15 highway accidents over this week. There were no fatalities, but 30 people were injured and the damages to the property totaled $31,340.
The Hopkins Community Club held a banquet and program at the Legion Home in Hopkins. The Ladies American Legion Auxiliary served the meal. Two hundred people attended. J. Harold Holt was Master of Ceremonies. The Good-Willers of the Maryville Chamber of Commerce started the night off with a presentation. Next, the Maryville High School German band played two piano pieces followed by a tap dance piece. Will Hayden and son, Harold, gave vocal selections. Finally, the night ended with the Wayne Crawford trio from Maryville who performed with a harmonica, banjo and guitar. They were accompanied by Bozo the Clown.
A few weeks ago, Maryville voted to implement a 20-cent tax to help improve the street conditions of Maryville. However, this tax had been in place for weeks and no improvement had been made to the roads. Councilman Farrar was sent to answer questions as to why Maryville had increased taxes and no improvements were being seen.
Due to dust storms ravaging the southwest, the United States Department of Agriculture sent a formal request to farms in northwestern Missouri to grow more corn this season. This caused some controversy as many of the farmers had recently grown corn so growing it again this season would impact their crop rotation schedule.
50 Years Ago: 1976
Maryville passed four new laws relating to driving. The first law made parking on private property illegal. The second law made parking on a public street for longer than 12 hours illegal. The third law created a cap of four hours to be parked on a public street if you were repairing your car. Finally, the last law was a crackdown on careless driving and gave the local police more jurisdiction to pull people over for careless driving.
Various county boards of education discussed consolidation. This was raised because many of the small schools in the county could not meet requirements to maintain a were below what the state board of education considered an acceptable income for the ‘AA’ rating without passing an increased levy. Consolidating the schools would increase the number of students at each school and would raise the income per school as well. This issue had been raised previously, but outrage from the communities had led each board of education to table the issue in the past.
Kansas University held a faculty relay race where full-time college professors who had not run as a part of a collegiate track team in the last 5 years could participate. Northwest had four professors enter: Virgil Albertini, Tom Tollman, Bruce Wake, and Marvin Silliman. The team had an average age of 38 years old and ultimately did not place in the top three.
Maryville held its second bicentennial county fair. This fair was recognized by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in Washington D.C. and received a flag as official recognition. The fair included many events, including a kid’s clown costume contest, a show by two California seals, and performances by local music groups.