Perhaps it was a simpler time when Englewood Plaza was considered one of the earliest suburban shopping centers in the area.
Originally a trolley stop in a sparsely developed residential area, Englewood developed into a quiet middle-class neighborhood in western Independence. It was Main Street, U.S.A.
The town prospered throughout the 1920s and during the Depression years. This was the town that Leo Walker, Englewood businessman, grew up and lived in a home where the medical building on Winner Road now stands.
In the 1960s, Leo Walker razed several greenhouses on the northeast corner of Winner and Appleton streets to make space for the development of Walker Center. The modern, L-shaped plan with a side parking lot created 7,400 square feet of commercial space, which housed Walker’s Flower Shop, Petey Childers Prescriptions, Johnnie’s Englewood Café, a beauty salon and law offices.
Today, this complex is the Englewood Café and Changing Seasons Gift Gallery. Changing Seasons owners and residents, Russ Lawrence, Stacie and Monte Short, Tammy Parsons, Darlene Carpenter and Jeff Lacy pooled resources and opened the shop in November 2004. Shortly after the store opened, Russ Lawrence and Jeff Lacy became the sole owners. They grew the store and expanded it to offer gifts, home décor accessories and a full-service florist, and the amazing talents of Russ Lawrence.
Request for Walker history
“I am on a hunt for more memorabilia about Leo Walker,” said Russ Lawrence, managing owner of Changing Seasons. “If anyone has photos, objects, brochures, newspaper articles or anything about Leo Walker or about Englewood, I would like to make them part of a permanent display at the store. Please contact me.”
There is still a touch of Walker left in the store including original copies of his bi-monthly magazine about flowers, original shelving, light fixtures, and marks on the wall where Walker’s office was located. Monte Short and Kent Roscher painstakingly restored Walker’s door to the flower refrigeration area.
Lawrence and changes
“I’m a hillbilly and I am proud of it,” said Lawrence, who grew up in the Ozarks. He explained that for the first 11 years of his life he lived in foster homes. As a child his only entertainment was drawing and dreaming – mostly about gardens. These dreams were conducted “under the bed,” hiding from the childhood reality of foster care. Eventually his aunt and uncle adopted him. Lawrence conducts a toy drive each Christmas, “Janie’s Toys,” – in memory of his adopted mom – for the Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Agency.
