100 YEARS AGO, 1919

♦ Proprietors of soda fountains and ice cream parlors began collecting a one cent tax on each drink sold for 10 cents or more. Another tax was to be collected on perfumes and various other toilet articles. There was opposition to the tax and complaints about the records that would have to be kept.

♦ Fred Gordy resigned his position as manager of the Conway branch of Plunkett-Jarrell Grocer Company. He would be taking a position in Columbus, Georgia with a large mercantile establishment.

75 YEARS AGO, 1944

♦ Municipal Judge Roland A. Bradley, who would be inducted into the navy, named his brother-in-law, George F. Hartje, to serve in his place while he was in the service.

♦ S.T. Smith, Jr. was appointed to the Annapolis Naval Academy. John James and J.R. Edwards were named as alternates.

♦ A summer camp for local boys between the ages of 8 and 12 would be held at the ASTC gymnasium swimming pool, athletic fields and the adjacent wooded sections, with Walter Ed Scales and Jefferson Farris, Jr. as directors. One of the objectives was swimming lessons.

50 YEARS AGO, 1969

♦ Conway junior and senior high school bands would sell a band-sponsored Community Birthday Calendar. Students would go house-to-house selling the calendar and collecting listings.

♦ The Chicken Hut at Harkrider and Fifth streets opened. Owners and managers were Herb Nahlen and Bob Imboden. The building was owned by Robert L. Ott. Mrs. Faber Mullins was the assistant manager and the Hut had 10 employees.

♦ Beck-Brown Motors held its grand opening at 766 Harkrider. The agency, owned by James L. Beck and Jodie Brown, was a dealer for Pontiac, Buick, and Oldsmobile cars and GMC trucks.

25 YEARS AGO, 1994

♦ Virco Manufacturing celebrated 40 years of manufacturing operations in Conway on May 1. The company employed 1,500 in 1994.

♦ Idlehour Florist & Gifts, 1369 Bruce, closed its doors after 54 years of operation. Thelma Sue Parker, 94, had operated the shop over that time.

♦ The Greenbrier Board of Education selected Don Jones, retired Greenbrier high school principal, to be the new superintendent for the district, replacing Dr. Bobby New who was leaving to become assistant superintendent for North Little Rock.

10 YEARS AGO, 2009

♦ Kris Allen was back in Conway for a homecoming parade followed by a concert at Simon Park. Allen had made it to the top three of American Idol with Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey, A special section of the paper had a full-page picture of Allen onstage and a map of the parade route.

♦ Kris Allen took the title of “American Idol” over Adam Lambert in the finale of the show. A large crowd gathered in Simon Park for a watch party to witness the event. Some 38 million of the nearly 100 million votes during the four-hour period were cast from Arkansas.

♦ The Conway Board of Education discussed its ten-year plan which included the possibility of a second high school. The district was already looking at purchasing property for that second high school as well as another elementary school.