It’s Your Museum--Enjoy!
By Carolyn A. Larsen, Curator

Misc File
Once more we delve into that dark, mysterious
file labeled “Misc.”
The following comes from a July 3, 1903 issue of
The Weston Chronicle:
Sprinkle, Sprinkle, water cart,
We all wonder where thou art;
Merchant’s goods are awful dusty,
Voices getting mighty husky,
Maybe sprinkle man is fishing
But us fellows are all wishing
That he’ll get a water haul
If we stand this dust till fall;
So wake up from Van Winkles sleep,
Get a move upon the street.
Since the above was put into type arrangements
were made to have our streets sprinkled.     Ye
editor
August 25, 1905 brought us this: “The colored
Methodist church was torn down this week. The
members are contemplating building a new
church edifice in the near future.”
The Oct. 22, 1891 issue reported “Joseph
Mosnat, a deaf and dumb printer, and a native of
Weston made us a pleasant call Friday. He is
now a resident of Topeka, Kan., and came over
to see his father’s grave in Laurel Hill cemetery.
His father, J. J. Mosnat, was a carpenter here
when the town numbered its population over
5,000 and he died here in 1855 of cholera.”
“Sharon MacMillan of Lake Forest, California,
and Earl H. Carraway of Laguna Hills, California,
exchanged marriage vows Sunday, June 19, in a
two o’clock ceremony. The ceremony was held at
the Lake Forest Sun and Sail Club.
The bride is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs.
Charley MacMillan and is a former resident of
Weston.”
The first woman naval officer in American history
was Captain Mildred McAfee Horton. She was
born in Parkville in 1900. Her grandfather Rev.
John Armstrong McAfee, was a co-founder and
the first president of Park College. Her father, Dr.
Cleland Boyd McAfee, taught there.
The native Platte Countian was the president of
Wellesley College in Massachusetts when World
War II started. She had become the second
youngest president in the history of the college in
1936. In 1942 she entered the military service
and served for 3 and one half years. In the years
following her duties as the first director of
women in the Navy, she went on to be the first
woman elected to the boards of the New York
Life Insurance Co., the National Broadcasting
Co. and the Radio Corporation of America.
April 18, 1891 saw the death of Mrs. Catherine
Butler, wife of Sadler Butler. He operated a
furniture factory where Twin Gables stands.
Today it is a residence on east Market Street
right before the bridge.
May 26, 1856, Mother Stanislaus Saul and Sister
Lidwina Littenecker, Sister Pauline, Sister
Eullalia and Sister Mechtilda Medd left St. Louis
from St. Joseph’s Mother House. On reaching
Weston, they learned to their great dismay that
they had arrived several months earlier than they
were expected and the convent was not ready for
them. The priest, Father Fisch, was not home,
having gone on a missionary tour of his wide-
flung parish.
While awaiting Father Fisch’s return, the nuns
were the guests of Mrs. Elijah Cody; the aunt of
young Bill Cody who was later called Buffalo Bill.
We close this marvelous file for now. Any time
you would care to come in and look through the
file, please do so. Come in any time, we’d love to
see your smiling face and satisfy your inquiring
mind.   
The number to call is 816-386-2977 or 816-668-
9986 for questions, research or suggestions.
The Historic town of Weston has
many popular events scheduled
throughout the year.  
For more information
816-640-2909
www.westonmo.com
copyright 2009
Weston Historical Museum
By Carolyn A. Larsen, Curator

Mish Mash
Are you up for some trivia about our town? Then
sit back and have some fun with it.
March 10, 1911: Last Saturday night as Felix
Sorrell was standing in front of A.P. Doppler’s
grocery store he suddenly became overbalanced
and took a header through one of Mr. Doppler’s
plate glass windows.
Nov. 29, 1918: John Harpst has an option on the
Bela South property on Walnut street,
contemplating purchase of same. Mr. Harpst and
his bride are now domiciled there.
March 12, 1937: Rounding out fifty-seven years of
residence in one home, Mrs. Evalina Newton
died at her home near Pleasant Ridge Friday
night at a little more than ninety-two years old.
She was the widow of Andrew J. Newton. They
were married when she was just fourteen years
old. She was the daughter of Thomas Quinn of
Virginia and Margaret Phillips Fortune of
Kentucky and they came to the Platte Purchase
just one month before Evalina was born on Feb.
14, 1845.
November 26, 1937: Our honorable Mayor has
ordered a Clean-Up Day tomorrow. He will send
a truck and helpers out to gather up all your
accumulated trash, cans and what have you.
Mayor Henson is doing a fine job at trying to keep
our yards and gutters in good shape and the
least we citizens can do is to cooperate by
cleaning up.
Same date as above: Miss Victoria Brill recently
accepted a nursing position, through civil
service, in the Veterans’ hospital at Fort Lyons,
Colorado. Miss Brill is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Matt Brill of Weston and is a recent graduate
of St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, Kansas City.
She has been employed the past several
months in a hospital in Concordia, Kansas.
Nov. 26, 1937: A large tobacco barn, full of
tobacco, and belonging to Mrs. J.J. Burgess of
Dearborn was completely destroyed by fire early
Sunday night. The loss on the 16,000 to 18,000
pounds of tobacco was estimated at more than
$3,500.
March 23, 1900: Wild geese were headed north
this week in great armies. They were flying quite
high, which observers say is a harbinger of
spring. This year, however, it is doubtful if even a
wild goose can tell today the direction of the wind
tomorrow.
August 26, 1921, The Weston Boy Scout ball
team has received an invitation from the state
officials at Lansing to come to that place next
Saturday and play the Lansing Boy Scout team
on the new diamond that has just been
completed on the State Penitentiary grounds.
Our boys have the honor of receiving the first
invitation extended to a Missouri team to play on
these grounds by the official board. B.F. Fleming,
Scoutmaster, informs us that the boys have
accepted the invitation and are preparing to go.
That’s it for this time. Come see us at the
museum and find other interesting trivia among
other items in your museum. We’d love to see
you!
November
The picture with this week’s column shows a
larger as either the camera or a mist obscured
the third floor of the home. This particular home
was located where the Snow Creek Ski area now
exists. The donor of the picture, Mrs. Pete Cline,
says the home was called “the Castle” by many
and it was turned into apartments. Of course, the
home no longer stands, but does anyone know
for certain who built it, was it always apartments,
when was it built, was it simply abandoned, etc?
If you can tell us anything about it, the number to
call is 816-386-9986. Thank you.
Our annual Weston Historical Museum dinner
was Nov. 16th. The dinner, catered by the Avalon,
was delicious. There were reservations made for
67 individuals. Our speaker, Kelvin Crow, gave
Ft. Leavenworth and Weston through all the
years. It was a very interesting talk and Mr. Crow
was an amusing and interesting speaker.
A silent auction netted your museum about
$100.00. New members on the Board of
Trustees are Ms. Susan Cline Grinlinton and Mr.
David Knox. The slate of current officers were re-
elected to their positions.
If you could not make it to the dinner and
program, perhaps next year. I must say, however,
that you did miss a very informative talk.
Your museum will close for the winter months as
of Sunday the 7th of December. This is a little
earlier than usual but there is much work to be
done such as changing of display cases, taking
down of Christmas decorations,
The E.L. learning night for the grade school
Wednesday evening was so much fun! When
you walked into the gym you could just feel the
energy and the excitement sparking through the
place! If you did not go, you missed a wonderful
evening, from the family scavenger hunt to the
stories of the many different Native American
tribes, to the Lewis and Clark Fort, the many
gathered artifacts and the man-made items, to
the walk down Main Street Weston with the
fantastic replicas of many of the buildings and
their histories told by the children. There was so
much more that I have not mentioned.
You could see how hard these children worked
and how much information they had ‘soaked up’
while doing so. Then there were the teachers
who worked so much harder to put these
children on the road to discoveries and
information.
It’s a long way from the way I was taught and so
much more effective. A BIG Thanks to ALL the
great teachers, the principal and volunteers and
a big cheer for the students! Parents, give you
child an extra hug and give the teacher a word of
thanks. They all deserve it.
Need a gift for someone this Christmas? Books
are always a great gift to give and to receive.
Come check out the many books at the
museum, many done by local authors.
Perhaps you want to remember someone in a
special way or do something for the person who
has everything. How about a ten or fifteen dollar
donation to the museum in their name?
Though we are closing soon, we will be busy
from right after the New Year until we open again
in mid-March. You can drop in and lend a hand
for a hour or so, become a full fledged volunteer,
do some research, encourage us in our work,
etc. However, we will be glad to see your smiling
faces!   

Since the winter months are upon us, I thought
you might like to see this item from a January 1,  
1892 Weston  Chronicle “During the week
considerable ice has been stored away for the
hot summer months. Our local ice dealers and
others who put up their own ice have their
houses well filled.
All week several hundred men have been storing
away ice in the mammoth ice houses of Swift
and Yates at Bean Lake. Considerable ice was
also stored at Sugar Lake by Armour. The firms
at the lakes do nearly all their work by machinery.
The ice is cut by plows operated by steam and is
hoisted to the houses by a chute which runs by
steam. The combined forces at Sugar and Bean
Lakes are putting up not less than 2,000 tons of
ice per day. The cost of cutting and storing the
ice is about 15 cents a ton. It costs the firms
taking ice from the Missouri river about sixty
cents a ton to cut and store it. The ice is from
eight to twelve inches thick and of a clear quality.
If the weather continues cold the K.C. road will
have their hands full in shipping ice to Kansas
City and St. Joseph.”
October 11, 1940 we found this article, :Lewis
Turner and family of Union Star have recently
returned from their vacation trip to California’s
points of interest. They enjoyed a boat trip to
Catalina Island; enroute back to port, Miss
Mildred Turner had a thrilling experience that she
will long remember--that of losing her hat when it
blew off in the Pacific Ocean. They also saw a
portion of the Pacific Fleet which was in port at
San Pedro, Calif. The Turner family was gone ten
days.
Mr. Turner is a brother of W.G. and H. Turner and
Mrs. Nellie McCalley of Weston.”
Weston Historical Museum
601 Main Street - Weston, MO  64098
a German Lithograph painted late 1800's, depicts Weston, Mo when the town was a busy river port
Weekly columns written by a former curator
Carolyn Bless Larsen,

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