​Looking Back: 1938 Places

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
Last week I made reference to the 1937 dissertation completed by Anne Atchison for her master's dissertation at the University of Missouri.  While her works “Place Names of Five West Central Counties of Missouri" listed dozens of places, 15 pertained to the Grain Valley area.

1. Big Sniabar Creek – Rises in southeastern Jackson County, flows in a northeasterly direction.
2. Capelle School – A former school in central Sniabar Township, named for the landowner Brittan M. Capelle.
3. Elm Grove School No. 47 – In Sniabar Township one and a half miles northwest of Oak Grove. The school is in a grove of elm trees
4. Fire Prairie Creek – Rises in Sniabar Township, flows in a generally northeast direction, crosses the Missouri River through Fire Prairie from which it obviously borrows its name.
5. Grain Valley – A town in central Sniabar Township. The name is descriptive of its location in a fertile valley of grain.
6. Murphy School – In north-central Sniabar Township. A local family name.
7. Oak Hill School – In south-central Sniabar Township. The district has become a part of the Grain Valley school district.
8. Oakland School 25 – In north-central Sniabar Township. The school was located on land which grew the scrub oak trees.
9. Pink Hill – A community settlement consisting of two stores and a few other buildings. The government maintained a Post Office from 1895-1902. The name was originally a descriptive one describing the flowers of early spring which grew on the hills. Pink Hill was platted in 1854 although it was never a town organization.
10. Pueblo School – In north-central Van Buren Township one mile southeast of Tarsney Lake. It was named for Pueblo, Colorado, a place the teacher particularly liked. (When school districts were reorganized in 1949, Pueblo students came to Grain Valley.)
11. Round Grove School – In central Sniabar Township, the school was named for its location in a grove of oak trees.
12. Round Prairie School – In southeastern Sniabar Township. The hills surround the prairie in such a way as to make the area appear round.
13. Sni-A-Bar Township – The east -central Township (of Jackson County). It was organized in 1834 and named for Sniabar Creek.
14. Stony Point – A town in southern Sniabar Township. It was established by early settlers. The name was a descriptive one.
15. Tarsney – A post office was established there in 1892, named for J. C. Tarsney who was a judge in eastern Jackson County, re-elected three times.

 
I personally found it interesting that Monkey Mountain was not mentioned; however, in the 1930's it was still just a wooded “hill” on private property. Although Grain Valley residents often went there for picnics, it was not “officially” a part of anything other than a hillside covered with trees and shared with the public by the trustees of Sni-A-Bar Farms.

I also found it curious that Ms. Atchison spelled Sni-A-Bar without the hyphens we use today. If her work were completed today, many “Place Names” would be eliminated. What names would you add?