Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Jackson: violations, elections, invasion)

[CaseyMO]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I did not know that he lived there.

He had to have lived there when I was working at 23rd and then Kiger.

I don't recall the years, but I believe it was from the 1950s into the 1960s. I want to say that he lived there several years and maybe as long as a decade.

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

We still have signs announcing that honor at some of the entry points to town. This one is along northbound Sterling just north of 40 Hiway.

So Independence "wins" it every twenty years?

[CaseyMO]

Originally Posted by CaseyMO

I don't recall the years, but I believe it was from the 1950s into the 1960s. I want to say that he lived there several years and maybe as long as a decade.

This is as close as I have come to finding the connection between DePugh and South Kiger. This was before the renumbering of addresses.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...09+S.+Kiger%22

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by dmartin64055

I used to swim there as a young boy, there was a giant slide where you could slide down on a raft and skim across the lake. I wouldn't suggest anyone drink the water out of the lake since it was closed due to human waste in the water.

Welcome.

This was in response to a dsicussion re Doutt's Lake. There is a photo somewhere on the thread which shows the dock and high dive as well as the "beach" etc.

I drove the "U" where Doutt's was located last August. Nice warm summer, early evening. I noted the contrast between the quiet, overgrowth and algae'd water vis a vis the site 50+ years to the date. Cars, picnics, kids yelling/screaming.

Ah, The Good Ol Days

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CaseyMO

This is as close as I have come to finding the connection between DePugh and South Kiger. This was before the renumbering of addresses.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...09+S.+Kiger%22

I worked at C&J there on the corner beginning in 1954 and ending in 1960. He was probably a customer at the store and I probably even checked him out.

I recall that house as very distinctive but a little odd with all the slanted glass panes.

I cannot find him on findagrave and I wonder if he was ever married. He got into some underage child stuff in the 80s or 90s and he died alone in a small place in Richmond in 2009.

[CaseyMO]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

I worked at C&J there on the corner beginning in 1954 and ending in 1960. He was probably a customer at the store and I probably even checked him out.

I recall that house as very distinctive but a little odd with all the slanted glass panes.

I cannot find him on findagrave and I wonder if he was ever married. He got into some underage child stuff in the 80s or 90s and he died alone in a small place in Richmond in 2009.

I believe he was not buried, but rather cremated. I think I just read that today.

[WCHS'59]

[MRG Dallas]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Welcome "64055."

Independence started with one zip code and that was 64050.

I also recall that prior to the zips, Kansas City had a forerunner of the zip code that I think was called a zone. Each KC post office was numbered for its zone and the mailing address was like Kansas City 8, Mo or Kansas City 6, Mo.

Using the zip in mailing was started on a voluntary basis sometime around '59 or '60 and was supposed to be mandatory by '63 or so or the PO would send it back to the sender. Zip code catalogs for the entire US were a hot item in stationery and book stores as the mandatory time got closer. But, I don't think I ever heard of the post office sending something back because it did not have a zip.

I don't know when the nine digit zip got its start.

I remember being Kansas City 29 and 33. When the zips did arrive it turned into 641 33

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by CaseyMO

I believe he was not buried, but rather cremated. I think I just read that today.

I saw another article in which it was said his wife and children abandoned him.

[Major Tom 58]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Speaking of Young School: the principal was the head waiter directing a number of young black waiters at a dinner function in the Metropolitan Hotel. Fred Hammontree’s Orchestra entertained throughout the evening and a vocal quartet sang.


This was 1909 and the event was started that year as an annual occurrence. I have no information as to when it ended; but, today, it would never be allowed for more than one reason.


However, something like this was needed by the city then, and as Mayor Jones of Independence the chairman explained this was why it was so badly needed:

“It is to bring the men of the city, official, business and professional, all together in closer friendship, and to get rid of the restrains that shackle us in the stress of business. We need something of this kind to enable us to know each other better.”


Who would have thought these early century municipal and business people of Independence labored under so much stress and hardship?


As the evening progressed, a number of telegrams were received at the mayor’s table. One of those was to the mayor from the Farmers Protective Association of Blue Bottoms and that organization threatened to get the law involved if the city did not quit doing what they were doing.


The mayor refused to take responsibility and blamed the event on an Independence city councilman.


Fast forward to the 1913 event when Mayor Christian Ott was the chairman for that year's event. Seventy-five cars left Independence for areas other than Blue Bottoms with the intention of harvesting the food supply for the dinner that year. Jackson County even provided a number of trucks to help with the occasion. Later the group gathered on the street in front of a local hardware store and the Lewis Theater to show off their crop.


That year’s dinner event was held at the First Christian Church with ladies in white doing the serving in place of the black waiters. Mayor Ott “admonished those present to leave all grouches on the outside, forget about indigestion and all serious matters, and assured them that even the banks had promised that no interest would be run for that night on the notes held by them.”


What was this annual city event?

So far I've only figured out where Blue Bottoms was located, and that Mayor Jones' first name was Llewellyn.