From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 27, 1915:

• “In speaking of what the rural mail carriers have to say of the condition of the roads, Postmaster C. S. Finch says that more and better work has been done on the roads in the past week than ever before. There are ten rural routes out of Lawrence, and they are a little more than twenty miles in length, on an average. To be exact, the rural routes cover two hundred and fifty-four and one-eighth miles. Of this long distance, all but thirty-two and seven-eighths miles had been dragged by Thursday noon of this week…. The greater part of this was well done, although some was ‘skimped’ and showed very inferior work…. The worst roads during the bad weather, the worst yet, and those that will remain the worst are some that are either within the city limits or so close that they belong to the city and it would seem to be up to the city to see that they are placed in condition and kept that way. The ‘Templin Hill’ is the worst, and to say that it is a disgrace to any community is to put it in the mildest form. No vehicle could go up or down the hill, and the rural route had to be abandoned. Still a disgrace is the road leading north toward Midland…. Another road that is wholly within the town is south Louisiana street. It is flat and holds all the water that falls. Nothing has been done for years toward repairing it. Learnard avenue is another, right at the city doors, that has been impassable for weeks, and no effort has been made even to drag it since the ground dried out. These worst roads are all direct highways into town. They are roads that have the heaviest travel. The post office department would undoubtedly have cut the service off of them long ago had it been possible to reach the country without traveling over them. It would seem to be up to the city to repair the roads at her very doors, any way.”
• “Fire which originated from an unknown cause last night at 11:45 o’clock destroyed the barn belonging to Perry Cooper at 525 California. The fire department was unable to reach the fire with the amount of hose they had as there was no plug in the vicinity of the fire. Just as the truck reached the scene of the fire the clutch of the big truck became loose and stuck and the drivers were kept there until about 7 o’clock this morning getting it to work.”
• “Elmer Hackley appeared in Police court for trial this morning. He was charged with using vile and profane language intended to provoke a breach of the peace. He changed his plea of not guilty to guilty and was fined $6.50.”