Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Pages Past — Aug. 30

On this date …

1967: Poor Boy’s Butcher Shop, at 801 Prince in Clovis, offered 4 pounds of fresh, lean hamburger for $1, in a Labor Day weekend sale. And the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. was promoting a new way to enjoy its products — in no-deposit, no-return bottles.

1955: Around 500 hands were at work harvesting Roosevelt County’s largest broomcorn crop in recent years, the county’s employment office reported.

1949: Clovis had 200 new parking meters on its Main Street, allowing shoppers two hours before they had to “feed the kitty” again. Previous meters had one hour before time expired.

In national news …

1954: Hurricane Carol killed 65 people on the East Coast. About 1,500 homes, 3,500 cars and 3,000 boats were also destroyed, making it the costliest hurricane in the United States to date.

Quotable …

“The people of Portales will ever remember with kindness and pride … its first soldier to die with his face to the enemy.”

— from the July 5, 1918, Portales Journal newspaper, reporting on the World War I death of 27-year-old Carl McDermott.

Pages Past is compiled by Clovis News Journal Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

[email protected]