​Looking Back: Turn of the Last Century

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society


​On January 1, 1900, Grain Valley entered the twentieth century as an unincorporated village. (Grain Valley News, June 24, 2021) As noted in last week's article, R. D. Mize Road was built through the center of town in 1900-1901 at the expense of the State of Missouri. On August 31,1903, the town was reincorporated.

According to a 1904 map, as R. D. Mize Road came through downtown Grain Valley, the road was known as Broadway. Later it was renamed Main Street.

According to the 1910 U. S. Census, the population of Grain Valley was 133. This doesn’t seem to account for the houses that has been added, however, I have not been able to verify the “city limits". I believe some of the houses on the map must not have been annexed into the town until a later date.

The Sni-A-Bar Voice was a weekly journal devoted strictly to the interest of Eastern Jackson County. David Clinton Herrington, son of Merrick & Sarah (Holland) Herrington of Grain Valley, was the editor and manager from 1902 until at least 1911. According to Volume XI dated January 5, 1911, the publisher was Blue Springs Law and Publishing Co. Alma C Hall was the editor and William L. Hall was the assistant editor. The paper lasted until about 1923.

The first two-year high school was built on Capelle Street next to the elementary school. Four students comprised the first graduating class in 1909.

We do know that in the first decade of the twentieth century there were several businesses both south and north of the Chicago and Alton Railroad. In addition to the Grain Valley Depot and the original Cannon General Store, a lumber yard and feed store had been added. 

Warren Webb Hardware, Circa 1902
 
On the north side of the tracks there was Warren & Webb Hardware, a hotel, a boarding house, the U. S. Post Office, a tonsorial, at least two more general/grocery stores, and the Bank of Grain Valley, built in 1905.
From 1900 to 1910, the United States was experiencing the Edwardian era; the expansion of its territory, and the invention of new technologies. The automobile was on the way! By 1909, William Rockhill Nelson, owner and publisher of The Kansas City Star had begun to look for land to purchase in Eastern Jackson County…maybe Grain Valley! Was Grain Valley about to prosper along with the rest of the country.  After all, 1910 to 1920, also known as the Ten’s, was the “Progressive Era” in American History.
 
Next week, read about Grain Valley in the Roaring 20’s
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