RED HAT SOCIETY VISITS SYCAMORE APARTMENTS
‘Mother Hen’ Juanita Vanskike brought 10 of her ‘Mischievous Chicks’ to the Historical Center and Museum at 223 N Clark in Moberly. They had a guided tour of the old Sycamore bordello. Following the tour they viewed items in the museum.
RALPH GERHARD MICROFILM RESEARCH CENTER
The collection of microfilm at the research center continues to grow thanks to Chris Parrish, who met such an untimely, early death from cancer. Chris was a long time member of the Randolph County Historical Society and traveled from St. Louis to attend the annual meeting of the Society for many years. He was a devoted family history researcher and he had amassed a huge collection of research materials. Chris had asked his wife Marge to donate his microfilm collection to the Society at his death. We now have the microfilm. In his personal research library were 87 microfilm rolls of birth, marriage, census, and other records from Randolph county and 8 other counties in the surrounding area. They are a wonderful addition to our Research Center.
BANK OF CAIRO – (now BANK OF CAIRO AND MOBERLY)
Bank of Cairo and Moberly is celebrating their 100th birthday this month. Old items from the bank will be on display for the month of April. Featured items from the Historical Society’s collection are the old cashier’s cage from the bank at Cairo and piece of 2 inch thick bullet proof glass that was installed after the 1937 bank robbery.
FOURTH STREET THEATER
Rehabilitating an old theater is a lot of fun. Researching the history of the place, doing actual demolition of parts of it and listening to the stories that people have about times there. Not so much fun is the constant need for asking for donations of cash or donated services.
Carolee Hazlet, Project Chairperson, has had many fund raising schemes, but the most beneficial to donors is the state NAP tax credits program. Carolee applied for tax credit status for the Fourth Street Theater project in 2002. The project was accepted and it was made an official project of the Neighborhood Assistance Program of the state.
Business owners, Banks, Professionals, Farmers, Corporations, Insurance Companies and Individuals with rental property qualify to receive tax credits for their contribution to the project. These do have to be in the State of Missouri. It can be any amount the contributor wishes to give.
Tax credits work this way. Suppose you give the project a contribution of $10,000 After the contribution is given and the donor receives the canceled check back a one page form is filled out and sent, along with a copy of both sides of the check to the Project Director. Carolee will then fill out the rest of the form and send it in and in about a week the donor will receive a document giving 70 percent of the $10,000 tax credit to use in lieu of the owed taxes. The donor can then take the other 30 percent off of their tax as a charitable deduction and again take the 30 percent off for a federal deduction giving the donor an added tax break. The other 30% is a donation to the project and may be used for reducing their federal taxes. The State only approves a certain number of projects throughout the state so the 4th Street Theatre project has been fortunate to receive approval.
Time is short, however, because the tax credits expire on June 30, 2005, so contact us soon with your donation.