MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1995
The big plane landed. Some people got off. Some people got on. The big plane took off again. In some places that would be the end of the story, but this is Memphis, and the plane was from Europe, and Pat Tigrett was in town. So there were TV reporters doing live shots from the roof of the airport, and champagne flowing in the international concourse and a crowd of more than 1,000 people, including the Memphis Symphony, on hand to welcome the wide-bodied MD11 as it swooshed down on the runway at Memphis International. And there were the Memphians, trying to explain why it was so natural for them to celebrate the first direct European air connection in the underdog, upwardly mobile style in which the city has become accustomed to celebrating big events.
50 years ago — 1970
Gail Robinson, the 23-year-old coloratura soprano from Memphis, will have the starring role in “Rigoletto” to open the Metropolitan Opera’s 1971 engagement in The Auditorium Amphitheatre. The schedule and partial casting for the Metropolitan’s annual three-night visit to Memphis were announced yesterday by Arts Appreciation Inc., the nonprofit auspice which yearly presents the Met.
75 years ago — 1945
Vicksburg, Miss. – Not since the fall of this historic Confederate hill city to the Union Forces under General Grant on July 4, 1864, has that memorable date in American history been officially observed here. Plans announced by Chamber of Commerce officials call for the first official citywide observance of July Fourth next week to show a new national spirit by the citizens.
100 years ago — 1920
San Francisco – Announcement here tonight that William G. Mcadoo, former secretary of the Treasury, would not reject the Democratic presidential nomination overturned the whole situation as to candidates before the convention. Postmaster General Burleson, the most accomplished politician in President Wilson’s Cabinet, immediately predicted Mcadoo’s nomination.
125 years ago — 1895
Collierville is preparing for great things. Tomorrow Evangelist and Mrs. Fife will open a revival there. They are fresh from a highly successful week at Corinth, Miss., where at least 350 were saved and some 550 reclaimed from backsliding.