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I do remember those T-shaped clothes lines. And also the big barrels in which we burned trash. In the early '60s when we moved from 33rd Terr. to 50th Terr. (in what was originally Indep. but annexed by K.C.) we brought our big rusty trash barrel with us. The first night my dad set it out and torched our garbage, an appalled neighbor hustled over and informed him that trash-burning wasn't allowed. I imagine the neighbors were thinking "There goes the neighborhood!"
In perusing the Noland Rd. map a few pages back, I was interested to see that the Twiehaus family owned so much land along 51st St. and Noland. It appears that quite a few Twiehauses lived in the area at one time. I grew up in the '60s and '70s around the corner from the house owned by Orlando and Ivy Twiehaus. It is a white 1930 bungalow at 13209 E. 51st St., between McCoy & Pleasant, facing the south terminus of George Ave.
At some point in the '60s, the family apparently sold off a bit more of the land surrounding the house and houses were built there. About 1.5 acres remain. Otherwise, the property has remained remarkably the same. Some cursory online searching shows that their daughter and, it appears, the daughter's son and wife, still live there.
As a free-range child, I roamed (surreptitiously) all over their extensive grounds, fascinated by this piece of "country" in suburban tract land. A big tree at the corner of 51st & McCoy was perfect for climbing. Behind the house was a large garden and several outbuildings, including a detached garage and a barn, all still there. I was fascinated by the playhouse. One day, finding its door open, I was sitting at a little table examining a tiny bottle of "Bunny Cola" when I was busted and evicted.
My friends and I also used to wander over an expansive tract of land behind what is now Sutherland Lumber Co. on 40 Hwy, west of Noland Rd. Is anyone else familiar with this area? Beyond where E. 49th Terr. dead ended (George Ave. turned into 49th Terr.) was a sharp drop-off, where we used to sled, and beyond that a semi-developed park with a narrow creek (drainage ditch?) spanned by a small wood footbridge. This land extended to the railroad tracks on the east and 40 Hwy on the north before Sutherland was built in the '60s. Google Maps shows a large house with a private drive at the end of 49th Terr. and the mobile home park next to Sutherland has expanded southward into this piece of land.
I also once explored a semi rural property at the south end of McCoy. It was (and still is) at the end of a long, wooded private drive (with a "No Trespassing" sign that I ignored) that branched off of McCoy before the latter curved east and became E. 54th St. I recall sampling some peas in their big garden. (I am retroactively embarrassed by how brazenly I trespassed as a child.)
OK, these areas were actually Kansas City, but some, if not all, were in Independence before KC annexed them around '61.
In perusing the Noland Rd. map a few pages back, I was interested to see that the Twiehaus family owned so much land along 51st St. and Noland. It appears that quite a few Twiehauses lived in the area at one time. I grew up in the '60s and '70s around the corner from the house owned by Orlando and Ivy Twiehaus. It is a white 1930 bungalow at 13209 E. 51st St., between McCoy & Pleasant, facing the south terminus of George Ave.
At some point in the '60s, the family apparently sold off a bit more of the land surrounding the house and houses were built there. About 1.5 acres remain. Otherwise, the property has remained remarkably the same. Some cursory online searching shows that their daughter and, it appears, the daughter's son and wife, still live there.
As a free-range child, I roamed (surreptitiously) all over their extensive grounds, fascinated by this piece of "country" in suburban tract land. A big tree at the corner of 51st & McCoy was perfect for climbing. Behind the house was a large garden and several outbuildings, including a detached garage and a barn, all still there. I was fascinated by the playhouse. One day, finding its door open, I was sitting at a little table examining a tiny bottle of "Bunny Cola" when I was busted and evicted.
My friends and I also used to wander over an expansive tract of land behind what is now Sutherland Lumber Co. on 40 Hwy, west of Noland Rd. Is anyone else familiar with this area? Beyond where E. 49th Terr. dead ended (George Ave. turned into 49th Terr.) was a sharp drop-off, where we used to sled, and beyond that a semi-developed park with a narrow creek (drainage ditch?) spanned by a small wood footbridge. This land extended to the railroad tracks on the east and 40 Hwy on the north before Sutherland was built in the '60s. Google Maps shows a large house with a private drive at the end of 49th Terr. and the mobile home park next to Sutherland has expanded southward into this piece of land.
I also once explored a semi rural property at the south end of McCoy. It was (and still is) at the end of a long, wooded private drive (with a "No Trespassing" sign that I ignored) that branched off of McCoy before the latter curved east and became E. 54th St. I recall sampling some peas in their big garden. (I am retroactively embarrassed by how brazenly I trespassed as a child.)
OK, these areas were actually Kansas City, but some, if not all, were in Independence before KC annexed them around '61.
Don't you wish you had taken a camera on those explorations!
We don't mind excursions outside the official city limits, as we all have memories of the areas surrounding good ol' Independence.
Here are a couple of 1957 views of your old 'hood.
I do remember those T-shaped clothes lines. And also the big barrels in which we burned trash. In the early '60s when we moved from 33rd Terr. to 50th Terr. (in what was originally Indep. but annexed by K.C.) we brought our big rusty trash barrel with us. The first night my dad set it out and torched our garbage, an appalled neighbor hustled over and informed him that trash-burning wasn't allowed. I imagine the neighbors were thinking "There goes the neighborhood!"
We replaced our rusty 55-gallon trash barrel a couple times or more during my youth. My dad would bring a new one home, but before it could be used there had to be two large ventilation holes cut in the bottom on each side.
While my dad was at work I decided to cut the holes in the barrel as I was the trash person around our house. I was charged with emptying the trash receptacle in the kitchen, setting a fire a few times a week, and was supposed to stay with the fire until it died down a bit. I got a hammer and a cold chisel of some type and began hammering away. All the chisel would do was bounce off the steel. I quickly decided to let my dad do it.
The two air holes my dad made were triangular in shape and maybe four inches wide at the base of the barrel and four or five inches tall tapering to the point of a triangle. He only cut the sides of the triangle and then hammered the steel area of the triangle inward to the bottom of the barrel. Initial fires in a new barrel would be strong and not take long to consume the paper trash. But once the ash and other stuff clogged the air holes, the fires lost a lot of their strength. Sometimes it was difficult keeping a fire going.
We put all bottles, cans, and anything else in the barrel. Maybe once every two months or so, a trash truck and two men would come around and empty the neighborhood barrels. I cannot remember how they emptied our barrel. Ours was along the back yard fence line. The two men may have carried the barrel to the street and emptied it in their truck and then took it back to the fence line.
I don’t recall ever having a fire going when the trash men showed up. But, I think a couple times the ash might have been warm.
A new barrel was shiny and crispy new when first used. But sitting out in the rain and snow and being heated by fire frequently, it would start to rust and would usually start to break apart around the bottom one-third. Then it would be thrown in the trash truck along with its trash and ash and a new barrel was purchased from somewhere and the whole process started over.
I will never forget the first time I put a good sized well-dried out Christmas tree, a real one, in the trash barrel and nonchalantly put a match to it. The tree was a lot taller that the barrel and It was a wonder I was not badly burned.
In 1975, I was living in Mulvane, Kansas, and burn barrels were not allowed. All trash had to be placed at the curb. But in another county at the town of Coffeyville, people still had burn barrels in their back yards.
Don't you wish you had taken a camera on those explorations!
We don't mind excursions outside the official city limits, as we all have memories of the areas surrounding good ol' Independence.
Here are a couple of 1957 views of your old 'hood.
MAD, would you be kind enough to repost the 1963 aerial view as well? That shows the early development of Blue Vue Hills subdivision, starting with the Young house at 51st and Pleasant. BVH encompassed Stanton Dr, Pleasant, Spring and Osage, over to either 52nd Terr or 53rd St. I for one thought it was 52nd Terr but today's maps show it as 53rd.
I believe there were just a few houses completed at that time, Summer, 1963
MAD, would you be kind enough to repost the 1963 aerial view as well? That shows the early development of Blue Vue Hills subdivision, starting with the Young house at 51st and Pleasant. BVH encompassed Stanton Dr, Pleasant, Spring and Osage, over to either 52nd Terr or 53rd St. I for one thought it was 52nd Terr but today's maps show it as 53rd.
I believe there were just a few houses completed at that time, Summer, 1963
TIA
Okay, but remember I have to charge extra on Sunday for the overtime pay for my pilot and time machine operator!
In perusing the Noland Rd. map a few pages back, I was interested to see that the Twiehaus family owned so much land along 51st St. and Noland. It appears that quite a few Twiehauses lived in the area at one time. I grew up in the '60s and '70s around the corner from the house owned by Orlando and Ivy Twiehaus. It is a white 1930 bungalow at 13209 E. 51st St., between McCoy & Pleasant, facing the south terminus of George Ave.
At some point in the '60s, the family apparently sold off a bit more of the land surrounding the house and houses were built there. About 1.5 acres remain. Otherwise, the property has remained remarkably the same. Some cursory online searching shows that their daughter and, it appears, the daughter's son and wife, still live there.
As a free-range child, I roamed (surreptitiously) all over their extensive grounds, fascinated by this piece of "country" in suburban tract land. A big tree at the corner of 51st & McCoy was perfect for climbing. Behind the house was a large garden and several outbuildings, including a detached garage and a barn, all still there. I was fascinated by the playhouse. One day, finding its door open, I was sitting at a little table examining a tiny bottle of "Bunny Cola" when I was busted and evicted.
My friends and I also used to wander over an expansive tract of land behind what is now Sutherland Lumber Co. on 40 Hwy, west of Noland Rd. Is anyone else familiar with this area? Beyond where E. 49th Terr. dead ended (George Ave. turned into 49th Terr.) was a sharp drop-off, where we used to sled, and beyond that a semi-developed park with a narrow creek (drainage ditch?) spanned by a small wood footbridge. This land extended to the railroad tracks on the east and 40 Hwy on the north before Sutherland was built in the '60s. Google Maps shows a large house with a private drive at the end of 49th Terr. and the mobile home park next to Sutherland has expanded southward into this piece of land.
I also once explored a semi rural property at the south end of McCoy. It was (and still is) at the end of a long, wooded private drive (with a "No Trespassing" sign that I ignored) that branched off of McCoy before the latter curved east and became E. 54th St. I recall sampling some peas in their big garden. (I am retroactively embarrassed by how brazenly I trespassed as a child.)
OK, these areas were actually Kansas City, but some, if not all, were in Independence before KC annexed them around '61.
We could see the Twiehaus homestead from front yard prior to the building of those houses to the east on 51st. My house was in the Blue Vue Hills subdivison, circa mid 1960s. I do remember raiding the garden one night, someone pulled up a beet plant, ugh, who's to eat a raw beet? Anyway, that was the one and only time.
Do you remember the gravel portion of McCoy? Down at the end of 53rd St, was gravel. We would stupidly skateboard on that steep hill from Pleasant to the plateau where Stanton Dr intersected, and few of us boldly would carry on down to McCoy. I almost killed myself when I panicked and jumped off the skateboard and did a somersault landing hard on the pavement. That was the end of that.
We rode bikes over in your hood, and I'm sure down to the end of George but I don't specifically recall it turning into 49th Terr and then deadending. Too many years ago. I had classmates throughout there, 50th Terr, Cottage, Union, Delaware, probably George too.
As you probably know, it was decades before there was any further development. When I visited in 2013 I was surprised to see extensions of streets that had just dead ended, and looking at Google Maps, the housing and streets off Noland Rd. That was a creepy area back then, esp near the RR overpass. I remember a classmate getting caught on the OP one night when a train came thru.
We played alot of pick up sports games off 51st, near the RR tracks. The vacant land was so extensive there that we could even safely hit golf balls without breaking anyone's window.
Lots of memories from that area.
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