When a seniors’ home is threatened with demolition, Poplar Bluff proves it has always been a generous community. Donations of everything from spare change to salable land are pouring in to relocate the Faith Rest Home and its residents as a supermarket chain plans to build on the site.
Saturday
March 2, 1924 — No issues available.
75 years ago
March 2, 1949
• Poplar Bluff is rallying around a home for seniors.
The Faith Rest Home is run by the Assembly of God Church. For years it has given seniors with nowhere to go a clean, comfortable place to live. However, its building came under threat of demolition for local redevelopment earlier this year.
The church found a $12,500 piece of property perfect for a new Faith Rest Home, and donations have poured in — amounts range from 50 cents to salable assets like a handmade quilt and a five-acre tract of land. A building materials supplier has pledged to provide everything needed to remodel the house once it’s purchased.
Faith Rest Home’s operator, Mrs. Gamblin, said the church has a long way to go but hopes to put a $6,000 down payment on the desired property soon. The home will also be incorporated and run by a board of directors in the future to help ensure its longevity.
• Train traffic is waning and Missouri Pacific has laid off 30 workers from its regional service shop. T.C. Maddox, chief clerk to the superintendent, said there are fewer engines running and therefore fewer trains needing to be serviced.
Maddox explained this is a national trend and claimed Missouri Pacific held the full number of employees on payroll in Southeast Missouri as long as was economically possible.
50 years ago
March 2, 1974
• New traffic laws go into effect in Missouri this month.
Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Sam Smith reminds motorists as of Feb. 28, they are allowed to make right turns at a red light as long as they stop first and yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.
On March 4, the ongoing oil shortage means highways will move slower. The new maximum speed limit is 55 mph. Speedsters will get off with a warning for the first couple weeks before MSHP switches to “hard enforcement” and brings out the handcuffs.
The speed limit is a “temporary fuel conservation measure,” Smith said.
Sunday
100 years ago
March 3, 1924
• A funeral is held this afternoon for Civil War veteran George Gnau. His pallbearers were veterans of the Spanish-American War.
• The City Light and Water plant announces it will erect a 135-foot smokestack in the coming weeks. Its materials are estimated to last 20 years and its size will handle projected increases in power demands as Poplar Bluff grows.
• A stray bolt lodged in a railroad switch near Hilliard derails the engine and trainer car of a Missouri Pacific passenger train today. No passenger cars were derailed. Five passengers sustained minor injuries and the track took five hours to clear.
75 years ago
March 3, 1949
• Construction is to begin immediately on a Kroger in Poplar Bluff, and we learn exactly why the Faith Rest Home is in such dire straits.
Kroger Grocer and Baking Company announced it has acquired land on Sixth and Poplar, including a house formerly owned by a Mrs. Brown and currently occupied by the Faith Rest Home.
The Kroger company has sought a new space in Poplar Bluff since its lease on a store room on Vine and Fifth streets expired.
March 3, 1974 — No issues available.
Monday
100 years ago
March 4, 1924
• A desperate family in New York is calling newspapers across the country for help. The Interstate American was asked to publish the description of 15-year-old Thomas “Bud” Foley Jr., who went missing Jan. 2 from his family’s home in Astoria, Long Island. His parents are offering a $100 reward to whoever locates him, plus an additional $100 to the reporter whose story results in his return.
• The American Legion delivers 74 new flags to businesses on Main and Broadway streets.
• The Missouri Cotton Growers Association rules that Southeast Missourian cotton farmers are free to form credit corporations through the Federal Intermediary Credit Bank.
• The Criterion Theater will show “One Hundred Years in Ten” tomorrow night. The film is “the story of empire in Southeast Missouri... taking the region from the primeval forests through the periods of development to the improved farm state with good roads and schools and pleasant social conditions.” The film was produced by the Southeast Missouri Agricultural Bureau.
75 years ago
March 4, 1949
• The Butler County Health Unit will get its own building. BCHU president Matt Henson signed a contract with architect John M. Schaper for the building’s design, and the expected cost of construction is between $65,000-$70,000. Several sites are under consideration.
The unit currently occupies space in the Butler County Courthouse.
• The Poplar Bluff Block Company begins production tomorrow. This new factory will produce 1,500 concrete blocks of all shapes and sizes per day. It’s located on South Riverview Drive.
50 years ago
March 4, 1970
• The Midwest Independent Truckers held its inaugural meeting March 2. The association is made up of truckers and businessmen in related fields who once formed the Southeast Missouri Independent Truckers, as well as representatives from Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas. SMIT was a prominent local feature in the nationwide truck strike over fuel prices and freight rates. Paul Duckett was elected president and around 215 truckers and family members were in attendance. The new board elected to operate as a nonprofit.
• Frank Wallace, Poplar Bluff’s youngest and cutest baseball player, starts his training season by pitching for Daily American Republic photographer Stan Berry today. The 15-month-old star is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wallace of Poplar Bluff.
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