Bit of History -- May 28, 2025

Thank you to the sweet reader who called to share her memories of living in Ridgeway:

“I am 90 years old and I remember when people had to start to pass a written driver’s test in order to get a license.  All of the members of the class of 1953 went together in May to the Triplet Shoe Repair Sho[ in to get our driver’s license.  He was the notary public and his building was across from the Farmer’s National Bank. Of course this man was the only notary public in town for many, many years.”  

At that time, you had to apply for your driver’s license at a notary public.  She said they all wanted to get their license before the state began requiring that you pass the exam.  When she and I talked about the shop, we thought the notary might have been Ernest Triplet, but most likely (according to the Ridgeway:  Then and Now centennial book ), he was probably Robert Milligan who was also a shoe repairman, tax collector and insurance agent.  He’d had polio and used a wheelchair as did Ernest Triplet, the original owner of the shop who had been paralyzed in a farming accident.  The notary had all the students take the written exam “so they could see what it was about”

She also recalled that she used to smile and feel happy when the train passed by the school and blew its whistle, because the teachers would stop what they were doing until the train had passed!  It was a delight to talk with her for a while and listen to her reminisce about the past.

Bit of History -- May 21, 2025

 This week is a continuation of the Ridgeway soldiers’ letters home that were published in the Ridgeway Journal in 1918. By the second half of the year, things were a bit more serious.

The September 12, 1918 edition of the Ridgeway Journal published two servicemen’s letters. Dolph Cain wrote to his aunt, Mrs. S. D. Rardin Jr. a rather cheerful letter that only really lamented that he had only seen one other boy from home: “One of the Worley boys that lived in Mt. Moriah is now in the Supply Co. in the 17^th.” He also wrote that “I have become so used to the shell fire that I can lie down behind the large guns and go to sleep. I slept for three weeks beside one of the guns and of a morning when I would awaken, I would be slid off my blankets by the jar of the guns. I always use cotton in my ears.”

In the same issue, Glen Yeater wrote again to his mother: “We have returned from the trenches and are enjoying a short rest. All of the boys are feeling fine and all of the Ridgeway boys are still in this company except Ted and Peanut and they are in headquarters company. I saw Ted last night and he is at the same people we are now. I have not seen Dolph Cain or any of the other boys from there that over here thought.”

In August, Miss Theo (Theodosia) Bennett sailed to France to join her sister, Ruth in the Army Nurse Corps. In September, Ruth wrote to their brother O. P. Bennet that she had received a letter from Theo that she was on the way. She also wrote “Was on duty two nights. Not of my work has been hard like it was in Camp Songe, but some of the girls are working very hard and no doubt my time will come.” There is a page dedicated to these nursing sisters in the Ridgeway: Then and Now centennial book on page 241 which has more information about their service.

Cpl Ted Opdyke was killed in action in September. His last letter to his mother, Rosa Opdyke, was written four days before he died and was published with his obituary: “I am well but don’t know much to write. Haven’t seen a paper for several days so don’t know much of what goes on, but I hope we are still getting the best of it.” Glen Yeater wrote this sad letter to his sister, Ide Montgomery on Oct 9: “I suppose you read in the papers about us being on the front. Several of the boys from Bethany were wounded; Ted Opdyke was killed and I was with him at the time.”

By November, there was hope instead of sadness. Theo Bennet wrote this letter to her brother Charles on Nov 24: “Everyone is rejoicing now that the war is won and many will be sent home soon. I am only a short distance from Ruth, but too far to see her….I am wishing you a Merry Christmas and well may you rejoice this year for many homes will be very sad.”

One final letter from Glen Yeater to his mother: “The other boys here are feeling fine and we are all anxiously waiting for the time when we will start back to the U. S. A. That will sure be a happy day for us….As yesterday was Thanksgiving, I supposed you had a good dinner. I sure would have like to have been there to help you.”

If you would like to see the full text of the letters I have collected, please check out the RCBA blog. These letters will be posted on Friday to ridgewaycba.blogspot.com

Bit of History - May 14, 2025

In 1918, many of Ridgeway’s young men and women left their hometown to serve their country during what we now call World War I.  As these were the days before texting, emails and unlimited long distance, they wrote letters home to their families and friends to update them on what was happening overseas.  Many of these letters were published in the Ridgeway Journal for all to read.

Dolph Cain was “Ridgeway’s First Representative in France” and he sent his first letter to the Journal editor, published January 18, 1918:  “I presume that I am the first of our boys to come across.  We landed safe and sound, so we all have a warm spot in our hearts for the navy “for taking care of the submarines.  He also wrote “Everything here looks much different that in the U. S. A.  All the fields are green and it looks like summer.”

Ira B. Chapman was in Camp Hancock, GA for training and wanted to let everyone know that “they have not killed me yet”.  He exclaimed about the higher prices for that he was paying for food and was “getting anxious to see the waters” on his way overseas.  

In May, Garland Johnson wrote his father, C. E. Johnson, from the ship that he was sailing to France:  “Well, here I am on the sea and no land in sight yet, however we are all patiently waiting and anxiously watching for said soil.”  He thought he would be very happy to get his feet back on “some good firm soil”.  There were about 3500 soldiers on board plus a crew of 400-500.  “Talk about a crowd—it is worse on this ship than the streets are in old Ridgeway when she has a rip-roaring big crowd July 4th.  We are packed like sardines.”

O. P. Bennett shared a letter from his sister Ruth who was serving overseas in France in the Army Nurse Corps.  She was stationed at a camp hospital near Bourdeaux and wrote “they have never had nurses here before.  We have very comfy quarters with running water and hot bath and good menu.”  She also wrote “All night long I can hear the troops coming to or leaving camp and try to realize what a big job this war is.”  She was grateful for the food they got: “It is great to know that we are really getting what you are doing without that we may have.  We have canned butter and canned milk, plenty of sugar, but they say the fruit is getting very scarce.”

I have several more letters that I will share next week.  If you would like to see the full text of the letters I have collected, including several others and a list of local residents who were serving as of June 1918, please check out the RCBA blog:  ridgewaycba.blogspot.com.

Bit of History -- May 7, 2025

In the 1940s, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rinehart started a tradition of inviting mothers who would be alone on Mother’s Day to have dinner with them. In 1946, they hosted five mothers including Frank and each mother received a handkerchief and a Mother’s Day card. They carried on this tradition for at least twenty years and hosted as many as 29 mothers who would otherwise have been alone on Mother’s Day.

In 1958, they extended the invitation to other women who may not have been mothers but would be alone on that day and extended invitations to women in Bethany as well as Ridgeway. That year, they hosted 25 ladies for lunch and “Mrs. Rinehart cooked everything herself, include four kinds of pies and two kinds of cakes.” (Bethany Republican-Clipper, May 14, 1958.)

Bit of History -- April 30, 2025

In 1866, the leaders of Harrison County appointed John W. Brown to purchase land to build the county’s “poor farm”, a place for those who were indigent would live and work. He found and purchased an unknown amount of acreage in section 9, township 64, range 27 – a plot of land southeast of Ridgeway (east of what is now known as East 250^th Street and south of West 245^th St.) The land was purchased in 1866 and the buildings on it were erected two years later. (Per the 1914 plat map, one of these buildings was the “Asylum”.) “This farm under county management afforded a comfortable home for the poor of the county until about 1902”. (History of Harrison County, Missouri, Geo. W Wanamaker, 1921, pages 186-187)

The county officials would advertise in the local papers for bids for someone to take over the management of the farm for two years. The bid needed to include the amount the bidder would accept per week of “boarding and clothing and taking care of each poor person” as well as rent per acre for “the plow land in said farm and the amount per acre for the pasture and meadow land.” The bidders had to provide a bond to place a bid. (Bethany Clipper, Jan 18, 1883)

In 1883, one woman was taken to the poor farm after she got off the train in Ridgeway unable to give her name or address at first. She was seen by the local doctor and taken to a local family but after she had a “hard fit”, that family request that she be moved. She was taken to the poor farm where she was cared for until she could recover enough to remember her name. (Bethany Clipper, Nov 29, 1993, page 4).

The poor farm remained in operation near Ridgeway until 1902 at which time the farm was closed and operations moved to Bethany.

Bit of History -- April 23, 2025

“He was just a dog.  Mister-- that’s all;
And all of us boys called him Pug;
He was black, crippled and not very tall,
But he’d fight at the drop of hat for us all.”

On April 18, 1912, the Ridgeway Journal published the sad obituary of a dog named Pug.   Pug, an “old black dog known to all in Ridgeway and a friend to everybody who was kind to him.”  He lived at the home of his masters, the Spragg family.  “Speaking in a way, the old dog has raised every boy in the town; everybody swore by him and in his death we lose a friend that cannot be replaced.”

One evening, he was shot by a man “because he had a grudge against Pug’s owners” and because the dog had been barking in the street by his home.  

The poor pup survived for several days.  He was cared for by the boys on a bed of straw and rags in the back of the Ridgeway Journal office.  Many inquired after his welfare during the next several days, but Pug continued to suffer until a boy,“one of Pug’s best friends”, ended Pug’s suffering as an act of kindness.

The editor of the paper described the man “(we hate to refer to him as a man)” as a brute, “lower by far than the dog he killed.”  The writer went on to say that the “old faithful dog stands a much better change of reaching that spiritual mansion” than the one who shot him.  The article ended with “This is written with no apologies, to anyone.” 

Bit of History - April 16, 2025

A few items from the front page of the Ridgeway Journal dated April 10, 1941:

Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Roberson opened a new funeral home in the house they rented from the estate of the late J. W. Leazenby.  Originally from Moberly, Missouri, they had just moved from Eagleville to Ridgeway when the house they rented there was sold.  Mr. Roberson was a licensed embalmer and his wife was his assistant. 

James Prather’s thirteen ewes produced a total of twenty one lambs that month.  There were nine sets of twin in the bunch.  “That’s a record that will give the other fellows something to shoot at”, said Mr. Prather.

Mr. Quillin’s high school music class presented the operetta “Oh, Doctor” in the school auditorium “that delighted a large and appreciative audience.”

Dean Williams lased the J. W. Leazenby farm “on the north side of the gravel road west of town.”  He planned to farm the land and sub leased the house to James Prather.  He also planned “to farm another tract of land south of town.”

Gilbert Claycomb narrowly escaped death while cleaning a well on the James Prather farm in Trail Creek. When he was about twenty feet down the well, a large rock weighing about fifty two pounds dislodged at the surface, hitting him on the head and leaving him with a five inch gash.  “One theory of why he was not killed by the rock was that ricocheted from wall to wall in the course of its descent” which would have slowed it down.

Bit of History -- April 6, 2025

The Ridgeway Journal published Town Ordinance No. XXVIII in which the Board of Trustees listed some new misdemeanors effective as of April 6, 1893. Along with more serious rules, there were several that we might find amusing today. For example, if you kept a “male horse or jack for teasing and serving mares”, you had to stay 300 feet from any school, college or church or you had to have a barrier to keep the horses from being seen. If you didn’t, you could be fined up to $100.

If you played “card or games of any kind, include base ball and marbles” on Sundays, you could be fined up to $10. 

If a minor climbed on or held or “or any manner attach himself to any locomotive, engine or car while the same has been in motion” or stood in the tracks with a locomotive attached, the person could be fined up to $50. Minors under the age of 15 “found lounging around places of business or upon the streets or alleys” without having a “lawful errand” after 10 pm could be fined up to $10.

If you forgot to tie up your horses or decided to ride one on the sidewalks, you could be fined between $2 and $10 and if you tied tin cans or any “other thing calculated to make a noise” to the tail of an animal, you could be find up to $25.

Bit of History -- April 2, 2025

From the front page of the Ridgeway Journal dated April 2, 1936: Someone in Harrison County was poisoning dogs. As of this issue, fourteen dogs had been poisoned to death including “Wolf”, the dog belonging to Ridgeway nightwatchman Noah Lawrence. The dog was “fine German police dog” who accompanied Lawrence on his rounds, a “gentle animal but an ever-read help to Noah in dealing with unruly prowlers. “Marshall Will Crosby collected the poisoned animals and buried them on Witt Hill.” (As far as I could find, the poisoner was never caught though at least one more dog died at his/her hands.)

Lloyd Spragg, WPA project director of Harrison County, announced that the city of Ridgeway would receive a grant from the WPA for $1200 for improving the city hall. The work of “improving the ancient building” (city hall was built in 1914, so only 22 years old) would start soon and would include remodeling the interior and other improvements. The grant required the inclusion of an assembly room where “meetings of various kinds can be held.” They also intended to build an addition “to house the fire apparatus.”

There was a lot of local entertainment noted in the paper that week. A “declamatory contest” was held in the high school assembly hall which included performers of all ages. The program included “readings, songs and extemporaneous speaking” followed by a speaking contest.

The senior class sponsored another night of entertainment with an amateur contest at the Palace Theatre. There were twenty-six numbers in this program which included acts such as a trumpet solo by Don Waddilove and a duet by Comer sisters Wanda and Fleeta.

The junior class was planning to present a play entitled “Always” at the Palace Theatre the next week.

The 4-H members had the opportunity to receive free trees if they paid the cost of transportation from the United States Forest Service. The trees included black locusts and catalpas and were part of an effort to conserve soil.

Bit of History - March 26, 2025

In 1905, Ridgeway had two telephone exchanges.  There had been telephone service in Ridgeway since at least 1899 per the Ridgeway Journal. According the “Ridgeway: Then and Now” centennial book, the earliest telephone service was the Neff Telephone exchange which was located in the Kerns building and operated by Nellie Nelson.  Later, it was located in the Grant building which stood on the now empty lot on the corner of Main and Cedar streets before the Farmer’s National Bank of Ridgeway built there.  

Around 1905, the Harrison County Mutual Telephone company also started operations in Ridgeway.  However, there was trouble as “the two exchanges do not exchange”.  Per an editorial in the March 31, 1905 edition of the Ridgeway Journal, the fact that the two telephone companies didn’t work together, “the business firms having patrons on both systems would be compelled to be at the expense of renting two phones to get the service demanded.”  The editor felt that the two companies needed to work out their differences and if they could not, then “the patrons, as a last resort, can take steps unitedly and for an agreement.”  

However, as late as 1918, both companies were still in service and some businesses did, in fact have, have a phone for each exchange.  In Bethany, a funeral director and two doctors listed a phone number for each exchange (Bethany Democrat, Nov 11, 1912)  The Neff Telephone exchange provided telephone service to Bethany and Gilman City (and probably other towns) in addition to Ridgeway.  The Harrison County Mutual Telephone changed hands a few times, but eventually outlasted the Neff exchange, becoming Grand River Mutual that still provides our service today.