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Wonder what did Smaks in? I have this vague recollection of some of their locations becoming Jack-in-the-Box outlets sometime in the 1980s.
I figured as such, but you said you couldn't place that Smak's so I thought I'd throw some other addresses out that might be the one
Smak's probably met its fate from the Big Guns, McDonald's and Burger King. The competition was brutal, as memorialized in The History Channel's "The Food That Built America" Excellent one hour documentaries, probably 40 episodes to-date with several devoted to The Burger
I hope he enjoys his return trip every bit as Justin enjoyed ours.
But: what/where is Electric Avenue? I learned about long-gone Electric Park (located at the end of the Independence Avenue streetcar line) when I was little, but a street?
MRG gave the details on the song. I was using the song title to provide a name of a street in Independence. It was probably Electric Street.
During my youth, many of my friends lived in normal modest homes in neighborhoods in Independence where most of the houses were similar. My experience was quite different in that our house was part of what used to be an implement shed for the Kiger Farm. In 1949, two of my uncles and my father began to renovate the shed to become a one room residence and the remainder (and larger portion) into a hatchery for producing baby chicks. As you can see by the photo of the building, we did not have what one would call even a modest home.
The good news is that it did not need to be a modest home in order for me to have an absolutely wonderful childhood. We had about 40 acres of land that was not good for much, but was a boy's paradise. The land had two creeks, lots of trees, hills, rocks, cliffs, etc. A boy might gather with neighbor boys and spend the entire day in the fields catching crawdads, climbing trees, playing cowboys and Indians (probably not PC to use that word), but this was the early to late 1950s.
You might look at these photos and thank God that you did not have to live in that "home." I have to say that I never invited friends to my house. But, across from our front yard was the Kiger Farm House. A large 3-story home with a wrap around porch. Was I envious of the boys who lived in that house? Probably, but only a bit and not a long lasting problem.
I have always said that I never want to be famous or monetarily rich. Those two things come with baggage that I have never desired. In actuality, I have been rich all of my life. God has blessed me many times over. I had two loving and nurturing parents who set me on the right path. I wandered off that path for many years, but with God's direction and with the assistance of loving Christian people, including my wife, Debi, I found home again.
I have probably done a poor job of explaining this posting; however, if you ever meet someone who feels sorry for himself for their condition in life, please show them these photos... photos from a rich person.
More photos will follow.
First photo is from 1949. Second photo is from 1915, when it was the Kiger Farm.
Wonder what did Smaks in? I have this vague recollection of some of their locations becoming Jack-in-the-Box outlets sometime in the 1980s.
I figured as such, but you said you couldn't place that Smak's so I thought I'd throw some other addresses out that might be the one
Smak's probably met its fate from the Big Guns, McDonald's and Burger King. The competition was brutal, as memorialized in The History Channel's "The Food That Built America" Excellent one hour documentaries, probably 40 episodes to-date with several devoted to The Burger
The Series credits the following:
First "takeout"?
First "singles bar"?
KC has both, btw
Wow, didn't know that. Add those to "first planned shopping center in America" (Country Club Plaza) and "first planned industrial park in America" (Fairfax Industrial District, KCK, both begun 1921).
Wonder if the series named them? I've watched episodes of "The Food That Built America" off and on over the years and like the series, though one episode — the one that chronicled the emergence of Sunshine Biscuits — irked me because it placed the firm's origins in Elmhurst, Ill., a much later home; the company grew out of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company here (from what I recall, Jacob Loose started that company after folding his first cracker bakery into the National Biscuit Company [Nabisco] combine in the early 1900s).
I have an old Army friend from the 1964-1966 Germany tour that we did and he is coming to KC soon. No date has been set, but it should be this summer. We have talked about places to visit and we are talking about a lunch at Bryant's Barbecue, then a trip around the corner to the Jazz and Negro Baseball museums. He wants to see the WWI Museum and possibly Nelson Atkins. He was last here in 1970 and, at that time, he saw the Truman Home and Library, but he may want to see them again as he will have grandkids with him. I'm looking forward to this reunion. I may even show him Electric Avenue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl
I hope he enjoys his return trip every bit as Justin enjoyed ours.
But: what/where is Electric Avenue? I learned about long-gone Electric Park (located at the end of the Independence Avenue streetcar line) when I was little, but a street?
Another gem that is often overlooked is the Steamboat Arabia Museum down at City Market. Don't wait too long to visit, they might move or close when their lease at that location runs out.
During my youth, many of my friends lived in normal modest homes in neighborhoods in Independence where most of the houses were similar. My experience was quite different in that our house was part of what used to be an implement shed for the Kiger Farm. In 1949, two of my uncles and my father began to renovate the shed to become a one room residence and the remainder (and larger portion) into a hatchery for producing baby chicks. As you can see by the photo of the building, we did not have what one would call even a modest home.
The good news is that it did not need to be a modest home in order for me to have an absolutely wonderful childhood. We had about 40 acres of land that was not good for much, but was a boy's paradise. The land had two creeks, lots of trees, hills, rocks, cliffs, etc. A boy might gather with neighbor boys and spend the entire day in the fields catching crawdads, climbing trees, playing cowboys and Indians (probably not PC to use that word), but this was the early to late 1950s.
First photo is from 1949. Second photo is from 1915, when it was the Kiger Farm.
Is the building that became your home visible in the Kiger Farm photo? Were the other outbuildings on your 40 acres gone when y'all moved there?
Is the building that became your home visible in the Kiger Farm photo? Were the other outbuildings on your 40 acres gone when y'all moved there?
I am uncertain as to whether or not the building to the left of the second pillar became our hatchery and home. It looks like the right location. The two-story barn to the left of the second pillar became our barn. That barn sat east to west. The one barn that runs north to south to the right of the two-story barn may also be the barn that we called the long barn. When we moved, the hatchery and home building was probably the only one left. My father had begun to sell lots along E. Pacific and one was sold across from the Kiger Farm House on the north side of the driveway. My memory is vague, but the long barn and big barns may have been torn down a year or two earlier to make room for the lots to sell. The first lot to sell was the one north of the Kiger Farm and probably sold around 1955 or 1956. The second one was the home that sits on the northeast corner of Trail Ridge and Pacific. By the summer of 1959, no buildings were left and streets were being cut.
Perhaps for those who aren't familiar with this property, the boundaries were:
West: South Kiger Road (Now Lee's Summit Rd.
East: Had Queen Ridge run further north would have been the boundary on the top half of the land, but on the bottom half was Stewart Sand.
South: Pacific and easement for Pacific which has not be utilized. That matches the top of the driveway to South Kiger. Where the pillars are currently sits a duplex.
North: The railroad tracks.
During my youth, many of my friends lived in normal modest homes in neighborhoods in Independence where most of the houses were similar. My experience was quite different in that our house was part of what used to be an implement shed for the Kiger Farm. In 1949, two of my uncles and my father began to renovate the shed to become a one room residence and the remainder (and larger portion) into a hatchery for producing baby chicks. As you can see by the photo of the building, we did not have what one would call even a modest home.
The good news is that it did not need to be a modest home in order for me to have an absolutely wonderful childhood. We had about 40 acres of land that was not good for much, but was a boy's paradise. The land had two creeks, lots of trees, hills, rocks, cliffs, etc. A boy might gather with neighbor boys and spend the entire day in the fields catching crawdads, climbing trees, playing cowboys and Indians (probably not PC to use that word), but this was the early to late 1950s.
You might look at these photos and thank God that you did not have to live in that "home." I have to say that I never invited friends to my house. But, across from our front yard was the Kiger Farm House. A large 3-story home with a wrap around porch. Was I envious of the boys who lived in that house? Probably, but only a bit and not a long lasting problem.
I have always said that I never want to be famous or monetarily rich. Those two things come with baggage that I have never desired. In actuality, I have been rich all of my life. God has blessed me many times over. I had two loving and nurturing parents who set me on the right path. I wandered off that path for many years, but with God's direction and with the assistance of loving Christian people, including my wife, Debi, I found home again.
I have probably done a poor job of explaining this posting; however, if you ever meet someone who feels sorry for himself for their condition in life, please show them these photos... photos from a rich person.
More photos will follow.
First photo is from 1949. Second photo is from 1915, when it was the Kiger Farm.
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Can't +1 you until I spread some around again, so doing it publicly here.
I was just listening to a podcast called "No Stupid Questions" that tackled the question "Is it OK to be mediocre?" Actually, most of what the hosts talked about wasn't really mediocrity — it was people who did have talent, skills or whatever, but were satisfied with their stations in life and had no great ambitions to climb the ladder or rise to the top.
The thing that seemed to tie all the people and cases they mentioned together was that the people in them had all reached a point where they decided they had enough (note: not "they had had enough" — that's a different sentiment altogether.) The hosts said that people like these were actually quite valuable to the functioning of an organization because you needed really competent people in the middle to make things work as well.
What I pick up from this post of yours is that, while your living conditions growing up may not have been all that hot by the standards of the material world, you had already concluded that you had everything you needed around you. That sentiment would serve most of us well, IMO.
(The episode also included one of the hosts reading excerpts from a satirical Onion story about a "pathetic loser" who still lived on the block where he grew up. This person, the story went on, "had settled for living a satisfying and fulfilling life" with "many friends" and "activities that gave him real pleasure." The article went on to chide this character for never having the desire "to pile up a mountain of debt" and for living "far from anything interesting, like high-priced bars or clubs." I think you should get the actual point of the story by now.)
I am uncertain as to whether or not the building to the left of the second pillar became our hatchery and home. It looks like the right location. The two-story barn to the left of the second pillar became our barn. That barn sat east to west. The one barn that runs north to south to the right of the two-story barn may also be the barn that we called the long barn. When we moved, the hatchery and home building was probably the only one left. My father had begun to sell lots along E. Pacific and one was sold across from the Kiger Farm House on the north side of the driveway. My memory is vague, but the long barn and big barns may have been torn down a year or two earlier to make room for the lots to sell. The first lot to sell was the one north of the Kiger Farm and probably sold around 1955 or 1956. The second one was the home that sits on the northeast corner of Trail Ridge and Pacific. By the summer of 1959, no buildings were left and streets were being cut.
Perhaps for those who aren't familiar with this property, the boundaries were:
West: South Kiger Road (Now Lee's Summit Rd.
East: Had Queen Ridge run further north would have been the boundary on the top half of the land, but on the bottom half was Stewart Sand.
South: Pacific and easement for Pacific which has not be utilized. That matches the top of the driveway to South Kiger. Where the pillars are currently sits a duplex. North: The railroad tracks.
And for those not familiar with the backstory- The Kiger brothers were wholesale jewelers in KC who started the farm as a weekend getaway from the city. Eventually it became a successful business of its own, known for its quality sausage (or some animal product, my feeble memory gets fuzzy going back that far).
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