125 Years Ago: 1901
The Presbyterian Church choir and 40 other citizens put on the comedic opera “The Jolly Farmers and the Merry Milkmaids.” Professor Watson and his wife directed the singing, as well as dramatized the work. Tickets were sold for just 35 cents.
The Wabash Stock Yards held a public horse sale. The horses were haltered and sold in pairs.
Robert Heath from Maryville was injured on a passenger train by a piano rolling against him.
The piano cut his head badly and knocked him through the door of the railroad car.
The five cows from Glover’s dairy who were suspected to have rabies were still causing problems. Glover sold them to a stock buyer at a reduced rate, and they were sent to the St. Joseph stock yards where they were held in quarantine. Several of the cows already had died, and the others appeared to be falling ill.
A Maryville boy, Tommy Richardson, died after being cut in a fight in Shenandoah. He was critically ill for a few weeks, and his body was shipped home after his passing.
75 Years Ago: 1951
The City of Maryville would begin gravelling streets under the city’s new street program. The city council hoped to gradually replace the dirt streets with graveled ones. They began with the section of South Mulberry Street that stretched from Lincoln Street to First Street, with plans to gravel all streets in the city limits. Excessive rain had delayed their ability to grade the streets and re-work the ditches, but the work was finally begun this week.
The Lions Club of Barnard elected new officers for the coming year. Some of these positions included David C. Wilson for president, Roe Miller for 1 st vice-president, V. E. Bird as 2nd vice- president, and Paul Stalling as secretary.
50 Years Ago: 1976
Dr. Harold Jackson was appointed as the new chairman of the department of music at Northwest Missouri State University. The previous department head, Dr. John Smay, announced his retirement in 1975, and the university had been searching for his replacement for a year.
Jackson previously directed various high school and college bands throughout Texas. He chose to apply for the position at Northwest because he wanted the opportunity to direct a department devoted to music education and claimed Northwest had “the finest music facilities in the state of Missouri”. Jackson explained that his main goal with the music program was to increase the number of ensembles the university offered, therefore making the program and its students more competitive.
Northwest Missouri State University announced plans to improve the track and field facilities at Rickenbrode Stadium. The plans included installation of an all-weather, six-lane track and improvement to pole vault, long jump, triple jump, and high jump areas. Northwest Head Track Coach Dick Flanagan noted how this renovation would bring improvements to the Northwest and Maryville communities, as well as recruitment for the track and field team.