Looking Back: Township 49, Range 30, 1877

From the Illustrated Atlas of
Jackson County Missouri, 1877
 
by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society

When doing research for my weekly article in Grain Valley News, it is always good to feel the information is accurate. Fortunately, this map is as accurate as we can get. It was printed just one year before Grain Valley became a town, so we know precisely who owned the land in and around our town when it was established on September 5, 1878.

Downtown Grain Valley is about as close as we can be to the center of Section 35.* In the May 19, 2022 issue of this paper, I wrote about James Lucas, the individual that gave 4 acres (more or less) of land to the city of Grain Valley. The information below was copied from the document found at the Recorder of Deeds office at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence.
 
Know all men by those present that I James F. Lucas of the County of Logan in the State of Illinois do by those present set apart four acres of land located in the County of Jackson and the State of Missouri described as follows, that is to say, commencing fifty-eight feet south of northwest corner of the east quarter of the southwest quarter of Section (35) thirty-five, Township (49) forty-nine, Range 30, hence seven hundred and fifteen feet, hence east four hundred and forty feet, hence south to the railroad hence following the railroad due West one hundred and twenty feet hence south to the southern limits of the town hence West to the place of beginning making in all four acres more or less all of said tract of land situated on the Kansas City-St. Louis and (  ? )  railroad. For the ( ?  ) and purpose and profit of the town of Grain Valley.  The aforesaid town being laid off by Joseph Peters given under my hand and seal this fifty day of September A.D. 1878.  James H Cannon.
 
As I stated at the time, my research revealed that Lucas was a land speculator from Illinois and he never actually lived in Grain Valley. Once the town was established, his surrounding land would have been more valuable. James H. Cannon was the Notary Public who signed the deal. Remember, he had already built a mercantile next to the railroad! It would appear that nearly 150 years ago men were already looking for a great “financial” deal.

A few prominent patrons were listed in the atlas with addresses in Pink Hill or Stony Point. Remember it was 1877; there was no Grain Valley, yet! Those names were T. C. & D R. Broaddus, Jacob Gregg, and A. B. Hiell; all of Stony Point. And from Pink Hill the atlas listed M.L. Hall, B. F. Mitchell and Merrick Herrington (my great-great grandfather).
 
If you look closely, there are many names on the map in Sections 25 through 27 and 34 through 36 that I have written about in previous issues of Grain Valley News. They helped to establish our town which was incorporated on July 11, 1884. Hopefully, you will recognize some of them: Levi Potts, Britton Capelle, Elisha Moore, John Christison, and W. T. Gilliland to name a few. The men I have mentioned still have descendants in the area.  
 
 * A section if land is 640 acres or 1 square mile.
 
You can visit the Grain Valley Historical any Wednesday from 10:00am - 3:00pm and learn more about the families that participated in the democratic process that shaped our town.