Looking Back: Change, Twenty-five Years Ago

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society

​As I continue struggling to find a topic for the weekly “looking back” article, the file for 2000 provided me with no real inspiration. Instead, I found pages of newspaper stories like the police blotter, the potholes, the water and sewer problems, roads closed for repair, and a survey asking citizens if Grain Valley should grow! Any of these topics could have been in the news this year. History tells us that some things never change.

In addition to repairs on the sewer lift system, approving in-home daycare, and drug arrests at the Cozy Inn, a small hotel that once existed behind the old Pilot Truck Stop, there were also several highlights for Grain Valley.

• Many of you may remember Jeremy Johnson, a local NASCAR driver who was making it big at I-70 Speedway back in the summer of 2000. 
• A 2% billboard tax was levied by the City of Grain Valley and the proceeds were used for beautification of the parks and other city property.
• The second City-Wide Clean was declared a success! 164,00 pounds of trash was collected! (Was that a good thing? Well, it was bad that we had that much trash, but good that it was removed.)  
• The Chamber of Commerce honored Allen Lefko as Business Person of the Year, The Pointe Newspaper as Business of the Year, and Sharon Stewart and Paul Morganroth as Volunteers of the Year.
• With half of the cost coming from a Department of Natural Resources Grant, Colonial Nursery planted 55 news trees at Armstrong Park.
• The Grain Valley Board of Education approved participation with the National Association of Home Builders to introduce students to the many types of employment that surround the building trades. Tom Woods, chairman of the local Home Builders Association explained the program to the Board of Education. Grain Valley was one of three schools nationwide to be chosen for the program. 
  Note: Thomas E. Woods is a 1964 graduate of Grain Valley High School.
• The Grain Valley Board of Aldermen entered into a joint venture with the Grain Valley R-5 School District to build tennis courts next to the high school.

And finally,

On August 1, 2000, Grain Valley officials celebrated groundbreaking of the $ 4.5 million
city hall, community center and swimming pool project.

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