At the bottom of the stack of old Ridgeway school newspapers that Betty P gave me was a page taken out of the December 27, 1964, issue of the St. Joseph News-Press. The heading read “Salute to Ridgeway, Mo.” and the whole page is dedicated to highlighting parts of the town. At the time, the town had a population of 470. Ed Rossum served as mayor and George Light was both postmaster and chairman of the betterment program. Not pictured were Lucille Polley as town secretary and Vern Young as treasurer. In 1964, Ridgeway won a $700 prize for community betterment which included razing an “eyesore building” and planting a flower garden in its place. The bandstand and Centennial Park currently occupy that space.
The article had several pictures of Ridgeway. One photo depicted several members of the volunteer fire department which included Mayor Ed Rossum, Schuyler LaFollette (marshal), Francis Shephard as fire chief, Dean Kampman as assistant fire chief, Hayes McQuerry (city clerk) and Berl Scott (city councilman).
Another photo was of the west side of Main Street, south of the old Scott Grocery. In this picture, you can see the café owned by Mr. and Mrs. Carl Emory, the Commerce Bank building, the original City Hall with the bell tower and in the distance, the telephone company building which still stands. Other pictures included the school, a story about Dr. Lake Brewer who delivered over 850 babies in the area, a picture of the park bandstand and the improvements made there which included new benches and the croquet court and finally, a picture of three town council members constructing the Harrison-Mercer Co-op Association fertilizer plant: Virgil Travis, Rodney Harris, and Edwin Hogan.
The story concluded with this quote: “Ridgeway isn’t even on a main highway, but it still a good town because it has people who believe in it, who love it and who not only plan to spend their lives there but hope their sons and daughters will remain there. That is their secret.”
