Long ago on independence square (Kansas City, Springfield: high school, closing, living in)

[Hazel W]

Sally, if I started down all of your posts, I would be here forever. Your memories of it go back further than mine but it was still old home style when I moved there. Well, as far as I am concerned, it still is. Stores have come and gone and we miss them but the people are still the same. Friendly, helpful, accomodating, concerned about each other. That's the best part - the people.

Chrisman High School moved over to Noland Road, as you know, and I lived across the street from it for some years before I moved out south of 39th. Like you, I prefer that old building. It has character and, as far as I know, is still standing.

One thing keeps hanging on. Or should I say was hanging on some five years ago. Maybe it has also gone now. The hardware store just off the square. That was a fun place to shop, too. You could go in there and buy just one or five or twelve screws exactly the size you wanted. You didn't have to buy three packs of 200 each to get just one replacement.

Remember when the streets around the square were blocked to motor traffic and you could walk anywhere, back and forth, in perfect safety? People don't like to walk. So, the cars came back and we pedestrians had to start watching our steps again.

Santa Cali Gon Days. Have you described them? Some of the newer business owners resent the festival but it is Independence in all its glory. I don't know whether you saw the mural that some school children painted on the side of a brick building mapping out the three trails. Just before I moved away, some not too wise people decided that had to go also. I am for progress but destroying marks of history isn't progress.

Keep talking. You are doing great for a great city. Hazel

[sally36]

Good to have you, Hazel! On which street was the hardware store? I can't 'member EVERYthing! You guys gotta help me! Yup, I mentioned the Santa-Cali-Gon Days--and no, I don't think you'll be here all year if you go back and find it. I've been adding to a thread about Things Your Grandparents Used to Say (Under WRITING at the end of the list of states) and it's about 40 pages long!! It's real old-timey, too.

I wasn't living there when they turned the square into a"mall" with no cars allowed, but my grandparents wrote me about it (disparagingly). Personally I am glad they changed it back. Also glad they took down the concrete wall around the courthouse! Egad, uggerly! The SCG Days used to focus on the past, with horses, cowboys, Dan'l Boone types, etc. not carnival rides and so on. As I recall there were booths set up around the square displaying old-fashioned things and traditional games for kids to play. I remember and still have a snapshot of my beautiful mother standing by a horse on S. Main down by Lambert Moon's where she once worked. (Sort of across the street from Firestone) She had long brown wavy hair and wore cowboy boots, a red, gold and black striped satin long-sleeve blouse and black skirt just below the knees, and a cowboy hat. And I recall her Dad sitting atop a covwered wagon holding the horses, wearing coonskin cap and tan suede shirt and pants with lots of fringe. He grew a long beard for the occasion. Oh yes, my Mom had sewn black 3-inch fringe on the bottom of her skirt! I wish those days were more traditional and Old-Westish now, don't you?

Remember how J.C.Penney's used to have the mezzanine and a flight of stairs off to the left? Downstairs was the Basement for housewares shopping. I miss those kind of stores. Penney's nowadays just isn't as enjoyable. Recently I was in an old Penney's. I recognised the stairs and mezzanine. The proprietor of the now-music store said, yes, it sure did used to be a Penney's!!See y'all later!

[Hazel W]

Well, I was writing a reply and lost it. Surely hope I don't end up with a duplicate. You asked on what street the hardware store was. I have forgotten the name but it was one block north of the post office (is that Lexington?). Across the street from the post office is the post office's parking lot. It extends northward to the next street. The hardware store was just west of that.

By the way, the Indian stood outside that hardware store. I confirmed that with a friend who was there when I was. The question is: is the hardware store still there? When I left almost five years ago, there was rumor that it was closing.

As for Velvet Freeze, I am on a search about that. Standing at 100 W Maple is the Clinton Ice Cream Parlor which claims ancient history.
When President Clinton (or president "to be") visited Independence, they made a special project of taking him to Clinton's Ice Cream Parlor. I am wondering if it could be the same shop with a new name. You might take a look here and see what you think.
http://www.clintonssodafountain.com/

I didn't live in Independence as long as you did but I have fond memories of it. I wish I were still there but life moves on, doesn't it?

Take good care and thank you for stirring up pleasant memories. Hazel

[sally36]

Wish I remembered that hardware store! No, the Velvet Freeze wasn't right on the square, it was a couple blocks to the west on the north side of Maple, i'm sure. It was bigger than Clinton's, had large checkerboard-squares linoleum flooring and a looong soda fountain. It was in a big brick bldg. that had apts. upstairs. I was very small when my Daddy'd take me there, so am not certain of the cross street. My little-old-lady baby sitter, dear Mrs. Rader, lived up there so we not only went there for pints of ice cream but also to bring her back to our house way out on So. Main so my parents could go dancing.

Now the hardware store may well have had an Indian in front but the barber shop on the square had one, too. "Twas on the south side, a cpl doors down from Penney's near Main. It was pretty traditional to have a Barber Shop Indian!

When I was back in '05 my son and I visited the old jail on N. Main where Frank James once was held. It was fascinating and I can't believe I wasn't even aware of it when I was living in Indep! I told my Mom about it and she had vivid memories of walking past it in her youth (early 30s) after dark with friends and being quite spooked by it. Back then they actually used it for "jailbirds."

Thanks for sharing your memories, Hazel. I look forward to more! (However am having surgery Wed 5/11 so won't be back here for a few weeks. Pray for me!

[sally36]

P.S. The Velvet Freeze was on a corner and opened out square at the corner !

[sally36]

Winding the clock!! My mother always talked about doing that in her youth. Late at night after a date, they'd always drive counter-clockwise around the Courthouse square several times. It was a dyed-in-the-wool tradition. A few years ago when we moved to Greenfield, IA, we found that the young people there were following that old tradition. So every time we went to Des Moines and then returned, we never failed to wind the clock before returning to our apartment. I wonder if anyone today winds the clock around Independence square?

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by sally36

P.S. The Velvet Freeze was on a corner and opened out square at the corner !

Were there steps up to the door? That may be where the gift shop is today. I'll think of the name soon. It's a national company. I've a friend who shopped there often and she'd know but she is out of town this weekend.

[sally36]

No I don't think it had steps but I could be wrong. Down on Lexington halfway between the square and the old high school was Luff's, the 2nd best hamburger joint in town! (Winstead's being the 1st best) We'd run in hordes up there for (best sit down) for luscious ten cent hamburgers at lunchtime! The place was always l6 deep. I wonder when they went out of business. Probably right after the high school moved out on Noland Rd.

When I was small, the library my mom and I frequented was tiny place a half block north of the square. Can't recall on what street--was between the Memorial Bldg. and the square. Finally it was moved to a nice spacious bldg facing out on Maple which later became part of the Indep. Junior High and is now an administration bldg. (Presbyterian Church on opposite side of the street) Sometimes we'd go to the Mount Washington Library for variety.

We had two main theaters in town, the Plaza on Lexington near Penney's and the Granada, down on West Maple--I think catty-corner from the Methodist Church which I attended as a child. It was beautiful inside with big elaborate staircases going up to the ladies' and men's "lounges" . There was a glassed-in crying room for mommies and babies in the back of the auditorium. And it had AIR CONDITIONING !!! It's a crime that the advent of television made that gorgeous place shut down, along with many others.

[Hazel W]

All right. My friend returned and told me she thinks the place I am referring to is now Eclectic Experiences. I never saw Luffs but Winsteads out on Noland Road stayed in business for a long time. I think it finally closed not too long ago, maybe ten years or so.

As for libraries, you should see their library system now. Their genealogy department draws tourists from all over America. It is rated among the best in USA. It was on Highway 24 just east of the Harry Truman Library a few blocks. I think it was Hwy 24 and Spring. The fire station was across the street. Perhaps still is.

The genealogy department outgrew that library and needed a new home. They finally built a special genealogy library out south on Lees Summit Road a mile or so north of 39th Street. Then, they redid the rest of the Hwy 24 library. It now has a Bistro in it with, I am told, some of the best food you have ever eaten. Imagine food in the library?

So, Midcontinent Library has grown into a great system that covers several counties. It is one of the few organizations that can ask for a levy increase and almost always get it with no fussing at all. I said "almost". In my time it was never turned down. I won't say it never has been because I do not know that. I just know the people support it now. The children's departments are a great source.

Enough from me. Keep dreaming.

[ykamom]

Yeah, remember when there was no food allowed in the library, and you had to whisper? WHOAH! Those days are gone. When I was in the KC library recently the folks were lined up to buy lattes before heading downstairs to watch the sci fi movie series.

I love how lots of libraries have managed to stay "with the times" but still haven't abandoned their basic mission.

I have not been to Independence, but I look forward to checking it out, and now I will put the library on my list of places to visit!

I love the clock story Sally! That would make a great scene in a book, if you ever get around to writing one!