100 years ago: Topeka motorcycle club makes day trip to Lawrence

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Mar. 19, 1911:

  • “Lawrence was the terminus of a motorcycle run from Topeka yesterday. Nine members of the Topeka Club made the run to Lawrence, starting in the morning and returning late in the afternoon. One of the interesting events of the run was the hill climbing contest the club members held on the Mount Oread incline. Most of the pop-pops took the steep hill like veterans. While the attempts to make a record up hill were being held, a big crowd of students from the district gathered to watch the sport.”
  • “For probably the first time in the history of the church a bottle of whisky was exhibited from the pulpit of the Baptist church yesterday morning. Rev. O. C. Brown delivered an effective sermon for temperance in which a sheaf of rye, a loaf of rye bread and a bottle of whisky were used to emphasize the fact that the grain could be used for good or for evil. The bottle of whisky had been purchased from a Lawrence joint which was pulled during the recent crusade conducted by the county attorney. Rev. Brown held the close attention of his hearers and greatly strengthened the cause of temperance by his sermon.”
  • “Growing vegetables is generally a prosaic task, but it will not be for thirty Lutheran boys who have planned to plant three and a half acres near the ball park in various kinds of vegetables this spring. Under the direction of Rev. Stauffer, eighteen lads cleared the garden spot yesterday and made it ready for division into individual plots. Rev. Stauffer is using the plan to teach the boys the various kinds of early vegetables and also to train them to do useful work. The proceeds of the garden will be used to defray the cost of a two-weeks’ camping trip which the Lutheran boys expect to take to Lake View or Rock Creek this summer.”