50 years ago in Expo history: Determined to earn money for fair tickets, a class of Sprague fifth-graders had an adorably ingenious and eco-friendly plan

A fifth-grade class in Sprague, Washington, came up with the cleverest – and most environmentally responsible – way to earn money for Expo ’74 tickets.

They were jumping “up and down on beer cans” to prepare them for recycling. That’s how they spent one recent recess period. But that’s not all they were doing. They were also collecting newsprint, cardboard, returnable bottles and other kinds of cans to sell to recyclers.

People from Sprague and environs were pitching in to help. The Sprague Fire Department contributed their bottles, and highway department workers gave them cans gathered along the roadside.

After reaching their quota, the fifth-graders marched en masse to a Sprague bank, during a rainstorm, to purchase their tickets.

From 100 years ago: A “little blowout” occurred on the second floor of a rented home in the Cannon Hill neighborhood.

Neighbors heard an explosion and saw smoke billowing from a second-floor window. The residents shooed firefighters away, saying they had put the fire out. But then they loaded belongings into four cars and sped away.

When the landlord arrived, she found something strange on the second floor. It was a 40-gallon moonshine still, which had blown up with such force it knocked a door off its hinges.

Police were searching for the renters.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1889: Eiffel Tower officially opens in Paris. Designed by Gustave Eiffel and built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300m high it retains the record for the tallest man-made structure for 41 years.