Ridgeway News -- June 17, 2026

 CITY NEWS: The Board of Alderman has changed their June meeting due to scheduling conflicts. They will meet tomorrow evening, June 18 at 6 pm in the Community Room at City Hall. Ridgeway residents are welcome to attend.

Reminder!  Sign up forms for the City-Wide garage sales are are due on Saturday, June 20. Forms may be picked up at the City office, the side of the Little Free Library and at the shop at 408 Main St and may be dropped off at either the city office or the shop. If you can’t drop it off and still want to sign up, email your information, including your name, address, dates and times of your sale, a brief description of your items for sale and if you plan to be open if it rains to ridgewaycba@gmail.com. The lists will be available the week before the sales. You are responsible for your own advertising.

The Ridgeway Community Betterment Association is working hard to plan this year’s 4^th of July to celebrate the 250^th birthday of our nation. They need volunteers to help prepare, serve and clean-up this year’s post parade lunch. Please consider volunteering to help make this the best 4^th of July celebration possible!

To add some more fun to the celebration, RCBA is organizing games in the park from 2 pm to 4 pm, though people can stay later to enjoy the park if desired. So far, they are planning on a tug-of-war competition. Horseshoes, corn hole boards, croquet and a volleyball net may be available for anyone to play. They are also asking for families or groups to sponsor old-fashioned games or races such as three-legged races, sack races or something similar. Game organizers will be responsible for providing equipment and running the games; prizes are optional. For more information, please contact a board member or email ridgewaycba@gmail.com. RCBA board members are Gloria Craig, Susie Rollheiser, Kristi Reeder, Tammy Harding, Sydney Craig, Paula Scott and Joni Sequira.

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! 

Upcoming Events

June 18 – Board of Aldermen meeting, 6 pm, Ridgeway Community Room,

June 26-27 – Citywide Garage Sales – Sign up forms available at City Hall and 408 Main St.

July 4 – Ridgeway 4th of July Celebration

Aug 8 – Electronics Recycling event, 9 am – noon, Old Ridgeway Hall.

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 -- June 17. 2026

While we have some pretty heavy storms lately, another “fierce wind storm” hit Harrison County on June 16. 1973 caused a lot of damage all over the county. “The storm destroyed barns, damaged homes and uprooted trees in an area extending from the New Hampton vicinity to Cainsville.”

“The worst damage seemed to be concentrated in the Ridgeway area.” Mark and Barbara Reeder’s new mobile home, set in place only two days before the storm in its new location in the north part of Ridgeway near the railroad tracks “was overturned twice by the wind and was shredded apart.” Barbara was inside the home when the storm came up. She “landed across the railroad tracks where she was able to escape from the debris of the trailer.” She suffered cuts to her right hand and knee and was taken to Noll Memorial hospital for treatment. Later she was found to have additional injuries and was taken to the Missouri Methodist hospital in St. Joseph.

In addition to the Reeder home, Mrs Clayton Polley, the Ridgeway correspondent at the time, reported that “the railroad depot was demolished and the porches of the Alma Craig and Ethyl Lobba homes were severely damaged.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, June 20. 1973, p 1)

Bit of History -- June 10, 2026

On July 4, 1882, “some miscreants obstructed the railroad” between Bethany and Ridgeway. They covered the track with wood, poles and brush and it was assumed they intended to cause an accident. “The scoundrels who did it evidently intended to wreck the excursion train down at night”. They had forgotten about the two five o'clock trains which saw the obstruction “in time to prevent accident and removed” everything from the tracks before continuing onward.

The criminals piled more brush on the track again after those trains left, hoping the next train wouldn’t see It and hit it. “The excursion train down that night contained at least 500 people from Bethany, and points west, and had an accident occurred the loss of life would have been terrible. The excursion train men were notified to run very slowly and keep a sharp lookout and did so, not running faster than ten miles per hour at any time coming down.” There was no accident and all the passengers must have arrived home safely. The scoundrels must have gotten away with their evil deed as there was no follow-up article. The editor did feel that “No punishment is too severe for such wretches.” (Bethany Republican, July 6, 1882)

Bit of History -- June 3, 2026

In 1900, the Ridgeway board of education awarded the contract to build the new school to Wm. Peatman of Centerville, Iowa. The total amount of the contract was $7045. A second contract was given to a St. Joseph firm to provide the “steam heating outfit for $1, 100” bringing the total cost of construction of $8,145, the equivalent of $322,910.46 today. The Journal was “not able to give a complete description of the proposed building, etc” as the contracts had only been approved the day before.

The local residents appreciated the hard work of the board: “It is the general opinion that so far the directors have done a good job and virtually secured an $10,000 building for a trifle more than $8,000.” The editor added “Now a good man should be secured to see that the work is done right and according to the plans and specifications. Then Ridgeway will have a school building second to none in any town her size in this part of Missouri.” (Ridgeway Journal, June 28, 1900)

 

Bit of History -- May 27, 2026

A few items from the front page of the Ridgeway Journal dated May 28, 1930:

Commencement exercises for the Ridgeway class of 1931 were held on Friday, May 15^th. The attending crowd was so large that the building “would not hold all of them” and some were not able to come in to watch the ceremony. There were thirty-four graduates that year, “this being a very large class for a school of this size.” The commencement address was given by Dr. Dildine “from the college at Maryville” and the valedictorian speech was given by Roberta Nible. Her speech was printed in the paper as well.

The Memorial Day program was published in the paper that week. The service was to be held in the City Park. The Ridgeway band and the scout troops were to meet at the Methodist church for the park to the park. The program included the song "America", an invocation by Rev Stanley, the scouts' Pledge to the flag, a speech titled "The Mission of America" by Rev. Reed and music by the Ridgeway Band.

The Burlington Railway Company announced changes to the train schedule that would allow Ridgeway to get both morning and evening mail delivery as well as the afternoon newspapers. The Ridgeway band announced that they were ready to start their summer concerts if the local businessmen wanted their services. The Yankee Ridgeway Cemetery board published their annual financial statement showing that they had moved from being $7.23 in the red to $7.27 in the black for the year. They would also hold Decoration Day services and officer elections that Sunday.

Bit of History -- May 20, 2026

BIT OF HISTORY: Among the many social groups that once were active during Ridgeway’s history was a group that called themselves the Merry Matrons (MM). This was a social and service club where the rules (at least at the beginning) was that they would not accept “more than 20 members and no one over 40 years of age and all must be married”, according the description in the “Ridgeway: Then and Now” centennial book (page 36.) The marriage rule was broken only once, but a “mock wedding was held to make it legal” and the age limit was eventually dropped: “The age of a member is no longer limited by years, but by capabilities.”

There is a little discrepancy about the year the club started. The club history and the centennial book both give the first meeting as occurring in November 1932, but the Ridgeway Journal wrote about the first meeting happening in November 1933.

The members met twice monthly and took turns hosting the group. During their meetings, they quilted, crocheted or did other hand crafts, talked and shared a meal. They also gave of themselves: “donations to the Red Cross, Heart and Cancer funds, gave a bench and a table to the city park, took Christmas baskets to the needy and sent cards, flowers and gifts to the members in the hospitals.”

The group continued to meet until 2009 when they had dwindled to just 5 members. At the December meeting that year, three members and two guests met at Becks Convenience store for lunch. They voted to disband and applied their remaining funds, $21.39 to the cost of their lunch. They noted that Eleanor Rinehart had been a member for 73 years.

Bit of History -- May 13, 2026

0ne hundred years ago, there were 16 graduates in the Ridgeway School class of 1926. You can find their class picture on the Ridgeway school website in the alumni section. (www.ridgewayr5.net). Some are smiling; some are serious. The girls all have their hair bobbed in the 1920’s fashion; the boys are all in suits. Many of their surnames can still be found in current Ridgeway families. Among the graduates was gifted athlete Cecil “Twister” Smith, who would go on to become a beloved Ridgeway coach and teacher.

Their senior play, titled “A Poor Married Man”, had been given at the Rex Theatre to a “well-filled house”. “The play was a three act farce comedy, and was muchly enjoyed, considering the generous applause given at every possible cause.” The class collected a proceeds of nearly $80. (Ridgeway Journal, May 6, 1926)

The seniors had also enjoyed their Senior Walk-out. They took a day trip “to Arkel Ford where they spent the morning fishing and taking pictures.” After a hearty picnic lunch, they went to Brooklyn Falls. About 3:30 pm, they headed back to town where “they were treated to brick ice cream and cookies at Ham's Cafe.” They were accompanied by “post graduates and their sponsor, Miss Gross.” (Ridgeway Journal, May 6, 1926)

The honors of valedictorian were shared by two graduates, Thelma Bartlett and Helen Linthacum. They each presented an address during graduation. Gertrude Dale was the salutatorian.

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.