MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1993

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators kicked off what could be the wildest scramble for public property since the Oklahoma land rush when they approved Thursday an auction of airwaves for wireless communication. In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Communications Commission carved up 160 megahertz of airwaves for companies to create a multibillion-dollar wireless industry. Devices would include sophisticated pocket phones, palm-size computers and laptops that receive video pictures. The technology could transform the way people communicate much as the invention of the telephone did in the last century.

50 years ago — 1968

Vice President Hubert Humphrey will make a major speech, shake hands in a shopping center and tour an industrial plant during a 14-hour visit to Memphis next week. Humphrey will arrive at Memphis Metropolitan Airport late in the evening next Monday, go direct to the Claridge to spend the night and make a whirlwind shopping center and industrial tour the next morning. A speech is scheduled at noon, E.W. ‘Ned’ Cook, chairman of the Humphrey-Muskie committee, said last night.

75 years ago — 1943

Declaring that “the last thing we want is a Republican in the White House,” E.H. Crump returned to Memphis yesterday from a month’s trip to Washington and New York. “Memphis is the cleanest, snappiest-looking city in the country,” he said. “It gives every evidence of being well-governed. Industrial plants are rolling in now.”

100 years ago — 1918

A cleverly-concealed old-time barroom was discovered yesterday on Hen and Chicken Island by Sheriff Perry, who was conducting a fruitless search for bootleg whisky. The room was secreted in a cellar which was reached by a flight of spiral stairs. The door to the stairs was concealed by a clever opening slide, protected by a huge wardrobe in the room above. The old riverman who lived in the house said the saloon had not been used for many months.

125 years ago — 1893

Prospects for the Shelby County Fair are bright, says N.C. Perkins, secretary of the Memphis Fair & Exposition Co. The feature event in this year’s fair, which opens Oct. 10, will be a reunion of all Confederate soldiers.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES These two aircraft mechanics, Hatley F. Wiseman, left, and Louis N. Tickle, shown in September 1953, build houses in their spare time. Doing all the work themselves, it takes the pair almost a year to build a home. Their latest house has almost as many gadgets as the cockpit of a modern airliner.