A collection of beautiful, vintage funeral cards on this All Hallow’s Eve. Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Month: October 2014
Lifting the Veil
Join us this Saturday, November 1st, for our first “Spirit Stroll“. Take a stroll around the museum grounds and learn the stories of Bates County’s past. Who rose to prominence? Who paid dearly for their sins? Find out this Saturday! The stroll begins at 5 PM a Robertson Hall. Tickets are $10 each and benefit the Save Our Steinway Campaign.
Throwback Thursday-Masquerades and Hangings
Courtesy of the Eddie Herrman Archives
The Christy Home at the corner of Pine and North Main, Bulter, MO.
1863- Bates Countian William Griffith is hanged for his part in what would become known as the “Marais Des Cygnes” massacre on May 19, 1858. His trial was held at Mound City, KS.
1866- The Post Office at Marvel is reopened, Josephine Bartlett, Postmaster.
1895- Grat, the great record breaking horse of the year, is owned and raced by his owner H.E. Spencer of Rich Hill. The horse, pulling the sulky, driven by his owner, set the one mile record of 2:02 back east.
1902- Miss Stella Christy gives a Halloween masquerade at her parents’ beautiful home in Butler. Unique and uncanny decorations are quite a buzz. Just before ices and cake are served, all unmask, and later end up dancing at the armory.
1938- New towns that popped up in Bates County are: Brazelton, on US 71 on the Bates-Cass County line. Hunstville, on Highway 52 east of Butler. Skyline is also that direction and Laceyville is west of Adrian.
1944- Mr. & Mrs. Reikus Dykman, in the Mulberry community, now have electric lights installed in their home.
1992- The Adrian Blackhawks football team defeats the Rich Hill Tigers 21-0, running their season to 9-0, and clinches the WEMO conference for the first time.
Throwback Thursday-Keep Out of Our Business
From the Eddie Herrman Archives
1865-John D Myers of Pettis County, brings Bates County’s records, which had been taken to Dresden during the War Between the Statees, to Pleasant Gap, which is recognized as the County Seat, with a 16 by 32 courthouse situated there.
1869-James Westbrook is murdered by Theo Freeman, near Mound Branch, east of Butler. Freeman is captured and put in jail.
1880-A large number of Butlerites have returned from the St. Louis Fair and all speak highly of the attraction.
1883-The Missouri State Attorney General decides the Bates County Court cannot use money collected from dram shops in a special fund to build a badly needed county jail. The county officials reply, in essence, “Keep out of our business.”
1902-The Rich Hill Review newspaper has a column on Rev. W. T. Pyles and the African forage which resembles cane, though growing 8 to 10 feet high. It is also said it will prove a greater forage crop than anything else.
1938-Ballard town team beat the Spruce Nine, 3-2. Spruce had won July 4th, 4 to 2. The tie will be played off Oct. 23, at Spruce.
1944-Helen Kling is named the chairman of the National War Fund drive in Butler, by County Chairman H.P. Robinson. Her husband, Emmett Jr., is in the European theater of war. The county goal is $10,000.
Throwback Thursday-Grasshoppers, Horseshoes, and a Stranger
The Hayden Ray Tinshop. Located on the south side of the Butler square.
From the Eddie Herrman archives:
1866-The grasshopper plague is damaging all the crops of Bates Co.
1878-The waterway around the Courthouse is completed. Superintendent Walker Morgan says there’ll be no more water running through the Courthouse during rainstorms.
1882- Mr. William E Walton and Mr. Harrin, scenic painter for the nearly completed Walton Opera House, leave Butler for St. Louis to purchase supplies and paraphernilia to complete the outfitting of the new building.
1919-The New Home Coal Mines burn, Northeast of Worland.
1919-The Bates County Democrat newspaper says, Merwin, population 500, founded in 1891 on the Kansas City Southern Railroad has been found to be surrounded by strat which could turn this area into an oil boom.
1930-About noon a rather disheveled man, pushing a wheelbarrow, which is gaily adorned with flags, bunting, & signs goes around the Butler square. The signs indicate he’s on his way to Pike’s peak, having already made his way from Mexico, Texas, & Oklahoma. After a brief stop, he heads toward Kansas.
1934-Hayden Ray presents a bill of $48 to the Butler City Council for the broken window of his shop on the South side of the square, when James Potts, the city dog eliminator missed the dog and shattered the window. They paid.
1938-The horseshoe pitchers of Aaron entertain the pitchers from Dayton in Cass Co. Dayton proves they aren’t up to snuff, as Aaron, handily, takes the match.
The Walton Opera House. Located at the current location of Butler Music on the southwest corner of the square.
Bates County Museum 