Melville/Qulin Historical Society
Volume 4 Issue 11 |
November 2008 |
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Our Mission Statement
The mission of the Melville/Qulin Historical Society: to preserve and perpetuate the history, artifacts and heritage of the Qulin, Missouri area; to raise and expend funds for this purpose; to solicit memberships and to disseminate information and knowledge to the general public; to present various programs, performances and productions which are designed to heighten public awareness and appreciation for our heritage.
MAKE SURE YOU GO VOTE
It is your right to cast your vote for anyone you choose so don’t let the opportunity pass you by. If we continue to ignore the process it may be taken away from us one day.
How terrible that would be.
GO VOTE
Qulin Days were a success for the Historical Society.
Marcella did well with the Fagus books and the Tee-Shirts.
Pat also did very well at the booth.
It is a lot of hard work by a few people and we Thank them very much for their efforts.
PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING
We are supported by Membership Dues and our Book Sales.
News Stories about Qulin
The Sikeston Herald
Sikeston, Missouri
February 20th 1936
A letter written by an unnamed woman living in Qulin was responsible for the arrest of Cury Armstrong, Joe Tibbs and Clarence Shumaker, who were fined and sentenced in Federal Court at St. Louis Friday for operating stills. Federal Revenue agents revealed that the letter had been sent to Mrs. F.D. Roosevelt and that it gave names and facts concerning the stills. The letter was returned to the agents stationed here.
The Sikeston Herald
Sikeston, Missouri
March 19th 1936
Twenty or more children from the Webb School near Qulin escaped injury Monday morning when the body slipped from the school bus at the intersection of Pine and Fifth streets in Poplar Bluff, spilling one child onto the street. Green Swain was the operator of the bus which carried the school group to the Poplar Bluff high school building to participate in the annual glee club contest. One child, Nora Belle Manier, received emergency treatment for bruises.
The Sikeston Herald
Sikeston, Missouri
November 23rd 1939
Construction began last week on a new $50,000.00 high school building at Qulin. The plans call for six classrooms and a gymnasium. The Qulin school district voted bonds some time ago in the sum of $7,500.00 to provide the sponsor’s part of the WPA project.
The Sikeston Herald
Sikeston, Missouri
December 21st 1944
S/Sgt. George Masters of Qulin, a tail-gunner of a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 95th Bombardment Group, has been awarded the second Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal for “Meritorious Achievement” while participating in the Eighth Air Force bombing attacks on vital German industrial targets, and on Nazi airfields, supply dumps and gun placements in advances by Allied ground forces on the continent. The presentation was made by Col. Karl Truesdell Jr., of Washington D.C., group commander. The sergeant is the son of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Masters, local residents.
The Sikeston Herald
Sikeston, Missouri
March 1st 1945
Two stores, a barber shop and dwelling were destroyed by fire in Qulin Sunday night. The flames are said to have started in the Red and White store, owned by Hickman-White of Puxico. The loss in this store is said to be about $14,000.00. The total loss is estimated to be at $20,000.00.
The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune
Chillicothe, Missouri
March 21st 1945
Driving along state highway # 60 in a pick-up truck, a Qulin, Missouri woman school teacher was stopped by Earl Bradley, state highway trooper, who had observed there was no license plate on the truck. A careful search revealed the license. It was attached to a baby buggy which was being hauled in the truck. “I was in too big a hurry to put it on the truck,” the school teacher remarked.
“Memories of Mine”
by Daymon E. Brown
Going back to the time when there was a war starting and things were scary for a 5-year-old. I remember the area around Qulin and Highway 53 out of Poplar Bluff. My two older brothers, Dennis & Doyle Brown, (Twins), would go out every morning and run the rabbit traps they had set out and baited with pieces of dried corn on the cob. Usually this would take about 30 to 45 minutes before we left to go to school at LIVE OAK SCHOOL. We would listen for the school bell that could be heard from miles away. The teacher would get there early and start a fire in the big wood stove and have the rooms all warmed up when the kids arrived. LIVE OAK SCHOOL had three rooms and three teachers. Dennis & Doyle would usually bring in about 5 to 7 rabbits every morning, there were a lot of them back in those days, and with eight of us kids we enjoyed the fried rabbit and gravy breakfast and sometimes we took it for lunch wrapped in the Daily American Republic newspaper.
At school we would still go out for recess, even when it was cold outside. The school grounds were wide as I remember and the huge live oak tree, which is still there, was a place to play.
There was a big rope hanging from one of the branches and we would take turns swinging around the tree trunk and back again. We also had a few swings in the front school yard next to the road that was gravel and very hard on our bare feet when we walked it to get to school. None of us had shoes until very late in the fall after we picked cotton and had money to get them.
My younger brother and me never had a new pair of shoes because we received our older brothers hand-me-downs to wear, same way with the bib overalls. My sisters had dresses made from flour sacks material. My mother made them on her sewing machine that had a foot treadle to operate it.
We never had electricity until I was 10 years old.
These are some of my memories of childhood in Butler County, Missouri at the beginning of World War Two.