Bit of History - Feb 26, 2025

I have written about Ridgeway’s last weekly paper, the Mercury Herald, before, but recently came across several mentions in the other Harrison County papers as well as a little profile of the editors.

The Mercury Herald was the result of the efforts of two Ridgeway high school students, Roger Anderson and Paul Johnson. They started the paper the summer after their junior year in 1949 and raised money for a Hilco mimeograph machine, stencils, and paper by soliciting funds from Ridgeway businesses in exchange for advertising.. Their paper ran to 10 pages and it has been told to me that their headquarters was the home I now live in. Their reporters included teacher Amy Elfrits as well as correspondents from all the local churches. They issued their paper every Wednesday and grew their circulation to about 600. Many of the illustrations were hand drawn.

The little paper was well received by a community that missed having a weekly paper. The Ridgeway Journal had folded eight years earlier with the death of its editor, Celbe C. Cline. Mrs. R. H. McIntosh, “Ridgeway News” columnist for the Bethany Republican-Clipper, wrote on May 17, 1950: “The last issue of the Mercury Herald, our home paper edited by two of our senior school boys, Paul Johnson and Roger Anderson, was mailed out May 3 … Again, we thank these boys for these publications and the desire of all is that we may again have a weekly paper in our town.”

Their paper was used several times by other Harrison county newspapers as a source for their news articles. The Bethany Republican-Clipper cited them in an article about the new state road going east from Ridgeway to Mount Moriah and Cainsville on Aug 8, 1949 and again about the same topic on Nov 16, 1949.

The boys operated the Mercury Herald for a full year, ending publication after their graduation from Ridgeway High School in 1950 as they both planned to attend college. Roger intended to study journalism at the University of Missouri and Paul considered “the study of some type of art work.” (Harrison County Times, May 18, 1950)

If you would like to read the first issue of the Mercury Herald, click here:  Mercury Herald, issue 1

Bit of History - February 19, 2025

Here are a few Ridgeway news items from the Bethany Republican-Clipper from 1968. 

Mayor Cliff Carson announced that the city would start taking bids for two oxidation ponds to replace the old cess pond. One would be located southwest of Ridgeway on the Charles Luper farm and the other would be built on the Dolyn Lacy property east of town. The city had gotten a federal grant to help with the costs which were estimated to be about $18,000. At the time, the city had about 175 users of the water and sewer systems and new users were being added from existing homes and newly constructed buildings. The water for Ridgeway came from a 3 ½ acre lake northwest of town and a pump located on East Big Creek was used several times to refill it when it got low. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Jan 10, 1968).

There were two big changes in Ridgeway businesses then. The first was that the Consumer’s Grocery store was closed and sold at auction. Joe Hayes had been the general manager and Harlan Hammack was the grocery manager. That left only Scott’s Grocery as “the only full-line grocery in Ridgeway, although the Ridgeway Locker carries some grocery items.” The second was that the Polley Bro.s Elevator, owned by Keith, Kenneth and Junior Polley, was sold to Consumer’s Oil, based in Maryville. The new owners announced that “many of the favorite feed and fertilizer products would be continued in stock.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Jan 10, 1968)

The “Big Sweep”, an annual event, was announced for April 20, 1968. It was the official kick-off day for the Ridgeway Community Betterment Association program. All the organizations in the area were invited to help clean up Main Street “in the shopping area” and to also help clean up the pair. The year before, over 100 people “moved in on Main Street with brooms and shovels to remove every bit of dirt.” The Garden club and W.S.C.S provided refreshments and the Betterment committee members gave out zinnia seeds to the workers.  (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Apr 17, 1968)

CLOSING: Hope you all have been staying warm! According to my weather app as of Sunday afternoon, it should start warming up to the 40s this weekend. Hopefully it will melt off this snow. Have a great week and as always, please be sure to send me any news items by Sunday evening. Thank you for reading!

Bit of History - February 5, 2025

In 1886, if you used colorful language in a letter, you could find yourself in legal hot water.  J. M. Stanley, a Ridgeway merchant, consigned a shipment of game and another shipment of hazel nuts to Wheeler & Doniphan, merchants in St. Joseph.  There were some disagreement about the amount due for these shipments and Mr. Stanley “took occasion to ventilate his sentiments in a letter to the commission men in language less elegant than forcible and less grammatical than expressive.”  The men at Wheeler & Doniphan took offense at this and “swore out a warrant” before a United States commissioner named Stewart to charge J. M. Stanley with sending “obscene” matter through the mails.  

Deputy Marshall James Swallow then travelled to Ridgeway to arrest Mr. Stanley and bring him back to be arraigned.  Dr. Charles W. Robertson, also from Ridgeway, provided the bond of $500 (According to the inflation calculator at officialdata.org, this would be $16,787.50 today.)  (St. Joseph Gazette, 1/14/1886)

Funny note The first article that I found for this news referred to the charge as being for “passing obscure literature through the mail”.  I was puzzled about what could have been said that was so mysterious as to be illegal.  “The affair has cause no little excitement and comment among the citizens of Ridgeway where Stanley resides.” (St. Joseph News Press, 1/13/1886)

Mr. Stanley travelled to Kansas City in April 1886 with Dr. Robertson where he pled guilty to the charge.  He paid a fine of $100 and was released.  (Kansas City Times, 5/23/1886).  Sadly, Mr. Stanley took his own life in 1892.  (Ridgeway Journal, 12/29/1892.)