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To my knowledge, there wasn't a street north there. The city had to buy at least one section of property, as the route split a small farm in half.
By the way, the old Conoco Inn was located about half a block east of where Lee's Summit roadmeets 24, today.
That land acquistion had to be expensive and any litigation was probably what stalled the completion of Lee's Summit to 24 after Kiger was widened to become Lee's Summit Road.
When they extended Lee's Summit Road north from Truman Road to Highway 24, did they go through virgin territory? That is did the city have to buy all the right of way for an entirely new street?
There was no street going north at that dangerous bridge back in the old days and I do not recall there being one a few blocks further north either.
The new alignment actually veers west starting at Kansas Ave. From that point up to 24 Hiway the road follows a virgin route, crossing Truman about a block west of the old dangerous bridge. They did buy a number of houses to accomplish this. The old Conoco Inn sat at the SE corner of 24 & LS, now that is a vacant lot frequented by produce salesmen.
When I was growing up in Independence, new subdivisions were being built seemingly everywhere and the city was growing at a fast pace.
But whenever a new subdivision came in, there were no sidewalks along the new streets, which were not paved. Apparently the thought was back then that the automobile was going to be king and no one would be walking. Even in some of the older subdivisions established earlier, there were no sidewalks.
When I walked 2.3 miles from my girlfriend’s house in the area of the new William Chrisman high school to my home there were no sidewalks anywhere along the streets making up that route. All of the streets were tar and chip and there was no storm drainage other than crude ditches along each side of the road.
Then sometime in the early sixties, the city started requiring a developer to pave streets and construct sidewalks, but a sidewalk need be on one side of the street only. When my folks bought in Glendale Gardens along 35th Street, it was a rather nice subdivision with paved roads but I thought it was really crazy that there was a sidewalk on one side of the street only.
One of the Independence city managers hired back in the old days was previously an administrator for Aurora, Colorado, a city just a little larger than Independence back then but with over 300,000 now. When I first arrived in Colorado, I resided in Aurora. There were sidewalks on both sides of the streets everywhere. Developers were required to have sidewalks on both sides, required to have paved roads, required to have all utilities installed including street lights, storm drains, and required to provide open space for projected new schools as needed. Street signs, stops signs, etc., were also required to be in place. This entire infrastructure was at the expense of the developer.
If there were to be a thoroughfare like the Little Blue Valley Expressway, the builder had to provide the land for the portion of the projected roadway in his development. Additionally, the city required all thoroughfares similar to the Little Blue Valley Expressway to be six lanes rather than four. And the cross town thoroughfares were spaced about a half mile apart rather than the long distances apart as in Independence. Of course the developer recouped his costs by adding to the cost of each house, but it was seemingly worth it.
I don’t know what the requirement for sidewalks in Independence might be now.
I always try to locate that place when I drive Highway 24. It was a nice place back in its time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WCHS'59
When I was growing up in Independence, new subdivisions were being built seemingly everywhere and the city was growing at a fast pace.
But whenever a new subdivision came in, there were no sidewalks along the new streets, which were not paved. Apparently the thought was back then that the automobile was going to be king and no one would be walking. Even in some of the older subdivisions established earlier, there were no sidewalks.
When I walked 2.3 miles from my girlfriend’s house in the area of the new William Chrisman high school to my home there were no sidewalks anywhere along the streets making up that route. All of the streets were tar and chip and there was no storm drainage other than crude ditches along each side of the road.
Then sometime in the early sixties, the city started requiring a developer to pave streets and construct sidewalks, but a sidewalk need be on one side of the street only. When my folks bought in Glendale Gardens along 35th Street, it was a rather nice subdivision with paved roads but I thought it was really crazy that there was a sidewalk on one side of the street only.
One of the Independence city managers hired back in the old days was previously an administrator for Aurora, Colorado, a city just a little larger than Independence back then but with over 300,000 now. When I first arrived in Colorado, I resided in Aurora. There were sidewalks on both sides of the streets everywhere. Developers were required to have sidewalks on both sides, required to have paved roads, required to have all utilities installed including street lights, storm drains, and required to provide open space for projected new schools as needed. Street signs, stops signs, etc., were also required to be in place. This entire infrastructure was at the expense of the developer.
If there were to be a thoroughfare like the Little Blue Valley Expressway, the builder had to provide the land for the portion of the projected roadway in his development. Additionally, the city required all thoroughfares similar to the Little Blue Valley Expressway to be six lanes rather than four. And the cross town thoroughfares were spaced about a half mile apart rather than the long distances apart as in Independence. Of course the developer recouped his costs by adding to the cost of each house, but it was seemingly worth it.
I don’t know what the requirement for sidewalks in Independence might be now.
I'm back living in the house I grew up in. When we first moved here in 1955, this area wasn't in the Indep. city limits, yet. The road was graded, (more like disked)oiled, then covered with chat. It's was always an adventureriding our bikes along the edge for the road while trying to avoid what few cars came by, because of the loose chat being like marbles under our tires. We didn't get actual asphalt until about ten or so years ago. No sidewalks, (still today) no storm drains (ditches...again, still today) or street lights. The street lights didn't go up until the mid to late 1960'sLike the story goes: we didn't lock our houses or cars.......
I'm back living in the house I grew up in. When we first moved here in 1955, this area wasn't in the Indep. city limits, yet. The road was graded, (more like disked)oiled, then covered with chat. It's was always an adventureriding our bikes along the edge for the road while trying to avoid what few cars came by, because of the loose chat being like marbles under our tires. We didn't get actual asphalt until about ten or so years ago. No sidewalks, (still today) no storm drains (ditches...again, still today) or street lights. The street lights didn't go up until the mid to late 1960'sLike the story goes: we didn't lock our houses or cars.......
I can recall a lot of that loose chat on the roads being spun by tires into the ditches. Over the years, some ditches would get rather full of chat and become blocked, especially at the small culverts carrying the water under each graveled drive way. These drainage's were especially bad at being blocked with chat.
We had a family cat that just up and disappeared. Sometime after it vanished, I decided to help out with a ditch drainage problem so I got a shovel to dig the chat out of the ends of our culvert. About the fifth or sixth shovel full, out came what was left of the body of that cat. It was a young cat so I don’t know what happened to it. It probably got in a neighborhood cat fight and crawled in there to nurse its wounds.
Another time around the Fourth of July, I thought it would be a good idea to bury and set off a cherry bomb in the accumulated chat in the ditch in front of our house to see what would happen. Cherry bombs were still legal then. I lit the fuse and took off for the front porch. That bomb blew chat everywhere and I could hear it raining down on the closest neighborhood cars. I thought that clinking on metal would never end. I went into the house and went to my room scared that someone was going to complain to my folks. I only came out to have supper. No one complained but I did not do that again.
I always try to locate that place when I drive Highway 24. It was a nice place back in its time.
It's listed as Brownie's Conoco Inn at 1705 E. US 24. 1705 happened to be the last 4-digit 24 designation eastbound. East of Holder was Allen Sinclair at 15396 and Salisbury Hills Restaurant at 15400.
US 24 continued eastward to the city limits at what was then US 71 Bypass/Allen Rd. I remember the Moon Light Motel, between Cogan and 71, also the Great Western Motel at that intersection.
Last edited by MRG Dallas; 10-11-2012 at 10:30 PM..
It's listed as Brownie's Conoco Inn at 1705 E. US 24. 1705 happened to be the last 4-digit 24 designation eastbound. East of Holder was Allen Sinclair at 15396 and Salisbury Hills Restaurant at 15400.
US 24 continued eastward to the city limits at what was then US 71 Bypass/Allen Rd. I remember the Moon Light Motel, between Cogan and 71, also the Great Western Motel at that intersection.
The current railroad passenger depot on the Union Pacific Railroad running through Independence is at 600 South Grand, almost 1.25 miles southwest of the square. (The old Chicago and Alton passenger depot was another seven-tenths of a mile southwest of this depot)
Prior to 1913, Missouri Pacific passengers arrived and departed at the Liberty Street depot at Liberty and Short streets, two-tenths of a mile directly south of the square. That depot was built during the Civil War.
When a new site for a Missouri Pacific depot was being considered in the early 1900s, a suggestion was made for the depot to be on Lexington Street at the bridge where that street crosses the tracks. This would be across from where the now closed Natatorium was located in 1922. The waiting room would be on the same level as Lexington Street and the arrivals and departures would be on the lower level along the railroad tracks.
The south Grand site selected for the 1913 depot is only two-tenths of a mile away from that bridge.
The reasoning behind locating a depot on Lexington Street or in the general area of this bridge was that Lexington was becoming a major site for business activity extending from the square to and past this bridge.
At one time, Independence had fourteen passenger trains coming through on a daily basis.
Today, Amtrak has two trains on a daily basis, one in each direction. The train is called the Missouri River Runner. The stop in Independence is only a flag stop. One cannot even buy at ticket at the old depot. The depot is not even owned by Amtrak or the Union Pacific. It is the property of the city of Independence.
According to the Amtrak web site for the Independence depot there is an enclosed waiting area, but no restrooms, no ATM, no ticket office, no lounge, no elevator, no pay phone, no wifi, no checked baggage, no baggage storage, no baggage carts, and no baggage assistance.
However, if one wants to ride the train in a coach seat from Independence to Kansas City the cost is $7.54 and takes a scheduled 34 minutes. This compares to fourteen cents when I rode the Missouri Pacific streamliner from the same depot to Union Station in 1950.
If one wants to ride by coach from Independence to Oakland, California, the cost is $351.
There are four trains daily, two in each direction by the Missouri River Runner at Independence. I visited the Independence Depot on my last trip into town and the waiting area was locked. The doors facing the tracks were locked and also blocked by a heavy duty waiting bench. The bench is under an overhang to protect from the weather.
The train stops only if someone is waiting but one has to have an advance reservation to ride. A 1-800 number is posted on the outside of the station advising that reservations may be made by calling this number. It appears that if you just show up hoping to buy a ticket after boarding, the train will not stop.
Here is the Missouri River Runner arriving at the Independence Station heading for the terminus at Kansas City, from You Tube
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