Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Jackson: moving to, trains, food)

[WCHS'59]

In the forties and fifties, before most Independence streets were paved, the children in my neighborhood experienced an annual treat. We got to watch our roads being reworked. It was an annual affair and always occurred during the hot summer when school was out. All the kids would come out in their front yards and watch the heavy equipment come rolling in to “oil the roads.” It was great excitement, especially for the boys.

Our area came into the Independence city limits in 1948. The roads were not paved but neither were they graveled. The city provided an all-weather surface called “chip and seal,” which had to be applied annually to keep the roads in good shape.
After the residents were warned to keep their cars parked on adjacent streets, our street would be closed off and there would be no automobile access for up to two days. I think they put advisory signs out in the neighborhood as the time was approaching and just beforehand, a city worker drove his truck up and down the street honking his horn as a warning that cars should be moved off the street and out of the driveways. If a car was not moved from a driveway, it was tough luck. There were, however, not a lot of cars on our block.

The city would then close the street and start plowing the roadway up with a huge machine similar to a farm disk. The disk would cut up the entire roadway including the many “washboard” areas that chip and seal roadways were famous for developing.

Next a road grader spent a lot of time smoothing the disked road to prepare it for oiling.

Next a truck with oil spreading nozzles across the rear end made a spraying trip up and down the block to cover every bit of dirt that had been graded. The oil was applied hot and was extremely messy.

Next the city workers put up closure ropes (actually twine with a little red cardboard sign hanging from the middle) and let the oil soak in for a day or two. In the meantime, the residents would have to walk in the ditches or on their neighbor’s property to get to and from their homes.

The next day or so a dump truck came along and spread miniature crushed rock maybe a quarter inch in size that we called “chat.”

Then a heavy roller came through and made several passes pressing the chat down into the oil as much as possible.

After the roller made its several passes, the closure signs were taken down and the cars could come through.

After the cars began using the roadway, the curing time for the chip and seal process took a while. It was a messy process and we went barefooted in the summer and would walk on the roads and get oil spots, or tar spots as we called them, all over our feet and lower legs. We had to clean ourselves with kerosene before bath and bedtime. But there were always some parents who were content to let the tar “wear off” their kids. Lower car fenders also had to be cleaned of oil splotches thrown up by the chat.

If the weather was hot, and it usually was, two tire lanes down the middle of each street would show ugly tar strips where the cars further pushed the chat into the oil. A lot of the chat, though, wound up in the drainage ditches where it was thrown by car wheels.

It took a month or so for the road to look normal but the process provided a minimal all-weather road to drive on that was much better than normal crushed rock and it was not dusty after the first day or two.

Somehow the city was able to do 500 miles of streets each summer. But, at some point the city fathers tired of this process and they paved every street in Independence.

I don’t know that I ever saw another city do their streets this way, but I guess they must have.

[MRG Dallas]

It was also done on my street in Raytown. I didn't remember all the processes you described but it was pretty inconvenient for several days. Can you imagine today people having to park luxury cars, etc. over on the next block and walking home in the intense heat? Today it would be ok for those with alley way entrances as long as the adjacent roads weren't oiled at the same time.

[WCHS'59]

I assume Raytown paved those streets--chuckle?

I think Independence passed a bond issue to do all the street paving. A problem still is, though, especially in my old neighborhood, there is no storm drainage other than into ditches. The water drains in ditches running in front of the houses and then into small drainage streams. That requires each driveway to have a culvert and the owner to keep it cleaned out. Ours was always full of the chat that was thrown off the street by the car tires.

I cannot imagine the process happening today without a lot of beefing and complaining to the city about the inconvenience. Back then people seemed to take it in stride, but those were much simpler times.

Another "thrill" I remember was watching the sanitary sewers being installed down the middle of the streets. That really did tie up things for several days. We had a septic tank until 1954 when the sewers came. The city required each home hook up within so many days or months.

The sewer installation also stopped the pickup of garbage by the city. You could smell those garbage trucks coming from way up the street and I always felt sorry for the man who emptied our can (he was always black) and then threw the slop into the truck.

[Mad Anthonie]

Happy Independence Day!

[pearjas]

Okay, here are 60 photos that I took late last month. I used Photobucket for the hosting. The link to the album is at: http://photobucket.com/independencesquare

[MRG Dallas]

Thanks, pearjas, good work! I recgnized afew buildings, the others will be much better at filling in the blanks

Looks like the Western/Army Navt surplus stores are still in same location

Ophelias was Katz Drug Store

First Methodist was my first VBS Summer 1960 THat church had a scent to it I bet I could still remember

I will lookforward to the others matching present buildinds with past businesses

[WCHS'59]

The original Jackson County Courthouse in Independence closes today for interior renovation.

A portion of the interior coming under renovation dates to 1836.

The courthouse will be closed until next summer. At that time the Jackson County Historical Society will move back in and some county offices will move in from the Courthouse Annex on Kansas Street.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I thought this was the Weston Blacksmith Shop marker. But a city web site says it is a Santa Fe Trail historical marker and needs some enhancement done to the area around it.

Mystery Solved. It is the Weston Blacksmith Shop. The marker is on the southwest corner of Kansas and Liberty Streets.

[MRG Dallas]

You'd think the city fathers would show more respect ("enhancement") for a site which IMO is historically significant and good for a little tourism stop. That 3 of the most famous American trails ran thru Independence has been one of its bragging points. That site almost insults it

[WCHS'59]

MRG, This one might be a little better. This one is on the courthouse square a block from the Weston Blacksmith marker.