From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 14, 1972:

• A parking lot directly south of the Eldridge Hotel was being planned to accommodate 26-30 cars. The lot was to have a 75-foot front on Massachusetts Street and was to spread over three lots adjacent to the hotel. The land was owned by Rockledge Investors and the project, which was planned to accommodate primarily Eldridge customers, had been approved by city commissioners last spring; however, it had never been included as a specific agenda item at a regular public meeting. City Manager Buford Watson said today that this lot and the city-planned lot for Seventh and Vermont would “relieve some of the parking in that block.”
• Complete patching and overlay of U.S. 40 between Lawrence and Topeka was expected to be finished by next spring. Joe McCourt, Lawrence resident engineer for the State Highway Commission, said that rough patch work had been finished and stripes and road markings had been painted on the temporary surface to aid motorists during the work. This had led some drivers to assume that the project was finished and to register complaints with the highway commission, but it was explained that the lines and markings were only temporary. “They put down the markings as soon as they have enough surface for a striping machine,” McCourt explained. “But it doesn’t mean the work is finished.”