From the Lawrence Journal-World for May 30, 1915:

• “The projected parish house will be added to the church house belonging to the Congregational congregation of this city during the present summer. The sixteen thousand dollars which it was desired to expend upon the project has been raised by approved pledges, and no time will be lost, as it is desired to occupy the new building before winter is here…. The new parish house will stand upon the north part of the ground now occupied by the church house at 925 Vermont…. The new building’s exact dimensions have not been determined, but it will contain a Sunday school auditorium that will probably accommodate 600 persons. It will contain all the separate Sunday school rooms that will be needed for many years, dining rooms and kitchen with pantries and storerooms, and rooms for all the young people’s societies, and other church organizations. It will be modern in architecture, material and finish, and will correspond perfectly with the larger church building which it adjoins.”
• “President E. O. Perkins of the Douglas County Good Roads Association announced at the meeting of the Merchants Association last night that ‘if the weather permitted’ the good roads day which was set for last Thursday would be held on next Wednesday. The farmers of the Stull neighborhood have invited the Lawrence people to come out and help them make the county roads better…. The Lawrence business men are awake to every proposition that will bring more of the country people to Lawrence to do their trading with the Lawrence merchants and establish a greater fellowship with the farmers.”
• “Spontaneous good citizenship as a quality of all Americans regardless of race, sex, partisan bias, or religions affiliation has come to give the most fervent sanction to the custom of setting aside one day in the year to be consecrated to the memory of the dead and living soldiers who did what they could to preserve the Union during the years 1860-65. So long as our own interests and our own consciences survive, will the lives and records of these men be to us a benediction no less than an inspiration. Our citizenship is broadened and our sense of responsibility quickened by the work they did. It is fitting that we pause and for a day, reflect, upon the good fight they fought and study how to emulate their lives of unselfishness and practical patriotism…. The fires of a fervent and enduring patriotism welded the foundation stones of Lawrence and give it its place in history. Lawrence was baptized in sacrifices, and if our citizenship equals that of the men and women who wrote the first chapter in its history, Lawrence will forever be a beacon light set on a hill for the guidance of the state and nation…. It is fitting that I, as Mayor of Lawrence ask that all citizens so far as possible lay aside the active duties that devolve upon them as factors in business and industry and for a day cultivate the higher amenities that make them in the fullest degree appreciative of the self-sacrificing patriotism represented by the thinning ranks of the old Union soldiers. Let them upon Monday, May 31, place upon the graves of the old soldiers in our local cemeteries the symbols of peace and the resurrection, that grace our gardens with beautiful color and form. This action will be fittingly done in memory of the men whose lives have been spent in work for their country, and whose unselfish devotion to it ought to inspire every man and woman, and every child as it reaches adult years, to attain the best citizenship. In concord with these sentiments I ask that all business be suspended Monday, May 31, until 1 o’clock in the afternoon. W. J. FRANCISCO, Mayor.”