​Looking Back: 50 years Ago Along Main Street

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
A drive through Grain Valley in 1975 would reveal a completely different look. First of all, it would have taken less than 10 minutes. First, there were NO traffic lights, and I certainly know the train never blocked the railroad tracks for 45 minutes.

North of I-70 there were two gasoline stations; McLeroy’s Fina on the west side of Buckner Tarsney Road and on the east side, the Country Squire restaurant and Standard Oil Station which took up a large portion of what had once been my family home and small farm. There was also a small 8-sided structure that was built as a tourist information center, but by 1975 it had become Parker’s Liquor Store.

Once under I-70, and across US 40 Highway (which basically ended at Grain Valley) you would see the school on the west side of Main Street. I call it “the school” because for 50 years grades K-12 were all housed at this complex. Fifty years later there are six locations and with 8 schools and a leadership & transportation center.

On the east side of Main there was a service station, a convenience store, the football field, and Armstrong Park. It was about this time that Patty’s (Officer) Ice Cream Shop and a quilt store also occupied a portion of the building. Behind these businesses, there was a small hotel, with Grain Valley’s first in-ground swimming pool. Grain Valley residents could go there in the afternoon during the summer months and swim for $1.  Individual family home lined the street on both sides going south to Walnut.

By 1976, the Christian Church had burned on the northwest corner of Main and Walnut and the Williams house had been torn down on the northwest corner of Main and Walnut. The beautiful, but deteriorating Sni-A-Bar Bank building was gone and developers were building what amounted to a “strip mall” building on lots 1 through 5 of the Graves and Ashcroft Addition (the west side of Main Street).

Several businesses came and went during the 70’s including a plastic plant, a couple of beauty shops, an upholstery shop, and occasionally an antique dealer.  The two constants in town were the U. S. Post Office on the northeast end of the “downtown block” and the Bank of Grain Valley, a constant since 1905, on the southwest end.  

Just south of the railroad, businesses appeared and left during this time. There was a bottled gas and rural delivery store, a filling station, a feed store, and Dale Riffle had s barber shop. Near the corner of Main on AA Highway (now Eagles Parkway) there was a garage, once owned by Hick Kirby. Hick could repair anything with an engine: cars, trucks, tractors, school buses, and many small engines. And I was never there, but I believe there was also a bar known as Peaches. Some people went there to throw darts. 

There were probably other stores I have forgotten. But I can tell you what there was not. In 1975, there were 3 churches, not 10. There were not 8 traffic lights but with a population of fewer than 1,000, we didn’t need traffic lights! You couldn’t go to a doctor or dentist let along a physical therapist or a psychologist. The only “gym” was at the school and there was a basketball goal at each end.

And there definitely were not 16 restaurants, including 8 with fast foods and 2 with take-out pizza, plus Price Chopper Deli, a donut shop, a bakery, and four gas stations with tons of deli/fast food offerings.

And, let’s not forget the four coffee houses and the new Main Street Sweets Shop.  Yes, the last 50 years have definitely brought change, and people!
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Downtown, Circa 1975. Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society
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