Long ago on independence square (St. Louis, Springfield: cul-de-sac, home, bankrupt)

[Major Tom 58]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

That is amazing. I can see my folks house in the '63 view. That awkward bridge in the original threw me off but I still would not have guessed the location. I can recall driving east on 35th from Noland in '57 the first year I drove but all I remember is a huge corn field on the south side.

I'd found a map on the Mo. Valley Collections site that wasn't dated but closely resembled the street layouts as well as the R.R. 35th street was called Sheley and 39th street was Milton Rd. I believe that might be the Milton brick ranch in the lower right corner of the second aerial view. There is still to this day an old cemetery ENE of the Milton home. They've built homes all around it. Sometimes they move the cemeteries and sometimes they just move the headstones when development occurs.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

I'd found a map on the Mo. Valley Collections site that wasn't dated but closely resembled the street layouts as well as the R.R. 35th street was called Sheley and 39th street was Milton Rd. I believe that might be the Milton brick ranch in the lower right corner of the second aerial view. There is still to this day an old cemetery ENE of the Milton home. They've built homes all around it. Sometimes they move the cemeteries and sometimes they just move the headstones when development occurs.

The Milton home was there in '57, on the wider view. It is still there today, although closer to the road.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

That is amazing. I can see my folks house in the '63 view. That awkward bridge in the original threw me off but I still would not have guessed the location. I can recall driving east on 35th from Noland in '57 the first year I drove but all I remember is a huge corn field on the south side.

Wow! I'm happy that I finally stumped you!!

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by Major Tom 58

I asked on facebook if a location might be known for that particular photo and it was thought to be on South McCoy. I presume north of 23rd. Chief Pollard lived on this street according to the FB responder, behind fire station #4. Currently this station is located on 23rd street. Wondering if this is a relocated station. I need to drive over to that area and see if I can find the exact spot where the Buick posed.

I have closely examined the 1957 views along the tracks in that area, for both RRs. I cannot see any short sidings, but the sharpness of the photos is lacking, so it is possible there is one I can't see.

Do any of you "older" fellows recall any sidings around the Gas Service Company along the MOPAC, or perhaps in the little industrial area along Gudgell between Osage and McCoy from the GM&O?

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Wow! I'm happy that I finally stumped you!!

On my "home turf" so to speak. The folks had the last finished house on 35th Street east for a very short time. But, the whole area for blocks around was a hotbed of construction.

The house they bought was a pre-cut (not prefabricated) home, which meant that every two by four or other piece of lumber was cut to size and numbered at the factory. It was shipped to 35th Street by truck or trucks and included all the nails, lumber, windows, bricks, shingles, HVAC, etc., on the same trucks. All the builder had to do was pour the footings and foundation and be ready for the shipment.

My parents did not plan it that way as they only shopped for a new home and were unaware that it was a pre-cut home. I happened to see a very small nameplate in the entry door jamb. So, I sent off for their catalog.

It was manufactured by the R.L. Sweet Lumber Company in Kansas City, Kansas.

There were a number of builders in the area and one or more erected the pre-cuts. I could locate them around the neighborhood because I had the catalog. It seemed to me the pre-cuts were a better quality from the others as they all had combination brick and shake siding exteriors with the others being batten board exterior construction.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

On my "home turf" so to speak. The folks had the last finished house on 35th Street east for a very short time. But, the whole area for blocks around was a hotbed of construction.

The results of that "hotbed of construction" are plainly visible in the modern view.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

Wow! A check of the local yellow pages shows one shoe repair shop in Independence, and one in Blue Springs.

Pearl Wilcox says that William Lollas came to the U.S. from Greece in 1907. His brother followed in 1912. The two opened a shoe shop at 112 West Maple, which would put it at the entrance to the Pharaoh theaters, today. I recall the Lollas Brothers shoe repair being there when a kid.

She says the repair shop opened with eight chairs for shining shoes. I don't recall shoe shops providing shoe shines but I do recall getting my shoes shined at a barber shop in the 200 block of west Lexington near the alley before the professional building.

Shoe shiners in Independence probably are now non-existant.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

In the forties and fifties, before most Independence streets were paved, the children in my neighborhood experienced an annual treat. We got to watch our roads being reworked. It was an annual affair and always occurred during the hot summer when school was out. All the kids would come out in their front yards and watch the heavy equipment come rolling in to “oil the roads.” It was great excitement, especially for the boys.

Our area came into the Independence city limits in 1948. The roads were not paved but neither were they graveled. The city provided an all-weather surface called “chip and seal,” which had to be applied annually to keep the roads in good shape.
After the residents were warned to keep their cars parked on adjacent streets, our street would be closed off and there would be no automobile access for up to two days. I think they put advisory signs out in the neighborhood as the time was approaching and just beforehand, a city worker drove his truck up and down the street honking his horn as a warning that cars should be moved off the street and out of the driveways. If a car was not moved from a driveway, it was tough luck. There were, however, not a lot of cars on our block.

The city would then close the street and start plowing the roadway up with a huge machine similar to a farm disk. The disk would cut up the entire roadway including the many “washboard” areas that chip and seal roadways were famous for developing.

Next a road grader spent a lot of time smoothing the disked road to prepare it for oiling.

Next a truck with oil spreading nozzles across the rear end made a spraying trip up and down the block to cover every bit of dirt that had been graded. The oil was applied hot and was extremely messy.

Next the city workers put up closure ropes (actually twine with a little red cardboard sign hanging from the middle) and let the oil soak in for a day or two. In the meantime, the residents would have to walk in the ditches or on their neighbor’s property to get to and from their homes.

The next day or so a dump truck came along and spread miniature crushed rock maybe a quarter inch in size that we called “chat.”

Then a heavy roller came through and made several passes pressing the chat down into the oil as much as possible.

After the roller made its several passes, the closure signs were taken down and the cars could come through.

After the cars began using the roadway, the curing time for the chip and seal process took a while. It was a messy process and we went barefooted in the summer and would walk on the roads and get oil spots, or tar spots as we called them, all over our feet and lower legs. We had to clean ourselves with kerosene before bath and bedtime. But there were always some parents who were content to let the tar “wear off” their kids. Lower car fenders also had to be cleaned of oil splotches thrown up by the chat.

If the weather was hot, and it usually was, two tire lanes down the middle of each street would show ugly tar strips where the cars further pushed the chat into the oil. A lot of the chat, though, wound up in the drainage ditches where it was thrown by car wheels.

It took a month or so for the road to look normal but the process provided a minimal all-weather road to drive on that was much better than normal crushed rock and it was not dusty after the first day or two.

Somehow the city was able to do 500 miles of streets each summer. But, at some point the city fathers tired of this process and they paved every street in Independence.

I don’t know that I ever saw another city do their streets this way, but I guess they must have.

Per Pearl Wilcox:

When William McCoy (the younger) took office in 1920, it cost the city 27 cents per linear foot to pave a street in Independence.

That same year it cost the city 6 cents per foot to oil and chat a street.

[WCHS'59]

This building is gone but has not been forgotten.


What was it and what evidence exists today to show that it ever existed?

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

This building is gone but has not been forgotten.


What was it and what evidence exists today to show that it ever existed?

I've been on, to, and driven past that site many times. I'll give the others a chance.