December 27, 1946

• Flames completely destroyed the small house at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery Monday morning and the caretaker, Pat Nottingham, who occupies the house, suffered a painful burn on his forehead and one on his leg as fire took the building. It is thought that the fire started from an over heated stove.

• Manley’s popcorn company played Santa Claus in a big way this Christmas to their employees and the farmers with whom they have popcorn contracts and others they do business with. By railroad express from Texas, 450 bushel baskets of grapefruit and oranges arrived for distribution.

• Archie L. Martin was elected president of the Tarkio Chamber of Commerce at a recent meeting and will lead in the activities of the organization in the coming year.

December 30, 1971

• Harold Boatman was elected to serve as president of the Chamber of Commerce at the meeting of the new board members December 20. The board decided to make a donation to the fund drive being conducted by the Tarkio Community Betterment for signs and scoreboard honoring the 1971 Championship High School Football Team.

• One man from Hamburg and two from Rock Port were arrested and charged with attempted burglary of the Langdon Grocery December 22.

• A high temperature of 51 degrees was recorded on the 23rd and a low of 10 degrees on the 28th, according to Lester Morton, local official weather observer.

• In “A Letter To My Friends” thanking locals for their years of patronage, years of work, and those who helped during and after the Tarkio Theatre fire, Pearl Harbison reminisced: “…My husband, the late Virgil Harbison, was directly connected with the theatre when it was called The Linwood Theatre. His mother would pop the corn in her home and Virgil would bring it to the theatre to sell to the patrons as they watched silent movies. Helen Wheeler and Arlene (Hendricks) Wheeler played the musical scores on the ‘old piano.’…Virgil purchased the theatre from Mr. J.D. Rankin and Mr. C.E. Munn in 1941 and operated it until his death in September 1963 and it has since been managed by Bill Springer, Mr. Wm. H. Cole and Dewayne Koenig. We now bid farewell to The Tarkio Theatre where the old and young of this community met to laugh together at the antics of Laurel and Hardy, Ma and Pa Kettle, and Abbott and Costello or weep as they watched The Ten Commandments, Gone with the Wind, Dr. Zhivago, and Love Story…”

December 26, 1996

• Captain Maureen E. Ryan is spending the holidays with her parents, Maurice and Mary Ryan of Tarkio. Captain Ryan returned home from Bosnia where she was stationed last year. She is the commanding officer of Headquarters and Supply Company of the 127th Aviation Support Battalion of the 1st Armored Division. She will return to her unit at Hanau, Germany, after the holidays.

• Allan and Jenny Blum of Tarkio are the new owners of A & J Video in Tarkio. The store, formerly known as Smith Video, was purchased from John and Christina Smith and is located at 318 Main Street.

• The Christian Motorcyclist Association in Atchison County, known as the Heartland Riders, collected $900 in monetary donations to purchase oranges, potatoes, vegetables, ham, chicken, roast beef, pies, bread, and rolls for 40 families in need this holiday. They also included clothing and toys in some of the packages.