Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Liberty: cost of, bus, barber)

[Holly Austin Wilcoxen]

We do have the Trails Museum located just across from the Bingham-Waggoner Estate, on the property of the old Waggoner-Gates Flour Mill used to be. It is just south of the Independence Square at Liberty and Pacific. It is a very good museum, telling the story of the pioneers crossing on the trails from this point.

[Holly Austin Wilcoxen]

Clarence Heflin lived down the street from my grandparents on East Short St. One of his twin sons Lance Heflin is the executive producer of "AMERICA's MOST WANTED." They were very nice people and my grandparents always went to their grocery store.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Holly Austin Wilcoxen

Clarence Heflin lived down the street from my grandparents on East Short St. One of his twin sons Lance Heflin is the executive producer of "AMERICA's MOST WANTED." They were very nice people and my grandparents always went to their grocery store.

Welcome to the site. I tried to remember the name of the street he lived on and for the life of me could not. At some point they built another house out closer to the 23rd and Kiger (Lees Summit Road) store and I cannot recall where that one was either. Someone told me long ago, Lance was the executive producer and I even watched the credits to see the name, chuckle.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by sally36

Someone mentioned Taystee's ! One of my favorite childhood places . . . on the west side which was eventually part of the Jones Store later. I told this story in my original postings . . . our dentist was upstairs from it and after painful dental work my Mom would, as promised, take me into Taystee's for a sundae! Um-boy! Did it move somewhere else? I'm not aware if it did.

I went through life feeling sorry for myself because Dr. Duensing over above the Crown Drug Store did not use a pain killer, Novocaine, on me as a child. Drilling on teeth without a pain killer has to be one of those most terrific pains one can endure. I always thought my family could not afford the extra cost. Then I learned this practice seemed to be universal and was to protect the child from any ill effects. I don't know if the use of modern day pain killers might have the same effect on children.

[WCHS'59]

This is the sheriff's office in the 1859 Jail. The stone blocks of the cell blocks can be seen through the doorway. In most western movies, there could be seen racks holding a number of rifles. There are none in this office.

[WCHS'59]

Frank James cell in the 1859 jail. He could, more or less, come and go as he pleased. None of the other cells contained anything except straw for bedding. The overwhelming majority of Independence residents sympathized with his plight.

[WCHS'59]

A jail employee took Frank James to the opera one evening and apparently lost his job.

The Opera House was on the south side of the square where the A.J. Bundschu Department store eventually located.

[Mad Anthonie]

I'm back after a bout of RL. Welcome to our new posters and lurkers. Please jump in and add, correct, enhance or dispute (nicely) anything our faulty memories dredge up!

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

I walked or rode my bike past Bryant many times, as it was on my way to grandparents or to The Square. My buddies in the neighborhood near my parents' store went to grade school there. The kidnapping modus operandi sounds eerily like the Greenlease Kidnapping, except 2 decades earlier.

I hope you waved as you went by. I attended 4th-6th grades in the old building at Bryant. For all three years I had the best ever teacher, Miss Georgia Kimsey. She was the classic schoolmarm, never married. After lunch each day she read to us from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. She also played rollicking ragtime on the piano.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

MRG Dallas,

East side of square.

The large building with the striped awning is what the former A.J. Bundschu Department Store aka Emery, Bird, Buncschu Department Store aka Independence City Hall looks like.

You memory may be confused and confounded by the modern changes. Originally there were three large openings across the front, where you walked around the "outdoor" display cases.

Originally Posted by sally36

I remember Sudora, too,

I also remember Sudora's Salon, as I went there everyday for several years. I had the Examiner paper route for the Square and surrounding business district. Sudora's was a customer, and I hated to stop there because of the smell.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Welcome to the site. I tried to remember the name of the street he lived on and for the life of me could not. At some point they built another house out closer to the 23rd and Kiger (Lees Summit Road) store and I cannot recall where that one was either. Someone told me long ago, Lance was the executive producer and I even watched the credits to see the name, chuckle.

My Beloved recalled, and we confirmed it with our 1988 Polk's, that Heflin moved to a new home on Queen Ridge, a few doors south of 23rd.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

You memory may be confused and confounded by the modern changes. Originally there were three large openings across the front, where you walked around the "outdoor" display cases.




My Beloved recalled, and we confirmed it with our 1988 Polk's, that Heflin moved to a new home on Queen Ridge, a few doors south of 23rd.

Mad, glad to see you are back. Chuckle, I do get confused sometimes, but this is from my previous post #487
"Bundschu was three stories high but I am not sure if the top level had sales, although that third floor may have had both sales and store offices. There was another sales level in the basement where the rest rooms were located. There was an elevator but no escalator.

"In addition to the long window displays that tapered inward to the entry door, it also had two large independent islands for window displays that fronted on the sidewalk flush with the front of the building. You could walk around these independent window displays in a circle. As a kid, I always wondered how they got in there to change the mannequins."

Apparently Heflin's wife is still living there on Queen Ridge. I found out yesterday that Vance, the other twin, died a few years ago at age 47. Also, found out the name of Heflin's two other kids, but darned if I can remember them ever coming into the store.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Frank James cell in the 1859 jail. He could, more or less, come and go as he pleased. None of the other cells contained anything except straw for bedding. The overwhelming majority of Independence residents sympathized with his plight.

After his stay in the 1859 Jail, Frank James was never convicted of any of the charges brought against him.


He died in 1915 at the James family farm in Clay County. His ashes were kept in a Kansas City bank vault until 1944, the year his wife died.


Both he and his wife’s ashes are buried in a small cemetery at Hill Park in Independence.