100 YEARS AGO, 1918
♦ A disastrous fire burned the main building and valuable machinery of the Conway Cotton Oil and Gin Company, Manager J. Frank Jones announced the company would rebuild the plant. Fire Chief R.C. Dickerson and his assistants responded promptly and managed to keep much of the plant and stock of seed and seed products valued at more than $100,000 from being destroyed.
♦ S.G. Smith of Conway sold 4,700 bales of cotton for $750,000, which was a record sale for Arkansas this year. This was the third year he had made the biggest sale in the state.
♦ The Rev. Edward A. Tabor, who served for several years as pastor of the Methodist Church in Conway in the late 1880s and early 1890s, died from heart failure at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 61.
♦ Mrs. E.L. Hinton returned home from a trip to eastern markets for the purpose of purchasing her spring line of millinery. She was accompanied home by little Miss Westelle Nall of Nashville. Miss Nall will live with Mr. and Mrs. Hinton and attend school here.
75 YEARS AGO, 1943
♦ William Nelson Owen, 73, citizen of Conway and prominent in civic and commercial affairs for nearly a half-century, died at his home, 1504 Caldwell. He operated a brokerage firm and later managed a river plantation. He was the secretary of the first commercial organization formed in Conway, the Board of Trade, and directed the raising of a bonus which secured the location of the Arkansas State Teachers College here in 1907. He was also a justice of the peace.
♦ The war department announced plans for the establishment of WAAC administrative specialist schools at five southwestern colleges; two of them were in Arkansas. The Arkansas State Teachers College school would begin March 1 while the Arkansas Polytechnic College school in Russellville would begin February 22. Dormitories, classrooms and mess halls were being furnished by the colleges for the six-week courses that would be provided for classes of 300 each, with a new class starting every three weeks.
♦ James Marion Adams,75, veteran Cadron township justice of the peace and member of one of Faulkner County’s oldest families, died at his home one mile west of Conway on Highway 60. He was born at Gold Creek and watched the construction of the railroad.
50 YEARS AGO, 1968
♦ George G. Shaw, a Conway banker, realtor, insurance agent and savings and loan official for more than 50 years, passed away. He was president of Security Savings and Loan which he helped organize in 1961. He also organized Shaw & Co., a real estate and insurance business, in 1933. He was one of the organizers of the Conway Country Club and was a member of the group that built the club’s first clubhouse and golf course.
♦ A new florist business, Ye Olde Daisy Shoppe, was opened at 819 Parkway by Mr. and Mrs. Manny Joe Hahn. The shop building, which was owned by Mr. Hahn’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hahn, was the former location of Hahn’s Cleaners. Hahn Cleaners opened in 1934. The younger Hahn worked at Idlehour Florist while he was in high school and returned to work there after he attended college. He had about 12 years in the florist industry.
25 YEARS AGO, 1993
♦ A lawsuit contending Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. out-priced its competition in pharmaceutical items to hurt competition was postponed until August. Plaintiffs were American Drug Inc., Tim Benton of Mayflower Family Pharmacy, and Jim Hendrickson of Baker Drug Store.
♦ An aerial photograph showed the extension of Donaghey Avenue through an “S” curve beginning one block north of Tyler to connect with Meadowlake Road. The city’s comprehensive plan called for an extension of Donaghey to the intersection of Washington Avenue and Hwy. 64.
♦ Federal, state and local officials were still searching for a man suspected of kidnapping a Conway woman. James Avery Slack of Maumelle allegedly kidnapped JoAnn Lieblong at her home on Cadron Gap Road. Mrs. Lieblong was released unharmed after her husband, Alex Lieblong, paid the kidnapper $1 million in ransom which was recovered .
10 YEARS AGO, 2008
♦ Central Baptist College had a dedication ceremony for the Ratliff Bell Tower, erected in place of the former Old Main, demolished in 1984 due to irreparable damages.
♦ The new I-40 interchange at the 124-exit was near completion. The widening of Highway 64 was expected to take longer. The extension of Salem Road over Cadron Ridge and the construction of a road connecting the interchange to Hwy. 25 were both on the drawing boards although no funding program had been finalized.
♦ Nabholz Construction Company workers were preparing a site in downtown Conway for the construction of a new Conway Police station. The new station would be located immediately west of the building that has housed the Conway Police Department since 1967.