MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1998
Organizers of next month's "Human Love Chain" found out the biggest question wasn't how, but how many? How many people would they need to link hands along Poplar Avenue from Front Street to Germantown Road? They got satellite photos and measured the distance between each intersection along that 25.2-mile stretch of Poplar. According to their math, organizers are looking for 60,000 people to show up along Poplar between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. April 11, the day before Easter.
50 years ago — 1973
Memphians may be paying 50 cents a gallon for regular grade gasoline by the end of the summer. Local gas and oil industry spokesmen say a shortage this spring and summer will drive up prices at least that high, maybe higher. "You're going to see an increase to the range of 45 to 60 cents," said W. Marcellus Graham, vice president for sales of Delta Refining Co. which produces gasoline here for marketing throughout the Mid-south.
75 years ago — 1948
Have you noticed any improvement in the driving habits of Memphis taxicab drivers recently? If you have, there's one big reason for it. And he is Robert A. Thorn, who was appointed three weeks ago by City Commissioner Boyle to the full-time job of police taxicab inspector.
100 years ago — 1923
LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mcrae at 4 o'clock this afternoon signed the Brookfield Harahan bridge viaduct bill.
125 years ago — 1898
ST. LOUIS — The wind shifted here from the south to the northwest at 6 o'clock this evening, and a rainstorm of five days' duration ended. Rarely, if ever,
in the history of the local weather bureau, has the precipitation been been so heavy and so protracted. During the deluge an average temperature of about 50 degrees prevailed, and vegetation has never been known to make such progress so early in the season.