Looking Back: Grain Valley’s Progressive Era

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 

From 1911 through 1920, Grain Valley, like the rest of the nation was enjoying the Progressive Era. In the decade that gave us Charlie Chaplin, Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford, and the decorated World War I soldier Alvin York, we also experienced reform, war and spectacular technology. In places like Kansas City amusement parks, penny arcades, dance halls, and movie theaters flourished.

While 1910 marked the founding of the Boy Scout Association, 1911 was the year of NYC’s Shirtwaist Factory Fire, killing 500 workers but resulting in the establishment of building fire and safety codes. On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank the next day, killing over 1,500 passengers and crew. (And later making Leonardo DiCaprio famous!)

The first crossword puzzle was published in 1913, and on a slightly larger scale, the Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Alexander Graham Bell made his first transcontinental telephone call in 1915. While World War I was raging in Europe by 1916, John D. Rockefeller became America’s first billionaire. On April 16, 1917, Congress declared war on Germany and officially joined its allies Britain, France, and Russia, fighting in World War I, a war that ended with The Treaty of Versailles, signed June 28, 1919.

During this same decade Grain Valley also experienced progress and change. Kansas City wasn’t the only place to see a movie. The Royal Playhouse was built at the corner of Broadway (now Main St.) and Walnut and silent movies were shown on Saturday night. The playhouse was also used for stage plays with local actors. On Thursday night, it was a skating rink and on other nights it was the “community center” for meetings, box socials, and many other events.

The population more than doubled, from 133 in 1910 to 354 in 1920. Stores “downtown” included at least two restaurants, a chili parlor, a haberdashery, a millinery shop, a drug store, an auto dealership, a garage and gasoline station, a butcher shop, three general stores, and a barber shop, and the bank.

And it was in 1910 or 1911 that William Rockhill Nelson began to purchase land in Grain Valley.  In 1913, Nelson registered Sni-A-Bar Farms with the State of Missouri. 

By the time of his death in 1915, he had purchased 200 head of grade cows at the Kansas City Stock Yards to begin the 10-year study titled the Upgrading of Beef Cattle. Over the next thirty years, Sni-A-Bar achieved what could arguably be called the most famous Registered Shorthorn Show Herd in the United States. At the time, the research conducted at Sni-A-Bar by the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as several universities, was unparalleled. 

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