1970
15: Par- 1980
Jan. 16: Demolition of the
Matthewson Hotel begins.
June 2: The school board
reaffirms its decision to build a
football field in Marvel Park and
a running track on high school
grounds.
July 8: The 1971 centennial
committee sells bricks from the
former Matthewson Hotel.
Dec. 10: Operations of the
Katy Railroad in Parsons, as
elsewhere, are at a standstill.
Pickets are in evidence as a na-
tional railroad strike began.
1971
Jan. 8: Belmont Tower is
formally dedicated with Sen.
James B. Pearson as the featured
speaker.
May 28: A $4,267,000 amen-
datory application for Parsons’
urban renewal project is ap-
proved.
1970s
‘70 ‘71 ‘72
April 6: The old First Na-
tional Bank building is demol-
ished.
July 15: Gibson Discount
Center, in Parsons since 1965,
opens a new store at 300 Main.
Oct. 30: The last Parsons Vi-
king football game is played on
the Rees Hughes field. Games
moved to Marvel Park field.
Nov. 5: Swift and Co. closes
its hatchery in Parsons because
the building it occupied at 2001
Main had been acquired by the
Parsons Urban Renewal Agency.
Sept.
1987
‘73 ‘74 ‘75 ‘76 ‘77
Nov. 19: The new Par-
sons Plaza, a pedestrian
shopping center that cut off
two blocks of Main Street to
traffic, is dedicated. 
1972
Feb. 10: The demolition
of the Katy Depot begins 58
years after the day it opened.
March 1: The MKT
Railroad office on Crawford
moves into new quarters.
July 14: Work begins on
construction of a new drive-
in bank for First National
Bank of Parsons in the 1700
block of Corning.
July 18: Work begins on
demolition of a building at
1804 Broadway. The build-
ing with a 25-foot front was
formerly occupied by a dry
cleaners and a barber shop.
sons Vikings
debut at Marvel
Park football field,
winning 18-6 over
Iola.
1973
Feb. 26: Thie-
baud Theatre at
Labette Com-
munity College
is dedicated in
honor of Charles
Thiebaud, a re-
tired dean of the
college.
1976
March: TG&Y opens
40,000 square-foot store at
2020 Main, on the  Belmont
Square Shopping Center.
April 13: Carnegie Library
is placed on the National
Registry of Historic Places.
‘78 ‘79
1980s
1977
April 18: The new Parsons
Library opens at 311 S. 17th
Street.
1978
July 7: Green Bay Packer
Derrel Gofourth runs a football
clinic for Parsons-area boys in
and around the Parsons Com-
munity Center. He is assisted by
another former Parsons High
School all-stater, David Law-
rence.
1979
June 24: The coach who
brought tradition-rich Parsons
High School its first state bas-
ketball crown, and its second,
steps down. Darrell “Nick”
Divine, Viking head man for 10
seasons, announced his resigna-
tion from that post.
Labette County Community Guide • 2021
Summer: Burris-Carson-Wall
moves to its new funeral home at
112 N. 26th.
July 29: Walmart Stores pur-
chases the Pamida Discount Cen-
ter in Parsons. Walmart takes over
operation of the store on Sept. 2
after Pamida closes out the stores’
inventory with a month-long sale
during August. The Pamida store
was opened as the Gibson Dis-
count Center in Parsons on Aug.
13, 1964.
Oct. 28: Cyril Willey resigns
as chief of Parsons police. Willey,
who had been chief since Novem-
ber 1976, says he resigned to spend
more time with his family.
Nov. 11: Walmart opens its
store at 310 Main.
1981
March 27: The Labette Coun-
ty Judicial Centers opens at 201
S. Central Avenue. This is the site
of the original 1st National Bank
building.
‘80 ‘81 ‘82 ‘83 ‘84
July 14: USD 503 votes that
the Rees H. Hughes Memorial
Bandshell behind Parsons Junior
High School will be disassem-
bled and razed. The structure
had been built by the Works
Progress Administration.  extend a $100,000 guarantee on a letter
1985
April 2: The original cano-
pies on the Parsons Plaza are
replaced with new ones at a cost
of $377,227.
1986
March 15: Parsons High
School (16-7) loses to Liberal in
the Class 5A state championship
in basketball.
March 14: Parsons High School
(23-1) wins the Class 5A state
championship in basketball by de-
feating Blue Valley-Stilwell 70-65.
1988
July 4: The Parsons Drive-In
Theater closes and is demolished
a short time later. The last films
played were “Crocodile Dundee
II,” “Vice Versa,” “Dirty Dancing”
and “La Bamba.”
Aug. 12: Union Pacific Railroad
purchases Katy Industries, along
with the rail line.
‘85 ‘86 ‘87 ‘88 ‘89
1989
May 16: The Broderick Co., 2400
Broadway, is the first company to ben-
efit from the $1 million the city of Par-
sons received from the Union Pacific
Railroad. Parsons city commissioners
of credit to Broderick, a manufacturer
of women’s athletic clothing, to enable
the company to buy materials needed
for upcoming orders.
July 19: John Ellis, a U.S. Air
Force staff sergeant, safely com-
pletes a two-week bicycle ride to
Parsons from the East Coast. He
had planned and prepared for the
ride while stationed the previous
four years in West Germany. His trip
started July 3 at Springfield, Virginia.
From Parsons he would drive to re-
port for duty at Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
9