Board petitioned on behalf of Plaza School

Editor's Note: A bonus Nell Dikeman column is made possible by Leap Year.

100 YEARS AGO

(1912)

A farmer was in one of the poultry houses in the city the other day inquiring about the prices being paid for chickens.

He told the poultry dealer he had some 400 hens for sale and drifting in a conversation about chickens generally, he said he had kept a careful account of his chickens the past winter and that every egg he had had from those 400 hens had cost him 35 cents. This is an instance in contrast with a Fort Scott woman who has kept a pen of some 50 or 60 hens and has been selling eggs and lots of them all winter. She got 19 dozen last week.

Whether the different experiences of these two chicken keepers is due to a difference in the breeding of the hens or in the caring for them, or both, is a question for those handling chickens.

75 YEARS AGO

(1937)

The request by black citizens for additional playground space at Plaza School was presented again last night at the regular monthly meeting of the school board. A committee of black citizens met with the school board and presented it with a petition containing signatures of colored owners of property and patrons of the school urging that the board obtain additional ground between the Plaza School and the Plaza for playground use. The petition is worded as follows: "We, the undersigned citizens of Fort Scott, taxpayers and patrons of the Plaza School are standing 100 percent behind the Plaza P.T.A. playground committee and it is our intention to cooperate with them in their undertaking."

William Miller, North Side grocer, did not open the doors of his store this morning on the first anniversary of the death of his wife.

Regular hours will resume tomorrow.

50 YEARS AGO

(1962)

The first mechanical cement mixer in Fort Scott, which actually was one of the first in the Midwest, went into operation 53 years ago on a National Avenue pavement project.

The arrival of the machine was recalled here recently by T.L. Thogmartin, retired contraction man, as he looked through some old photographs. He had purchased the mixer for his contracting business. The firm of Thogmartin and Gardiner had the National Avenue paving job. The mixer was powered by a vertical boiler steam engine.

25 YEARS AGO

(1987)

Residents of the city may have an uneasy feeling over the weekend as 2.45 inches of rain sent the Marmaton River and local creeks out of their banks. This road running adjacent to the U.S. 69 Bypass was closed all day Sunday. The Marmaton crested at 40.55 at 4 a.m. Sunday, 2.55 feet above flood stage and had dropped to 32.84 feet this morning."-- Photo by John Lechliter

Though he and his partner have spent more than $100,000 to start up a dialysis center in Fort Scott--and the center now serves only one patient -- Dr. Patrick Doody said he felt it was inevitable that business would increase, allowing that it takes time to set up a practice.

"Fort Scott has a growing medical community and dialysis will give it a new service and an added dimension," Doody said.

He said he and his partner, Dr. Robert Hatlelid, decided to begin a dialysis center in Fort Scott because of the number of patients from this area that used their dialysis center in Joplin.

The center in Fort Scott is located at 105 Scott Ave.

Fort Scott Manor held a birthday celebration honoring Reuben Rankin, Sarah Graham, Ada Anthony and Alice Young.

During the event, Violet Gastin was honored for 18 years of continuous service. Activity director Pam Sheets was in charge.