Bit of History -- December 17, 2025

From the Ridgeway Journal dated December 14, 1893:   

“Old Aunt Em” and her family had what was probably the shortest residence on record in Ridgeway.  She moved from Bethany with her husband, children and household goods and the next day, she had to move back to Bethany.  “As soon as our people learned the next morning that she was in town, the marshal interviewed her and she promptly departed south for the town of iniquity from which she came.”  She was strongly encouraged to leave Ridgeway once the officials learned she was a prostitute and had run a house of ill repute for fifteen years in Bethany.  

While Ridgeway officials were glad for Bethany in that they were trying to “wipe the evils from their town”, they didn’t appreciate that those evils were moving into their own town.  “We are glad that at last Bethany has a set of officials who are making an honest effort to wipe the evils from their town, and we think all the good citizens, all over the county should encourage them in the work...Let the good work go on down there and if that town will ship them, we are sure none of the other towns of the county will harbor them.”

Bit of History -- December 10, 2025

In the December 7, 1893 edition of the Ridgeway Journal, the editor made what was probably a contentious suggestion: “It has been suggested that the Sunday schools unite and have a union Christmas tree at the Kern hall.” The writer thought this would be an excellent idea as “A large majority of the people would like to attend both trees, and the way it always has been, both churches were crowded and no one could take any comfort.” By combining the Sunday Schools of both the Methodist Episcopal and Christian churches and holding the program in Kern Opera House, there would be plenty of room and “would also be a good thing to bring the schools closer in a social relation and make them work more in harmony.”

Despite the editorial encouragement, the Methodist church continued with having its own program, complete with a Christmas tree and arch filled with gifts, a full program and a meal. The Christian Church held its program on the same night in the Kern Hall. After the night of festivities, the paper published a brief item mentioning that both programs had been well attended and enjoyed by many, but were interrupted by a fire alarm for a home in East Ridgeway. “A splendid program had been prepared but its effect was spoiled by the alarm of fire and a stampede was narrowly averted”, however “The tree was well laden with presents and all had a good time.”

Bit of History -- December 3, 2025

In 1920, the Ridgeway Journal dedicated an entire page of its December 20 holiday edition to stories about the Ridgeway school. The reporter from the Journal who wrote the article didn’t have a by-line so I have no way of know if the reporter was male or female.

The reporter visited every school room and described the room and what the students were doing that day. In room 1, the reporter was delighted by the décor: “the dainty curtains at the windows, the well chosen pictures on the walls, the string of Japanese lanterns and the flowers in the windows.” In every classroom, the students were hard at work with lessons in reading, arithmetic, geography, and more. The reporter also noted that “in all the rooms visited, the ample lighting, heating and good ventilation and single seats contributed to comfort and the pictures, flowers and curtains pleased the eye and the books added a charm of their own.”

“While we are proud of every branch of our school, yet we look with especial pride upon our High School.” In addition to the general education classes such as algebra, history, English and Latin, the high school provided teacher and business education with classes in typing and shorthand and prepared many students for college educations. As of the date of the article, seventeen Ridgeway graduate were enrolled in higher education with nine at Missouri State University, three in the University of Kansas, two in the Kirksville normal school (now known as Truman State University) and three in the Warrensburg normal school (now known as the University of Central Missouri.) The article then went on to describe the education program and the business courses. It ended with “The people who are now enjoying the benefits of the school should be, and are, very grateful not only for the persistent efforts of the various school boards which suggested and the people who voted for our magnificent school building, but to the efficient and unending efforts of the various teachers who have from time to time had charge of the different departments.”

Bit of History -- November 19, 2025

he November 18, 1909 edition of the Ridgeway News listed a few new ordinances that Ridgeway residents were expected to obey. “To conform with the new laws passed by the legislature last winter the city council recently passed a new misdemeanor ordinance, several sections of which are new to the citizens of our city and for their enlightenment we quote here three sections.”

Section 35 prohibited “Any person who shall slide or coast upon any hand sled, coaster-wagon, or skates in any manner, upon any sidewalk in the city” and those caught doing so could be fined no more than $10 dollars.

Section 37 declared that anyone caught doing this would be charged with a misdemeanor and fined from $1 to $25: “Any person who shall, in this city fix, tie, or attach in any manner, to the tail of any dog, cow, horse. or other animal, any tin can, poping match, or other thing calculated to make a noise, or excite such animal, or scare other animals, or shall put upon any such animal any turpentine or other substance calculated to injure or excite such animal” (I don’t know what a “poping match” was – it may be a typo.)

Section 100 decreed that a person over the age of 10 and under the age of eighteen was banned from smoking or use cigarettes on any public road, street, alley, park, or other land used for public purposes, or in any public place of business or amusement” and could be fined no more than $10.

Bit of History -- November 12, 2025

From the front page of the Ridgeway Journal dated November 26, 1936:

Visitors to the Ridgeway Hotel in November 1936 were treated to a tour of the WPA (Works Progress Administration)sewing room in the basement of the hotel. A “large number of women who manifested a lively interest n the type of work being done in the room, which is under the supervision of Mrs. Cecile Miner.” Mrs. Mae Drummond, the county supervisor, “greeted the visitors and explained the different classes of work being done by the workers.”

The workers had produced a good quantity of sewn goods which included garments for men, women and children. The garments included shirts, dresses and underwear and “one day each week is being devoted to the making of toys to be distributed to children Christmas day.”

Mrs Drummond mentioned that to that point, the group had been emphasizing quantity, but had recently decided to focus on quality work instead. “Mrs. Drummond was highly pleased with the showing of the local sewing room and the excellent class of work that is being turned out in it.” Among the items produced in the sewing room were 612 shirts, 173 dresses, 48 blouses, 84 dresses and bloomers and 120 toys and many other things. All these things had been created in the one year since the sewing room started production on November 25, 1935.

Bit of History -- November 5, 2025

In 1932, Edgar Polley, local truck driver, was hauling a mixed load of stock to St. Joseph. He was about half way up Witt Hill when a bull he was transporting “decided he had gone for enough and jumped over the rack, breaking the rope with which he was tied, and causing the truck to come to a very sudden stop.” The bull didn’t go far, luckily and “allowed the driver to catch him again and with the aid of passersby was soon loaded back into the truck, but this time was "hog tied" in such a way that he could not jump”.

A few hours later, he was safely secured in a stock pen in St. Joseph. The article ended with “If anyone buys meat within the next ten days that has a tendency to jump out of the skillet while frying, you can rest assured that it is a part of this same bull.” (Ridgeway Journal, “It’s Just Like a Bull”, Nov 3, 1932.)

Bit of History -- October 29, 2025

Halloween in 1914 was a lively night for pranksters. Halloween that year was on a Saturday The boys in the town spent both Friday and Saturday rearranging farming equipment, telephone poles and many other things, placing them on Main Street, blocking anyone from traveling the street. “Main street on Sunday morning had the appearance of a back alley and from the amount of stuff piled on the city's main thoroughfare, it is evident that there were some mighty willing workers abroad. Threshing machines, telephone poles, bill boards, out-buildings, chicken coops, etc, all played a prominent part in blocking the street.”

The writer ended with the wry comment: “It was certainly an enjoyable affair-for those who participated.” All that certainly wouldn’t be a lot of fun for anyone who had to clean up.

Bit of History -- October 22, 2025

As area churches host their annual Lord’s Acre dinners and sales, I wondered how the tradition began.  The idea started in 1922 when Rev. Henry M. Melton asked the farmers in his congregation to donate the proceeds of the harvest from one acre of farmland to the church.  Seven farmers agreed.  When the farmers reported that the acres were unaffected by boll weevils that first year, many others began to commit to the project. (Wikipedia, Lord’s Acre Movement, last edited Jan 25, 2024).  The plan was helpful to farmers by giving them a way to tithe during the Depression years.  In 1930, Jim McClure, the head of the Farmer's Federation of Western North Carolina, and Dr. Dumonte Clarke of Asheville, NC developed this idea into the Lord’s Acre Plan as a way for rural churches to raise money and they began spreading the word throughout the country.  

The movement came to Harrison County in 1946 when area Methodist churches, all part of the Harrison County Larger Parish, began holding meetings to talk about how it could be implemented locally. The first sales were held in the fall.  While an instrumental part of the planning, the Ridgeway ME church didn’t advertise their sale in the local papers and there was only a brief mention in the Ridgeway News column in Harrison County Times that the ladies of the church would serve a “Lord’s Acre turkey dinner at city hall on November 8 at noon.  (Harrison County Times, Nov 6, 1947.)   The sale garnered $800 for the Ridgeway church and over $14,000 for the Larger Parish from all the sales combined. (Bethany Republican-Clipper, Oct 31, 1947.)

Dr. Dumonte Clarke came to visit Harrison County in October 1948, speaking at both the Ridgeway and Mt. Moriah Methodist churches.  He used “pictures showing development of rural church work in many parts of the nation.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, October 20, 1948).  Thus began a church tradition that continues to this day.  

Bit of History -- October 15, 2025

A couple of interesting items from the front page of the Ridgeway Journal dated October 11, 1934:

Many Ridgeway baseball fans rooted for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1934 World Series as they played against the Detroit Tigers.  The manager of the Palace Theater rigged up loud speakers at the front of the theater and “the play by play announcements by Tom Manning, Graham MeNamee and other broadcasters at the ball parks could be distinctly beard anywhere along the street in the business section.”   The Cards shut out the Tigers in the seventh and final game in Detroit with a score of 11-0. “Now that the annual baseball classic is out of the way ‘business as usual’ is once more the order of the day.”  

Howard Baker and Buster Goodwin of Ridgeway took a two-week trip to Seattle, Washington to assist Fred Tucker with the purchase of three reindeer.  He planned to use them “in advertising features during the yuletide season”, then return them to Seattle for the rest of the winter.  “Mr. Tucker is owner of a show that ‘makes’ the various towns throughout the midwest.  A number of his players are now in Ridgeway, notable among them being a group of Japanese acrobats.”

Bit of History -- October 8, 2025

In 1911, Ridgeway supported not one but two football teams:  the high school team and a town team.  The high school team played their first game of the year against Princeton, winning 5 to 0.  “It was a very disagreeable afternoon as it had rained nearly everyday last week. it rained almost continually Saturday until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then stopped be until about a couple of hours after the game was finished.”  The Ridgeway team made the only score of the game in the first quarter.  

It was a hard fought game:  “The home boys were heavier than the visitors, but what the visitors lacked in weight they made up in speed, keeping the home boys guessing all the time to figure out the plays and get the man with the ball.”  One Ridgeway player, Glenn Neff, quarterback, twisted his ankle in the second quarter and Gee Ragan substituted for him.  “All the boys played excellent football and to give one prominent mention would be to neglect another who pulled off many excellent plays in their different positions.”

Ridgeway also had the town team to root for.  They were to play their first game against Graceland College in Lamoni that Friday. “Several of the boys in the team have never played football before, but but they are learning fast and making a fine showing.”  The high school team and the town team had been holding scrimmages against each other to practice.  (Ridgeway Journal, Oct 5, 1911)