by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society​

     Although this photograph is labeled Grain Valley, 1933, I cannot be sure exactly when it was taken. It appeared in a book entitled “Results of County Planning” published in 1933.
     In the late 1920s, Harry Truman was the Presiding Judge of Jackson County. Scarcely known outside Independence, he had the vision and foresight to plan and then to push to completion a county road system which had few equals in the entire nation.
     On May 8, 1928, the voters of Jackson County authorized a $6,5000,000 bond issue to finance the first portion of the proposed road construction program. During the next few years, 166 miles of concrete roads and 52 miles of secondary roads were built or improved in various parts of the county.
     In May 1931, a second bond issue was approved for an additional $3,500,000 to complete the road program. At the same time bonds were approved for other capital improvements which included improvements in the county’s park system. Throughout this period, Judge Truman remained the leader and chief architect of the county planning activities.
     In May 1932, the road program had been virtually completed and a celebration was held at Sni-A-Bar Farms in Grain Valley.  Judge Truman and other members of the County Court published the 125-page book, “Results of County planning,” to show the voters of Jackson County as well as state and highway officials throughout the country the beneficial results that the county had achieved as the result of careful planning.
     To look at the book and the newspaper article about the Celebration of Roads, visit the Grain Valley Historical Society, opened on Wednesdays from 10 AM to 3 PM or by appointment. Contact:  gvhistory1878@gmail.com or call Marty @ (816) 686-7582. (Thanks to Allen Lefko for bring this photo to my attention!)
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     ​Patricia Ann Davis was born in Grain Valley on April 25,1926. Her parents were Ewing Alonzo Davis and Nadine O’Connell. While still very young, her parents separated so she was raised primarily by her mother and her grandparents, John T. and Creola (Warren) O’Connell in their home on Charlotte Street, just north of Walnut. Patricia grew up in Grain Valley and graduated from GVHS in 1944. She was active in school as is evident from the many pictures of her in the high school yearbooks.
     Her maternal roots in the area go back to the mid 1800’s when the Warren Family from Kentucky settle at Tarsney. Her great grandfather, William Warren was one of the founders of the Bank of Grain Valley in 1905. William’s daughter and Patricia’s grandmother, Creola Warren married John T. O’Connell. John and his two O’Connell brothers had lost their father in a railroad accident. They came to Grain Valley from St. Louis with their mother, Martha Elizabeth (Richardson); their step-father, Dennis Patrick Costigan and six half-brothers and sisters.
     John and Creola O’Connell were prominent citizens in Grain Valley. For a brief time, John helped his brothers with a restaurant, he was a barber and he and his wife owned a building on Main Street. The wooden structure burned in 1920 and they rebuilt the structure using bricks. Today we call their building The Iron Kettle. During the 1930s they also owned a gasoline station and café on the newly finished U. S. 40 highway (now Eagles Parkway). John and Creola raise two daughters, Nadine and Danise.
     Although Patricia married Stayton Parr in 1948 and moved to first Independence and later Blue Springs, she never broke her strong ties to Grain Valley. Mrs. Parr was a member of the Grain Valley Historical Society for many years. One a few occasions she presented programs at our meeting and related stories of Grain Valley and the citizens during the 1930s and 1940s.
​     She also left us a treasure of photographs and artifacts which are displayed at the Historical Society Museum. And finally, in her will, Patricia Ann Davis Parr provided a generous gift to the Grain Valley Historical Society that has and will continue to allow us to enhance our collections.
I hope you will visit the GVHS Museum and learn more about the life and generosity of Pat Parr!

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society​

     This week my drive took me to Gardner Road northeast of Grain Valley. Elias H. Gardner was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky on April 18, 1816. He and his wife, Sarah Morris Gardner, also of Kentucky, came to Pink Hill, Missouri in 1856. They brought with them five children; Richard (1847-1865), Sarah Jane (1848-1933), Elisa Harvey, Jr. (1849-1938) George Anson (1851-1906) and Wesley J (1856-  ). Franklin L Gardner (1856) died in infancy.
     The 1860 US Census shows them living in Sni-a-Bar Township with a Pink Hill post office. A descendant stated on Ancestry, “…they owned a farm there.”  I find no land on any Jackson County Plat Map, however, Elias H. Gardner was killed on February 24, 1869, before such maps were published. Previous to 1877 the maps only listed homesteaders or first-time landowners in the relatively new state of Missouri.
     In an article published in Valley News on August 29, 2019, I related the story of three men killed at Pink Hill:
     “A family researcher related that Eli Gardner was drinking in a saloon after the Civil War. An argument broke out between he and his friend, Lewis Smith. Gardner’s first shot took off Lewis’ hat and his second shot hit Lewis in the chest and killed him. Robert St Clair, a prominent man in Pink Hill, attempted to stop the argument. He was shot in the arm which had to be amputated. He died a few weeks later from gangrene.
     Gardner said he had killed one man and he would kill others who provoked him. A posse led by Young Keasler arrived at the Gardner home where Eli had fortified himself in a barn and refused to surrender. He shot Keasler but eventually Gardner was shot and killed.
     George A. Gardner, 18-years old at the time, witnessed the killing of his father. Two years later on September 16, 1871, at the Pink Hill Methodist Church, Gardner challenged Keasler and both men were wounded by gunfire. Granville Love, a bystander was shot and later died from his wound.
     George moved to Arkansas and changed his last name to Moore. His notorious past followed him, and he had numerous scrapes with the law before his death in 1906.
     Elias and Sarah’s third child did not follow in the family’s footsteps, as Elias Harvey Gardner, Jr. was licensed to preach on June 29, 1889 at the Pink Hill Methodist Church. There is, however, no record of his ever having served the church as their pastor.  He did serve the congregations at Mecklin and Oak Grove.  He and his first wife, Margaret Catherine Campbell, are buried at Green’s Chapel Cemetery on Steinhouser Road. His parents were originally buried in a family cemetery on land owned by their daughter Sally and son-in-law, Joseph Wyatt. Many years later a grandson, Fredrick Montrose Wyatt, had their remains removed to the Buckner Hill Cemetery.
     The 1904 Jackson County Historical Atlas Map shows that William H. and Ernest L. Gardner, sons of Elias and Margaret, each owned 39.4 acres of land in the southwest corner of Township 49, Range 29, Section 6. That land would have been about 3 ½ miles northeast of Gardner Road. I am unaware of any descendants currently living in this area. If there are, I would love to know more of their story!

     As promised in January, the last article of each month will feature information about the photograph in the 2023 Grain Valley Historical Society calendar. 

     The 2023 calendar may look a bit like a “school” calendar as half of the photographs are school related. It only speaks about the role of the school in our community. Academics, sports, drama, and music were the one constant in Grain Valley, particularly during the depression and the war years.
     The photo above was in the 1946 Treasure Chest yearbook. Mr. Phil Turner, far right, organized the band in 1941 or 42 (Valley News, June 3, 2021). Mr. Turner was the owner of Turner Music Company, just off the square in Independence. He was not a “full time” teacher but came to Grain Valley a few hours each day to teach music.
     The 1943 Treasure Chest (yearbook) featured a story about raising money for band uniforms and the discovery of “several very talented girls who have organized a Majorette Corps to perform in front of our band.” As you can see by message on the bass drum, he got them off to a rousing start. The were Western Missouri Conference Contest Winner in 1943, 1944 and 1945.
     Since the photo was taken before I was born, I can only identify one student in the photo. The cute little boy on the front row, far right and holding his clarinet, is my 12-year-old cousin, Donald Fristoe!

     A few weeks ago, I began work on some articles that would explain the history behind the photographs in the 2023 Historical Society calendar. The criteria for selection of the photos is fairly simple; they should depict Grain Valley’s past - the businesses, the school, the churches, and the people. And, perhaps equally important, they must be of good photo quality. The photo below, while interesting, lacks several of these conditions.

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
     Last week I attended a Grain Valley High School Alumni Board meeting. In attendance at the meeting were two members of the Class of 1973. In May, they will celebrate their 50th year anniversary as graduates of GVHS. When we returned their old yearbook to its home, a shelf at the Historical Society Museum, I gazed at the shelf above which is home to several much older yearbooks dating back to 1936. There I found the 1943 yearbook, soon to be 80 years old.
     None of those graduates are still with us, but there are many familiar names and faces; some you may have known, some you may have heard of and at least one has a road named for her family members who lived there.
     The 1943 yearbook resembles a spiral notebook. It has only 24 pages, followed by 10 pages of advertising. It looks as if it were type-written and printed on a mimeograph machine, except it has photos. In addition to the individual photographs of the Board of Education, the faculty, and the high school classes, there are five group photos of elementary students (1st thru 8th grade).
     While the yearbook Queen, Doris Brizendine got a full page, the band, choir, drama club, junior, and senior plays casts and student council all had to share a page. The same was true for the boys and girls basketball team. The football team shared their page with the Commercial Club!
     Because this yearbook was published during World War II, there was a full page dedicated to “Grad in Service,” most pictured in a small snapshot wearing their military uniform.
     Visit the Historical Society Museum any Wednesday between 10 AM and 3 PM.  I‘ll give you a cup of coffee to drink (also tea or water) and you can peruse our yearbook collection. You are bound to find someone you know!
 
          
             
          

     Sometimes I look through our archives to find articles for this column.  Such was the case last week when I found an article that appeared in The Examiner on January 23, 1993. That was when Grain Valley Police Sergeant Scott Lambert and Officer Scott Hedger were training their Rottweilers, Magnum and Sampson, for a career in the Grain Valley Police Department.
     According to the article, the extensive training and ongoing education received by the dogs and their handlers make them valuable members of police departments and provide not only a much-needed police tool, but also a supplemental source of income for the department.
     Magnum and Sampson, along with their handlers were trained at Man’s Best Friend Kennels in Belton, Missouri. Mike Reynolds, the owner, stated that the key to any successful police dog candidate “is the same as for any human job applicant: the right personality.” If the dog is vicious or unfriendly instead of playful and social, it’s generally ruled out as a police dog candidate. The second key trait is its drive. According to Reynolds the dog exhibits drive in the way it acts and how excited and playful it becomes. A good police dog considers searching a building, sniffing a car for drugs, or protecting its handler to be a positive, playful activity.
     While Magnum was used strictly as a drug dog and for handler protection, Hedger’s dog, Sampson, became a familiar sight around Grain Valley. He was trained as a drug dog, but also as a patrol dog. Over the years, Officer Hedger gave several demonstrations to community groups and Sampson was introduced to DARE classes to show the usefulness of dogs in other aspects of police work.
     In September, 1993, the Jackson County legislature authorized county Prosecutor Claire McCaskill to spend $9,900 from the anti-drug tax. An article in The Examiner, dated September 2, 1983 stated “…the new dog would be placed with the Grain Valley Police Department, but would be available for other law enforcement agencies in Eastern Jackson County.”
     It has been 30 years, but it is always good to be reminded that our town “took the lead"!

     2023 marks the second year the Grain Valley Historical Society, with financial support from State Bank of Missouri, has sold calendars as a way to make money to help fund our society. Beginning with January, on the last Thursday of each month, this column will feature an article telling readers what I know about the photograph.
     This photo of Kershaw & Williams, General Blacksmithing was a gift to the historical society some years ago by Ruby Williams Wyatt (1908-2004). Ruby was the daughter of one of the owners, Charles “Buck” (on the left) and Pearl (Dishman) Williams. The small boy was Ruby’s brother Charles E. Williams, Jr.

     Buck Williams was born on a farm southeast of Grain Valley on August 24, 1878, the year the town was founded. While his father came from Kentucky, his mother was born in Missouri. Mr. Williams is buried in Blue Springs.
     Mrs. Wyatt shared with us that her father was also a sign painter and he did all of the signs for Sni-a-Bar Farms in the 1920s, 30s and early 40s. He also made the stall cards for all of the famous SAB show cattle.
     The Kershaw gentleman in the photograph (far right) is probably Robert, born in Savannah, Missouri, on September 29, 1879. From the ages of the two young boys, I believe Robert Walter Kershaw, Jr. is the older boy on the right side of the photo. He would have been around 8 or 9 years-old when the picture was taken. Mr. Kershaw and his wife are buried in Harrisonville, Missouri. Mr. Kershaw’s parents Peter Ferdinand and Hannah (Walters) Kershaw are buried in the Grain Valley Cemetery, north of town on Seymour Road. Peter Kershaw is one of only two Confederate soldiers buried there.
     A 1924 plat map of Grain Valley shows a blacksmith shop on Third Street, east of Broadway (now Main Street). One can only guess this might have been the place, although it looks more like the building that housed the Grain Valley Lumber Yard in the 1950s. It was immediately south of the railroad tracks, also on the east side of Main Street.
     For those of you who may be newcomers to Grain Valley, Buck Williams was the Great Grandfather x3 of Mackenzie (GVHS, Class of 2023) and Cole Keller (GVHS, Class of 2021).
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by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society​

     Since I’ve been driving around the northern edge of Sni-A-Bar Township, I decided to research a bit more about the namesakes for other roads in the area. Most of them, like Little Road, (Valley News, Jan 5, 2023) only go for a short distance, probably to the house and farm of the people who lived there. I believe most got their names in the mid to late 1800s. It probably went something like this.
     “So, you are looking for old Will Holloway out north of Grain Valley. Take the Buckner Road north to Spring Branch Road (Truman). Turn east a couple of miles to the Murphy School Road. Go north towards the school about a half-mile to the first road going east. At the top of the hill, about four-tenths of a mile, is the St. Clair place. The family cemetery is near the road. You can’t miss it. Just over the hill you will see the Holloway place commence on the north side. Their homestead is nearer the bottom of the hill where the road curves back to the south and meets up with Spring Branch Road.”
     As years passed, all 1.3 miles of it became Holloway Road. William Holloway was born in Tennessee around 1815. I found no information about him until the 1860 US Census. By that time, he was married to a widow, Toletha Nowlin Payne (local names) and was living in Sni-A-Bar Township. Their post office was listed as Pink Hill. The 1870 US Census listed Napoleon as their post office. I’m guessing they did not move but the Civil War moved their post office.
     The Holloways had five children, two sons and three daughters. The oldest son, George William Holloway was the only one to remain in the area. George married Rosa Burnley (another local name). They had no children. By the 1910 US Census, George and Rosa were living on North Broadway in Oak Grove. He was a blacksmith, but by the 1920 and 1930 US Census, he was a carpenter and Rosa a housewife.
     William Holloway died in 1898 and his wife Rosa in 1906. They are buried along with their son James (1866-1885) at the Oakland Cemetery.
     We can only guess that the farm was sold at that time --but Holloway Road lives on.

     The mystery continues…how do people spell their name? Last week it was “Little” and this week it is “Borgman.” Or was it Littell and Borgmann?
     Who names a road and when was it named? Not everything is on the internet! I have spent several hours, to no avail, attempting to learn when signs were put up on the rural roads in Jackson County. I suspect, and I’m only guessing, that by the time the road signs were put up, their namesake was long deceased, and the names were “Americanized” by the highway department.
     The Borgmann family came to Missouri from Prussia (Germany) in the 1830s. They remained in Warren County (around Marthasville and Charrette) for nearly 50 years. Henry H. Borgmann, Jr., his brother John and sister Caroline came to Fort Osage Township on the 1878, first appearing on the U S Census there in 1880. It was on August 19, 1880, that Henry married Mary Elizabeth Drewel, the daughter of a minister from Wellington, Missouri. Mary and Henry had six children who grew up in the area and attended school at Levesy. Mary and Henry Borgmann and many of their children and grandchildren are buried at the Ebenezer Cemetery (Bone Hill) south of Levasy on H highway at Bone Hill Road. So, while the Borgmanns and their offspring were mostly in Fort Osage Township, the road named for them extends from Neil Childs Road south into Sni-A-Bar Township ending at Truman Road.
     And, on a personal note, their great grandson Henry Twiehaus graduated from Grain Valley High School in 1964. He was my classmate.
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