Looking Back: The original town

1904 Map, Original Town. 4 acres, more or less.
Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society
 

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society

The City of Grain Valley is currently 6.17 Square miles. My quick calculation revealed that it is approximately 3,948.8 acres or 987 times larger than the original town in 1878. According to city records the population of Grain Valley in 1880 was 80 people. In 2020, the official population was 15,627 or about 196 times larger than 140 years earlier. That kind of puts things in prospective!

The Original town was platted to include 38 lots of varying sizes and stretched North to South from Walnut Street to Harris Street and East to West from Cypress Street to Broadway (now Main Street).
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According to early records from the County Recorder of Deeds at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence, the early lots were sold to W. B. Bishop, G. C. Browne, R. D. Wood, L M. Harris, J. A, Spindle, J. O. George, Dr. Keener, J. Keshlear, Mell Hulse, M. Bokin, Elisha Moore, Jacob F. Gregg, E. F. Williams, D. M. Majors, H. H. Dean, and the Chicago & Alton Railroad.

The railroad property included Lot 35 plus the “right of way” and the land where the original depot was built. That depot burned in 1920, and the new depot was built further west in the Graves ad Ashcraft Addition. This group included shop owners, a doctor and a few homeowners. (Visit the Historical Society to learn more about Grain Valley’s first citizens.)

Over the years these lots housed a livery stable, a couple of gasoline stations, a small hotel, a lumber yard, a farm supply and feed store, a hardware store, a millinery shop, a tonsorial (barber and bath), a plastics manufacturing company, grocery stores, a marina, restaurants, an ice house, a slaughter house, the depot, and two homes of very prominent residents: the Williams Family and Mr. & Mrs. Loring.   

These lots are currently occupied by two beauty shops, the muffler shop, the car wash, the tattoo parlor, a pet shop, J & M Auto Repair shop, EMIG Racing, and soon to open, a restaurant on Lot 26. I’ve read that the U. S. Post Office was housed in one of the businesses and by 1915, another business housed the telephone office. Of course, the telegraph office was at the depot.

From the beginning, the town had a mayor and council members who came together to vote and voice their opinions. In 1881, they voted to annex the Graves and Ashcroft Addition and the first City Directory was printed. (Grain Valley News, May 23, 2022). Next week I will write about the “west side” of Main Street.
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