Our Past: The Telegraph headlines for May 15 over past 100 years

Wood River’s new Walmart Supercenter store was set to open on May 17, 2006. Wood River Mayor Fred Ufert said he was excited about the opening of what would be the city’s largest retailer at 610 Wesley Drive. He said the project created hundreds of full- and part-time jobs for retail and commercial businesses.

Students from Hartford Elementary School released more than 100 balloons to honor the 197th anniversary of the launch of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. The ceremony was held at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford and included the presentation of a plaque signed by Illinois Gov. George Ryan declaring May 14 as Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Day.

The Alton High School baseball team lost 7-3 to Belleville West but still finished in a three-way tie with Belleville East and Granite City for the Southwestern Conference championship. All three teams finished with 6-4 conference records. Alton finished the regular season with an 18-10 overall record.

The first part of a series by The Telegraph reporter Pat Plarski highlighted the crisis in medical malpractice insurance costs for Alton-area physicians. Area doctors who had paid less than $25 for malpractice insurance in the 1950s faced premiums of up to $28,572 on July 1, 1976. Most of those physicians had paid less than $10,000 for the same coverage in 1975.

Owens-Illinois Glass Co. announced plans for the construction of an administration building on East Broadway in Alton. The planned one-story building was intended for administrative purposes and certain phases of the Onized club program.

Stephen George Butler Crawford announced he would make his eighth biennial run for mayor of Alton. Crawford had been elected only once in his seven previous mayoral campaigns. He also had run two unsuccessful campaigns as a Democratic candidate for the Illinois General Assembly.