100 YEARS AGO, 1918

♦ A big parade featured the patriotic rally held at Conway. Representatives of the various patriotic civic and educational organizations marched to the public square from the courthouse lawn. Taking part in the parade were the Boy Scouts, the Home Guard, Normal School, James Business College, the Red Cross Care unit, Central College, Hendrix College and many others.

♦ Wearing a tag on which had been placed 52 cents in postage stamps, Donald, the little son of Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Nelson, went by parcel post from Conway to the home of his parents, five miles south of Conway. Donald was “mailed” by Mack See, at whose home he had been visiting, and the “parcel” was promptly delivered to the addressee by rural carrier D.F. Tucker. Mr. Tucker said the only live articles which the regulations provide for carrying by mail were queen bees and day-old chicks, but occasionally children were carried for short distances by mail at parcel post rates.

75 YEARS AGO, 1943

♦ Deposits of the First National Bank of Conway increased nearly 50 percent over the previous year. At the close of business June 30, 1943, deposits were $2,661,246.25. First National Bank opened July 1, 1933 after three old banks in Conway failed and the county had been without a bank for five months.

♦ Greenbrier’s new native stone Methodist Church was dedicated at special services. The new building had a 300-seat auditorium and large Sunday school rooms in the basement.

♦ Dr. James MacKrell, widely known radio preacher of Little Rock, and Dr. Fred Keller, prominent in educational circles, would be the chief speakers at the annual meeting of the Faulkner County Sunday school convention to be held at Fairview Church.

♦ Dr. Charles A. Archer, Jr. and Mrs. Archer located in Conway where he would practice medicine and surgery. They were occupying the Bauer apartments at 1403 Robinson Avenue. Dr. Archer was having offices fitted up in the Halter Building. He was a nephew of Dr. James H. Flanagin, Conway dentist.

50 YEARS AGO, 1968

♦ Tom Welch, Carl Grummer, Joe Cummins, John Allen, Jim Bell, Sherl Blake and Benny McClain, all Miller Swim and Golf Club board members, were the first to play the club’s nine-hole golf course on Tyler Street.

♦ J.J. Ambulance Services, Inc., 860 Mill Street, took over the ambulance business in Conway after local funeral homes discontinued their ambulance services.

♦ Starkey Construction remodeled a building at 721 Front Street (across from the Post Office) for the offices of J.W. McCracken, Twin Table & Furniture and Conway Asphalt. The three firms were in the Shaw Building across from First National Bank.

♦ Toran Elizabeth Pate, Miss Conway, was pictured leaving with Mrs. Clifford Horton, her official chaperone at the Miss Arkansas pageant.

♦ James H. Clark, 36, and Jim Stone, 35, were named principals at Conway High School and Conway Junior High School respectively.

25 YEARS AGO, 1993

♦ True Holiness Saints Center Church of God in Christ opened July 4 in its temporary location in the chapel facilities of Veasley Funeral Home, 1170 Markham. The Rev. E.C. Maltbia, 21, founded the church. He was also serving as vice-president of Veasley Funeral Home.

♦ First National Bank served sodas and cake to customers in honor of the bank’s 60th anniversary.

♦ Four Conway financial institutions have joined Main Street Conway to help revitalize downtown through a reinvestment loan program. Money would be loaned to property owners or tenants for exterior design of buildings and storefronts.

♦ Milton Davis, who had been drawing Toad Suck Country cartoons for 14 years, added a caricature of himself to the cartoons.

10 YEARS AGO, 2008

♦ The old Plunkett-Jarrell Grocer building on Front Street across from the Log Cabin Democrat was under renovation by George Covington. Covington had leased out one part of the building to a baton twirling studio.

♦ The Steel Chevrolet redevelopment was nearing completion. The building would be home to Old Chicago on the east side and Doe’s Eat Place on the west side.

♦ Construction of Fairfield Inn and Suites was taking shape on Sanders Road. Just around the corner, Microtel Inn and Suites was also looking ready to open.

♦ Miss University of Central Arkansas, Sarah Slocum, would participate in the Miss Arkansas Pageant scheduled for July 19 in Hot Springs. Slocum, 22, was from Sheridan and graduated summa cum laude in May from UCA with a degree in political science. She planned to attend law school at the University of Arkansas.