Long ago on independence square (Marshall, Alton: for sale, price, shop)

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

All were the site of a mom and pop grocery at one time or another?

They were!

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

They were all grocers/markets

In the alternative, they were all gas stations

Today they would be both!

[Mad Anthonie]

Not much here in 1957. Where is it?

[Major Tom 58]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Not much here in 1957. Where is it?

Just guessing wildly here, could this be the acreage between 40 hwy and Bass Pro. This would make the road on the left in the picture (40 hwy ?) West would be at the top, North to the right.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

Just guessing wildly here, could this be the acreage between 40 hwy and Bass Pro. This would make the road on the left in the picture (40 hwy ?) West would be at the top, North to the right.

That was wild! Nope, in this view north is at the top, and 40 Highway is not in view. However, one of the roads in this view does intersect with 40.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

That was wild! Nope, in this view north is at the top, and 40 Highway is not in view. However, one of the roads in this view does intersect with 40.

It is also in the northern half of town.

[WCHS'59]

We have discussed Wild Woody’s before but I just read an old Examiner article on the place.


A 5,000 square foot sale barn was built in 1952 on Noland Road just south of the future site of the I-70 exit from Noland. The barn was sold to Edgar Wood in 1955. He got the idea to start a sale barn way out in the middle of nowhere and cut the prices to the bone, and below, to get people to drive there.


The item says that the store grew from 5,000 square feet in 1955 to 200,000 square feet by the time it closed. Employment was 200 to 300 people. You could buy groceries, tombstones, clothing, furniture, auto items, liquor, and most anything else. Like Costco, though, you could not find the same item all the time.


In 1978, the store grossed $12,000,000, which is equivalent to $44.5m today.


In 1964, the I-70 Noland Road exit came along and was just a stone’s throw away from the store. The 1964 road opening must have really helped get a lot of metro business, as Woody was always advertising on local TV.


As the store grew, the place looked like a congregation of lean to buildings and there were concrete floors sloping up and down in all directions with some areas even having dirt floors. I remember the haphazard concrete but not the dirt floors.


Closure was on July 5, 1986.

[Mad Anthonie]

Perhaps this will help...

The 1957 view-



And the 1963 view-

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Perhaps this will help...

The 1957 view-



And the 1963 view-

Is that the rodeo grounds on US 71 Bypass?

[WCHS'59]

Truman may have been the first President to step foot in Independence.




Who was the first Vice President to visit Independence?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Is that the rodeo grounds on US 71 Bypass?

It is! US 71-Bypass runs along the western edge of this view, which is between Truman Road and Salisbury.