Metropolitan Community College - Sunburst Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 23 text:

from HICKMAN MILLS . . . Eighteen years after the Washington township was organized, Edward A. Hickman bought forty acres of land to establish a steam mill for grinding grain. His S397 land investment of T854 triggered the development of the present Hickman Mills community. The first public school of the future Consolidated School District No. l appeared in l855. ln time, the first Ruskin High was erected, named after the noted professor of art at Oxford College, England. The Hickman Mills area suffered extensively as a tornado struck the community in l957, but the tremendous spirit of the people gained the upper hand and renewed the vital progress of the metro- politan division. Today the students of the schools and all the citizens of the community share in the development of the vigorous Kansas City suburb. from BELTON . . . The first permanent settlement in Mt. Pleasant township-a later portion of the School District No. T24-was made in the l83O's and l84O's by families moving from Kentucky and Tennessee. The town was founded in T870 by George Scott and W. H. Colbern and was in- corporated as a city in l88O. A visit to the old cemetery of Belton will reveal the names of two impressive American figures who lived within the community: Carry Nation, militant prohibitionist, is buried in her family plot of her hometown, Dale Carnegie, too, spent his childhood years on his parents' farm near Belton and now lies in this historical ground. After the Civil War Belton became one of the fastest growing towns in Cass County. Cornfields sprout overnight, not with fields of grain, but with spanking new subdivisions. And these new sub- divisions still provide continuous growth for the Belton community and its public.schools. l.Shopping Center, Rayt 2 C ty H l High School, 4. Busines D t t G d 5 H gh Grandview to Belton. W afwwi 589 ,A 1- Q-.' M V. f , QXWTH X I ,Y . J 4, t QM , ...fa , ln! 3 eunwn if - W-V QM X cfs X 'W'-nnq -..,, sf, NM . 3. sl

Page 22 text:

v-...,m-M Nxxmes l City Hull, Ruytownp 2 3 Residential Development, H k ebour Air Force B . Historic Station Mills 4 1 2. T 'Ht l ...X from GRANDVIEW . . . ln downtown Grandview at Fifth and Main there stands an old building representing the origin ot the present modern community, this is the tirst general store, owned by a major landowner ot the l9th Century, John Anderson. Because the nearest post ottice was at Hickman's Mill lnow Hickman Millsl and because it required a day to travel there tor the mail, some ot the men decided that a town site should be laid out, a name chosen, and a post ottice re- quested. One day the solitary store owner, Mr. Anderson, called Solomon Young and Ervin Wall- ingtord to the steps ot his store and, pointing out over the landscape, exclaimed, lsn't that a grand view? The two listeners quickly secured the de- scription to permanently represent their newtown. From this beginning Grandview grew to its present form. In l9ll the tirst high school with an enroll- ment ot eight pupils was built on the main street. Today the thriving school district and community is another progressive example of rapid suburban growth in the Kansas City area. from RAYTOWN . . . Now in the dizzy pace of suburban growth,- Raytown originated as a postal station and assembly place tor wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail. Around T830 Absalom Wray established his blacksmith shop to repair wagons and shod mules and oxen as Conestoga caravans gathered tor the western trip. The Brooking town- ship ot l872 became a semi-rural village by l93O, in T950 the town of Raytown was incorporated, named after the original blacksmith of more than a century before. Raytown stands as the center core ot the Con- solidated School District No. 2, whose tirst high school-the original Raytown High-was erected in l927.

Page 24 text:

from NCRTI-l KANSAS ClTY . . . ln T883 Willard E. Winner, a Tar-sighTed man Trom MassachuseTTs, driTTed inTo This Missouri River area wiTh a bag Tull oT money and a head Tull oT dreams, envision- ing such proiecTs as a school, SwiTT Avenue, The Palmer House, a mile-long race Track, an amphi- TheaTer, and a bridge connecTing The norTh bank of The Missouri River wiTh Kansas CiTy. The NorTh Kansas CiTy DevelopnnenT Company laTer Tounded The acTual indusTrial Town oT Norih Kansas CiTy wiTh Their siTe purchase of l9l2. On January 23, l9l3, The TirsT cars oT The pro- gressive Red Line inTerurban railway moved across The young ASB Bridge from The norThern area inTo Kansas CiTy. Through This viTal connec- Tion wiTh The urban cenTer of acTiviTy, NorTh Kan- sas CiTy prospered. WiThin The presenT NorTh Kan- sas CiTy School DisTricT boTh indusTries and homes consTanTly seem To appear overnighT, reaching TarTher norTh Tor new poTenTial wiTh each pro- gressive sTep. from CENTER . . . The eleven square miles of CenTer School DisTricT No. 58-The mergence oT CenTer, Dallas, Boone and CiTy View DisTricTs- lies wholly wiThin The limiTs oT Kansas CiTy and shares in The ciTy's hisToric pasT. ln T897 The presenT siTe oT Boone ElemenTary School was purchased Trom Daniel and Susie M. Boone, again denoTing The basic inTluence of The wesTern expansion in The pasT cenTury on This mobile communiTy oT The presenT age. The CenTer communiTy keeps pace wiTh a progressive America Through rapid indusTrial expansion and increasing residenTial growTh. Only yesTerday, The Ten blocks beTween EighTy- TiTTh and NineTy-TiTTh STreeTs near Wornall Road were Truly souTh oT Kansas CiTy. Today, These same blocks are The gaTeway .To CenTer's TuTure and To a greaier MeTropoliTan Kansas CiTy.