Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Raytown: 2014, neighborhood, schools)

[Kev 2732]

Is the second photo taken on Cement City road?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Kev 2732

Is the second photo taken on Cement City road?

You are the winner! Your prize is a 100% self-funded meal at Hi-Boy's.

This 1943 shot of the AT&SF RR tracks at Cement City is from a series of photos taken across the country in the late 1930s into the 1940s. They are available for viewing at the Library of Congress website.

Here is the link to the Jackson County collection. You can search other locales from there.

Search Results: "missouri jackson county" - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)

[WCHS'59]

The new Pioneer Woman statute is back up at The National Frontier Trails Museum.

Recall the old one was stolen by vandals, back in 2013, who destroyed it and tried to sell it for scrap.

Cost of the replacement is $40,000.

[SilverDoc]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

This map looks like it was done with a Leroy lettering set--something I always wanted but could never afford.

I believe that when R.D. Mize Road was named way back when, it followed what is now 23rd St and started at the east city limits of Independence, which would have been at or about Leslie Street.

I dont recall Sullivan Street off Kiger Road, which would have come into the city limits in 1960, perhaps because there were no street signs in the newly annexed areas for several years. That would appear to be Kansas Street, today.

I also was not aware of a north-south Third Street running north from Morgan Road. It appears to be for only one block in the entire city. Fourth Street appears to be gone, but from the air it looks like you can see a footprint in places.

Those poor souls on Third Street North might feel like they have an identity crisis.

Peck Road appears to have vanished from just west of M-291.

Inez Street appears to have disappeared off Hayward.

Massman Road is gone off Truman.

24th at the end of Queen Ridge and Ellison Way appears to now be 25th.

If you have access to more of that map you might find a segment of Harkless Street somewhere in the area of Gudgell and Kings Highway. That segment of Harkless was on city maps for years and I tore my hair out looking for it just as many years but never found it because it did not exist.

Sullivan St. is now E. Elm St. Massman Rd was where the indrustrial park is today on Truman Rd. just east of 291 (72 Bypass) where the old Massman Farm had been. For years, a few of the old outbuildings still stood at the far northern edge of the park. R.D. Mize ran straight to Holke Rd., and 23rd St. (M 78, Alton Ave. ) split off from R.D. Mize just east of 71 Bypass (291)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

Sullivan St. is now E. Elm St. Massman Rd was where the indrustrial park is today on Truman Rd. just east of 291 (72 Bypass) where the old Massman Farm had been. For years, a few of the old outbuildings still stood at the far northern edge of the park. R.D. Mize ran straight to Holke Rd., and 23rd St. (M 78, Alton Ave. ) split off from R.D. Mize just east of 71 Bypass (291)

Welcome back Doc, looks like you are playing catch-up! Go back and take a closer look at that map. Sullivan is north of Walnut (the unlabeled street dead-ending east of Kiger). Elm wasn't built until after 1960 when the third phase of Queen City Park was started.

[CaseyMO]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Welcome back Doc, looks like you are playing catch-up! Go back and take a closer look at that map. Sullivan is north of Walnut (the unlabeled street dead-ending east of Kiger). Elm wasn't built until after 1960 when the third phase of Queen City Park was started.

I believe this is a photo of the back yards of the homes on the south side of East Elm.

[WCHS'59]

“Wild creatures were lariated and tied to the wheels, the yokes were put on, and they were allowed the freedom of the corral to run, jump, bellow, or break their necks as they sometimes did. Many times a team of six yoke of oxen left Independence only half broken, and the yokes were left on them day after day until they became subdued. We boys waited until the wagon trains left and then gathered up the scrap iron, stripping the abandoned wagons of all the long and short bolts, which could be traded for cash at the blacksmith shops.”

The above words came from an old timer’s interview. He was talking about a large area northeast of Independence used as a campground, animal training area, and shoving off point for wagon trains. I suspect the time frame involved was some time in the 1870s, although I was not aware that wagon trains were leaving Independence at such a late date.

The old timer, as a boy, went to work making 25 cents per day at one of the local blacksmith shops. His job was to insure the power that supplied the blacksmith shop did not go out.

In the 1870s, what was the source of power for this blacksmith shop?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

In the 1870s, what was the source of power for this blacksmith shop?

Coal?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Coal?

No, not coal.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

“Wild creatures were lariated and tied to the wheels, the yokes were put on, and they were allowed the freedom of the corral to run, jump, bellow, or break their necks as they sometimes did. Many times a team of six yoke of oxen left Independence only half broken, and the yokes were left on them day after day until they became subdued. We boys waited until the wagon trains left and then gathered up the scrap iron, stripping the abandoned wagons of all the long and short bolts, which could be traded for cash at the blacksmith shops.”

The above words came from an old timer’s interview. He was talking about a large area northeast of Independence used as a campground, animal training area, and shoving off point for wagon trains. I suspect the time frame involved was some time in the 1870s, although I was not aware that wagon trains were leaving Independence at such a late date.

The old timer, as a boy, went to work making 25 cents per day at one of the local blacksmith shops. His job was to insure the power that supplied the blacksmith shop did not go out.

In the 1870s, what was the source of power for this blacksmith shop?

Horsepower was used.

The quote comes from Pearl Wilcox who says she interviewed one Charles Hill in 1959. She might have become confused concerning her notes as the interview would seem to have taken place in 1957 or earlier. The timeframe that Hill was scavenging the campground for iron bolts and such was not specified.

Wilcox says the Hill family headed by Richard and Elizabeth (Sears) came to Independence from Wisconsin in 1869 and opened the Hill & Humphrey Wagon Shop on East Lexington. Before he began learning the family business, the young Charles Hill went to work for the McCurdy Blacksmith shop at Main and White Oak.

The power for the blacksmith shop came from a blind horse walking on a treadmill. Hill’s twenty-five cents per day job was to insure the horse did not stop walking. The horsepower supplied power to sharpen plows and tools, perhaps via belts.

The animal training area, campground, and shoving off point Hill was talking about in the interview was northeast of the McCurdy Blacksmith Shop.

According to the 1920 history of Jackson County Charles Hill and his brother operated a hardware store on the northeast corner of the square consisting of two floors sixty by eighty feet, and a basement. Part of the area was leased to a grocery store. This would place the hardware where the old Katz Drug Store and the current Ophelia’s restaurant and inn are located.

Findagrave indicates that Charles Steers Hill was born to Richard Hill and Elizabeth (Steers) in 1862 in Wisconsin. That would make him around seven years old when the family moved to Independence.

The web site indicates he died on August 20, 1957, and was buried in Mount Washington cemetery.

The Robinson, Crook, & Co. foundry, also on east Lexington used horse power to operate the foundry until 1857 when it converted to steam.