Long ago on independence square (Lee's Summit, Blue Springs: unsafe, reasons, property taxes)

[Mad Anthonie]

Hopefully today's mystery photo will take longer than 10 minutes for you to solve. The only clue is "I have never lived here."

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Hopefully today's mystery photo will take longer than 10 minutes for you to solve. The only clue is "I have never lived here."

That's Christmas inside the Bingham Mansion

[Major Tom 58]

Bingham-Waggoner or Vaille; I'll go with Bingham.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

Bingham-Waggoner or Vaille; I'll go with Bingham.

Me three.

[WCHS'59]

During the early sixties, a number of college students on Sunday afternoon would board the MoPac passenger train at the 600 S Grand Station and head fifty miles east to Warrensburg. The station was closed but the train would stop if there were people waving. I can recall one time there were 17 students waiting. We paid the conductor after boarding. I cannot recall how much it cost but I recall paying two cents per mile when our Cub Scout pack rode from the Grand Street Station to Union Station around 1950.

For some reason, the traffic going from Warrensburg to Independence on Friday was not as heavy--probably because most of us could wrangle a ride home. (Or maybe the west bound train came earlier in the day before most classes let out.) After I was able to afford having my car in school, I would take some students home on weekends and drop them off at one point in town, usually the square. I did not charge anything.

Now, I understand that one cannot just flag the train at the Independence depot without getting tickets in advance. One has to obtain and pay tickets on line.

Has anyone taken the train out of Independence recently? It would seem that there might even still be students boarding the train on Sunday afternoon heading back to Warrensburg.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

That's Christmas inside the Bingham Mansion

Y'all are good! I guess I'll have to come up with something harder.


How about this?

[Major Tom 58]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Y'all are good! I guess I'll have to come up with something harder.


How about this?

Christmas outside Bingham?

[WCHS'59]

Pacific Street side.

[Major Tom 58]

Would this be on the east side of 291? That looks like the overpass in the background.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

Would this be on the east side of 291? That looks like the overpass in the background.

That would be.

To the south and north of this now gone station was a road crossing the tracks right by the station that is now closed. On that road just to the north of the station perhaps half a block was a general store and repair garage that represented what was left of the town of Courtney. I stopped in the General Store in 1958 with my Dickinson Road sweetie to get a soda pop on one of our many trips to Fort Osage.

Around 2006, I tried to find this station and was initially totally lost since the road was torn out. I then tried to get there from going further down M-291 without success.