Caption on the reverse of the photo: “March 13– Dr. Archibald Vinson, head of the City Health Department, administers a dosage of polio vaccine to his granddaughter, Becky Simmons, in her classroom at Calvin Coolidge Elementary School, as a demonstration…
Author: Editor
Pothole Budget Mistakenly Allocated For Potluck
Due to a clerical error, city funds earmarked for this spring’s pothole repairs were mixed up with funds intended for a potluck for City Streets Department employees to celebrate last month’s groundhog’s day. Streets Department clerk Debbie Winton, who was…
Elsewhere: Fake Omaha
@ goodspeedupdate- Planning a Fake City Our novels, films, and urban planning textbooks are filled with imaginary cities. Whether utopias or dystopias, most of these fictional cities imagine what a city could be at its best — or worst. However,…
Snapshots: The Great Flood of 1914
Intersection of Ludlow and Barnham Streets, in the city’s Northside section, during the Great Flood of 1914. The late-January flood was a result of an unseasonable warm spell dumping the melted remains of the Great Blizzard of 1914 (which itself…
Amandour Prison’s Final Inmate
In 1980 the only remaining state correctional facility within the city limits – Amandour Prison – closed its heavy iron door for last time. The order to shut down the facility, once home to as many as 494 inmates, actually…
Snapshots: President William Howard Taft (1911)
Caption on the reverse of the photo: “Tuesday- During festivities, President William Howard Taft laughs heartily with Mayor Woolsey at a joke making sport of the intelligence of those in the Arizona Territory.” During this May 1911 visit, there was…
It Is an Honor Just to be Nominated
Dubious honors were heaped upon the collective heads of The City Desk this week with the announcement of nominees for the seventeenth-annual SirSirSir Awards, hosted by the Journalists’ Smoking Club. The “Sirries” are a lampoon award granted annually since 1991…
Ex-Candidate Ron Paul Dis-invited
Former presidential candidate Ron Paul was scheduled to give a speech this Wednesday at Watson University for several student political science classes, but the event has been canceled. Watson Students for Poli-Sci (WSPS) had booked the Congressman (R-TX) to come…
Snapshots: Boy Scout, Future Senator (1941)
July 1941. Local Boy Scout Anderson Grimes in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., holding a copy of a WPA poster designed for the city’s landmark water conservation program. Shortly after this photo was taken, he was…
First Dirigible Conservatory to Land at Mabel Tripp Gardens
Commuters will witness a curious sight floating amid the Central Corridor’s skyscrapers tomorrow morning: a transparent dirigible filled with greenery will be seen making its northerly approach from its current week-long stop at New Heath’s Horticultural Center and Casino. The…