Having read several Broadcasters this past week, I can assure you not only school, but life was very different in 1940. The school was apparently the center of everything social in Grain Valley, as every issue mentions at least one school dance or party.  There was the school dance, the hayride, the school carnival, the Pie and Box Social and the Halloween Party,  all within the first two months of school.
     Also, school assemblies are mentioned frequently. From the back-to-school assembly during the first week to marionettes, the junior play, and a musical presentation, there was apparently an assembly every week.
     During American Education Week, held the first week in November, there were daily topics which included the following: Enriching Spiritual Life, Strengthening Civic Loyalties, Financing Public Education, Safeguarding Natural Resources, Perpetuating Individual Liberties, and Building Economic Security. As I perused the topics, I found that although the topics are 80 years old, not much has changed. Or has it?
     On spiritual life --“America was founded upon a spiritual foundation by earnest pioneers seeking to govern themselves and to worship God in their own way….great teachers of all faiths in schools, public and private, encourage religious feeling and practices as the foundation of moral conduct.  The schools guide pupils to enriched spiritual living thru the development of character, the encouragement of right conduct, the opening of minds to new horizons, the practice of tolerance, a steady emphasis upon the sacredness of human personality, and a constant leadership in the search for truth, goodness and beauty.”
     On civic loyalties –“Although government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not solved all our problems, who would exchange it for the tyranny and force which prevail today in so many parts of the world?”
     On financing public education –“The public elementary and secondary schools of the United States cost 2 billion dollars a year (an average of $75 dollars per pupil).”  Okay, so times have changed.
     However, the final statement might still be applicable, “…millions are unemployed; hunger exists amid plenty; crime takes a vast toll; ill health ravages the underprivileged. These conditions need not exist in a wealthy nation. They can be corrected by improving the individual and promoting the general welfare, which the schools seek to do.”
     On safeguarding natural resources –“There is still time to safeguard resources so that we shall have plenty if we consistently strengthen the conservation movement. The schools will be a mighty factor in this vital educational campaign.”
     On perpetuating individual liberties –"Education perpetuates individual liberties by developing a people able to govern themselves and determine that America shall remain the land of the free and the home of a people unafraid of the duties that liberty entails.”
     On building economic security – “Certain broad objectives are generally agreed upon as necessary, including (1) conservation of natural resources, (2) upbuilding of human resources, (3) extension of taxation according to ability to pay, (4) fair play between capital and labor, (5) social security, and (6) unemployment insurance….to help develop these qualities in all the people is the task of the schools.”
 
Learn more about the Grain Valley Historical Society at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

​     The Pink Hill Methodist Church was organized in 1871 with thirteen charter members; J. M. Adams, Elisha Moore, Mrs. Elizabeth Moore, Frank Youree, E. P. St Clair, Mrs. Leanna Mann, Truce Duncan, C. E. St Clair, Mrs. Mary St. Clair, Mrs. Lucy Cundiff, Briton Capelle, Mrs. S. B. Keshler and J. W. Mann.  The church was purchased from George R. Carlyle and his wife in 1871 and deeded to the first trustees; J. M. Adams, Frank Youree, Ephram Lane, Clinton Mayes, William Gilliland, Briton Capelle, Levi Potts and their successors.
     The church structure was started in the fall of 1871 and completed in the spring of 1872. Timber was plentiful and the church was built with native lumber, cut, hauled to the sawmills and sawed into lumber. All of the work was donated and the total cost of the 36 x 48 feet building with 14 feet high ceilings was $3,000. 
     The building originally had two doors – one for the ladies who sat on one side of the church and a second door for the gents who sat on the other side. The unpretentious church had two stoves and two chimneys, but no steeple and no spire.
     In 1873 the parsonage was built and the first Sunday School was organized.  By 1875 the congregation had grown to 300, its highest membership. Between 1875-1877 approximately one-third of the population of Pink Hill and vicinity were members of the Pink Hill Church.  The hopes of rebuilding after the Civil War, a school, and a church were not enough to bring the railroad to Pink Hill.
     With the completion of the Chicago and Alton to Kansas City in 1878, Pink Hill became the mother church for churches established at Oakland, Grain Valley and Oak Grove. By the end of the century all that remained at Pink Hill was the school, the church and one general store which burned in 1903.
     The little church struggled on, but never had the numbers it had once enjoyed.  In 1909 the church organized the Epworth League for young adults. That same year the Ladies Aid was organized. Both organizations included social activities and reached out into the community.  They still hoped to keep the church alive.
     In 1921, fifty years after the dedication, the first Home Coming was held on the first Sunday in June.  The yearly affair celebrated its highest attendance in 1926 when there were 250 people present for the morning service.
     In 1945 electric lights were installed in the sanctuary. But in 1946 when the 75th anniversary was observed attendance was poor.  In 1949 the church building was badly in need of repair. Interest had dwindled and attendance was low and irregular. It was evident that something had to be done.
     With the labor of men, women, and children, old and young, members of the church and the community accomplished something of a revival.  New roofing, new siding, new walls, and ceiling, new doors and various other improvements were made. 1953 saw a new basement added to the church and the Ladies Aid had a new meeting place.
     The members of the church celebrated the 100th anniversary in 1971. After that date attendance again dwindled. With modern churches, and better educated ministers, the population sought other congregations. The church closed in May, 1977.
 
Note: Early church records, membership rolls and some of the original furnishings can be viewed at the Grain Valley Historical Society.
 
Learn more about the Grain Valley Historical Society at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

​     I love Christmas! I love everything about Christmas, from the beginning of Advent marking the awaiting of Christ’s birth to the Christmas cookies and Santa Claus —I love it all!
     For the past several days I’ve been decorating my house to prepare for some holiday hosting.  Sunday I participated in the Hanging of the Greens at Faith UMC and Monday I helped decorate the Christmas tree at the Grain Valley Historical Society.  All of this, and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! 
     While this is not an old-fashioned Christmas for those who put “N/A” on the “place of employment” blank, in the not so distant future it will the an old-fashioned Christmas for the millennials. 
     The best definition for old-fashioned might be our memories from childhood. Growing up in Grain Valley in the 1940’s and 50’s, those memories might be cutting down a cedar tree growing at the edge of a pasture or buying a Christmas tree from the front of Frantz’s grocery on Main Street.
     At my parents’ hardware store there were no trees, however, you could buy a box of ornaments or a string of lights. There were 7 bubble lights in one box or a second box of lights was the deluxe string of 15 regular colored lights. At the store you could also purchase shiny icicles in a package of 100 strands for 25-cents.
     “Real” trees were only up for a week or 10 days before Christmas and a few days afterward and you had to water them daily. Hot lights and dry trees were a disaster waiting to happen. Young people growing up in the 1960s and 70s will no doubt cherish their memories of the beautiful (lol) silver foil trees!
     The foil trees were usually adorned with pink and turquoise ornaments —no red and green on those fake branches!
While artificial trees have grown in popularity, through most of the 1980s and 1900s Grain Valley families could cut down a live tree at Greene Acres Christmas Tree Farm just north of Grain Valley.
     Dorothy and Frank Greene started the business in 1976 as a way for their children and grandchildren to  make extra money for holiday shopping.  They began selling the trees in 1984. After selecting a tree, visitors would head to the Christmas House to pay for their tree, buy a hand made tree skirt, a wreath or pine garlands and, best of all, a cup of hot chocolate!
     Fortunately, the smell of fresh pine and the beauty of a “real” tree is still popular.  In fact, like fire works on the 4th of July and pumpkin patches at Halloween, a trip to a Christmas tree farm is becoming a popular weekend family event. Janie and Rich Wilson’s Whispering Pines Farm on Brown Road south of Grain Valley is a great place to insure an “old fashioned Christmas” memory for today’s children to look back on with fondness.
     In addition to cutting down a tree, you can go on a hayride, visit the bee hives or buy some honey when you visit the craft shop.
     So while we may not go over Sni-a-Bar Creek in a one horse open sleigh and the candles on your trees have been replaced by cool, safe lights, we can still enjoys an old-fashioned Christmas. As I always say, history is what happened yesterday.
     Today is a good day to make some history with your family and celebrate an old fashioned Christmas! 
 
This article was first printed in The Voice, the monthly publication of the Grain Valley Historical Society. Read past newsletters and sign up to receive the historical society’s monthly email by visiting www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

​     Four years after the Lewis & Clark Expedition of 1804, the federal government established an Indian outpost at Fort Osage to protect and promote trade with the Indians.  Early pioneers began to settle in this area.  Missouri became the twenty-first state on August 10, 1821 and in 1825 Jackson County was bought from the Osage tribe and divided into 9 townships. In 1834 Sni-a-Bar township was organized.
     In 1842 Robert St. Clair brought his wife and 6 children from Kentucky. He was one of the first to record ownership of land in the area. In fact, he built a 12-room house on a 1000-acre farm in the area which became Pink Hill in 1854.  In addition to the farm, Robert and his sons, Hasten and Charles, ran one of three general stores at Pink Hill
     In 1854 a post office was established in the store and Charles St. Clair carried the mail from Independence. That same year the first school house was built on the north end of Main Street.
     Later the post office was moved to another general store owned by J.W. Mann. That post office existed until 1903 when it was destroyed by fire. After that time, Pink Hill residents, depending upon their exact location, got their mail from Grain Valley, Oak Grove or Levasy.
     By 1854, when Pink Hill was chartered, several other families had come to the area, mostly from Virginia and Kentucky. As mentioned in the previous issue of Valley News, George Love and David Neer had the 10 acres surveyed when the town was established. Of course, R. G. Pinkard was there, along with Rosamah Sanders and Asa Booker and it is assumed that most were married men with families.
     In addition, Squire William Wells had a woodworking store and brothers Lee and Michael Womacks were the blacksmiths. The Historical Atlas of Jackson County also included Phillip and Tobe Starns’ woodworking store, A. G. Knight’s drug store, and three salons, one owned by Pinkard.
     Residential homes were owned by James Adams, Joseph E. W. Kabrick, Al and Lin Kent, Charley Phillips, George R. and Ann E. Carlyle, Mertie Blackburn, Jim Ed Mundy, Dr. J. D. Wood (later founder and president of the Bank of Independence) and Dr. O. C. Shelby
 
     The Chicago and Alton Railroad surveyed Pink Hill land, but the railroad never came.  The Civil War came instead. Most of the citizens came to the area from Kentucky or Virginia. They were southern sympathizes making Quantrill and his men feel at home in Sni-a-Bar Township. The region had so many bushwhackers that Union forces never ventured into the area. On August 25, 1863, Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr. issued Order No. 11 forcing the evacuation of rural areas in four counties in western Missouri. Northern soldiers marched through Pink Hill, taking livestock, grain and food; burning homes and forcing everyone to leave.
     Virginia St. Clair Clarkson, one of those forced to leave, was quoted as saying “I stood on the front porch of the house and counted 13 chimneys, all that was left of 13 homes.” Residents moved to Lexington and other location to await the end of the war. Some returned to build tiny cabins to replace what had been plantation-like homes.  Others never returned.
     The town existed for 24 years, from 1854 to 1878, the year the Chicago & Alton Railroad complete tracks to Kansas City.  Grain Valley was established in 1878.
 
 

     On most Wednesdays you will find me at the Historical Society from 10:00am until 3:00pm.  On a good Wednesday, I have a visitor. One Wednesday last spring, seven people came in to look around. That’s a record! About half of the time no one visits.
     We have tons of “stuff” we have been collecting at the Historical Society since the early 1990s.  Shortly after we moved into this building we received the entire collection of artifacts from the Pink Hill Historical Society,  so on the days when no one visits I do lots of sorting which means I do lots of reading.  For the next few weeks, I will be sharing some stories about Pink Hill.
     With the exception of the old Pink Hill Methodist Church, only farmland and newer homes cover all signs of what was once the thriving town of Pink Hill whose residents awaited the coming of the railroad. The railroad never came but the Civil War did and those two events destroyed the small town.
     In the early 1850’s, the Chicago and Alton Railroad surveyed land in Sni-a-Bar township. Blue Springs was the only town until November 21, 1854, when George Love and David Neer filed an Abstract in the office of John A. Sea for an area of ten acres off the west side of the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 49, Range 30.  There they established a town of 40 lots with a Main Street and a Locust Street each 33 feet wide plus two alleys 16 ½ feet wide. The area was one mile south of the old Spring Branch Road, now Truman Road.
     The town was built on property belonging to R. G. Pinkard, but did not honor him with the name Pink Hill.  The suggestion for the name came from Robert St. Clair, who settled in Jackson County about 1848.  Meeting with a group of men, he is credited with saying, “The land is covered with pink roses and pink verbena, it should be called Pink Hill.”
     According to Abstract notes, the first of the 40 lots was sold to Rosamah Sanders. Asa Booker purchased some of the lots the following year. The town was placed on the map by the United States Post office department in the same year, 1854. One history stated the Pink Hill Post Office was the second in Jackson county preceded only by Independence. (Other towns have made similar claims.)
     The first mail carrier, Charles St. Clair, brought honor to the town when he brought the first load of mail. He met the boat at the Sibley Landing and rode horseback overland to carry home the mail in a red bandanna handkerchief.
 
Next Week: The citizens, their businesses and their homes.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society

​     Last week, readers were introduced to perhaps the most accurate reason, but there are numerous other theories as to how the name “Sni-a-Bar” came to exist. In addition to the possibility that the name was first given to the creek explored by a Frenchman named Abar who believed he had found a “sni” (the French word for slough) or backwater which would lead him back to the Missouri River, there are other theories,
A July 12, 1925, article in the Kansas City Star reported that University of Missouri professor Urban T. Homes, an instructor in romance philology, theorized that Sni-a-Bar came from chenal-a-boire (pronounced shni-ya-BWAR), meaning “stream to be drunk.”
However logical that may sound, the same article offers a second theory which may be more accurate. Author Robert M. Snyder Jr. researched the subject at some length and believed the nom-de-creek came from Antoine Hubert (pronounced something like yu-BEAR). He was a Frenchman who traded along the Missouri Rivers and its’ tributaries.   A rough prairie pronunciation of this Frenchman’s creek (chenail-a-Hubert) would have sounded close to “Sni-a-Bar.”  Snyder bases his conclusion on a book published in 1829 in Germany by Prince Paul of Wurtemberg, who traveled up the Missouri in 1822 and refers to “chenal-a-Hubert.”
In her Masters of Arts thesis completed in 1937, Anne Atchison’s “Place Names of Five West Central Counties of Missouri,” Atchison offers her theory for the name.
“Many explanations have been offered for the origin of this foreign looking word. The most feasible one is that it was derived from the French work chenal, or its dialect pronunciation “chenail,” which means channel, plus the personal name Robert. The change from Chenel Hubert to Sniabar is a phonetic one.  An island near the mouth of the stream forms a channel from which part of the word is derived, and Antoine Hubert was a French merchant of St. Louis known to have been in the vicinity of Sniabar.”
In researching the name, one can also find many spellings! Euebert 1803; Chenal on Barre 1819-1820; Chenal Ebert 1823; C. aux Hebert 1826; Hebert Creek 1832; Slue Abar 1834, Shnee-a-bar 1834; Shne-bar 1834; Schuyte Aber 1837; Snybar 1855; Snyabar 1859 and finally Sniabar 1869.
Creeks, a township, a road, a farm and even a school share the name, yet it’s source will probably always remain a mystery.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

     Often the subject for this column comes from questions from the readers.  This week’s topic, “Sni-a-Bar,” comes from perusing the Historical Society files.  Over the past many years, numerous newspaper stories have been archived.  It appears there are as many explanations for the name as there are researchers and writers of the stories.  
     Sni-A-Bar Township was established in Jackson County in 1834.  It encompassed land stretching from the Little Blue River east to the county line and roughly 4 miles north and south of what is today Interstate 70.  In other words, the township runs from just west of Blue Springs to just east of Oak Grove with Grain Valley as its’ center.  Early pioneers named the township for the two previously named creeks that crisscross the township and flow north to the Missouri River.
     It is generally agreed that the work “sni” is derived from one of two French words:  chenal (creek) or chenail (river channel). It is the “a-Bar” that has kept people guessing and I can assure you this writer is no closer to an answer than the many who have speculated this mystery. Let’s begin this week with a story taken from the Kansas City Star and published on March 23, 1914.
     “Out in the eastern hills of Jackson County, close to the Lafayette County line, Sni-a-bar creek wanders among well wooded hills of oak and hickory.  It has never been anything but Sni-a-bar Creek, and the hills have been the Sni Hills since a time when the memory (of pioneer settlers) ran not to the contrary. And very rightly, too. For there’s a story connected to the Sni-a-bar country, which perhaps had not been heard by the man who wrote to The Star the other day demanding that the new highway to that portion of the county take the name East Wood Road rather than Sni-a-bar.
     “Once upon a time—this story begins in the delightfully indefinite manner of fairy tales and other proper lore—once upon a time there was a Frenchman named Abar. At least, that was the way his name was pronounced.  We do not know very much about him, except that he liked to poke the nose of his boat into waters he didn’t know, and that he was always filled with curiosity to know what lay around the next bend, or over the next hill.
     “He set about out of New Orleans up the main highway of the Mississippi River. It must have been quite early spring, with a lingering edge of winter in the air as one rowed northward through the moss-hung trees. Ten men pulled the great boat, or polled it, or trotted along the bank with the cordelle or tow rope.  So they came up the Mississippi and struggled through the turbulent, tossing, menacing gateway of the Missouri, where it poured out its yellow waters angrily.
     “Then the long voyage up the Missouri was begun. How turbulent a stream.  But consider, that it was all quite new and that around those castled cliffs.  Abar must, without a doubt, have a little swagger in his swinging walk, and a touch of crimson in his costume.  But gayety or not it was hard work making headway against the yellow stream, that was how Sni-a-bar happened to be discovered. Out of what is now Lafayette County, they came upon this quiet waterway.
 
     “A little breathing space, a quiet time, a resting from the river. A sni is French for slough; Abar fancied he had struck a quiet loop of back water which would lead him again to the river in a mile or two, But, in a mile it became apparent that there was no slough, but a small stream. And so the board was turned and they polled back to the Missouri.
     “He named the slough after himself. And he polled out of sight and hearing with a song and a laugh. Whatever he did, we don’t know, except that was of no great importance. There was without doubt some trading with the Indians, a little bland and roguish trafficking, And who can say how many trifling creeks may not have drawn the long boat’s prying nose from its course. You may safely let your fancy run riot with Abar, for there is little enough known of him that you’ll run no risk of contradiction.
     “Sni-a-Bar Township—sometimes spelled with two hyphens, sometimes one and sometimes none—took its name, of course, from the stream, and so did the hills from which flow the tiny streams that make the small river.  And really, wouldn’t it be a great shame to take the name away, with all its glamour of romance?
     “East Wood Road, indeed! You might have an East Wood Road anywhere. But there’s only one Sni-a-Bar in the whole world, as far as the atlas can show.”
 
Next Week:  Other stories behind the name, Sni-a-Bar.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

​     One could say the East Kansas City Airport in Grain Valley began out of necessity.  In the early 1950s a number of private airplane owners learned they would no longer have a home for their planes. The Heart of America Airport located on U. S. 40 Highway near the Little Blue River was closed and the property was turned into a trailer park.
     At that time several of the private plane owners and pilots decided they would purchase land and construct their own airport.  Some of the original 11 stockholders were Frank V. Mawby, lawyer; Walter Jennings, lawyer; Jack Barnhart, Barnhart Construction; Bill Perkins, Perkins Restaurants, Earl Wade, manufacturer, and Ruffs Wilson, electrical contractor, to name a few. Together, they formed an organization which resembled a well-run flying club, but instead of just owning airplanes, the group owned the airport.
     Much work was done by the group to incorporate, draw up sound and workable rules for operation, find land, secure the title, layout the runways, line up local financing, bulldoze the runways, build the hangars and other facilities, and last but certainly not least, convince the townsfolks and the city fathers that the airport would be an asset to the community.
     A parcel of 80 acres was found on the western edge of Grain Valley on Kirby Road at the end of Walnut Street.  In the 1800s this land was owned by Britton Capelle. By the early 1900s it was part of the E. E. Kirby Orchards.  The corporation purchased the land from Tom Cairns, owner of Cairns Flowers in Independence, Missouri.
     The airport started with two runways, one running east to west and a second runway running northeast to southwest. Barnhart Construction Company did the grading for the runways and Jack Barnhart built the first small hangars. By 1978, the cooperative airport association included some 39 members. 
     Over the years many improvements have been made. Asphalt was installed in the older hangars; numerous new hangars were built, and runways lights were installed that can be turned on by the planes’ radios. In addition, an aircraft maintenance hangar, a radio communications area, and a radio repair service shop were added. The current airport has a business office, a main lobby, restrooms, and a pilot’s lounge.  
     Much of the information for this article was furnished by John Washburn of Grain Valley.  Although not an original stockholder, he was one of the very early stockholders. He served on the Board of Directors for many years and served a term as its President.  
     The Grain Valley Airport Co-operative was officially incorporated in 1956.  Its’ uniqueness is still relevant today.  It is one of the very few in the nation that is a privately owned/public use airport and is a testament to the average American businessman.  No government aid was forthcoming for this private enterprise—there is no city, county, state or federal money invested.  
     Mr. Robert Williams is one of the seventy-five to eight current owners. In visiting with Mr. Williams, I learned that the FAA has been involved with the airport over the years, mainly with antenna radio contact to ensure planes land at the proper angle. He also views the airport as “a large green space, like a park.” He pointed out another important feature.  The airport is largely agricultural, noting the large hay crop that is cut each year.
     The current manager, Robert Hackett, has been in his position for over a decade. He tells me the airport has planes available for flying lessons, rides, charters and field trips.  The airport also boasts a team of mechanics known for their excellent work.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.
 

The Sni-A-Bar Voice, described as “a journal devoted strictly to the interests of Blue Springs and Eastern Jackson County”, was managed from approximately 1903 to 1911 by D.C. (Dave) Herrington of Blue Springs and son of M.M. Herrington of Grain Valley. According to Vol. XI dated January 5, 1911, publishers were Almae C. Hall, Editor and Manager, and William L. Hall, Asst. Editor.
     The following snippets from past Novembers were extracted from film ordered from the State Historical Society of Missouri.
 
From the November 30, 1906 Edition:
Willie A. Adams and Miss Leora Smart married in Blackwell, Oklahoma Wednesday, November 28th. The groom, son of George A. Adams from Blue Springs. Mr. Adams is a brother of Mrs. Cora Fields Duncan of Liberty, MO.

Grain Valley felt the jar of the explosion Monday night. There was considerable excitement. A large quantity of powder and dynamite exploded supplies for a rock crusher about 12 miles from Blue Springs.
 
It was voted to have a Christmas tree at the Christian Church.
 
There is talk of a box supper at the school-house on Friday night before Christmas for benefit of a public library. Already have quite a collection of books from other box suppers.
 
From the October 29, 1915 edition:
Zed O. Webb is going out of business in Grain Valley, moving stock to Blue Springs by November 15.
 
From the November 26, 1915 edition:
Mrs. Sarah Frances Herrington, wife of M.M. Herrington, died at her home just north of Grain Valley, Sunday morning, November 14, after an illness of more than four months.  She is survived by her husband, nine children, 17 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
 
 
From the November 9, 1917 edition:
Mr. and Mrs. Willis Lynch received word that their son Riley arrived in France.
 
And some advice from the December 1917 edition:
You will benefit yourself and help others by eating less sweets at Christmas time. Sugar is needed “over there”.
 
     The next Historical Society Meeting will be held November 21, 2019. Join us for a pot luck dinner at 6:00pm followed by our program and meeting.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.

​     Known now as Acquaint Gathering, the oldest continuously used building in Grain Valley was dedicated as a church in 1889.  The original structure was erected on lots 3 and 4 in Finnell’s Addition. The land was purchased from Mary Wright and her husband J. B. Keshlear. The first church trustees, Joseph R Hudson, David T. Johnson and W. L Williams purchased the lots for $60 and $75 respectively.  They were on Capelle Street just south of the Grain Valley School.
     The Methodist Episcopal Church South began in 1888, and was the third church building in Grain Valley.  The Christian Church was established in 1883, and the First Baptist Church was established in 1884.
     Lumber for the church was hauled to the site from a nearby lumber mill by William Armstrong.  With very limited funds, only the main room or sanctuary was able to be enclosed and furnished with simple benches and a pulpit.  First called Pleasant Valley Chapel, Perdee Chapel on Moreland School Road in Stony Point, was sold and the proceeds were used to finish the walls and plank floor and equip the new church.
     The church building remained unchanged for nearly 60 years. By 1948 the growing little church was in need of Sunday School rooms, a kitchen, a dining room and an attic for future classrooms.
     Then in 1962 a legacy of $6,300 was received which made it possible for the church to purchase a new heating system (to replace the huge jacketed stove in the back corner) and a bathroom. Years later additional classrooms were completed upstairs, and the entire interior got a facelift.
     With limited space and even more limited parking, the congregation had to seek land for a new church. In 2007 Faith United Methodist Church relocated to Eagles Parkway, but the building is still very much in use.
     The owners of Acquaint Gathering have kept the integrity of the building, as they turned it into a facility for special events. They provide a great venue for weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties and family reunions.  They even hosted a prom there for a small Christian school.
     And for the past two years, Faith United Methodist has filled the old church for their Ash Wednesday Service. The roots run deep in this old building.
 
     The Grain Valley Historical Society Museum is located  at 506 South Main Street and online at www.grainvalleyhistory.com.