A growing community needs a lot of lumber to build homes, businesses and all the rest. Ridgeway had several lumber yards, but one of the biggest was Miner & Frees. Miner & Frees started in Bethany by Edgar S. Miner and Captain Benjamin Frees in Bethany in 1880. At the time, there was no train to deliver freight, so lumber had to be brought from Lamoni, IA in horse drawn wagons. In 1885, Miner & Frees purchased the Atlas Lumber yard in Ridgeway and started business here with Edgar’s brother William Avery Miner as the manager. The yard was located right by the railroad east of Main Street and north of Vine where Dale Farms is now located. Miner & Frees eventually grew to include 14 locations in Missouri and Iowa and the yard in Ridgeway was the general office for all the yards.
The Miner brothers, and William in particular, became very active members of the Ridgeway community. The Miner brothers and Captain B. M. Frees started the Ridgeway Exchange Bank about 1885 with $5000 and a safe at the lumber yard. They built a brick building for the bank in 1902. The Miners also sold the land for the Ridgeway school, founded the first school library and were investors in several businesses and properties including the New Ridgeway Hotel and the Ridgeway Journal. (History of Harrison County, Geo. Wannamaker, 1921).
William Miner died in 1920. Miner & Frees continued to conduct business until Edgar S. Miner, the founder of the Miner & Frees chain, died after a lengthy illness in 1925 (Tri-County News, King City, Sept 11, 1925). After that, the company was dissolved, and the individual yards were sold to stockholders in the company. The Ridgeway Miner & Frees yard was taken over in 1929 by the Smith Coal & Material Co. of Kansas City who then combined both Ridgeway lumber yards into one business named the Ridgeway Lumber Company. (Tri-County News, King City, July 26, 1929).
