Pages past - May 8

On this date ...

1988: A year after they had added a gangly flock of ostriches to their farm in Rogers, Barry and Becky Walker were profiled in a feature in the Clovis News-Journal.

The Walkers added the leggy birds as a supplement to the more traditional crops of wheat and milo they had raised for years.

"I have orders for all I can produce and then some," Barry Walker said, noting that prices for the birds had doubled in the last year. Eight-week-old ostrich chicks were valued at $1,200, and grown laying adults were fetching from $15,000 to $30,000 apiece.

1968: After two years of planning, a new post office building was under construction in Elida.

The 27-by-27-foot building was budgeted at $4,700, including the parking lot, sidewalk, ramps, and mailing platform.

An Oklahoma City contractor was putting up the new structure on the southeast corner of the town square on land originally owned by the Irvin Nunn family.

The Elida Post Office had operated out of the ground floor of the Odd Fellow building since 1933, but was expected to move to the new facility in July.

Pages Past is compiled by Betty Williamson. Contact her at:

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