From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 22, 1974:

Extreme summertime temperatures continued to roast the Lawrence area populace as a high of 108 for the previous day tied July 21 marks set in 1934 and 1939. It was the seventh day in a row that the thermometer had climbed to or above 100, and the 16th day in a row that temperatures had cleared 90 degrees. Not one drop of rain had fallen during that period, with the last measurable precipitation a 1.61-inch rainfall on July 3. Douglas County Commissioners today passed a resolution declaring a drought emergency, a move necessary for the county to spend funds to repair one of its 18 wells held in reserve for drought. According to Commission Chair Walter Cragan, the pump was broken on the well on the Sibleyville Road and the county needed $150 to repair it. In other heat-related news, two grass fires had blazed up just southwest of Wellsville on the previous day, one burning about 40 acres and the other about 20 acres. Demands were increasing for electricity to run air conditioners around the clock, and power shortages had been experience in Perry, Tonganoxie, and the Oskaloosa area. Attendance at Lawrence’s municipal swimming pool had reached 876, a high total but not a record, and a portion of Naismith Drive just south of Allen Fieldhouse had responded to the heat by buckling.