USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay County, Missouri > Part 12
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Iron Bicarbonate
4.1934
4.5675
5.4454
2.3915
5.0036
Manganese Bicarb.
0.8445
0.6498
1.1957
0.3768
0.4573
Calcium Bicarb.
34.2406
13.1159
14.5719
90.7003
68.7866
Magnesium Bicarb.
5.5445
16.2496
14.1376
14.9704
5.3435
Sodium Bicarb.
0.5425
9.5595
1.3475
19.9593
Mineral constituents expressed in grains per U. S. Gallon.
*Awarded medal and diploma World's Fair, Chicago, 1893.
1W. P. Mason, Dean and Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y.
A comparison of the analyses of the several Sulpho-Saline and Bicar- bonate-Soda waters of Excelsior Springs with those of the famous European waters of similar type is no less impressive. Among the latter may be mentioned-Vichy, France; Ems and Nauheim, Germany ; Karls- bad and Marienbad, Austria, and many others. And still more convinc- ing is the testimony of scores of former patrons of foreign spas who have found relief in this home of many wonderful springs.
The highest type of analytical chemists obtainable have been em- ployed by the city and individual owners of springs, and a protective sys- tem seldom found in other resorts is rigidly enforced. The municipal chemist tests the licensed springs every thirty days and submits a report to the city council. If a suspicious element appears the spring is at once closed. The license to sell or ship water from a spring is only granted when a satisfactory analysis of it is submitted by a chemist of known ability and this analysis must be posted in a conspicuous place in the spring pavilion for inspection by patrons.
A complete analysis of Siloam (Iron-Manganese) spring owned by the city is of especial interest from the fact that it was the first of the group discovered and further, because it has remained first in the estimation of the public.
Spring
Spring
Brunnen
Quelle
180
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
SILOAM SPRING.
(Analysis by Dr. W. P. Mason.)
Iron Bicarbonate
2.7688
Manganese Bicarbonate
0.2524
Calcium Bicarbonate
21.5233
Magnesium Bicarbonate
2.4305
Sodium Chloride
0.9949
Magnesium Chloride
0.7540
Potassium Sulphate
0.1929
Calcium Sulphate
1.3028
Alumina
0.3890
Silica
1.6777
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
J
1
32.2863
Temperature of Spring 54.5ยบ F.
The importance of bathing as one of the most valuable of the many curative agents employed at the modern watering place has also been fully recognized. The invalid will find here that the mineral waters, especially those of the Sulpho-Saline type, whose external use are so beneficial in a wide range of ailments, are utilized in connection with a complete equipment of scientific appliances. The standard of treatment in the bath houses, large and small, is uniformly high; the treatments are given by trained attendants and many of the bath houses employ only gradute Swedish masseurs.
The Elms and Snapp's hotels have spacious and luxurious bathing establishments with elevator service from all floors. Each have separate departments for men and women. Without exception all of the many other bathing establishments are conveniently located within the hotel, boarding and apartment house district.
Invalids are advised to consult a resident physician as to the use of the water and baths suited to their individual requirements. Many of the waters contain medicinal properties that are definite in their action- not merely negative-and harmful results may follow their miscellaneous use.
1
1
1
181
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
Another pleasing temptation to live in the open is the famous 18 hole course of the Excelsior Spring Golf Club.
The Club House is 200 feet above the Springs and overlooks, for many miles in every direction, a strikingly beautiful landscape. This beautiful environment is protected by a restricted area of 500 acres owned by the Club.
The course-6,450 yards in length, par 75, bogey 82-covers 125 acres of natural golfing land-diversified, rolling, wooded upland-which has been covered with a heavy carpet of native blue grass for over 30 years. Well known as "The course with no artificial hazards", it calls for an interesting variety of true golf play. There are no holes that one recalls as dull, or as freakish; a good proportion stand favorable com- parison with noted holes on other links and 2, 11 and 13 have a fame of their own as "The finest natural holes in the country".
Hosts of golfers now desert their home clubs, twice each year, to be out of doors in the ideal spring and autumn weather on Golf Hill. The Club is open the year round; the perfect drainage and heavy turf per- mitting continuous play excepting during January and February.
The Club House, which started in a log house (built in 1835), has been added to a number of times to meet requirements, now shelters locker-rooms, showers, and the many comforts usual to country clubs. Luncheon is served. There is a professional who gives lessons, makes clubs, and supplies all needed golfing accessories. Visitors cards for the day, week or month can be obtained at the Club House, entitling one to the Club and course privileges.
The many hotels, the scores of apartments and rooming houses, flats and furnished cottages, meet the strictest requirements of the very-rich as well as the very-modest in purse.
The large hotels are architecturally pleasing and of fire-proof con- struction. They are complete with every convenience and luxury to be had in the highest type of hotels in the greater cities, but they carry an added appeal to those who are seeking pleasure, rest and health.
Some have an added attraction as evidenced by a notably beautiful park, a spacious sun-parlor, a breezy roof garden or a complete bathing establishment, and all have an unusual excess of living and lounging space in their lobbies, assembly and ball rooms and verandas. All have good orchestras, dancing and a variety of entertainments.
182
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
The smaller hotels and the boarding houses as well, are noted for the uniform excellence of table and room service and moderate charges. The apartments and flats offer a wide range of choice. One can have a suite of handsomely furnished rooms, including bath, dining room and kitchen- ette, or light housekeeping in a modest furnished cottage-the range of choice is almost unlimited.
It may be remarked here that the reasonable charges for all classes of accommodations, also prevail in all other lines of business. This con- dition will probably continue in marked contrast to the cost of living at other resorts, for there is here a steady flow of visitors all the year round.
Siloam Spring, ever since its discovery which led to the founding of Excelsior Springs in 1881, has been the center around which the visitors and residents have assembled-it remains the "hub" of the city. The fine woodland surrounding it and extending to the southern line of hills, together with a wide frontage on Broadway, the combined area occupy- ing two-thirds of the entire valley, has been purchased for the main park entrance and the site of the park's most elaborate development.
The entrance is approached east and west by the Broadway "White Way". The same effective scheme of illumination has been extended to other streets and this together with the brilliantly lighted spring pavilions, places of amusement and shop windows, give the town at night a bright, inviting appearance. The stores and shops in great variety, with their smart window displays and up-to-date stocks, are in them- selves an interesting feature. They satisfactorily meet the wide range of needs of a resort and home community.
The school system ranks among the best in the state. There are two primary schools, and the new High School, built at a cost of $65,000.00, includes manual training, domestic science, business and teacher training among its courses. Its graduation certificates are ac- cepted by all western universities. There is a fine Carnegie Public Library. Nearly all leading denominations of churches are represented : Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, Christian, Christian Union and Christian Science.
The Home Telephone Company owns its own exchange building and operates the Bell long distance system. The leading hotels have tele- phone service in all sleeping rooms.
183
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
There are many garages and also auto repair shops. The only manu- facturing industries of a commercial nature are the necessary public utilities plants, the bottling works, the pure milk company, and the ice and cold storage plant.
Broadway, as well as all the other streets in the business section of the town, is paved with asphalt. The alleys are paved with brick laid on a concrete foundation. The curbing and sidewalks are cement. A sanitary sewerage system serves every section of the city. The domestic water supply comes from deep wells, eight miles south of the town near the Missouri River and is pumped to the water tower and reservoir which feed the high and low levels. No city has a better supply of pure water.
With water and sewer connections enforced, the surface drainage pro- vided for, and a monthly sanitary examination of the springs, the city has taken every practical and scientific precaution to prevent any possible contamination of its mineral waters and safeguard the health of its resi- dents and visitors.
In the fullest meaning of the words, there are here all the comforts and conveniences of a prosperous sanitary city amid beautiful and rest- ful rural surroundings.
Amusements indoor and out are plentiful, all one would expect to find at a national resort. The shaded roads and byways, leading in every direction through the picturesque surrounding country, offer every temp- tation for walking, horseback riding, driving and motoring. The high class saddle horses, for which the Springs is well known, come from this blue grass region of fine cattle and horses.
The Annual Fox Hunt over a preserve of nearly 2,000 acres some six miles distant has a more than local reputation and brings hundreds of hunters each fall to the camping ground in a forest nearby the scene of the meet.
There is bass and croppie fishing at Wales' lake a short distance away and also a beach for bathing.
Tennis is of course popular and there are several good courts.
A large three-story building, costing $80,000, is devoted entirely to in-door sports-on the first floor are ten bowling alleys-and there are many other places devoted to clean, healthful amusements.
Band concerts are given in the Spring park, and there is dancing four evenings each week at one or the other of the hotels.
184
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
Excelsior Springs is 30 miles northeast of Kansas City, "The Heart of America", and no other resort can be reached so comfortably and quickly, from all parts of the United States. More than 10,000,000 people are within a night's ride.
Public Schools of Excelsior Springs.
By Prof. G. W. Diemer.
In the spring of 1880, the first school in Excelsior Springs began the work of preparing the children for a more efficient life and better citizen- ship. It was a private school with three months' term, taught by Mrs. Robert Caldwell at her present home, the Caldwell House. This first school mistress of Excelsior Springs taught forty-odd pupils, coming mostly from tents on the hillside, in rooms fitted with the furniture dis- carded from a country school house.
In the fall of the same year, the first district school was opened. A man started the term as teacher, but he imbibed too freely of something stronger than mineral water, and was promptly discharged by the school directors.
In the spring of '81, Mrs. Caldwell taught a three months' term in the old Snyder building on Broadway. It has burned down since but it stood where De Hoff's paint shop is now. That fall the directors rented three down stairs rooms in a combination store-house and residence on Broadway. Tom Wills was principal and Mrs. Caldwell and Miss Nancy Garrett, now the wife of Rev. H. A. Hunt, were teachers.
Mrs. Caldwell's last term of teaching was of eight months' in the fall of '83 and the spring of '84. She was principal and Miss Mattie Withers was the other teacher. The Baptist church had just been com- pleted and school was held in it with a calico curtain drawn across to make two rooms.
Speaking of her experience in teaching, Mrs. Caldwell said, "None of the schools were graded, but we taught nearly everything except Latin. Classes began at eight o'clock, and, in the afternoon, they lasted until the work was finished which was often five o'clock. Among my old pupils were Jeff and Walter Craven, Sam Huey, Mrs. Callerman, the six Prather boys, Lee and Wes Brummitt, Charlie Coppinger and Reba Prather, now Mrs. Coppinger".
PUBLIC LIBRARY. EXCELIOR SPRINGS, MO.
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING. EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, MO.
185
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
About that time, D. W. Henrie, then clerk of the Excelsior House, and, according to Mrs. Caldwell, "the best school director she ever saw", began working to interest people in a library for the schools. Mrs. Cald- well says she can remember yet how he looked bringing in a bushel bas- ket of books that had been donated, and distributing them for the pupils to use".
In December, 1885, the Wyman school was completed. It has four rooms and was built on land donated by the Excelsior Springs Company, which owned most of the land in Excelsior Springs at that time. It took its name from Anson Wyman, the founder of the town-a brother of Jake Wyman. The first school in the building began in January, 1886, with Dr. J. J. Gaines as principal.
Doctor Gaines says of the school and the town at the time: "No railroad ran through the town and everyone had to come in wagons from Liberty. There were no water or lighting systems and we used kero- sene lamps. I lived in the Cliff House where Frank Benson now lives, and looking down on the town on winter nights I could count all the lights on the fingers of one hand. There was not a graded school in the county. In the common school course we taught some subjects more advanced than those now taught in the grammar schools. The pupils studied what they wanted and when they wanted to. While I was prin- cipal, the first class was graduated from the public schools. The mem- bers of the class were W. D. Flack, Fred Dice, Mel Weston and Mrs. Mollie McGlothlin, later Mrs. J. H. Samples, but now dead".
Prof. H. H. King was principal from 1888 to 1890. Under him the course of study was enlarged and for the first time was uniform with that of the rest of the county.
In 1890 the Isley school was built on ground donated by Jerry Isley. Under Professor Riggs, from 1890 to 1892, the Iligh School was estab- lished. A full four years' course of study was not then offered, but one of the subjects offered was bookkeeping. The High School was brought up to the accredited standard under Prof. I. F. Kennedy, 1892-1900. Leslie Bates was superintendent the year following Professor Kennedy.
While B. F. Brown was superintendent, from 1901-1904, athletics were introduced in the schools. The High School commenced playing baseball and football with Liberty but, sad to say until recent years, was always defeated. In 1902 the Isley school burned. An effort was made
186
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
to rebuild where the Crystal Lithia Spring now stands instead of on the old site. The proposition was submitted to the people and was defeated by seventeen votes. The school was rebuilt on the east hill in 1903, and an addition has since been added to it. Prof. A. C. Farley was superin- tendent from 1904 to 1908, and Miss Eva Packard from 1908 to 1910.
The development of the school has been especially great and rapid since 1910. Prof. G. W. Beswick was superintendent at that time and held the position for four years. During that period football and base- ball were dropped and basketball and track work were substituted. At the beginning of Mr. Beswick's term, the schools were in a very crowded condition. The High School was jammed in with the grades in the Wy- man school building. It had three rooms and an inadequate library, up- stairs, with a laboratory so poorly lighted that work in it was difficult, downstairs. One set of pupils had to study in a room while another re- cited which made the study difficult and the work poor. The faculty consisted of but four members, and graduates on going to college found themselves handicapped by their poor high school training.
In 1912, the present High School building was completed; manual training and domestic science were added to the High School curriculum. In 1913 the new heating plant was built with the manual training room over it. The manual training and domestic science courses were thrown open to the seventh and eighth grades. Mechanical drawing was put in the old manual training room on the first floor of the High School build- ing. A music supervisor was employed and credits were given in music just as in the other subjects.
In 1914 the present superintendent, G. W. Deimer, was employed. During the seven years of his administration the growth and improve- ment of the schools has been continuous. During 1915 the capacity of the High School building was doubled by the addition of the south half of the building. This addition not only provided needed rooms to take care of the growth of the High School but contained a large and splen- didly equipped auditorium.
During 1915-1916 the Junior High School was organized, the first school of its kind to be thus organized in the state of Missouri. This school has proved a great success and has been the means of stimulating greatly the interest in grades seven and eight. So great has been the increased interest in these grades, that the enrollment in grades seven
187
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
and eight of the schools is practically equal to the enrollment in grades one and two.
During 1915-1916, the Commercial and Teacher Training courses were added. Scores of graduates from the Commercial Department are holding responsible positions in the business world, while some of the best teachers in Clay and Ray Counties received their professional train- ing in the Teacher Training Department of the Excelsior Springs High School.
The war stopped temporarily the development of the schools. The year following the close of the war, the schools again began to move forward. Vocational Agriculture and Vocational Home Economics were added to the Senior High School course of study and special teachers were employed to take care of these courses. A full time Librarian and Study Hall teacher was employed, and the Excelsior Springs High School now has one of the best libraries to be found in any high school in the state.
The Excelsior Springs High School has been repeatedly rated by the State Department of Education as one of best high schools in the state. The school is a member of the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, the highest official rating that any high school can have.
In various school activities the schools, also, have an enviable record. In 1918-1919 the high school basket ball team won the northwest Mis- souri and all state championships. In 1919-1920, the debating team, also, won the northwest Missouri and state titles. During this same year the school won the point trophy in the literary contests at William Jewell College.
The People of Excelsior Springs believe in education and have seen to it that progressive and able citizens are placed on the Board of Edu- cation. With men of unquestioned integrity in charge, the people of the community have given liberal financial support to the schools. As a result of this liberal financial policy, the schools are among the best equipped in the state. The Board has been able to pay attractive salaries in order to secure and hold competent teachers.
The personnel of the Board and teaching staff at the present time is as follows: H. L. Moore, president ; H. C. Tindall, vice-president ; Dr. D. T. Polk, treasurer; M. L. Mahaffie, Dr. W. B. Greason, Dr. M. L. Rowe, J. Q. Craven, clerk ; Katharine Robertson, office clerk; G. W. Diemer, super-
188
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
intendent; Mary Hurt Shafer, Charles F. Schnabel, Benjamin H. Overman, C. H. Threlkeld, principal; V. L. Pickens, Martha Chandler, Ruth Farwell, Ola Wickham, Lucy W. Clouser, Hazel E. Pfeiffer, Blanche Waters, Gladys E. Strong, Evelyn Duncan, Mercedes Vernaz, Elizabeth Ryle, M. Oclo Miller, Mary Lee Coffman, Vertie Hulett, J. W. Richardson, Stella Wells, Sally McIver, Minnie Smart, Helen Dickey, May Smith, Anna Morgan, Mattie Clevenger, Arta Boterman, Winifred Mabry, Helen Ley, Carrie E. Wear, H. W. Burton.
CHAPTER XIII.
GALLATIN TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION-DRAINAGE-ONE OF THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS-SETTLED IN 1822- VILLAGES-BARRY, FIRST AN INDIAN TRADING POST-HARLEM-MOSCOW- RANDOLPH-NORTH KANSAS CITY-EARLY CHURCHES.
Gallatin township comprises the southwestern portion of Clay County and is bounded on the east by Liberty township and the Missouri River, on the south by the river, on the west by Platte County, and on the north by Platte township. It contains some excellent lands and fine farms, but there is also a great deal of rough and unproductive tracts in the township. Big Shoal creek and its branches drain the greater portion of the township.
Gallatin was one of the original townships of Clay County, compris- ing in 1822 the western half of the county. Settlements were made along Big Shoal in 1822. David Manchester's mill was a noted point in 1825. It is alleged that a few French families lived on Randolph Bluffs in 1800. In the neighborhood of Barry settlements were made about 1830, and there was a postoffice at Barry in 1836, with P. Flemming as postmaster.
Gallatin township boasts of the enterprising and public spirit of its citizens and is noted for its fine horses, cattle and live stock generally.
The villages of Gallatin township are numerous, viz: Barry, Linden and Gashland, Harlem, Moscow, Arnold (or Blue Eagle), and Minaville, or North Missouri Junction, Birmingham and the city of North Kansas City.
Barry was established first as an Indian trading post about the year 1830, before the Platte Purchase, when what is now Platte County be-
190
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
longed to the red men. Its location immediately on the boundary line (west half of center section 10 and east half of center of section 11, town- ship 51, range 33) puts half the town in Clay and half in Platte. It has a population of about 200, contains two churches, Cumberland Presby- terian and Christian, a good school, stores, shops, etc. It is ten miles west of Liberty and about the same distance north of Kansas City.
Harlem lies in the extreme southwestern part of the township, on the north bank of the Missouri, immediately across the river from Kansas City. It dates its origin from the completion of the railroad through it to Kansas City. Prior to 1880 the location was subject to complete over- flow by every "June rise" in the Missouri, but in that year the United States government built a strong levee to the northwest and large addi- tional appropriations have since been made from time to time to strengthen this work so as to prevent future serious overflow. The great flood of 1881, however, nearly drowned out the village. The following lines of railroad pass through Harlem: The Hannibal and St. Joseph, the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific, the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Coun- cil Bluffs and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific-the latter running over the track of the H. & St. Jo.
Moscow is located on the northeast quarter of section 7, township 50, range 32, eleven miles southwest of Liberty and five and one-half miles from Kansas City. The nearest station is Arnold's, two and a half miles away.
Randolph, on the Hannibal and St. Joseph (sec. 1/4 of 9-50-32), seven From its earliest history it has been quite' a shipping point. It is re- miles northeast of Kansas City, was founded upon the completion of the railroad by M. S. Arnold, Esq., for whom the place was first named.
Minaville, or North Missouri Junction, is located on the northeast quarter of section 11, township 50, range 32, eight miles from Kansas City and six miles from Liberty. It is the point where the Hannibal and St. Joseph and the Wabash Railroad tracks formerly connected, and dates its existence from about 1868.
North Kansas City, which is located in the southwestern corner of the township, just across the river from Kansas City, has within the last few years become one of the important industrial communities of the county. A number of industries are located here and all branches of business are well represented.
191
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
Barry Cumberland Presbyterian Church .- At Barry, on the county line, between Clay and Platte Counties, was organized June 3, 1826, by R. D. Morrow, with 27 members, among whom were Henry J. Weeden, Jonathan English, Jeremiah Burns, Benjamin Craig, Herman Davis, Easter (or Esther) Davis, John English, Jane Burns, Polly English, David P. Gill, William Hulott, Thomas Adams, Matilda Simrall and Hugh Brown. Some of the pastors who have served this church are Revs. Robert D. Morrow, O. D. Allen, A. D. Miller, W. Schenck, W. O. H. Perry and J. H. Norman.
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