​Looking Back: The Original Town, Part 2

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
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Even before the original town was established, residents of the area had begun to emerge as leaders. Their voices were heard as they voted to annex the Graves and Ashcroft Addition into the town in 1887. The earliest date found at the Recorder of Deeds office was when lot 4 was sold to James T. Weatherford on December 10, 1887. The lots in this addition had previous owners, however, the lots were not an “official” part of the town.

​GRAVES & ASHCRAFT’S ADDITION 1 & 2
 
Because I have previously written about these additions, I will share with you a portion of the manuscript of Patricia Davis Parr from a presentation she made to the Historical Society 25 years ago. The portion in italics are my words, usually correcting a name or date.
 
“Grain Valley as I remember in the 1930s and 40s …starting at Walnut Street
 
Grain Valley Christian Church was a beautiful brick building with leaded stained-glass windows. Built in 1910, it burned in the early 1970s. Next was the house lived in by the Savage Family. Another small house…I really do not remember it but my collaborator does. (I wish I knew who her collaborator was.)

Lot 5 The Sni-A-Bar Bank building was operated by J. M. Hall. It was a concrete building with two floors and giant pillars in front This bank closed in the early 30s due to the depression. (It actually closed in 1926 due to very poor management and unsecured loans.) In the thirties it was used as a feed store and a pool hall. (In the 1950s and early 60s it housed a barber shop, sometimes a beauty shop and an apartment on the upper level.) Lot 6 was a café with many renters, one was Ollie Elliott, then a millinery shop run by Mrs. Owsley. 

RYAN’S LOCKER PLANT, LOT 7
 
Charles and Ida Ryan ran the locker plant and also a grocery store on Lot 8. Inside on the north side was dry goods and on the south side was groceries and a large display case with penny candy and a rolling ladder to get to high shelves. This building was two stories, and housed upstairs was a theater.

The Royal Neighbors held meeting upstairs, as did the Modern Woodman of the World. The W.P.A. sewing room was at this location for a time. John P. O’Connell was the town barber when the first building at this location burned in 1920. He rebuilt the two-story and rented it to Charles Ryan who soon purchased the building. The alley was located on the south side of the building.

Lot 9 housed a grocery operated by W. M. Frost and his wife Sophia. (Interesting; two grocery stores across the alley from one another!) Later it was operated by J. W. Minter. The next building was used for many purposes. It housed the W. P. A. sewing room in the late 1930s and after that the Grain Valley Post Office was located along with C. E. Kirby’s repair shop for his gasoline trucks.  Before this was his location Joseph Bartlett had his first café there. Lot 11 was the Drug Store operated by Ed Storms and later by his son Ellis Storms.

The building next to Storm’s Drug Store was the two-story Bank of Grain Valley. It was the only bank in eastern Jackson County not forced to close during the depression. It was operated by W. D. Warren until 1960. The upstairs was rented to The Masons and The Eastern Star. Also, the first floor rear had an office for Dr. Johnson and Dr. Dwyer. There was also a grocery store operated first (1934) by Clyde Fristoe and later by William (Bill) Tucker.
 
And that, my friends, is the west Side of Main Street. The remaining lots in the Graves and Ashcraft Addition were the homes along the north side of front street to Capelle, the east side of Capelle, and the south side of Walnut going east back to Main; or two square blocks -- homes, businesses and two churches, the Christian and First Baptist. Of the two, only First Baptist of Grain Valley remains. In recent years, Valley Community Church has moved into the old Mid-Continent Public Library building and parking lot. (Lots 13-17).
 
If Ryan’s Locker Plant looks familiar, it should.  That is now Crosetti’s Pharmacy.