​Looking Back: Original Grain Valley, Walnut St. to the Railroad

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 

Looking at the original owner of Lots 22 through 38, many familiar names could be seen; Keshler & Young, Frank Gregg, Elisha Moore, Ed Williams, and D. M. Majors. One name, I do not recognize is that of H. H. Dean.

​After spending, perhaps wasting, too much time, let me just say I have no idea who the man was or whether he ever lived in our town. Because he owned lots 36, 37, and 38 on the eastern most edge of the original town, I think we might assume he was merely a land speculator who never actually lived here.

That being said, lots 22 through 25 were filled with various businesses during the early years of the last century. Early photos suggest that lot 24 was at one time a tonsorial and bath house and lot 23 was the millinery shop where my grandmother once made hats before she was married in 1906. 

The Tonsorial
 
Lot 25 was purchased by Ed Williams in January of 1919.  About 1930, he and his son, Otis , opened a meat market and grocery store. It remained a grocery store with several proprietors, the last being Roland Frantz who closed the store in 1973 (Valley News, April 16, 2020).

The Last Grocery Store on Main Street
 
For approximately 16 years in the 1970s and 1980s lots 22, 23, and 24 were occupied by Model Engineering a company that manufactured plastic items, among them, souvenir cups. It was also a hotel in the 1930s and a marina (for weekenders at Tarsney Lakes) in the late 1940s/early 1950s.

Lots 22 and 23 are now the tattoo shop and Lot 24 is Slinger’s Bar and Restaurant. If you need an old car restored, visit Lot 25. The dog trainer on Lot 26 is in the old U. S. Post Office building/Chamber of Commerce Office. I remember an ice house on that lot in the 1950s.

Ed Williams also owned Lots 27 through 30 and for many years, their home was “on the corner of Main Street, across from the old Christian Church.” Mr. Williams, quite the entrepreneur, owned a slaughter house  which occupied Lots 31 & 32.

Over the years Mr. Wm. Loring purchased all of the remaining lots; 33, 34, 36, 37,and 38, which comprised the original town. Lot 35 was and is today owned by the railroad. William and Ada Loring  built their home around 1920 on Lots 33 & 34 and it still stands. Today it is a cabinet shop.

So, next time you are Downtown Grain Valley, perhaps this will help you visualize the vibrant town of the 1950s.
 
Next week learn about the first Graves and Ashcraft Addition, the West side of Main Street.
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