Long ago on independence square (Raytown, Jackson: floor, county, places)

[WCHS'59]

Huron Reflector, Huron Ohio, December 17, 1833

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Hello,

I can recall a Combs Cottage Inn on US 24 that in the mid 40s would have been outside the eastern city limits of Independence.


I don't remember a Cottage Inn on US 50 but a web site says that Ong Airport was at Gregory Blvd and Blue Ridge Blvd in Raytown. Prior to being called Ong Airport it was called Richards Field and was the first airport established in the Kansas City area in 1922. Ong no longer exists but there is a highway marker in front of a US Bank commemorating Richards Field.


The "Richards" of Richards Field is the same Richards in the old Richards-Gebauer AFB.

Maybe those two Cottage Inns were related, somehow.

"The site of Ong Airport is located southeast of the intersection of East Gregory Boulevard & Blue Ridge Boulevard.



The names of the airport live on,

as one of the streets in the residential neighborhood at the site is "Richards Drive",

and "Ong Lake" is located on the southeast corner of the property."

[MRG Dallas]

Learn something new every day . . . this is the first I've ever heard of an airport in Raytown. For sure I had classmates that lived in Gregory Heights, but knew nothing of the land's history. From the Raytown Chamber of Commerce website:

Air travel began in Raytown on a 1500 foot runway in 1922. It was near the southeast corner of Gregory Blvd. and Blue Ridge Blvd. on 156 acres of land just east of Cave Spring. The US Army took over the airport immediately after its construction. They called it Richard’s Flying Field in honor of Lt. John F. Richards II, the first Kansas City officer to die while in the Army flying service. An average of thirty planes a month landed in Raytown from 1922-1924. By 1925, several hundred planes stopped there each month.

history9A 1926 Chamber of Commerce bulletin claimed that “airplanes from every section of the United States come to Richards Field to refuel before continental flights…it is used as an airplane training school for civilians and Army flyers.”

The airmail contract was given to them in 1926, but was transferred to the KC Municipal Airport when it opened in 1927. Commercial Airways later leased the airport as a training center. Charles Lindbergh received some of his early training at Richards Field. In 1949, they renamed the field Ong Airport after its owner, William Ong. After the airport was used for instruction of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots during World War II, the planes were used to dust crops. This ended in 1952 when the airfield was subdivided into more than 405 lots for homes, now known as the “Gregory Heights” subdivision.

[Mad Anthonie]

The news article a couple of posts back mentions Gilbert & Whitney's Store. The McClains have a kitchen supplies store at Lexington & Liberty bearing that name.

[WCHS'59]

Deseret Farmer, Provo, Utah, May 1, 1909

[WCHS'59]

Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 15, 1910

[WCHS'59]

From the Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 25, 1904.

I was not aware that Electric Street went this far east, assuming this view is from Osage and Lexington Street looking east.

At one time in the old days the Independence business district was expanding on Electric Street from about Union west to Winner Road. I dont think it ever looked like this, though.

[WCHS'59]

Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 25, 1904.

This view west does not seem to sync with the previous photo of Electric Street.

[pearjas]

Think you'd find any ghosts around the Square?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by pearjas

Think you'd find any ghosts around the Square?

Nope, but you'll find a lot of suckers paying good money to look for ghosts!