Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Jefferson City: tile, dryer, wholesale)

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

Didn't know about Bostian Nash being on that corner, but I do know that they built Firestone Tire there. My Great-Uncle was working for Firestone when they opened, and I seem to remember him saying it was in about 1932 or 33.

The Nash Dealership opened at that site in 1919.

I only remember that place as Firestone. My uncle worked there.

We got our first TV, a seven incher, there. The TV brand was Firestone. It had more tubes than Carter had pills. The wood cabinet holding the tubes dwarfed the seven inch screen by quite a bit. TV did not start until 6:00pm. And the only station was WDAF TV. At 10:30 or 11:00 pm, an American Flag came waving on the screen, the Star Spangled Banner played, and the screen went blank until 6:00 the next evening.

WDAF-TV was owned by the Kansas City Star. Sometime in the fifties, a federal court ordered the Star to divest itself of the station. As a kid, i did not really understand what that was all about but rumor had it that Harry Truman started the antitrust action.

WDAF and WHB were old stations and were two of few stations with call letters to start with W, since stations with call letters starting with W after a certain date were supposed to be located east of the Mississippi while those west of the river were supposed to start with K.

We also got our first cabinet console radio at Firestone. The brand was Firestone. The radio was AM-FM but there were no FM stations broadcasting in KC at the time. I can recall refusing to believe there were no FM stations and I would search the FM dial from time to time trying to bring something in. Also, no one I knew, knew what FM was but I had heard FM did not have any static. The console also played records--78 rpm only. It had one huge speaker behind the grille below the tuner. Next to the speaker area was a separate storage compartment for records.

I broke many a 78 rpm record. All you had to do was drop one from waist high and they broke into many pieces. The records were made of shellac.

[MRG Dallas]

WDAF and WHB were old stations and were two of few stations with call letters to start with W, since stations with call letters starting with W after a certain date were supposed to be located east of the Mississippi while those west of the river were supposed to start with K.

We may have discussed this previously, if so quite awhile ago . . . but WHB Seventy Onderful has quite the interesting and Onederful history. It was only the second "Top 40" radio station in the country (see Todd Storrs, I believe his name). The late DJ Richard Ward Fatherly had a really nice historical site, complete with pics and jingles that brought back tons of memories. I still have some xerox'd 40 Star Surveys somewhere

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

WDAF and WHB were old stations and were two of few stations with call letters to start with W, since stations with call letters starting with W after a certain date were supposed to be located east of the Mississippi while those west of the river were supposed to start with K.

We may have discussed this previously, if so quite awhile ago . . . but WHB Seventy Onderful has quite the interesting and Onederful history. It was only the second "Top 40" radio station in the country (see Todd Storrs, I believe his name). The late DJ Richard Ward Fatherly had a really nice historical site, complete with pics and jingles that brought back tons of memories. I still have some xerox'd 40 Star Surveys somewhere

MRG, we never did come up with or agree on who the WHB fellow was that committed suicide on the air way back when, chuckle.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

Didn't know about Bostian Nash being on that corner, but I do know that they built Firestone Tire there. My Great-Uncle was working for Firestone when they opened, and I seem to remember him saying it was in about 1932 or 33.

Doc, I probably should have said the current day site at 121 S Main where Bostian Nash was located. I did not have any information as to the type of building they occupied.

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I don't recall mentioning this before but Carrie Nation was a graduate of and received a teaching certificate from what is now the University of Central Missouri.

Also, graduating from the same school was Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People).

I recall upon his death in 1955, his funeral was widely covered by the three networks news programs and I recall watching and wondering who he was. When I attended Central Missouri a few years later, I don't recall his name ever being mentioned.

I watched film of the Carnegie funeral on the NBC nightly news Camel News Caravan with John Cameron Swayze. As was the custom of the time, one sponsor sponsored each program on TV and in this case it was Camel Cigarettes.

Swayze later became a spokesman and hawker for Timex watches "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." In one commercial he attached a Timex to a speed boat motor propeller and ran it in the water for a number of seconds. The watch kept on ticking. I think it was done live but filmed for repeat.

A Timex was inexpensive--so inexpensive that a lot of people would not be seen wearing one.

I enjoyed spokespeople like JCS. Always gave "credibility" to commercials (how naive was that?) Saw some old Arthur Godfrey videos recently and he (like many at that time) did commericals on-air. This one went on and on, Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup. I read that he had a rep of sometimes bad mouthing the product out of the blue. Not nearly as "nice guy" either as we had been led to view him.

Dale Carnegie: I did not realize (or had forgotten) the Warrensburg connection. I do remember this however: "The sweetest words to anyone is their own name"

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

MRG, we never did come up with or agree on who the WHB fellow was that committed suicide on the air way back when, chuckle.

Ah yes, I do recall that now. I'm telling you it was Tom Jacobson (sen) ! lol

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

The Nash Dealership opened at that site in 1919.

I only remember that place as Firestone. My uncle worked there.

We got our first TV, a seven incher, there. The TV brand was Firestone. It had more tubes than Carter had pills. The wood cabinet holding the tubes dwarfed the seven inch screen by quite a bit. TV did not start until 6:00pm. And the only station was WDAF TV. At 10:30 or 11:00 pm, an American Flag came waving on the screen, the Star Spangled Banner played, and the screen went blank until 6:00 the next evening.

WDAF-TV was owned by the Kansas City Star. Sometime in the fifties, a federal court ordered the Star to divest itself of the station. As a kid, i did not really understand what that was all about but rumor had it that Harry Truman started the antitrust action.

WDAF and WHB were old stations and were two of few stations with call letters to start with W, since stations with call letters starting with W after a certain date were supposed to be located east of the Mississippi while those west of the river were supposed to start with K.

We also got our first cabinet console radio at Firestone. The brand was Firestone. The radio was AM-FM but there were no FM stations broadcasting in KC at the time. I can recall refusing to believe there were no FM stations and I would search the FM dial from time to time trying to bring something in. Also, no one I knew, knew what FM was but I had heard FM did not have any static. The console also played records--78 rpm only. It had one huge speaker behind the grille below the tuner. Next to the speaker area was a separate storage compartment for records.

I broke many a 78 rpm record. All you had to do was drop one from waist high and they broke into many pieces. The records were made of shellac.

Yeah, supposedly Truman held a grudge against The Star as it was reputedly a "Republican" newspaper

[WCHS'59]

This photo at 321 south Osage was posted by Doc in December 2012.

I guessed it was the home of Independence Laundry and Dry Cleaning. But that company was located further north in the 100 s block.

This was the home of Lloyd's Laundry and Dry Cleaning. The arrow in the photo contained numerous flashing white lights.

C. Lloyd Haines operated the facility beginning in 1947. He went out of business in 1979. He just recently (2010) passed away.

[WCHS'59]

Anyone know when Independence Laundry and Dry Cleaning went out?

Did Lloyd's Laundry and Dry Cleaning out last them by going out in 1979?

I know that Independence Laundry and Dry Cleaning advertised in the local movie houses with a filmed commercial.

I think Lloyd's might have also.

I cannot say when local advertising in the movies stopped. But, the 20th Century Fox Movietone newsreels stopped in 1963 or 1968 for all theaters. They could not compete with television news.

By the way, "Movietone" meant "motion picture sound" and the name was a carryover from 1928 when the company boasted of news with sound narration.

Wikipedia says Movietone went out in 1963. However, I started an Army stint in Germany in 1967 and we were getting Movietone news then in the service theaters. I was really sad when that service stopped a year later because that was the only way any of us were getting news from home. I was going to write my Congressman to complain until I learned that the problem was not the Armed Forces Theaters organization but Fox just stopped doing it.

[WCHS'59]

North side of Independence Square in 1910s.