Pickings from Pike’s Past 5.16.24
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125 YEARS AGO: WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN SPEAKS TO THOUSANDS IN PITTSFIELD.
150 Years Ago
May 21, 1874
The weather is pleasant, but remains very cool and yet with a decided inclination to rain every time it gets a chance. Owing to the unfavorableness of the weather many of our farmers are not done planting corn and some are not yet through breaking ground yet.
125 Years ago
May 23, 1899
We had a very heavy downfall of rain the past week and many have not quite finished planting.
“Is Man Woman’s Superior?” was debated at the Queen Chapel Baptist Church last Thursday evening. The elite of Pittsfield’s colored society was in attendance.
Pittsfield is right in it this week. School with its closing and commencement exercises Monday and Tuesday, Bryan Day on Wednesday, Baptist Association for the district Thursday and Friday, and Saturday let’s all go fishing.
Col and Mrs. William Jennings Bryan and three children will arrive tomorrow morning from the west. They will be accompanied by Congressman Williams from Pittsfield who makes the first speech at the Bryan meeting.
Decoration Day at Summer Hill will be conducted under the auspices of Major Sam Hayes Post No. 477.
May 26, 1899
Bryan Day was a grand success, the weather fine, the crowd immense, and the “Silver Knight” royally received by Pike County. He delivered a matchless speech to 10,000 people in the park. For nearly two hours he was listened to by the thousands who could get near enough to hear him. It was the largest audience that ever listened to a speaker in the courthouse park. A better-behaved crowd never assembled in Pittsfield.
No wheat. It is evident that the wheat crop in the county is a failure.
It is simply an outrage that people of this vicinity will no longer turn out at a proper hour at meetings of whatever character at night. Commencement exercises were delayed until nearly 9 o’clock because the belated ones kept putting in their appearances. As a result the audience was kept there until 11:30 p.m.
100 Years Ago
May 21, 1924
Only 252 pupils passed the seventh and eighth grade finals out of 650 and 675 who took the tests in 19 Pike County towns. Students were required to write on reading, orthography and spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history and physiology. Six questions were submitted on each subject. The “straw that seems to have had most to do with breaking the camel’s back” was a list of 20 words in the spelling test. Among the 20 were vaccinate, antiseptic, rhubarb, debris, souvenir, appendicitis and asparagus. Criticism was made that the tests were too difficult, but the superintendent stated that the questions were all based on the year’s work.
The abstract of the assessment of Pike County, just completed by the county treasurer, shows a total of 2,633 automobiles in the county, with an average value of $77.34.
Mr. A. B. Fletcher of Hannibal yesterday morning put a Reo 16-passenger bus in service between Pittsfield and Quincy. The car will make the round-trip from Pittsfield daily except Sundays.
The Episcopal Cemetery of Pittsfield was officially organized Thursday afternoon. It lies west of Pittsfield, just north of the Pittsfield West Cemetery. The land was donated for cemetery purposes many years ago by the late Wm. A. Grimshaw.
Pittsfield High School will graduate 45 on May 29. Baylis High School graduated seven, and Perry High School had five graduates.
May 26 is the annual clean-up day for Taylor-Martin Cemetery. Everyone interested bring dinner and tools and come prepared to do a big day’s work. Teams are needed to haul gravel for the driveway.
Revival meetings will begin at the Nebo Methodist Church May 22. Full salvation gospel preaching. There will be an all-day meeting with dinner in the grove, Sunday may 25.
75 Years Ago
May 25, 1949
A twister hit the Farmer’s Ridge area, south of Nebo, destroying a house and barn. It also caused damage near Bee Creek and across the Mississippi River in the Bowling Green and Clarksville area.
The league-leading Summer Hill baseball team voted Sunday to quit the Pike Count League after league officials declared Glenn Steers of Hannibal ineligible to play on the Summer Hill team, as he lives and works in Hannibal.
One person was killed, one critically hurt and nine others taken to Illini Hospital when a chartered bus lost control in a rainstorm on highway 96 three miles south of New Canton. The bus was filled with colored passengers headed to see Brooklyn play St. Louis. Two nurses from Quincy came along shortly afterwards, the driver lost control of her car, and her companion was thrown from the auto and killed.
Griggsville Unit High School will graduate 23, 15 boys and eight girls. Pearl High School will graduate eight. Pittsfield High will graduate 82, Milton is graduating 13, West Pike is graduating 23, Barry 29, and Pleasant Hill is graduating 27.
Richard Niebur has purchased the R. L. Harp, Jr. Insurance Agency. This is the agency formerly owned by H. B. Hooper. Harp sold his agency in order to join his father in selling and constructing Lustron houses. Ralph Harp, Sr. is the owner of Harp Builders, Inc.
One hundred ten mothers and daughters were present at the annual Mother-Daughter banquet last Monday night at Pittsfield Christian Church. The group enjoyed a lovely banquet served by the men of the church.
50 Years Ago
May 22, 1974
Craig Collver, president of the Greater Pike Industrial Corporation, and Ivan Knapp, president of Kamar Construction Corp. have agreed for the sale of the 132-acre GPIC site north of Pittsfield to Kamar, which has grown consistently since Knapp acquired the business in 1958. Primarily, the company manufactures wooden roof trusses and sells farm buildings from dealerships in Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska.
Ed Franklin, of Nebo, was the speaker for the Pike County Historical Society Monday night. The record-breaking crowd required moving the meeting from the Community Center to the Nazarene Church as Franklin related his experiences as a prisoner in South Yemen.
Robert C. Lipcamon, 40, has been employed as manager of the new Pittsfield-Penstone municipal airport. Mayor Dudley Williams said there were more than 50 applicants for the job. Lipcamon is a retired U. S. Air Force master sergeant, and a native of Barry.
Pittsfield High School will graduate 118 on May 31. The class officers are: president, Mary Williams; vice president, Bill Booth; secretary, Elaine Smith; and treasurer, Mike Harig.
Coach Harry Wagy’s Nebo junior high track team won the class A heavyweight division at the recent Pike County track meet, beating the Higbee team by four points, perhaps the first time that has ever occurred. Team members are Carl Smith, Bob Norris, Bill Myers, Jay McCann, Randy Ruble, Russ Harlow, Joe Liggett, Ron Carle and Tom Flock.
Ray V. Lyman of Summer Hill died unexpectedly, May 17, at Illini Hospital. Mr. Lyman served eight years as conservation office for Pike County, was sheriff for four years, deputy sheriff four years and county treasurer for four years.
25 Years Ago
May 19, 1999
In the last game of the season PHS senior Scott Riley hit two towering home runs to earn the IHSA record of 21 home runs in a season. He is third, at 32 consecutive games with a hit. He is third in most home runs in a career, 28. And, at 88, he ranks 5th for most RBIs in a single season.
It has been a while since John Guthrie first applied for the job as airport manager for the Pittsfield- Penstone public airport in 1974, but he finally has the job. “When I found out that the city was once again hiring a manager, I decided to give it a whirl,” Guthrie said.
10 Years Ago
May 21, 2013
Frazier Curless, a Pittsfield High School senior, will receive the 2014 Rod Webel Memorial Scholarship from the Two Rivers Farm Bureau foundation. Curless, the son of Brian and Sandy Curless, plans to attend the University of Illinois, majoring in agricultural economics.
Rachel Clowers, a sophomore at Pleasant Hill High School, will be heading to the state track meet this weekend. She is seeded second in both shot put and discus.
ν Compiled by
Michael Boren.
