Old Home Town – 100 years ago

From the Lawrence Daily World for Nov. 7, 1907: “George Ady, a Lawrence man 27 years old and weighing 227 pounds, will wrestle three rounds tonight with a big cinnamon bear in the tent back of People’s State Bank. The bear is a monster, weighing 800 pounds, and Ady is the only person here willing to pit his strength against it. Admission is 10 to 15 cents. : Any Topeka boy or girl belonging to a high school fraternity or sorority will be expelled and denied privileges of graduation, officials have declared. Such groups already are outlawed here although it is understood there is some underground activity along those lines. : ‘We expect to have a $50,000 university YMCA building within two years,’ says J.P. Hagerman, KU association secretary. ‘Many are offering funds and we are encouraged by the chances.’ The downtown YMCA here is successful but there has been talk for months about a ‘Y’ at the university.”