Bit of History -- June 24, 2026

 The Ridgeway City Park has always been a vital part of the community events. In 1929, S. C. Spence and J. P. Stanley were in charge of the task of “securing of the concessions” for the park spaces. As of June 27, the park was nearly full of vendors for that year’s Fourth of July celebrations, which helped to fund the festivities. “These concession rights usually pay for about a third of the expenses of the celebration, but this year, they are exceeding all previous records.” The offerings included “everything from a general stand to a popcorn right, including a ‘juice spot”, the latter meaning of course a place to buy the lemonade of reddish hue”. The writer added “Concessions make a big celebration and if that phrase is true this year, the celebration is to be an extra big one”.

The last line is just as true for this year as it was in 1929: “Come and bring all your neighbors.” (Ridgeway Journal, June 27, 1929.)

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)