Roll out the barrell
25 years ago — 1993
The dismantling of the old Arcade Hotel downtown Wednesday night spilled over onto an adjoining printing business, leaving a gaping hole in the roof. There were no injuries in the accident at the hotel at 110 E. Calhoun. Officials had ordered the occupied buildings vacated before work began Wednesday night, said Mark Hadley, chief dispatcher for Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division. Judge Larry Potter ordered the building dismantled last month after a last-ditch effort to save it.
50 years ago — 1968
After six hours of talks yesterday, city and union negotiating teams recessed at 10:45 last night with no indication whether significant progress was being made toward settlement of the sanitation strike, which enters its 10th week today. The negotiations are scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. today at the Claridge. The negotiators were visibly weary as they left the hotel last night.
75 years ago — 1943
WASHINGTON — Tennessee’s Senator Kenneth McKellar addressed the Senate yesterday, urging fellow members to prepare now for peace and postwar settlements, and thus avoid the errors committed after World War I. He read a recent editorial from The Commercial Appeal which gave suggestions for postwar planning.
100 years ago — 1918
With the American Army in France — One of the American units halted its march to the front yesterday at Picardy where it was issued new equipment and rifles and machine guns were repaired. Many took the opportunity to write home, probably their last chance for a long time. As they marched along the country lanes singing and whistling, women and children gave them flowers which they stuck in the muzzles of their rifles.
125 years ago — 1893
That sand bar at the northern end of the wharfage is getting bigger and now extends to the foot of Jefferson. Two city sewers empty into the river and now there is a pool of stagnant water between the bar and the land. The Mississippi River Commission wants to divert the course of Wolf River so as to wash the bar away, but the railroad men are against it and the city fathers do not wish to rile them.