Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Liberty: appliances, attorneys, airport)

[WCHS'59]

Now I am confused. I should have been saying River Boulevard all along.

[MRG Dallas]

Ok gotcha! I was wondering about that lol. Moody is about the site I was thinking of where the bear sign was.

Now reading about the Sharon Kinne case. Fascinating. A common view is her "escape" from a Mexican prison was actually facilitated by the victim's family in order to get even by killing her. She's never been heard from since the escape, so who knows.

[WCHS'59]

My book about her was released in 1997 but I understand the author released an updated version in 2011.

[MRG Dallas]

Yes, I see he participates on several of the forums on the Kinne case. As I recall there was a "lover's lane" aspect to this case, perhaps where she dumped the body of the boyfriend's wife. Was that "The Point" that Sally was asking about earlier in the thread?

[WCHS'59]

Home Comfort Products manufactured mattresses on Kansas Avenue next to the railroad tracks, three blocks off the square.

They were in business for a long time.

When I was a child, my family bought my mattress from them and we were afraid we would get in trouble with the law for tearing the tag off the mattress.

I saw a newspaper cartoon in the 70s or 80s where a common suburbanite homeowner had his house surrounded by a number of policemen. There were police cars everywhere and swat teams were ready to go in. More than one helicopter was flying overhead surveying the situation.

The policeman in charge remarked to the bewildered homeowner, “We heard you removed the tag from your mattress.”

Early mattress’s had tags that said “Do not remove under penalty of law.” So people did not touch them.

The intent was, though, that only the consumer could remove that tag.

Recently manufactured mattresses have tags that have been clarified to read "This tag may not be removed except by the consumer."

[MRG Dallas]

In looking at photos and sites about The Square, I was really surprised to see several stores still in business there.

Gateway Sporting Goods. Fond memories as both a customer and player on its 3&2 baseball teams. I also remember a "Lee's Sporting Goods" I bought one of those "headliners" you could fit inside your baseball cap that gave it both shape and some head protection. It was too big for me so when my dad took me up to refund it, the owner gave us the money back, sans the sales tax. Was my dad PO'd lol. Probably 8 cents or so, but it was the principle of the thing. One of those lasting images lol.

Do-Sal Shop. Remember the name but nothing else, probably a play on the owners' names. Hadn't thought of that in decades until seeing it listed on The Square's website.

Western Army Store. Glad to see that's still around. I might have bought my first pair of bell bottoms there!

[WCHS'59]

I posted the below on another thread some time ago and have gotten no responses. Maybe someone familiar with old time Independence has some input:

Anyone know about the town of East Independence, Missouri?

I say town because it has a two-block north-south street named “Main Road.” Main intersects to the south with Truman Road at about two miles west of the Mo 78 and Truman Road intersection.

In the fifties, when this area was really in the country and outside the Independence city limits, I was driving around and “discovered” this really small place. There were two or three stores on Main and a number of old residences on each street. At the time, there was nothing around for several miles. A map designated this small area as East Independence.

On a recent visit, I drove through the area again and the stores are gone but there are still many of the old residences remain.

This area has been in the city limits of Independence for many years now. Delorme Maps still labels this small area in small letters as East Independence.

The street segments in that small area are labeled Main, Elizabeth, Ann, Turner, 8th, 9th, and Independence.

Anyone have a history or background on this place?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

Yes, I see he participates on several of the forums on the Kinne case. As I recall there was a "lover's lane" aspect to this case, perhaps where she dumped the body of the boyfriend's wife. Was that "The Point" that Sally was asking about earlier in the thread?

The point SallyB was speaking about was in Kansas City. I had heard about it when I was young but never went there. I did, however, go down to Municipal Airport and park and watch the planes take off and land.

The lovers lane that Sharon Kinne dumped the body on was on Crackerneck Road, which starts 1.25 miles south of 23rd Street on Lees Summit Road. Then east along Crackerneck some where in that area. I drove through there many times during the daytime but stayed away at night. That area was really secluded at the time but is pretty well built up now.

[WCHS'59]

At William Chrisman High School there were two teachers, one taught chemistry and the other taught physics.

They lived in the same apartment complex just a few doors down from the Maple Street school and they always went to the school events, such as basketball and football.

One teacher was Miss Witthar and the other Miss Clement. I took physics under Miss Clement and she was really sharp. Both went to the new WCHS when it opened in the 1957-58 school year.

One of the highlights of Miss Clement's class in the new WCHS was that, after an electrical outage, the synchronized clocks in the new building would reset. Each classroom had a clock, which was something new to all of us.

All the clocks in the building synchronized off a master clock somewhere in the building. If there had been an electrical outage, she always stopped teaching and let the class watch the clock reset.

We never knew how this actually worked, but I don’t believe the master clock received a signal from an atomic clock at Fort Collins, Colorado, as some clocks do today.

[WCHS'59]

Miss Page was the typing teacher. I took typing and was one of only three boys in my class.

Miss Page would start the clock and everyone would start typing. When the clock rang to end the typing session, Miss Page would yell “STOP!!!” and if you were somewhere else in the building you could hear her voice reverberate through all the halls.

Typing is one of the most beneficial courses that I ever took.