Long ago on independence square (Liberty, Overland: for sale, store, authority)

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

You forgot that City Hall was also located in the 400 block of South Main for some years, just before the move to the Bundschu Building.

Was that in the old Safeway store?

[WCHS'59]

If I recall correctly, the Independence Examiner moved from a location on west Lexington to 410 S. Liberty with one reason being that the newspaper could be closer to newsprint delivered by rail.

I am wondering if anyone knows if the Examiner is still getting newsprint by rail. There is a small spur off the railroad branch the building sets next to, but some of the spur looks to have been torn out.

I am wondering if anyone knows if the railroad is still operating on this branch, which is the same branch that goes under the Main Street bridge.

I started reading the Independence Examiner as a very young lad when Col William Southern was still writing a column. I never understood a word he said.

Southern was a reporter for the Star and started the weekly Jackson Examiner in 1898 and it became the daily Independence Examiner in 1906. He had also worked for the Independence Sentinel, which I guess he might have ran out of business.

Southern stopped contributing to the Examiner in the early 50s and died in 1956.

At some point the newspaper officially changed its name to The Examiner in an effort to gain readers from Blue Springs, Grain Valley, etc. I think Lees Summit was included in that mix at one time but they have apparently dropped Lees Summit coverage.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Mad, have you found some more photos?

What you have posted are great.

I know right where my pix are, unfortunately they are slides that I need time to scan. I'll do that right after mowing, gardening, swimming, working for a living, ...

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Was that in the old Safeway store?

No. The Safeway was in the 200 block. At 420 S Main is the Main Street Office Building, where city hall spent some years.

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I am wondering if anyone knows if the railroad is still operating on this branch, which is the same branch that goes under the Main Street bridge.

That rail branch is still used daily. It runs into the underground storage facility NE of Truman and 291 (71-Bypass to you). Each day a string of boxcars is brought out, and another taken away.

[WCHS'59]

[quote=Mad Anthonie;24648865]

No. The Safeway was in the 200 block. At 420 S Main is the Main Street Office Building, where city hall spent some years.
I looked it up on Google maps and think I do remember that office building but only because you brought it up. The city was the first occupant maybe. And, I think they leased it. It looks almost as small as the place at Main and Kansas.

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

That rail branch is still used daily. It runs into the underground storage facility NE of Truman and 291 (71-Bypass to you). Each day a string of boxcars is brought out, and another taken away.

After I posted the question I followed the rails using Google Maps out to the end around Mo 291 and noted that the rail tops looked too shiny and the roadbed seemingly weed free to have been abandoned. I also noticed a bunch of hoppers sitting out near Mo 291. I dont know what happened to US 71 Bypass or what route was designated 71 Bypass after Mo 291 was designated.

I suspect the RR speed limit is 10 or 15 miles per hour.

[WCHS'59]

FIRST BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE, April 11, 1862.

Battle took place on the square encompassing the area of the 1859 county jail, the old Chrisman-Sawyer Bank at Lexington and Liberty, and west to Pleasant Street.

The attacking force was Confederate against Union defenses occupying Independence.

The Confederate force won.

There were 350 Union casualties with a good many Union prisoners taken.


SECOND BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE, October 21-22, 1864.

Battle took place in an area west of the square where the Community Church of Christ Temple, The Auditorium, the United Nations Peace Plaza, the railroad depot, and the Bingham-Waggoner estate now stand.

Union forces totaling ten thousand men attacked Confederate troops halted on an advance westward to attack Kansas City and then Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after a victory at the Battle of Lexington.

Confederates held out against the attacking force winning the engagement.

Union troops retreated to Westport to join other federal troops.
The victorious Confederates regrouped and left Independence for Westport to again engage the Union.

On October 23, 1864, the day after the fight at Independence, the Confederates were soundly defeated by Union troops at the Battle of Westport ending any Confederate resistance in Missouri.

[MRG Dallas]

Quote:
Originally Posted by WCHS'59
I am wondering if anyone knows if the railroad is still operating on this branch, which is the same branch that goes under the Main Street bridge.

That rail branch is still used daily. It runs into the underground storage facility NE of Truman and 291 (71-Bypass to you). Each day a string of boxcars is brought out, and another taken away.

So this is the rail line that runs east along Truman Rd, then splits with the left rail heading to the NW at Swope, and the northern line "disappearing" with no sight of any rail reappearing at Salisbury Rd? This is the 'underground storage facility" where rail cars are kept and rotated into service? Interesting concept to carve this out for storage and protection.


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[WCHS'59]

In the areas where the rock has been mined out, there are storage facilities and, I guess, still manufacturing and sales places.

I drove with my dad back in there underground in the 70s and purchased a lawn mower from a manufacturer. We drove quite a way back in. Right now I could not say where the entrance is except that at the time it was off Truman Road.

There were many vehicles moving around, including ours, in there and I dont know how ventilation might be handled.

The Examiner mentioned a few years ago the number of people who could conceivably use that underground area for protection in case of atomic bomb attack.

The number was humongous, possibly the entire population of Independence or more--but there would be no place for them to go to the bathroom, food, etc.

[WCHS'59]

The Underground Storage Area in Independence, Mo. - YouTube

Here is a video of one of the underground facilities called Carefree Business Park.

The person doing the taping mentions the Geospace Center.

[WCHS'59]

Geo Space Center Notice the RR crossing


GEO Space Center - YouTube


GEO Space Center Part II - YouTube

[WCHS'59]

Space Center Underground Caves, Independence MO - YouTube