Long ago on independence square (Rea: mailbox, trucks, employees)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by GoodUserNamesAreTaken

I have been fascinated with the possibilities of this house:

1809 S VASSAR Avenue, Independence, MO 64052 | Listing Information |

How is the neighborhood now?

I listen to the Police scanner a bit, and this 'hood is generally quiet. Many of the older homes in the area have been well cared for. Next time the weather is cooperative take a stroll around the area. That is an excellent way to get a sense of the area.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Consider this a late Christmas gift. My Beloved and I found this in one of our family albums. No clue as to who took it, when, or why.

I was in there many a time. A blind man operated a small store inside. As a little boy in the late forties, I could never understand how a blind man could operate anything. Turns out he was legally blind but could see minimally well enough with thick glasses to do business.

That small round sign on the corner of Lexington and Osage in the foreground is a Kansas City Transit bus stop for buses stopping facing south.This route was apparently changed because when I was a kid the bus would have stopped on the corner of Osage and Maple and then continued on Maple to the square where it would stop on all four corners of the square. Then it would go west on Lexington and stop at the post office again on the Lexington side.

Later, the buses skipped the square entirely and stopped at the post office at about where this small sign is.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Consider this a late Christmas gift. My Beloved and I found this in one of our family albums. No clue as to who took it, when, or why.

Just west of the post office in this photo was the mail loading docks.

[MRG Dallas]

And I suspect the white trimmed business at the Maple intersection is either Western Auto or one of the markets (Maple St. Market ?) previously mentioned

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I was in there many a time. A blind man operated a small store inside. As a little boy in the late forties, I could never understand how a blind man could operate anything. Turns out he was legally blind but could see minimally well enough with thick glasses to do business.

That small round sign on the corner of Lexington and Osage in the foreground is a Kansas City Transit bus stop for buses stopping facing south.This route was apparently changed because when I was a kid the bus would have stopped on the corner of Osage and Maple and then continued on Maple to the square where it would stop on all four corners of the square. Then it would go west on Lexington and stop at the post office again on the Lexington side.

Later, the buses skipped the square entirely and stopped at the post office at about where this small sign is.

I believe now the KC (and Independence) buses converge at a fancy "station" on Truman near Noland, where the old junk yard use to be.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

And I suspect the white trimmed business at the Maple intersection is either Western Auto or one of the markets (Maple St. Market ?) previously mentioned

It does not look like Western Auto is there yet. I believe Western Auto combined those two stores seen in the photo when it did go in. Western Auto had their huge "9" sign (red on white?) over that corner facing door.

That sign at the entrance to the post office is an armed forces recruitment sign. I believe it was the tradition back then to place these large free standing signs in front of all post offices. There was no recruitment office in the post office itself.

Later, when the new post office (actually it was constructed as a federal building) was built, recruiters had their offices on the second floor. Back in 1970 I came home on leave but had to call an Army post for some reason. Long distance calls cost an arm and a leg back then. I went up to the Army recruiting office on the second floor and used their military Autovon phone system to make the call so it would not cost me anything.

[WCHS'59]

A Western Auto store with the "9" sign in a town somewhere.

Western Auto was headquartered in KC but went belly up in 2003.

[WCHS'59]

At the time the photo of the post office was taken, all postal vehicles were painted olive drab, the same as for the army. Even postal boxes on the street corner were that color (have you seen a streetside collection box lately?).

A few years ago I read that after WWI, the army had a lot of surplus olive drab paint left over from the war and donated it all to the post office. The post office official color was green at the time but with all the free paint, the official color became olive drab.

The olive drab gave way to red, white, and blue around 1955, not too long after the eight sided yellow stop signs went to red.

[WCHS'59]

The post office loading docks were on the Lexington Street side of the old post office. I was trying to think what was on the opposite Maple Street side and thought it might be more loading docks. But, now that I think of it, there must have been parking for mail delivery trucks on that side. No jeeps with right hand drive either. These came along slowly in the late fifties.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

At the time the photo of the post office was taken, all postal vehicles were painted olive drab, the same as for the army. Even postal boxes on the street corner were that color (have you seen a streetside collection box lately?).

A few years ago I read that after WWI, the army had a lot of surplus olive drab paint left over from the war and donated it all to the post office. The post office official color was green at the time but with all the free paint, the official color became olive drab.

The olive drab gave way to red, white, and blue around 1955, not too long after the eight sided yellow stop signs went to red.

In my youth there was an olive drab mailbox on the corner of our lot. It was not for depositing mail. A postal truck loaded it with the day's delivery, and the carrier would make several stops there to reload his bag, working away from the box a different direction each time.