Over 1,000 Poplar Bluffians celebrate Amtrak’s first run through the city in 1974. Despite mechanical and legal issues, the train’s inaugural run from St. Louis to Laredo proceeded smoothly for passengers.
100 years ago
March 14, 1924
• Local radio owners are fed up with static. Last night, 28 people attended the formative meeting of the Poplar Bluff Radio Club, whose main order of business is tracking down the source of interference plaguing people’s receivers.
The club charges a 50-cent initiation fee, which funds their search. Member are considering a tactic other cities have used to locate sources of static: dividing the city into quadrants and using a loop aerial (a ring-shaped antenna) to follow the noise. When the antenna picks up static, the searchers relocate to the center of that quadrant listen again. The process continues until the source is found within the progressively narrowing search area.
• A new statistic reveals there’s approximately one car for every 14.5 persons in Butler County. This is sparser than the 1-to-7.2 state average, but lines up with wider trends in the Ozarks. Carter County has the fewest autos, a one car per 13.9 people.
75 years ago
March 14, 1949
• Christmas came early for the Butler County Health Department — a local doctor is donating the land needed to build its new two-story clinic.
Dr. A.D. Markel’s property was ruled the most attractive out of all the BCHD’s options: it’s over an acre in area, borders Highway 67 east and lies near the VA and future school development. Electricity, natural gas and running water are also available at the site. The land was valued at $100 per front foot.
Markel stated this morning that “he realized the importance of the Health Center for Butler County and also knew that it was essential that the building be constructed in an area which could be reached easily by all residents of the county.”
50 years ago
March 14, 1974
• Amtrak made its first run from St. Louis to Laredo, Texas, yesterday by way of Poplar Bluff. Despite engine trouble and a legal snag, the train rolled in ahead of schedule.
Over 1,000 local residents plus the Poplar Bluff Junior High band welcomed it to the station. It was “the largest and most enthusiastic gathering of citizens” for a public ceremony in recent memory according to the Daily American Republic. Seventeen members of the city government and Chamber of Commerce took a bus to St. Louis yesterday to ride as special guests of Amtrak.
The train’s first hiccup came when the engineer realized one of the lead locomotive’s diesel motors wasn’t functioning properly. The 11-ton train continued its trip on 75% power, but still hit Missouri Pacific’s 60 mph speed limit. Few passengers knew anything was amiss.
The train was almost derailed, figuratively speaking, by legal trouble in Arkansas. Before leaving Poplar Bluff, senior Amtrak official David Watts told reporters the Texas and Pacific Railroad’s liability clause was “completely beyond the scope of Amtrak’s ability to pay and beyond fair standard agreements between Amtrak and other railroads.” Circumventing it would require passengers to disembark in Texarkana and take a bus to Fort Worth. However, Amtrak obtained a court order from the U.S. District Court in Kansas City to keep the train moving.
Southbound Amtrak trains will stop in Poplar Bluff at 7 p.m. every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Northbound trains leave at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. One-way fare to St. Louis is $7.75.
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