​Looking Back: The Curious Armstrong Family

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
At the age of 90, Miss Lizzie Armstrong died in 1966. Like her three brothers, Miss Lizzie never married. Therefore, she left $30,000 and land to establish Armstrong Park. Residents remembered her as a pretty woman and a constant presence on the front porch of her home which was eventually torn down to build the State Bank of Missouri

Before it was torn down the old Armstrong home was used as a kindergarten, the R-5 School Administration Building and, a temporary home for State Bank of Missouri. Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society
 
         
Miss Lizzie would dress elegantly. Even in hot weather, she was known to wear a dress, an apron, a shawl and a high collared shirt. She watched the school children walk past her home. One of her brothers, Ben Armstrong, was better known in Grain Valley. He was a short, merry-eyed man who kept mules that he used to turn over gardens for local residents for a small fee. Another brother stayed inside the house, and the third worked farms south of town.

Miss Lizzie and Ben would often go to the free films shown outdoors on the lawn at the train depot on Front Street. Old timers recall seeing them as a pair, carrying folding chairs they would erect in the road, never on the grass. After the film ended, they would fold their chairs and walk up the hill on Main Street to their home.

The curious matter of the siblings’ apparent celibacy was fodder for speculation. One story was their parents had enjoined them to never marry. It was rumored that if one of the Armstrong children took a spouse, they were to be cast out and cut off from the Armstrong’s inherited farm and property.

Evidence seemed to support the tale. Miss Lizzie had a sister and brother who each married. They were never mentioned again, going unlisted even in the final will. So, it might have been Miss Lizzie’s only remembered achievement that she outlived her remaining brothers and was so able to direct the dissolution of their estate.
           
According to a February 1973 article in the Jackson County Sentinel, they owned three farms south of Grain Valley and fed hogs. Miss Lizzie and her brothers moved to the property in town in 1920.

In provision No 5 of her will, Miss Armstrong wrote: “I give, devise, and bequeath my 20-acre farm in Grain Valley to the city of Grain Valley to be used as a park and to be known as the Armstrong Park, and to be maintained by the city of Grain Valley. In the event I should sell the back 10 acres, the proceeds therefore shall be part of my estate and be used for the purposes set out by provision 6 of this will.”

Provision No. 6: “I give, devise, and bequeath all the rest and residue of my estate; real, personal, and mixed, of every kind and nature, wheresoever same may be located to the city of Grain Valley to be used for the development and maintenance of the Armstrong Park mentioned in the previous paragraph so long as said funds last, after which the city of Grain Valley shall see that said park is maintained from year to year.”

The will also specified that the school district could only obtain the land by condemnation. If the school district was successful in condemnation, any money obtained would go to the Christian, Methodist and Baptist churches of Grain Valley.

The district condemned the north 10 acres to use as a football field and track. The house was used for various purposes over the years. The City of Grain Valley established a park board in September of 1971 to plan and administer the park.


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