100 YEARS AGO, 1918

♦ HUNS SIGN DRASTIC TERMS TO END WAR was the headline. The Armistice between the Allies and Germany had been signed, it was officially announced by the state department. Hostilities ceased at 11 a.m.

With not a pound of explosives to be found in the county, B.F. King and a party motored to Little Rock to get a supply of powder with which Conway would continue the noisy celebration
of a victorious peace that began early this morning. A show was staged on the courtyard at 8 p.m. with several jubilee talks followed by anvils and fireworks.

♦ Good progress was being made on the interior of the new Halter building at Front and Oak streets. Tenants would soon begin to move in the building. Craig’s ready-to-wear store would occupy the south section of the ground floor.

75 YEARS AGO, 1944

♦ With 1,500 signatures already secured, more than 50 percent above the required 985, the calling of a countywide local option election in Faulkner County at an early date was assured. The issue would be put on the ballot for an immediate special election on the question of prohibiting the manufacture or sale of any alcoholic beverage within the limits of the county.

♦ Fifty-five of the 116 men from Faulkner County sent to the Little Rock induction center for physical examinations were married and were fathers, many of them of children born before Pearl Harbor.

♦ Operation of a bus service between Conway and Jacksonville, for the benefit of workers in the Arkansas ordnance plant, was started by the Frazier bus line. The bus would leave at 4:30 a.m. and return at 5:00 p.m.

50 YEARS AGO, 1968

♦ Kimberly Clark planned to invest $5 million in its newly announced plant. It would be one of the largest single industrial outlays in Conway. The groundbreaking was scheduled for early next year on the 32-acre site in the Conway Industrial Park adjacent to Interstate 40.

♦ Services at the Pickles Gap Baptist Church were held in its new 300-seat sanctuary. The church was organized in 1878 and would celebrate its 90th anniversary in December. Rev. John Evans was the pastor.

♦ A third major construction project costing $350,000 was being planned at Conway Memorial Hospital. It would add 22-30 beds, bringing the total to 109-117 beds depending on available funds.

25 YEARS AGO, 1993

♦ Faulkner County Sheriff Bob Blankenship and his wife, Catherin, were making plans for their fifth annual community Thanksgiving dinner in the fellowship hall of Second Baptist Church. In 1992, 350 were served at the dinner.

♦ Nabholz Construction was selected by the Vilonia School Board of Education to manage the construction of the district’s new $3.1 million high school and gymnasium.

♦ The newly-renamed Conway Regional Medical Center unveiled its plans for a $2 million, 46,000 square-foot Conway Regional Wellness and Fitness Center; the formation of the Conway Regional Physician Hospital Organization; the Conway Regional Therapy Center; a $1.5 million MRI; the Conway Regional Medical Office Building; additional physicians and specialists; plans for a geriatric mental health program; expanded conference center capabilities; and expanded home health services.

10 YEARS AGO, 2008

♦ Denver Broncos fullback Peyton Hillis was pictured catching a pass for a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins, his first career touchdown in the NFL.

♦ Robert H. “Bunny” Adcock began serving as interim vice president of financial services at UCA.

♦ Ray Simon, deputy US education secretary, talked about the end of his tenure with the Bush administration and No Child Left Behind, the landmark education legislation.