Herrman’s Historical Happenings week of March 16
1870 A kitchen employee fires up the two large cook stoves at the Great Western Hotel in Butler, later finds a cat roasted in the oven.
1862 Encountering but little resistance in Bates Co., General James Lane and his 1st Kansas Cavalry passes over the Marais Des Cygne river bound for Osceola.
1884 Workmen clearing the Osage River bank for a bridge, South of Rockville, find hundreds of hibernating snakes.
1935 The Assembly of God church in Butler is organized by minister Ruth Johnson.
1942 After yesterday’s windstorm in northern Bates co, today a severe storm hits western Bates, with lots of damage.
1948 The Butler City Council votes to put blinker lights on US 71 at Pine, Mill and Fort Scott streets (no bypass in those days, the main highway ran through town).
1960 Hen egg sized hail batters the Foster area.
1972 The Bates County Democrat newspaper highlights the Miami Eagles basketball team and their records. Honored are Lynn Morgan, Darrel Poindexter, Chuck Lewis, Kevin Gutshall, Bobby Burch, Randy Gregory, Jack Smalley, Gary Jackson, Darrel Wilson, Steve Matthews, Robin Sigars, Joe Gaylord and coach Glenn Borum.
1979 Wilber Hastin, former Butler businessman, and an original mover toward the Bates Co Historical Society & Museum, is honored as the Butler Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year.
1990 Melissa Kling Phillips of Butler Monument Co., recently qualified as a certified Memorialist at the national convention of monument builders. She is the 75th person to receive the honor.
