Ridgeway News -- June 6, 2026

Ridgeway News

CITY NEWS:   The members of the Ridgeway Community Betterment Association met last Monday to begin planning for the 2026 4^th of July celebration. As this year marks the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of our nation, the group would like to make the holiday special. They will continue the tradition of announcing the parade entries and would like to encourage people to build themed floats this year to mark the occasion. The post parade dinner will include hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, baked beans, pasta salad, dessert and drinks and will be served from both the old Ridgeway Hall and the Community Room. The group is asking for volunteers for helping to prepare, serve and clean-up from the meal.

The RCBA would also like to hold some old-time games in the City Park after the meal for more fun and entertainment. They are asking for families, groups or businesses to sponsor and host a game or two such as three-legged races, sack races, tug-of-war, horseshoes/corn hole or whatever else you can dream up. The group would be responsible for bringing any equipment, setting the rules and start times and judging winners. The games are to be free for anyone to participate and prizes will be bragging rights for the next year. If you would like to sponsor a game, please contact an RCBA board member or email ridgewaycba@gmail.com.

RCBA will hold their next business meeting on Monday, May 11 at 7 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room at City Hall. They will continue planning the 4^th of July celebration as well as working on some ideas for new play equipment at the park. All area residents are welcome, so if you are interested in volunteering with the group or would like to help plan events and local projects, the group would love to have you attend this meeting.

The Ridgeway Board of Aldermen will meet Thursday, May 14 at 6 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room. Ridgeway residents are welcome to attend.

SCHOOL NEWS: Elementary school students will have their MAP testing this week and the high schoolers will take their end of course exams. Next week is finals for both junior high and high schoolGood luck to all the students as they approach the end of the school year!

The East Harrison Bobcats varsity track teams will begin wrapping up their season with a trip to the district track meet in Princeton on Saturday. Good luck, Bobcats!

Preschool graduation will be held on Thursday, May 14 at 5:30 pm.

SOCIETY: The community sewing group will meet at the Ridgeway Baptist Church from 1 pm to 4 pm on Monday, May 11. All are welcome to join this worthwhile group as they sew for service projects both local and overseas.

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

May 11 – Community Sewing Group, Ridgeway Baptist Church, 1pm – 4 pm

May 11 – Ridgeway Community Betterment Assn meeting, 7 pm, Ridgeway Community Room

May 14 – Ridgeway R-V Preschool Graduation, 5:30 pm

May 14 – Board of Aldermen meeting, 6 pm, Ridgeway Community Room,

May 22 – Ridgeway R-V Last Day of School, Award Assembly, 8:30 am, 9 am, 9:30 am

June 1 – Bingo! 6:30 pm in the Ridgeway Community Room

June 6 – RCBA Scrapbooking, 10 am to 12 pm, Paula’s Sewing Corner, 408 Main St,

June 26-27 – Citywide Garage Sales

July 4 – Ridgeway 4th of July Celebration

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 -- May 6, 2026

BIT OF HISTORY: Long before even Harrison County was incorporated, the Yankee Ridgeway Cemetery was already providing a place where loved ones could be laid to rest. It was located along the old Point of Lorraine trail which, according to Yankee Ridge cemetery board president Carol Emry, “ran diagonally across the cemetery from northeast to southwest.” According to a 1993 article in the Bethany Republican-Clipper, there were “several people buried on this ridge”. They were probably homesteaders on their way to Kansas. Emry said “There was a spring one fourth of a mile east of the cemetery where they stopped to repair their wagons and rest their horses and get ready to go on.” There was also a post office where they could get their mail.

One man buried four sons in the cemetery after they passed away from diphtheria. According to Emry, the father was a stone mason. He went to the quarry and “hewed out head and foot stones and cut their initials in them”. Those gravesites can still be found in Yankee Ridge.

Yankee Ridge presumably got its name “from a group of English settlers who moved into the area just before the Civil War. Since the settlers were Union sympathizers, the trail became known as Yankee Ridge Road and the cemetery took the same name.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, January 6, 1993)

Bit of History -- April 29, 2026

Beginning January 1956, the Ridgeway Lions Club sponsored the “Missouri-Iowa Talent Show”, a monthly event in the Ridgeway field house. It was held on the second Monday of every month for a year and the “four top acts to broadcast over KIOA, Des Moines.” The grand final winner would be featured on Channel 7, KWWL-TV in Waterloo, IA. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Jan 4, 1956)

The winner of the January contest was four year-old Pamela Maxwell, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roe Maxwell. In addition to getting to be on the radio, she won a table top radio set. Riggs Smith took second place by playing a baritone solo and Sharon LaFollette took third with her vocal number. They each received a wrist watch. The article also noted that the first grand winner, Brenda LaFollette would be on television on March 10, 1956 on station KWWL. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Jan 11, 1956)

Bit of History -- April 22, 2026

In the April 27, 1911 edition of the Ridgeway Journal, the editors proudly announced that the Journal was celebrating its 20^th anniversary of publication. “For twenty long years the Journal has worked faithfully in the newspaper vineyard to advertise Ridgeway and make it the business place and well known town that it now is;”

The Journal was founded in April 1891 by C.M. and Frank Jaqua. “They published the paper together for a few years when C. M., purchased his brothers interest.“ C. M. Jaqua published the paper alone until 1906 when he sold it to Frank Dougtherty and moved to Warrensburg to take over the paper in that town. The paper changed hands several times in the next few years and in 1911, it was owned and operated by F. M. Spragg and Son. “The present owners have found publishing the Journal to be a pleasant and interesting as well as a satisfactorily remunerative work, and have tried to make each issue interesting and welcome by its many readers.”

The Ridgeway Journal remained in publication over 50 years. It continued to operate under various editors until December 1941 when publication ceased after a valiant attempt to keep it going after the death of its owner/editor Celebe C. Cline.

Bit of History -- April 15, 2026

 The Scott Grocery opened in 1948 and in 1956, moved to its final location on the corner of Pine and Main Streets. Originally owned by his parents, Dean and Edith Scott, Berl and Christine Scott operated the store until Berl retired in 1990. In 1996, a replica of the old store was constructed as part of the Farm Land U. S. A. exhibit in the Agricultural Hall of Fame. The exhibit was designed and named by Harold Adkins, a “Mt. Moriah native who served for 12 years as executive director of the Agricultural Hall of Fame.”

Berl helped to set up the Scott General Store at the exhibit. “’I have some ideas how I would like it to look’, said Scott.” He donated several things from his store and a commercial ice box from the old Ridgeway Farmer’s Store and an old antique butcher block from the Farmer’s Store in Mt. Moriah. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Dec 27, 1995)

I looked at the Agricultural Hall of Fame website and while there are no pictures of the store on their website, there is a short video which lists Scott’s Grocery as part of Farm Land U.S.A. The Hall of Fame reopens to visitors on April 25. If you have seen the exhibits in recent years, or plan to go down there, please let us all know if Scott’s Grocery is still there.

Bit of History -- April 8, 2026

Do you remember the day the old Ridgeway water tower “Tin Man” came down? The old tower was built in 1923 during Ridgeway first city-wide water and sewer project. It stood for over 80 years and was referred to as “Tin Man” most likely due to its pointed cap and round bottom. In October 2004, however, a new water tower with an “ellipsoidal” shape was constructed to replace the Tin Man as it was “no longer feasible to maintain and did not meet OSHA regulatory requirements for worker safety" and “was of riveted construction with lead-based paint”. The water was switched over to the new tower in December and in February, 2005, the old tower was taken down.

To bring it down, the Steelsmith Tank Company “cut the tank in half” and removed the bolts from the tower’s leg braces. “The technique, known as ‘Rocking the Tower’, ensures the tank folds up when it hits the ground.” “As the tank hit the ground, chunks of ice emerged from inside and scattered around the humbled remains.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Feb 16, 2005 pp 1, 4)

The Ridgeway students chose the black and gold colors for the new water tower to celebrate their school colors. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Oct 13, 2004, p 17)

Bit of History -- April 1, 2026

In Ridgeway’s early days, dressing up for Easter was an event in itself. It was a time to show off your Easter finery and especially your new hat. But in 1909, the weather made wearing those new hats a bit difficult. “While the day was one of comparably clear sunshine and not an extra chilly one, a regular Kansas wind made it very disagreeable one to be out of doors.” On Saturday, the weather was fair, but “On Saturday afternoon, the barometer, which had been pointing to fair weather, took a sudden turn and chased itself rapidly back to the point which reads ‘stormy’ in good big letters.”

Sunday started with the wind: “the storm commenced on Sunday morning in the shape of a gale of wind which kept it up throughout the day until after midnight”. At midnight, it started to rain heavily with intervals of snow and sleet. This continued until around noon on Monday when “the clouds broke away and sunshine prevailed once more.” (Ridgeway News, Apr 15, 1909).

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.

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.

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).