Bit of History -- March 25, 2026

 An article in the April 14, 1910 edition of the Ridgeway Journal proudly announced that “Ridgeway can boast of six automobiles, all of the best makes, three Fords and three Velies.” The latest car to be owned by a Ridgeway resident was a Velie touring car, purchased through the Bridges & Bartlett agency here in town. It was bought by Rev. W. H. Hobbs, pastor of the Christian church and “was brought home from St. Joseph” and cost “something over $2000”.

To bring it to Ridgeway, the drivers started at 2 am, but stopped in every town along the way to show off the car. “The machine is a large black forty-horse touring car and is the best machine in the county.”

I found an ad for a Velie sold by the Stanley & Ranger agency in St. Joseph in 1909. The cost for a completely equipped touring car was $1750, which is a little less than $60,000 in today’s money. (St. Joseph Gazette, Sept 9, 1909.) I didn’t find any automobile ads for local dealers, however, I did find a Bridges & Bartlett ad for a Velie wrought iron buggy.

Ridgeway News -- March 25, 2026

CITY NEWS:  The annual Ridgeway Easter Egg Hunt is planned for Saturday, April 4 in the Ridgeway City Park.  The hunt will start at 10 am and all area children are invited to join in the fun.  Volunteers are needed to help hide eggs that morning; for more information, contact one of the board members.  In the event of inclement weather, the hunt will be held at the school gym.

The Ridgeway Community Betterment Association is accepting donations for the Easter Egg Hunt. They are asking for donations of eggs, candy, toys and money to help this project and give the kids a great time. If you would like to donate, please contact Tammy Harding or drop donations off at City Hall. 

There will be NO Bingo in April due to Easter.  The next Bingo night will be May 4 at 6:30 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room. 

The Spring into Homesteading educational fair is sponsored by the Ridgeway Community Betterment Association and will be held on Saturday, March 28 in the Ridgeway School gym from 9 am to 3 pm. This year, they are focusing on education and teaching those skills that used to be passed down from one generation to another. Demonstrations will be presented by MU Extension Center on canning and soil testing, Tractor Supply on caring for livestock and Public Water Supply District #2 on water conservation.  Bob’s Place will have a food stand for all to enjoy his great food.

Additional presentations will be on making homemade vanilla, seedling plugs, the importance of maintaining your sewing machines and keeping your computer secure and out of the landfill. The Prairie Queens Quilt Guild will have a booth as well as others who will have information booths and items for sale.  If you are interested in either demonstrating and/or having an information booth, please contact the committee co-chairs Susie Rollheiser or Paula Scott at 660-872-6500.

SCHOOL NEWS:  The East Harrison Bobcats are busy this week!  Elementary basketball teams will play at Mercer tonight (Wed, March 25) at 6 pm.  Varsity track team members will participate in the Worth Early Bird meet tomorrow (Thus, Mar 26) starting at 3:30 pm and also in the Princeton Time Trials on Friday, Mar 27. 

The RHS sophomore class will hide filled Easter Eggs at your house as a fundraiser.  Place your order before March 30 and members of the class will hide the eggs around your yard for you.  For more information, please contact Chrissy Wiig at the school.

The school is asking for donations to help purchase an acrylic sign for the front entryway.  Billy Briggs of SOE Metal LLC will make the sign.  The school feels that the sign will boost school spirit and add an eye-catching element to our building! They are hoping to raise $200 toward the cost of the sign.  If you would like to donate, please feel free to drop donations off at our front office with Ms. Chrissy!

SOCIETY:  Our sympathies go to the family and friends of Bill Thomas, who passed away on Saturday.  His visitation and service will be held this Saturday, March 28 at the Ridgeway Baptist Church.  

Please send me your church’s plans for Easter so they can be included here.

CLOSING: If you know of any events or plans around town that you would like to see shared with others, please send me the details by Sunday evening! Thank you for reading! Wave to your neighbors!

Upcoming Events

Mar 28 – Spring into Homesteading, 9 am to 3 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

April 4 – Easter Egg Hunt, Ridgeway City Park, 10 am

April 6 – No Bingo due to Easter

April 7 – Election Day – Don’t forget to Vote!

April 13 – Community Sewing Group, Ridgeway Baptist Church, 1pm – 4 pm

April 13 – Ridgeway Community Betterment Assn meeting, 7 pm, Location TBA

Apr 23 – Spring Concert & Farmers’ Appreciation Dinner, 6 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

May 6 – Bingo!  6:30 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room

Ridgeway News Updates

To send in an item for the Ridgeway News or subscribe to the email list, send an email to RidgewayCBA@gmail.com.  Emailed copies are sent out Friday mornings at 6 am.  

You can find every Bit of History item as well as flyers for upcoming events on the RCBA website:  ridgewaycba.blogspot.com

For the most current updates, follow RCBA on Facebook!  Find it by searching for @RidgewayCBA.  

Ridgeway News -- March 18, 2026

CITY NEWS: The annual Ridgeway Easter Egg Hunt is planned for Saturday, April 4 in the Ridgeway City Park. The hunt will start at 10 am and all area children are invited to join in the fun. Volunteers are needed to help hide eggs that morning; for more information, contact one of the board members. In the event of inclement weather, the hunt will be held at the school gym.

The Ridgeway Community Betterment Association is accepting donations for the Easter Egg Hunt. They are asking for donations of eggs, candy, toys and money to help this project and give the kids a great time. If you would like to donate, please contact Tammy Harding or drop donations off at City Hall. They plan to stuff eggs on Tuesday, March 24 starting at 5 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room in City Hall. They need extra help to stuff lots of eggs so please plan to stop by and help if you can.

There will be NO Bingo in April due to Easter. The next Bingo night will be May 4 at 6:30 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room.

The Spring into Homesteading educational fair is sponsored by the Ridgeway Community Betterment Association and will be held on Saturday, March 28 in the Ridgeway School gym from 9 am to 3 pm. This year, they are focusing on education and teaching those skills that used to be passed down from one generation to another. Demonstrations will be presented by MU Extension Center on canning and soil testing, Tractor Supply on caring for livestock and Public Water Supply District #2 on water conservation. Bob’s Place will have a food stand for all to enjoy his great food.

Additional presentations will be on making homemade vanilla, seedling plugs, the importance of maintaining your sewing machines and keeping your computer secure and out of the landfill. The Prairie Queens Quilt Guild will have a booth as well as others who will have information booths and items for sale. If you are interested in either demonstrating and/or having an information booth, please contact the committee co-chairs Susie Rollheiser or Paula Scott at 660-872-6500.

SCHOOL NEWS: The RHS sophomore class will hide filled Easter Eggs at your house as a fundraiser. Place your order before March 30 and members of the class will hide the eggs around your yard for you. For more information, please contact Chrissy Wiig at the school.

Congrats East Harrison Bobcats on your wins! The elementary school Bobcats took 1st place and the Lady Bobcats took 3rd place in the North Daviess basketball tournament last week!!

SOCIETY: The community sewing group will meet Monday, March 23 from 1pm to 4 pm at the church. They have been busy tying quilts and making drawstring bags to get an early start on Christmas shoeboxes. They have also begun a new ministry to send cards to people in the community. All are welcome to join this group.

Please send me your church’s plans for Easter so they can be included here.

CLOSING: If you know of any events or plans around town that you would like to see shared with others, please send me the details by Sunday evening! Thank you for reading! Wave to your neighbors!

Upcoming Events

Mar 28 – Spring into Homesteading, 9 am to 3 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

April 4 – Easter Egg Hunt, Ridgeway City Park, 10 am

April 6 – No Bingo due to Easter

April 7 – Election Day – Don’t forget to Vote!

April 13 – Community Sewing Group, Ridgeway Baptist Church, 1pm – 4 pm

April 13 – Ridgeway Community Betterment Assn meeting, 7 pm, Location TBA

Apr 23 – Spring Concert & Farmers’ Appreciation Dinner, 6 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

May 6 – Bingo! 6:30 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room

Ridgeway News Updates

To send in an item for the Ridgeway News or subscribe to the email list, send an email to RidgewayCBA@gmail.com. Emailed copies are sent out Friday mornings at 6 am.

You can find every Bit of History item as well as flyers for upcoming events on the RCBA website: ridgewaycba.blogspot.com

For the most current updates, follow RCBA on Facebook! Find it by searching for @RidgewayCBA.

Bit of History -- March 18, 2026

Sometimes to get an idea for this section, I flip through the Ridgeway: Then and Now centennial book.  On page 3 of the book is a picture of several men working on clearing a train wreck. The caption reads:  “Wreck on the Railroad north of Ridgeway in 1903 or 1904.”  I searched for quite a while to find the story on this (there is nothing more mentioned in the book) and I don’t think I found the right article, but I did find this little item about a wreck near Blythedale in the Feb 15, 1906 edition of the Bethany Republican.  The incident also rated an article in the Feb 15 edition of the Ridgeway Journal.   

While the northbound freight train was running between Ridgeway and Blythedale in February 1903 “at the usual rate of speed”, one of the oil cars exploded without warning, “throwing blazing oil over the entire train.”  The next tank car caught fire as well, “as did two cars of merchandise, an empty box car and the way car, all of which were quickly consumed.”  Four men were injured in the wreck with “painful, but not serious burns and bruises. The explosion was so sudden and unexpected that it was with great difficulty that they escaped with their lives.”  The cause of the explosion was not found at the time of the article.  

“A large crowd from Blythedale and surrounding country were attracted to the scene of the wreck, which was quite an expensive one to the railroad company.”

The engine, tender and the next car were not derailed during the accident but there were several small fires that had to be extinguished before they were pulled away to safety.  The engine pictured in the centennial box appears to be off the tracks, so I don’t think this accident is depicted there.

Ridgeway News -- March 11, 2026

CITY NEWS: RCBA is getting ready for the annual Easter Egg Hunt to be held on Saturday, April 4 at 10 am at the Ridgeway City Park. They are accepting donations of eggs, candy, toys and money to help this project. If you would like to donate, please contact Tammy Harding or drop donations off at City Hall.

The Ridgeway Board of Aldermen will meet Monday, March 16 at 6 pm in the Community Room at City Hall. Please note the change in time. If you have an item for the agenda, please contact Brooklyn Scobee, city clerk, during business hours.

The Spring into Homesteading educational fair is sponsored by the Ridgeway Community Betterment Association and will be held on Saturday, March 28 in the Ridgeway School gym from 9 am to 3 pm. This year, they are focusing on education and teaching those skills that used to be passed down from one generation another. Demonstrations will be presented by Gwen Funk of the MU Extension Center on canning, soil testing, and gardening.  Additional presentations will be on using herbs, the importance of maintaining your sewing machine machines and keeping your computer secure and out of the landfill. The Spring into Homesteading committee is working hard to secure other presenters as well. If you are interested in either demonstrating a skill that seems to have been lost to time or having a booth to have those conversations one-on-one, please contact the committee co-chairs Susie Rollheiser or Paula Scott at 660-872-6500.

SCHOOL NEWS: The Board of Education plans to meet tonight, March 11, at 6 pm.

Congratulations to the high school STEM team for placing third in the 2026 Williford STEM Event! This event took place at South Harrison High School on March 4.

SOCIETY: Gene Buis was recently the guest star on a podcast named “Well, What Do You Know?” The episode was “dropped” on Friday, March 6 and features Gene sharing stories about his life including growing up in a small rural Missouri town, being drafted into the army, raising two daughters and decorating Busch Stadium with Bud. “Well, What Do You Know” is presented by podcaster Eric Padget and is dedicated to preserving voices for future generations. It can be found on YouTube and Spotify.

CLOSING: If you know of any events or plans around town that you would like to see shared with others, please send me the details by Sunday evening! Thank you for reading! Wave to your neighbors!

Upcoming Events

Mar 9 – Community Sewing Group, Ridgeway Baptist Church, 1pm – 4 pm

Mar 9 – Ridgeway Community Betterment Assn meeting, 7 pm, Ridgeway Community Room

Mar 16 – Ridgeway Board of Aldermen, 6 pm, Ridgeway Community Room

Mar 28 – Spring into Homesteading, 9 am to 3 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

April 4 – Easter Egg Hunt, Ridgeway City Park, 10 am

Apr 23 – Spring Concert & Farmers’ Appreciation Dinner, 6 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

Ridgeway News Updates

To send in an item for the Ridgeway News or subscribe to the email list, send an email to RidgewayCBA@gmail.com. Emailed copies are sent out Friday mornings at 6 am.

You can find every Bit of History item as well as flyers for upcoming events on the RCBA website: ridgewaycba.blogspot.com

For the most current updates, follow RCBA on Facebook! Find it by searching for @RidgewayCBA.

Bit of History -- March 11, 2026

An inspection of the City Park by the Park Board in 1937 resulted in a decision to plant between 40 and 50 new elm trees.  Many had died as a result of the dry conditions of the previous two years.  Most of the remaining trees in the park were not expected to live more than a few years “because of wide breaks in the cambium layer and these trees may be removed before the planting of new trees is done. “

The new trees were to be replaced by “Beefsteak” Goodwin when the weather was favorable.  Before he could replace them, he first had to find the saplings himself.  “Plenty of good sized elms can be obtained within a short distance of town and these will be transplanted at the park.”

The members of the park board in 1937 were T. MeHugh, John Adam,  Chris Bush, Max Fancher and Smith Clark.  (Ridgeway Journal, March 18, 1937). 

Bit of History -- March 4, 2026

The Ridgeway Journal’s big story from this week in 1939 was a huge snow storm and high winds, causing drifts several feet deep in some places. The wind blew away the snow in some places, causing bare spots on Main Street in front of the Journal Office, but there were drifts 3 and 4 feet deep in front of the Ragan undertaking parlors.   Ridgeway residents and business owners spent Tuesday digging themselves out.  “The weather was comparatively mild after the storm passed, the thermometer registering 34 degrees at 6 a,m. Tuesday and bright sunshine began the task of melting the drifts before the noon hour.”

The snow disrupted the train service and caused mail delivery to halt, “though an effort was made to do so on foot, which complies with government regulations. If roads are impassable, carriers make the effort to navigate them and then return to the post office and report ‘nothing doing.’”

Despite the necessity of having to clear away the snow and wait a couple of days for the mail and train services, Ridgeway was glad for the snow:  “Moisture is badly needed in north Missouri and this storm will help to relieve the situation as the water should all go into the ground as the snow melts.”  (Ridgeway Journal, March 3, 1939)

CLOSING: Don’t forget to “spring ahead” Saturday night and set your clocks ahead an hour for Daylight Savings Time!  If you know of any events or plans around town that you would like to see shared with others, please send me the details by Sunday evening! Thank you for reading! Wave to your neighbors!

Bit of History -- February 25, 2026

Many people may remember the old Branding Iron restaurant in Ridgeway which opened for business in 1987. It was located just north of the new Centennial Park, where City Hall now sits. The restaurant was the result of an initiative by the Ridgeway Improvement Corporation, started by a group of Ridgeway businessmen twenty years earlier. This group had been responsible for building 26 new homes in Ridgeway during that time and assisted with other projects such as a baseball field and improvements to the water tower. They saw opening a restaurant in town as an extension of their mission. Francis Shepard, president of the group was quoted as saying: “Anything good for the town we will do.

The former Middleton Sundries building was donated by Max and Jane Fordyce to the corporation. They then leased the building to Dave and Kathy Madden who operated another restaurant at the Lamoni sale barn. They renovated the building with funding from the Ridgeway Improvement Corp. and opened for business a short time later.

The Branding Iron served Ridgeway as a community gathering place for 5 and a half years. They saw many family get-togethers, class reunions and community meetings during that time. In March 1993, however, the Maddens closed the restaurant here and reopened in Trenton. Although others expressed interest in opening another eatery at that location, at that time, it was unsure if or when that would happen. (Bethany Republican-Clipper articles dated, May 20, 1987 and Mar 24, 1993).

Bit of History --- February 18, 2026

From the Ridgeway Journal dated February 17, 1910:

On Saturday, March 5, a special train was expected to arrive in Ridgeway at 11 am. This train, sponsored by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, featured speakers and exhibits to provide education on “dairying”. The train included “an Arms Palace Car, containing some of the most improved dairy bred animals to be used at each stop to demonstrate the essential points to be observed in selecting and breeding great economical and profitable milch and butter producing cow” and a baggage car that had “ miniature silos, cow testing machines, dairy literature and other necessary equipment for demonstration.”

On hand to talk about dairy farming were men from the Department of Agriculture, the Iowa State Dairymen Association and other experts in the field. These men are recognized as authorities on subjects pertaining to dairy farming, who will lecture on the subject of breeding and caring for the dairy herd and making the farms more productive and profitable. All of this was free to the local farmers and they were strongly encouraged to take advantage of this educational opportunity to learn more to improve their herds, milk production and their farms. They were encouraged to bring their families as well: “Bring your wives, sons and daughters along. They need the training as well as you, for they are to be the farmers and farmers’ wives of the future.”

The train was due to leave Ridgeway at 12:00 when it would “depart for Blythedale and other northern points.”

Bit of History -- February 11, 2026

For this week, I have a continuation of the column titled “The Women’s Department” published in the Feb 2, 1893 edition of the Ridgeway Journal:

This was an editorial on the trend of “short skirts”. “The Missouri and Kansas woman suffragists lately met at Kansas City and advocated skirt reform. Many ladies wore dresses three and four inches above the ground and surprised their friends by the youthful appearance the short skirt gave them.” The shorter skirts had been tried before “when women’s rights were first hinted at by a bold few”. Some, like Dr. Mary Walker, went so far as to change over to “the entire male garb.” Ultimately, “many who wore short skirts in the ‘forties’ after a few years put on longer and heavier skirts than before.’

The trouble was that the shorter skirts meant exposure. “The lower extremities must be clothed to the shoe the greater part of the year in our climate or disease and death ensue.” The editor advocated skirts just long enough to cover the top of the shoe. “Skirts not touching the ground and never showing the top of a high shoe are now worn by thousands of women who never think or say anything about it.” The tradition of girls wearing short skirts until age 16 then suddenly changing to long skirts” was also evolving so that the change to longer skirts was done gradually and “many never wore a really long skirt”.

“No working woman can move easily in a long skirt, especially going up steps. She usually has her hands full and her feet get on a long skirt...Women are too sensible to waste strength foolishly.”