From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for June 20, 1914:

• “Tomorrow, June 21st, is the longest day in the year. So the general belief is. In fact there are four days according to the almanac on which the sun shines for the same length of time. On Thursday, yesterday, today and tomorrow the sun rises at 4:34 and sets at 7:27. This gives 14 hours and 53 minutes ‘from sun to sun.’ Great time for the farmer who is out early and late in the wheat field, isn’t it? But the farmer does not wait for sunrise. He is up long before that to do the chores, harness the team, and get ready so that he can start to the field immediately after breakfast. If he wants to put in a long day he can get up at the beginning of twilight. This comes at 2:35 a.m. in this longitude according to the almanac. It ends in the evening at 9:28. This would give a farmer 5 hours and 7 minutes of sleep. Most of them take a little more sleep than this, but they are working long hours these busy days.”
• “Fourteen houses and one church in process of construction were noticed by the Journal-World man this morning in his walk to the office. This does not include houses already finished and ready to be occupied nor houses that are to be built in which the plans have been made, but work not started. The fifteen buildings are actually in process of construction, the carpenters and masons being actually at work on them. The fact that fourteen houses are being built within a distance of as many blocks, shows that there is a small building boom on in Lawrence.”
• “The Board of Education at a meeting yesterday agreed to purchase the Lawson site in North Lawrence for the new Lincoln School building. This site is well located south of the railroad tracks and is situated up on high grounds. It seems to be the general choice of the citizens of North Lawrence…. The board took no action at the meeting today regarding the hiring of an architect. This is in the hands of the building committee and they have not yet reached a decision.”
• “The end of the week sees most of the Douglas County wheat crop in shock. In some neighborhoods more than half of the crop has been cut, in others a much better showing has been made. The agricultural prospects are better, say the farmers, than they have seen in many years. Not only is there an excellent wheat crop, which is practically assured as it is being put in the shock but the oats prospect is very good and the corn outlook could not be better. The recent rains were just the thing for the corn…. Only as to potatoes is there any doubt. Just what this crop will be is uncertain…. And the large share of this prosperity is due to the good rains that came last week. Without these the farmers would be ‘blue’ indeed.”
• “C. U. Baldwin of Clinton has just completed a well which probably holds the record for depth in Douglas county. The well is 340 feet deep and has 232 feet of water in it. Mr. Baldwin stated that he had been inconvenienced by a lack of water as long as he could stand it and concluded to go the limit on depth. He now has a well that will never go dry.”