150 Years Ago
St. Patrick’s Ball: A magnificent Grand Ball will be held in celebration of St. Patrick’s Eve. The profits are to be devoted to the patriot cause and Ireland.
130 Years Ago
All sorts: Today is St. Patrick’s Day and all good Irish people are expected to celebrate. Ed Sweeny had his big green flag out and covering the street. He is now at work on an allegorical painting representing St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland.
110 Years Ago
Marvelous invention: There are accounts of the first public test of a machine that sends printed dispatches with or without wires. The message is done on an ordinary typewriter keyboard and reeled off the other end of a wire a thousand miles away on a printed slip. These little machines can be put in a private house and the dispatches come while you sleep and ready in the morning when you get up. The inventor named A. H. F. Scharr in Los Angeles invented the machine and spent nearly $100,000 before it was a success.
70 Years Ago
Planting sweet peas: If planted on St. Patrick’s Day, sweet peas will bloom “beautifully and consistently.” Although sweet peas weren’t in evidence, green and white carnations were prevalent through the Supreme Court building as state employees observed the anniversary of Ireland’s patron saint.
50 Years Ago
Howard Hughes: The Desert Inn Hotel on the Las Vegas strip has been purchased by Howard Hughes. He has been staying in the Desert Inn penthouse since early in December. The hotel has been valued at $13 million.
20 Years Ago
Year 2000: The State of Nevada’s Information Services Chief Marlene Lockard signed a $5 million contract with a California firm in effort to solve computer problems coming up in the year 2000. The contract is with MatriDigm of Fremont, Calif.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.