Barney (1911-1975) and Murial Alcott (1911-2008) Forum Newspaper and Teaching Icons

Posted on July 21, 2026 by roger

Here’s the story of Barney Alcott, editor/publisher of the Forum and Murial McDonald Alcott (Spoofhound and Bearcat teacher) who met in Michigan, graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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Chester Arthur Bristow (CA Bristow) (1904-1990) Principal at Maryville High School from 1943 to 1964

Posted on July 19, 2026 by roger

C.A. Bristow was Maryville’s longest tenured high school principal

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Maryville High School’s First “Mr. Schneider Bandleader”

Posted on July 19, 2026 by roger

Maryville High School has had two “Mr. Schneiders”  as its band leader.  The most famous is Lee T. Schneider, from Andrew County, who led the band from 1960 to  1992.   From 1943 to 1945, Maryville had Erwin Schneider from St. Louis (he had earlier taught at Skidmore at age 21 in his first job after graduating from Northwest in 1941. Erwin was married to a woman from Andrew County who was the Apple Blossom Queen in St. Joseph in 1939.  She also attended Northwest, and during Erwin’s tenure in Maryville, was an assistant to Principal Bistrow.

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Marching Spoofhounds Perform at Soggy KC Chiefs Opening Game at Arrowhead on September 16, 1973

Posted on July 14, 2026 by roger

On September 16, 1973, the marching Spoofhounds were supposed to be part of a 12-band, 1,600-person concert at Arrowhead supporting Chase band founder Bill Chase for the season-opening Kansas City Chiefs game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.  Arrowhead had sold out, and for the first time ever, the Chiefs lifted the local broadcast blackout. 

However, rainy weather caused about 16,000 no-shows, and the Chiefs complained about lost revenue.  It also played havoc with the music plans, although things cleared for the Marching Spoofhounds’ halftime.

The above image is based on a Kansas City Times photo published September 17, 1973 which showed the  bands on the field.  The original online image is dark and the AI lightened image doesn’t properly show the dramatic effect on the Band Day.

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Stand Up Comic Kathleen Madigan on Noodling (hand fishing) in Missouri

Posted on July 6, 2026 by roger

Kathleen Madigan of Florissant, Missouri has a hilarious stand up on the Missouri tradition of noodling (hand fishing).

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Walter Cronkite’s Dogs in 1930 and 1975

Posted on June 29, 2026 by roger

Amazingly, Maryville plays a role in the history of Walter Cronkite’s dogs!

Specifically, the dogs are terriers belonging to CBS Newscaster Walter Cronkite’s father, Walter Leland Cronkite, Sr., who was a dentist in St. Joseph, where the newscaster was born in November 1916.

The history gets a little complicated since divorces and other marriages are involved, and I will get into that with more detail in a separate article, but this article focuses on the dogs.

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First Kindergarten Class (in Nothwest Missouri Administration Building) 1911

Posted on June 26, 2026 by roger

The first public school kindergarten class in Maryville (and probably Nodaway County) and was held in the Administration — creating a situation where Maryville students could attend all classes from Kindergarten through college bachelors degree in one building.

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Nodaway Valley Bank President Frederick Paul Robinson (1875-1936)

Posted on June 24, 2026 by roger

 

Caption from Forum on : Fred P. Robinson, president of  Nodaway Valley Bank until 1936,when he died, is shown in about 1886 on his high wheeler bicycle.  Picture was furnished by  Mrs. Edward W. Gray, Long Beach, Cal. 

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Advertisement for Scouts and Camp Robinson 1937

Posted on June 23, 2026 by roger

1939 advertisement for Scouting in the Forum. Lots of interesting stuff starting with the strange graphic, which I can’t quite figure out. The aviation and signaling merit pages have dramatically changed, although the safety and athletic meritages are similar. Interesting comment: Scouting keeps boys out of the Booneville, Missouri,** Training School for Boys**. (which, when I Google, I see this: Originally opened in 1883 as a reformatory, it was heavily criticized as one of the nation’s worst juvenile institutions during the Great Depression. And of particular note is the comment that there was an octagon-shaped cabin at Camp Robinson. I don’t recall this, and I don’t remember the cabin that was there until the current structure was built in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

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Train Wreck By Skidmore (or Maitland) in 1903 (?)

Posted on June 22, 2026 by roger

The Forum Nodaway Countians in History column has this photo donated by Merele Hammond which is labeled a train wreck in 1903 a mile north of Skidmore. I cannot find a reference to such a wreck, but I find these two items in 1903 on the same Burlington line, 7 miles south of Skidmore at Maitland.

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