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). 

Ridgeway News -- March 4, 2026

CITY NEWS:  Welcome to new city employee Justin Humphrey, who has taken on the job of city maintenance in Ridgeway!  Be sure to wave or say hello if you see him working around town!

The Ridgeway Community Betterment Association will hold their monthly business meeting on Monday, March 9 at 7 pm (Please note the time change!)  They will discuss the upcoming Spring into Homesteading educational fair and the Easter Egg Hunt.  All area residents are invited to attend and learn more about how you can help by volunteering at RCBA events and helping with projects.

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 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 annual Ridgeway Alumni basketball game will take place this Saturday, March 7 at 6 pm in the Ridgeway school gym. Relive the memories as some of your favorite players return to the court once again. A free-will donation will be taken to help fund future PTO activities and improvements. To sign up to play, contact Sydney Craig at 660-868-2166.

Ridgeway students had a visit from free-lance artist Melanie Adich, who came to show her techniques for creating fantasy and anime illustrations.  She also talked about how she successfully created a unique niche for distributing her digital artwork.  

The theme for this year’s summer school has been announced as “Spy Academy”.  This year’s program will include escape rooms, field trips, forensic analysis, a STEM mobile lab, treasure hunts and WebQuests.  Flyers will be going home soon with students with more information.

The elementary school basketball team will play in the elementary school tournament next week.  They will play at Pattonsburg on Monday at 4:30 pm.  Good luck, Bobcats!  

SOCIETY:  The community sewing group will meet at the Ridgeway Baptist Church on Monday, March 9 from 1 pm to 6 pm.  You do not need a sewing machine or experience to help -- newcomers are always welcome and all you need is a willing heart and hands. 

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!

Upcoming Events

Mar 7 – Ridgeway Alumni Basketball Game, 6 pm, Ridgeway School Gym

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

April 6 – Bingo Night, 6:30 pm, Ridgeway Community Room

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 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.”

Bit of History -- February 4, 2026

The Women’s Department of the Feb 2, 1893 edition of the Ridgeway Journal was edited by Mrs. C. T. Jaqua, Editress and contained this adorable little story:

This piece was written by “Laura” and detailed how she and her grandmother worked on tying a quilt. Her grandmother had already completed the “calico” (what we would now call the quilt top) so they took it into the parlor “where the carpet was very clean” and spread out on the floor in preparation to be tied.  Before they could start, however, “There was a crack at the front door that let in lots of cold so grandma said we must stop that. She got strips of thick cloth, and I got two table knives. With the knives we pushed the cloth in the crack and then the cold wind quit coming in.”  

Grandma taught Laura how to tie the quilt and they worked together until Grandma had to stop to fix dinner. They finished it and then Laura wrote:  “She will finish the comforter on the machine and then baste a binding of a width of calico across the end that will be at the head of the bed and keep the comforter from wearing out so soon.”   Laura had to ask for help with the “big words” and finished her little story with:  "I see the Journal let Mr. Hazelbrush get his big sister to spell his large words and little sister to spell his little words, so I hope no one will mind because I asked grandma about the big words in this. I hope you will print this and not mind me being so small.    Laura.”

Unfortunately, there is no way to know who Laura or Grandma were as no last names were printed.  

Bit of History -- January 28, 2026

 I am back this week with a few editorial comments about the weather in the February 5, 1904 edition of the Ridgeway Journal. All of these were on page 5 under the “Local Mentions” column.

The editor wrote that there were some confusing forecasts with the scheduling of Easter and the groundhog's annual prediction: “Easter Sunday comes early this year, which is an indication that the warm weather will come early. At the same time the confounded groundhog insisted on seeing his shadow last Tuesday, which is a sure sign of six more weeks of winter weather.” He went on to add that since neither prediction was ever wrong, he could presume they would have cold weather one day followed by hot “unless some other never-failing sign is brought forth. “

Next up was a complaint about the “signal service” getting a little hasty about predicting a cold wave a day too early on a Tuesday: “But the predicted cold wave failed to arrive and Wednesday morning was bright and warm. The signal service had better hurry and be on time. The people do not care for forecasts one day late.”

Finally, the cold and snow of that year did have one enjoyable side effect: “After the cold spell and snows of last week, sleighing was fine and greatly enjoyed. It is not often that such fine sleighing is had in this section-at least it has been several years since it has lasted more than a few days at a time.”

Bit of History -- January 7, 2026

In the January 10, 1918 issue of the Ridgeway Journal, readers were given information about their new obligation to pay income taxes.  The income tax, dormant since after the Civil War,  had been reinstated in 1913 when the 16th amendment was ratified. But until 1917, most people earned less than the standard exemption of $3000 and didn’t have to worry about filing a return.  (The average American worker earned about $800 per year in 1914, which would be just under $26,000 today).  With the cost of World War 1, the government needed money and lowered the standard deduction to $1000 for a single person and $2000 for a married couple.  This meant most people would now have to figure how much they owed Uncle Sam and send in a payment.

To help lessen the confusion, W. A. Miner, one of the officers of the First National Bank of Ridgeway, arranged to have an income tax officer come to Ridgeway on January 18, 1918.  He had “his headquarters at the First National Bank and he will be ready and willing to assist persons subject to the tax to make out their returns without cost to them for such service.”  The writer of the article thought most people would appreciate the efforts of Mr. Miner “as it will give all in this vicinity a chance to interview the officer without making a trip to Bethany or Blythedale.”