HERITAGE ASSOCIATION SETS ANNUAL CRUISE PARTY

The plans have been made and the stage has been set for the Jackson Heritage Association's third annual Cruise Party.

Set to take place Oct. 22 at Bavarian Halle this year, the annual dinner and dance is the association's only fundraiser. Proceeds from the event go to fund operation and upkeep at historic Oliver House in Jackson.

Vicki Abernathy, who co-chaired planning for the event with fellow heritage assocation member Phyllis Seabaugh, said the party is vital to the yearly operation of the Oliver House.

"The heritage association is, of course, concerned with historical preservation and the Oliver House is important to us," said Abernathy.

She noted that two of the home's residents, Marie Watkins Oliver and Bernard Ferguson, played important roles in state and local history.

Oliver, the wife of State Senator R.B. Oliver and a past resident of the home, designed the state of Missouri's flag during the early 1900s.

Ferguson lived in the home with his parents during the mid to late 1800s and developed the first operational residential telephone in the state of Missouri by running a connection line from a store on South High Street in Jackson to another on Themis Street in downtown Jackson in the early 1870s. It was the first long-distance telephone line in the state of Missouri.

Abernathy explained that in addition to the home's important role in local and state history, it is now filled with antiques from the 1800s.

Tickets for the event are available for $37.50 each from any member of the Jackson Heritage Association or by calling 243-4143.