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Old 01-04-2014, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Raytown, MO
141 posts, read 254,724 times
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Im curious to know what the teenagers in Independence do for fun and the best and worse places. I have a 14 yr old and would like to be aware. I know any place you have a bunch of teenagers it cant be perfect but are there spots with worse reputations? Any that seem more positive or are especially cool?

Here a lot of kids hang out at the mall. It seems overrun with teenagers on the weekends. Also, downtown but that is an area we are generally warned to keep them away from as there are a lot of vagrants and drug pushers, especially on the square. I see there is a skate park in Independence too. My son loves to do tricks on his bmx bike, are they allowed there? Is it an ok place for kids who like to skate? Thanks for any info you may have.
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Old 01-04-2014, 04:28 PM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
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Independence Center, the mall, is one place for sure. I would imagine the skate park you're talking about is well used and probably safe. I'm not that familiar with Independence, others may know more. I do know Independence has a water park called Adventure Oasis that is popular. A lot of kids from Independence frequent Worlds of Fun (amusement park) and Oceans of Fun (KC's long-time, big water park), which are just north of the river from there. Lots of parents drop their kids off and then pick them up. Around the time of Santa-Cali-Gon days, Independence's big annual festival, lots of kids walk around and hangout on Independence Square. Throughout the year, a few kids may hang out on Independence Square, such as at the movie theater and ice cream place, but I doubt kid hang out there like they do in Springfield. I'm surprised to hear teenagers hang out in downtown Springfield. I figured college kids do, along Walnut St, in the restaurants, at the bars, etc., but not teenagers. Springfield is sort of behind the times, kind of in a good way, so I guess that makes sense though. Independence had a very popular cruising scene along Noland Road (the main drag) years (or decades) ago, but I'm not sure if that exists at all anymore.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:26 PM
 
Location: Raytown, MO
141 posts, read 254,724 times
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Originally Posted by MOKAN View Post
Independence Center, the mall, is one place for sure. I would imagine the skate park you're talking about is well used and probably safe. I'm not that familiar with Independence, others may know more. I do know Independence has a water park called Adventure Oasis that is popular. A lot of kids from Independence frequent Worlds of Fun (amusement park) and Oceans of Fun (KC's long-time, big water park), which are just north of the river from there. Lots of parents drop their kids off and then pick them up. Around the time of Santa-Cali-Gon days, Independence's big annual festival, lots of kids walk around and hangout on Independence Square. Throughout the year, a few kids may hang out on Independence Square, such as at the movie theater and ice cream place, but I doubt kid hang out there like they do in Springfield. I'm surprised to hear teenagers hang out in downtown Springfield. I figured college kids do, along Walnut St, in the restaurants, at the bars, etc., but not teenagers. Springfield is sort of behind the times, kind of in a good way, so I guess that makes sense though. Independence had a very popular cruising scene along Noland Road (the main drag) years (or decades) ago, but I'm not sure if that exists at all anymore.
Thanks for the info! I keep seeing stuff about Santa-Cali-Gon...what the heck is that? LOL I've been to Worlds and Oceans of Fun growing up so hopefully they are as fun as ever. Just how close is Independence to the river anyhow? I guess I'd better go look on a map. Do they ever have issues with flooding or anything like that?

Having lived much of my life in Lawrence, I feel like I never see college students here in Springfield. They should be here, with all the colleges, but where? The bars are on the lame side and close early. I have no idea where they all hang out. Maybe they actually study here instead of party all the time like they do at KU, haha. When I was in high school we were always crashing KU parties.

The water park sounds like good news. Anything my son can do to keep busy and not get in trouble is great. He's very social but if not occupied will find things to do that are unproductive. I was wondering if they have community buildings where the kids can play basketball and pool like they do in Lawrence that are free? I was a little disappointed to find the YMCA there has closed.
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:38 PM
 
3,324 posts, read 3,425,486 times
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Originally Posted by littlemonkeys View Post
Thanks for the info! I keep seeing stuff about Santa-Cali-Gon...what the heck is that? LOL I've been to Worlds and Oceans of Fun growing up so hopefully they are as fun as ever. Just how close is Independence to the river anyhow? I guess I'd better go look on a map. Do they ever have issues with flooding or anything like that?

Having lived much of my life in Lawrence, I feel like I never see college students here in Springfield. They should be here, with all the colleges, but where? The bars are on the lame side and close early. I have no idea where they all hang out. Maybe they actually study here instead of party all the time like they do at KU, haha. When I was in high school we were always crashing KU parties.

The water park sounds like good news. Anything my son can do to keep busy and not get in trouble is great. He's very social but if not occupied will find things to do that are unproductive. I was wondering if they have community buildings where the kids can play basketball and pool like they do in Lawrence that are free? I was a little disappointed to find the YMCA there has closed.
The Sermon Center at Truman & Noland has basketball and some games. The Boys Club on S. Leslie has a wide variety of activities. For BMX bike riding there are numerous trails in the eastern part of town in Landahl Park (east of 7 Highway and south of Lake City).
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:41 PM
 
Location: Raytown, MO
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Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie View Post
The Sermon Center at Truman & Noland has basketball and some games. The Boys Club on S. Leslie has a wide variety of activities. For BMX bike riding there are numerous trails in the eastern part of town in Landahl Park (east of 7 Highway and south of Lake City).
Thank you. I will have to check into those places. I haven't heard of Lake City.
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Old 01-04-2014, 06:24 PM
 
3,324 posts, read 3,425,486 times
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Santa-Cali-Gon is our annual festival commemorating the old trails days. The Santa-Fe, California, and Oregon trails started here. The festival is Friday through Monday of Labor Day weekend on and around the Square. There is lots of free entertainment, crafts and other items for sale, and numerous food vendors.
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Old 01-04-2014, 08:33 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,722,311 times
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I don't think teens really "hang out" much anymore. I know I have a 13yo and a 17yo and they don't just run off with friends to hang out like I remember doing. Yea, Noland Road was a major hang out, but I think that ended decades ago. I think you might see more of that in smaller towns or rural areas today than in major metros.
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Old 01-04-2014, 08:49 PM
 
Location: Centennial, Colorado
4,711 posts, read 5,695,020 times
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Originally Posted by littlemonkeys View Post
Thank you. I will have to check into those places. I haven't heard of Lake City.
Lake City was a small town in what later became eastern Independence. At one time it had its own school and rail station. Today, there are only a few homes in the former town. There apparently was a good size lake there at one time that was the logic used for naming the town, but it no longer exists.


Lake City also sits on the northern edge of the 4,000 acre, or so, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. The plant is at the east end of M-78 highway, a twelve mile long highway running east from I-435 through the city. It is the single largest small arms ammunition supplier to the US military.



There are several former small towns similar to Lake City within the city limits of Independence. One of those is Selsa, which was located northeast of the Independence Center mall area. That town was formerly named Glendale but the city fathers changed the name to Selsa because of a fellow named Jesse James. The Glendale train robbery took place there. After the second train robbery in the area by Mr. James and associates the town fathers believed their town was receiving too much negative publicity and changed the town's name to Selsa. The area of the former town is now open space.



Another former small town was East Independence just west of Truman Road and M-78 highway, not to be confused with the huge area of Independence that people call East Independence today. There are others also, all of which have been long forgotten.
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Old 01-04-2014, 09:31 PM
 
Location: Centennial, Colorado
4,711 posts, read 5,695,020 times
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Originally Posted by littlemonkeys View Post
Also, downtown but that is an area we are generally warned to keep them away from as there are a lot of vagrants and drug pushers, especially on the square.
I was a graduate student at what is now Missouri State in the 70s and at that time the square seemed to be a nice serene place. I only went there one time, though, after a professor mentioned the significance of the Springfield square in class. I had to go look for my self as I had never heard of what he was talking about.

Here is a cut and paste from a post on the Long Ago on Independence Square thread:


Like many county seats, Independence has a public square with a courthouse. Four through streets running along each side of the square define the area of that square. This is like most public squares in the country.

Part of my schooling was in Springfield, Missouri. Springfield is the county seat of Greene County and it also has a public square. During one of my classes, a mention was made that Springfield’s public square was unlike any other in the U.S.

Since the layout mentioned by the professor was so unusual, I had to go down to the town center and take a look for myself. In fact, it is so unusual; it may be difficult to adequately explain. However, there is a diagram, below.

One street, rather than four defines the Springfield square. There are no through streets running alongside any part of the square. In other words, one drives around the square on the same street. It is similar to driving in a squared circle. On one side of this street is the public square; on the other side are businesses.

In order to access that one street, there are four streets that radiate out of the middle of each side of the square. In modern times, the street running around the square has been provided with curved rather than square corners as have the corners of the streets which radiate out from the square.

Another unique item is that today there is no longer a courthouse on the Springfield public square; it is a park or open space. Due to county government growth, the courthouse was moved off the square long ago much as the courthouse annex in Independence has.








Also, Wild Bill Hickok was in an 1865 gunfight on the Springfield Square and on the Independence Square several years earlier was where Jame Butler Hickok received the moniker "Wild Bill." At that time he was a driver on the Santa Fe Trail.
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Old 01-04-2014, 09:51 PM
 
267 posts, read 615,076 times
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Trends such as parent paranoia result in that teens don't go outside and hang as much, instead staying at home and being bored (and playing video games). However there are teens hanging out at the Indep. Center, but at least half of them look like the kind you don't want your teenagers hanging around (think scene kids, druggies, black thugs, etc).

Back when I was a teen (2000s), some dude I knew tried to convince me that Noland Road was a hangout spot. On a Friday night, I drove up and down the whole road, and found exactly nothing. There isn't even anything on there that a teen would want to be near. Also back when I was a teen, it was popular to hang at Oak Park Mall, but I think even that trend has died out. It also seems that malls gave way to outdoor town centers with the intention of keeping loitering teens out.

One random exception I've seen, down here in Texas in the wealthiest suburb there is a Zona Rosa like town center with an actual square that many teens will hang out in, similar to the old town Independence examples.
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