The first newspaper printed west of the Mississippi was established in 1808 in St. Louis. Joseph Charless, the first editor, is considered to have published the first number on July 12, 1808, although the earliest located issue is vol. 1, no. 3. This weekly newspaper was printed on sheets of 12 x 8 in. until a supply of larger sheets became available. Initially, articles appeared in both French and English, reflecting the region’s Francophone roots. The title changed several times during its first decade reflecting the region’s transition into the United States. The Kansas City Star began publication in 1885.
 

     With a career that spanned four decades, and a school named in her honor, Essie M. Matthews is a name that won’t be forgotten. Anyone that has lived in Grain Valley, attended school in Grain Valley or has had a child go through the Grain Valley School system in the last 70 years must surely be familiar with her name.
     Mrs. Matthews came to Grain Valley in the fall of 1951 as the only 7th grade teacher. It would be safe to say the school was much smaller in those days. She became the elementary principal in 1958, but continued teaching 7th grade. In 1963, she also added freshman Civics to her busy schedule. In 1967, during my college days I did some substitute teaching over Christmas break.  It was Mrs. Matthews that hired me, and by that time she was a full-time principal, a position she held until her retirement in the early 1980s.
     In 1978, a $562,000 bond issue was used to complete the first phase of Matthews Elementary School. Not many people have buildings named for them. Almost no one works in a building named for themselves. Essie Matthews was the exception. 
     Essie Mildred Boone grew up in rural Lafayette County and attended Central Missouri State Teachers College in Warrensburg (now UCM). She began her teaching career at Weaver School near Odessa, and taught in rural Lafayette Schools five years. Four years in Colorado followed and then she came to Grain Valley.  She and her husband Calvin made their home in Odessa. So, while she never actually resided in our town, her contribution to the students and teachers of this community is still evident today. 
 

​     Everything is bigger in Texas, including the number of farms. With 248, 416 farms it is more than double the second place state.
     But would you believe with 95,320, Missouri, the Show Me State, ranks second. Missouri's number one commodity is soybeans followed by corn, cattle and calves, hogs, and broiler chickens.
 

     I grew up seeing Great-Grandpa Sanders and Uncle Dave’s cane mill in my aunt’s backyard. It is another one of those “old things” about which I wish I had asked more questions. I’m guessing that in the late 1800s nearly every farmer in Jackson County must have grown sorghum. I’m also guessing that granulated sugar might have been a luxury in those days.
     My grandmother always talked about using sorghum and molasses in recipes and a quick look through old recipes books verifies their use along with honey as the primary sweeteners in that time. While molasses is usually made from sugar cane or sugar beets, it is also possible to extract molasses, as well as sorghum, from the cane of the sorghum plant.
     Their cane mill received a patent on December 13, 1892 and the following statement could be found in a small pamphlet advertising.
 
     “While engaged in the manufacture of sorghum a few years back, we J. N. Sanders and D. C. Herrington, of Grain Valley, Mo., realized the very slow movement of our old crusher and the great amount of labor and time lost on account of its slowness.  Horses almost given out, sap run down and fire cooled many times during the day. People’s cane would stand stacked at the mill until hopes of ever getting it made up were almost lost.
     Many crops we failed to get for fear it would have to remain unworked until freezing weather, or that it might sour. With all the above-named disadvantages, our minds, of course, were naturally put to thinking of some plan to do away with the old troubles; and we succeeded in inventing a machine which we thought would be endorsed by the people, approved by the patent office and give universal satisfaction.
     So, with an output of a nice little sum of money and the forfeiture of considerable valuable time, we secured a patent of our invention which enables us to offer to the people of this immense can country, or the right of a mill, that will make investors rich.
     Our mill is simple, durable and very rapid, showy, honest and inexpensive. We have practically tested our machine and, therefore, can speak from actual experience.
     The mills we now have in use have a 12-inch roll and with an ordinary beam, from three and a half to four gallons sap can be crushed per minute, or from twenty to thirty tons of can per day. A cane mill of this kind is worth a farm.
     We are now ready to sell mill, entire, state or county rights, Correspondence solicited and considered care.
     For proof to what we have said first correspond with our endorsers. We are yours anxious to please.”
     Sanders & Herrington
     Grain Valley, Mo
 
     The advertising pamphlet contains over twenty testimonial letters.  Here are a couple of samples.  If you have driven around Grain Valley very much, you might recognize the names.
 
Grain Valley
February 22, 1894
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     This certifies that the Sanders & Herrington Cane Mill, in my opinion, is the best mill on the market. It works with perfect satisfaction; high runner and does lots of work.    

Respectfully,
Jesiah Seymore
Grain Valley, 1894
 
     It has been my pleasure to travel through many of the sorghum states throughout the Union and have examined all the latest improved cane mils and think your mill will do double the amount of work with less draft on team and less work on feeder.  Its bearings, if properly adjusted, I consider perfect—but little friction.  I am
Yours,
Joe M. Potts
 
Visit the Grain Valley Historical Society to see the inside workings of the old mill along with the application, certificate and other legal papers and letters involved with securing of the patent.
 
 
 

​     Jackson County was the twenty-sixth county founded in the State of Missouri on December 15, 1826. Until Louisiana became a state, we were part of the Louisiana Territory.
     In 1812, we became part of the Missouri Territory and Governor Clark divided the future state into 5 original counties; Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Charles, St. Genevieve and St. Louis. Jackson County was taken from part of Lafayette, which was part of Cooper County.                  
     Cooper was originally part of Howard County, which was part of Oregon County. Oregon County was carved from Ripley County which was taken from Wayne County. All of these counties were part of the original Cape Girardeau County.
 

     The founders of Grain Valley wanted to locate it west of the present site but Britton Capelle, who owned the land, didn’t want a town on his place. Mr. Graves and Mr. Ashcroft asked for the town to be further east and here it was located.
     In 1888, Dr. Kinger and Dr. Storms seemed to be among the first to build houses in the village.* Adams Spindal was a mechanic, blacksmith, cabinet maker and casket maker. He made a small casket and placed it atop his roof to advertise his caskets. Mrs. Arnoff build a hotel and served travelers from far and wide.
     I feel I should include Stony Point, as it was a town much earlier, a few years before the Civil War. It was 2 ½ miles south of Grain Valley. Rocks and stones were everywhere, therefore the name of Stony Point. A board school house was constructed on the peak of a hill to be the center of education for boys and girls of the neighborhood.  The interior was simple and bare. The crude seats were huge logs split in half and supported by blocks and placed on each side of the room.
     There were no desks, their few treasured books were kept on the floor. They could not afford to pay the teacher much, so it was a short term in mid-winter, for then there was no work for the older boys to do at home.
     A store or trading post was established by Mr. Jake Gregg. He was also the Postmaster, having a crude Post Office in the corner of his store.
     Broad minded citizens felt the need for a place to worship. Soon a building was erected in the Valley about 2 miles west of the store. It was called Pleasant Valley Church. It was Methodist.
     On August 25, 1863 General Thomas Ewing issued Order No. 11. Everyone (not pledging their allegiance to the Union) moved out of Jackson County. They returned in 1866 to find a lot of destruction.
    The church was badly in need of repair. The members decided to build in a new location on the old Gore farm near the Perdee Chapel Cemetery. Levi and Sinia Emily (Dillingham) Potts (Birdie’s grandparents) and family were members there.
     The store had been destroyed during the war. Mr. Marshall Crawford built a new store on his 32-acre farm ½ mile west of the old store site and he too served as postmaster receiving no salary except 60% of the sales of stamps.
     The mail was carried once a week from Independence by Mr. Booth. In 1873, Mr. Crawford sold his land and store to Mr. James H. Cannon for $40 an acre ($1,280). In addition to running the store, Mr. Cannon served as Justice of the Peace and performed several marriage ceremonies in the little village. Nearby there was a grist mill operated by Mr. Enoch Russell. Not far away he also ran a sawmill.
     In 1878, the railroad was built 2 miles north of Cannon’s store. In a short time he selected a new location just south of the railroad crossing and here erected a store and moved his merchandise to Grain Valley. Purdee Chapel was sold and much of the lumber was used to build the Methodist Church in Grain Valley in 1889.
     The economy was very poor. We could earn very little, if any money. A penny for Sunday School, a nickel for Church, but we gave what we could. We joined the church and promised to support it with our presence, our prayers, and our money. We were happier and our ailments and problems of the week seemed fewer when we could attend church on Sunday.
     There were many homes in Grain Valley prior to 1888. (She may have meant 1878.)
 
     Birdie Potts Davidson (1901-1999) was a life-long resident of Grain Valley. She is a 1921 graduate of Grain Valley High School. She joined the Methodist Church in 1915 and was a lifelong member. She wrote this history for the church centennial in 1988 and 89.
 

     I know I have written many times about the beginning of our town. I’m going to share it once more, but this time in the words of Mrs. Birdie (Potts) Davidson. Each Sunday for a year, prior to the 100th Anniversary of the Methodist Church (circa 1889), Birdie would share “Reflections of our Church.”
    That first Sunday she told us about her big drawer where all of the old newspaper clippings and church related information was stored. She began with the following story of Pink Hill, Stony Point, the railroad, and finally Grain Valley.
     Among my clippings I find the 13 charter members of the Pink Hill Methodist Church, the nuclei of Oak Grove, Oakland, and Grain Valley Methodist.
     Because the hill about 3 miles Northeast of Grain Valley was covered with pink verbenas and wild roses the name Pink Hill was selected. The church was on the Main Street of the little village which also had 3 saloons, a store and a United States Post Office. Ground for the church was purchased from George and Anna Carlyle for $10 and in 1871 the church was built.
     The lot was deeded to seven trustees and their successors. The seventh man named was Levi Potts (Birdie’s  grandfather). The church sat on the south side of Pink Hill Road and faced west. The 36’ x 48’ structure was built by the community at a cost of $3,000. It had a second floor used as a Masonic Christian Lodge meeting place.
     Around 1854, the citizens had built a school house one-half mile to the south. In later years the school was moved one-fourth mile west of the church. The story behind the move was that an elderly couple lived across the road from the school and they were disturbed by the noise of the children.
     They told the officials that they would donate a lot on their property on Pink Hill Road if they would move the school. When the R-5 school district was consolidated and the students were sent to Grain Valley the school house was sold and became a residence. It later burned.
     According to the 1877 Atlas there were 1,000 plus residents; 482 men and 884 women and the children living at Pink Hill.. There were also 595 horses, 178 mules, 1019 cattle, 674 sheep, and 3,647 hogs in Pink Hill.
     The area had been surveyed by the Chicago & Alton Railroad in the early 1850s. The C & A had plans to extend the route from Mexico, Missouri , to Kansas City. The Civil War came, then the panic of 1873. During 1876, Sni-A-Bar Township began to rally.
     Pink Hill had renewed hope that the railroad would go through their town, but alas, in 1878 it was built too far to the south. The residents were stunned and the little town began to die, except for the church. The Post Office closed in 1902.
     The first structure to be built in Grain Valley was a sort of railroad station, a shack of hewn lumber which was replaced by the first railroad station. In 1912 Mr. Ben Armstrong bought the shack from the Chicago & Alton Railroad and moved it to his farm.
     To be continued...
 

     The Historical Society Museum looks forward to welcoming our new neighbor, Iron Kettle Brewing. And while the business is new to Grain Valley, the building is 100 years old.
     A few years ago, Patricia Davis Parr made a presentation to the Historical Society. She took us on tour through the streets of our town and told us what she knew about the homes, churches, and businesses that made up Grain Valley from about 1900 to 1940.
     Beginning at Walnut Street and preceding south along the west side of Main we would have passed the Christian Church, two small houses, and the Sni-A-Bar Bank. South of the bank was a building which housed different businesses including a café, a millinery shop, and a locker plant. If I had remembered this reference in April, I would have known that the millinery shop was on the west side of Main Street.
     The next building is the subject of this article. Mrs. Parr’s grandfather, John T. O’Connell, was the local barber when he married Creola Warren in 1906. He also helped his brothers with a café (circa 1912) across the alley where the Historical Society is currently located.
     His tonsorial (April 23, 2020 Valley News) burned in 1920 and he replaced it with the current two-story brick building which may well be built on the original foundation. The building was rented to Charles and Ida Ryan who ran a general store. Inside along the north wall were dry goods and the groceries shelves were on the south side.
     Mrs. Parr recalled the rolling ladder that allowed customers to reach the top shelves. At some point, the Ryan’s opened the locker plant in the building on the north side and a wide door was put into the wall, connecting the two buildings.
     Later, Ed and Louise Crull ran the grocery store until 1953. After that I have no memory of the building being occupied downstairs until the antique shops came to Grain Valley sometime in the 1990s. I’ve talked with a few “old-timers” and no one remembers much about the building during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Maybe it was vacant?
     The second floor housed a theatre which was popular after the Royal Playhouse closed. It was also used for meetings by The Royal Neighbors and The Modern Woodman of the World.
     I can recall going up the steep, creepy stairs to attend Halloween parties sponsored by The Royal Neighbors when I was in elementary school.  That is also where I took tap and ballet lessons from Glo-Del Dance Studio between 1950 and 1953. Gloria was my teacher and she and Deloris came to Grain Valley on Saturdays in the winter to teach tap, jazz, and ballet.
     “If these walls could talk…” We’ve all heard that old saying. But it’s true and if walls could talk I’m sure there are many stories to tell.  We’ll just have to patronize Iron Kettle Brewing and make up some new stories for the second hundred years in the life of this great old building.