History
When fall rains slowly reveal the intensifying colors of autumn, my mind is drawn to one of my favorite places along the Eleven Point River: Bliss Spring, and to an especially scenic day in October. For five decades, I’ve floated, fished, and camped on gravel bars along the river passing...
Friday, September 12, 2025, a night for recharging memories, when 125 former Willow Springs High School football players returned to Palenske Field to celebrate 100 years of Bear Football.
From leather helmets and a rounder football, which could be drop kicked, to drones flying overhead to...
In my previous article, I wrote about the war of words that occurred nationally, at the state, and local levels, leading to fighting in Howell County and the suppression, sometimes total, of the opposing side's speech. Simply put, what you said could get you killed, kidnapped, or arrested before...
Mark Twain is credited with saying, “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” As a fifty-year student of Howell County history, events of the past, in particular, the American Civil War, to me, have a familiar ring in the headlines we are seeing in today’s news.
This article...
In the spring, I learned the Willow Springs Bears Football Boosters planned a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of football at Willow Springs High School (1925-2025) on Friday night, September 12, 2025, at Palenske Field when the Bears play Cabool. Former players and coaches will be...
In the spring, I learned the Willow Springs Bears Football Boosters planned a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of football at Willow Springs High School (1925-2025) on Friday night, September 12, 2025, at Palenske Field when the Bears play Cabool. Former players and coaches will be...
From 1869 through 1882, Howell County public business was conducted in a tiny 720-square-foot (24 x 30-foot) wooden single-story building. Built by T.E. Britton on the south side of the square, the building was divided into three rooms and cost $1,200. Alice Carey Risley wrote of attending a...
Utilizing their government through the county court system could be a challenge for the early pioneers living in what would become Howell County. In that era, the center of county government was a moving target and often a great distance away.
After the 1804 Louisiana Purchase, our...
In 1976, Random House published What Really Happened to the Class of ‘65, written by Michael Medved and David Wallechinsky, two members of the senior class at Palisades High School in an upscale section of Los Angeles. Truman Grogan and I read the book, and although it featured California...
The quest to discover oil in Howell County began in the summer of 1904, just over the Ozark County line near Bakersfield.
It appears that earlier in the year, farmer J. T. Parrish, in an attempt to drill a water well, struck liquid at 140 feet. However, when the water did not clear, it was...