​Looking Back: December 2024 - The final calendar page

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
After three years of striving to establish a market for a Historical Society calendar, I give up! There are so many free calendars out there, I have not been successful in selling a Grain Valley Historical Society calendar.  While I saw the $10 price as a donation to support the Society, most people saw it as the price for a calendar they didn’t need. So, like many ideas that come and go, the calendar is history. So is The Royal Playhouse.

The final picture in the final calendar is The Royal Playhouse. It was built around 1910 on lot 1 & 2 in the Yennie addition by Jasper Newton Sanders, my maternal great grandfather. The building had two small businesses on the east end facing Broadway, now Main Street. On one side there was a chili parlor operated by Sanders’ son-in-law, Walter Elliott. The other side was a haberdashery operated by another Sanders son-in-law, James I. (Jib) Belford. The remainder of the building was one large room with a stage across the west end.

Over the next twenty years, the building served a variety of functions. Community plays and musical productions were performed there along with silent movies and later talkies. It was used as a skating rink, for dances and as a basketball court. After the first high school burned in November 1925, the high school basketball games were played there. It was also one of the many spaces used for classes during the 1925-26 year until a new school could be built.

After Newt Sanders died, it was operated by a Mr. Hall for a short time. By 1940, it had become a gasoline station and auto repair shop operated by Ray Frantz. And finally, after 1945 it was purchased by Mr. Fred Roberts. Known as “the junk yard,” it was actually in business as a salvage yard, scraping jeeps, trucks, tanks, and occasionally air planes bought from the U. S. Government after World War II. The build set empty for several years before it was torn down. The space is now one of the Downtown Grain Valley parking lots on the Northwest corner of Main and Walnut Streets.
​
I will also continue to look for a better photograph of the building, when it was new and in its prime; perhaps one taken during the Roaring 20's. As always, I seek your help in locating such a photo!

The Royal Playhouse. Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society