Editorial

The Way it Was

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

100 Years Ago

Moore Opera House Burned!

A thousand heroes faced burning flames and blinding smoke and two thousand more formed a reserve force ready to respond if called upon to assist in fighting the destructive fire which wrought great destruction within the Moore's Opera House building and which for some time threatened the entire block. When the alarm was given that Moore's Opera House was on fire there was much excitement and men, women and children came from every street to gather about the theatrical building to assist to the very limit of human power in checking the flames and saving valuable property.

A valiant fight, superior discipline, intelligent commanders and a great solid fire wall saved the block. The magnificent three story opera building was dismantled by the flames and the interior is now a mass of charred ruins, save the lower floor. The big roof was totally burned except a few heavy timbers and they are now twisted and broken upon the second opera house floor.

50 Years Ago

To Improve Highway 71

The Missouri Highway Commission today asked for bids for April 26 on highway improvements estimated to cost about $4,150,000.

The work extends over 126.7 miles of roads with 3.3 miles of that on interstate, urban and major system projects and the rest on supplementary roads.

One of the interstate jobs is in Platte and Clay counties, for about 42 miles of grading, bridging and two 24 foot pavements of limited access design from Houston Lake to U.S. 169 in Kansas City.

The other interstate system project is on the Mark Twain Expressway in St. Louis. The urban improvement project is on the Daniel Boone Expressway in St. Louis County.

The major system project is on U.S. 71 in Bates county. The work includes installation of a concrete culvert and widening three bridge structures between the Cass County line and South Fork of Deer Creek, south of Adrian, with grading and asphaltic pavement, widening adjacent to the bridges totaling about eight-tenths of a mile and repairs to a bridge north of Rich Hill.