|
|
|
Independence, MO —
My Granddad Noland was a pretty cool dude in his younger days.
He owned one of the first cars in his neighborhood. When he proposed to my grandmother, a car was one of her many stipulations before she would agree to be his bride. Another hot request that was high on her wish list was a honeymoon.
Well, he apparently agreed, because they were married in a Christian ceremony in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, then immediately departed in their brand new car on their honeymoon.
Granddad said they decided to drive south as far as they could go that day and then get a hotel room. I don’t really know what kind of car they were driving, but he always referred to it as his “Tin Lizzy.” A good day’s drive was only about as far as Harrisonville. After breakfast in the hotel dining room the next morning, they headed back to the farm in Eastern Jackson County, and that was their honeymoon.
My granddad was a simple farm boy and was not the first Tin Lizzy owner in Jackson County by a long shot; they had been around for quite some time before he started courting my grandmother in a horse and buggy.
Those first automobiles around town were considered a status symbol owned by either mechanical wizards or people with money. They had been on the streets of Kansas City for several years before one was owned by anyone in Eastern Jackson County. Probably the first automobile that tooled around on the muddy roads of Independence was homemade by a mechanical genius named Elwood Haynes. He built a single-cylinder engine experimental car in 1894, and a couple of years later he formed a company to build cars with the Epperson Brothers, the Haynes-Epperson Company.
A.E. Elliott got lucky in 1908 when he won one of those first Haynes-Epperson cars with a $4 raffle ticket over in Kansas City. The put-mobile he won was a later model than that original one and had two cylinders. It sounded like someone shooting off a shotgun every morning when he started out from his home at 622 S. Crysler. He created more excitement in town than a good house fire when he drove up Lexington Avenue, around the square to his lumber yard in that first block east of the courthouse.
Another raffle winner in 1909 was young George Bryant Jr., the son of Professor George S. Bryant, principal of Independence High School from 1901 to 1915. Needless to say, Junior had a blast with his $4 raffle ticket. He won a No. 10 Buick and was suddenly the most popular cat in town.
My Granddad Noland was a pretty cool dude in his younger days.
He owned one of the first cars in his neighborhood. When he proposed to my grandmother, a car was one of her many stipulations before she would agree to be his bride. Another hot request that was high on her wish list was a honeymoon.
Well, he apparently agreed, because they were married in a Christian ceremony in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, then immediately departed in their brand new car on their honeymoon.
Granddad said they decided to drive south as far as they could go that day and then get a hotel room. I don’t really know what kind of car they were driving, but he always referred to it as his “Tin Lizzy.” A good day’s drive was only about as far as Harrisonville. After breakfast in the hotel dining room the next morning, they headed back to the farm in Eastern Jackson County, and that was their honeymoon.
My granddad was a simple farm boy and was not the first Tin Lizzy owner in Jackson County by a long shot; they had been around for quite some time before he started courting my grandmother in a horse and buggy.
Those first automobiles around town were considered a status symbol owned by either mechanical wizards or people with money. They had been on the streets of Kansas City for several years before one was owned by anyone in Eastern Jackson County. Probably the first automobile that tooled around on the muddy roads of Independence was homemade by a mechanical genius named Elwood Haynes. He built a single-cylinder engine experimental car in 1894, and a couple of years later he formed a company to build cars with the Epperson Brothers, the Haynes-Epperson Company.
A.E. Elliott got lucky in 1908 when he won one of those first Haynes-Epperson cars with a $4 raffle ticket over in Kansas City. The put-mobile he won was a later model than that original one and had two cylinders. It sounded like someone shooting off a shotgun every morning when he started out from his home at 622 S. Crysler. He created more excitement in town than a good house fire when he drove up Lexington Avenue, around the square to his lumber yard in that first block east of the courthouse.
Another raffle winner in 1909 was young George Bryant Jr., the son of Professor George S. Bryant, principal of Independence High School from 1901 to 1915. Needless to say, Junior had a blast with his $4 raffle ticket. He won a No. 10 Buick and was suddenly the most popular cat in town.
The first commercial vehicle in town was a one-cylinder Cadillac bus owned by Clayton Montgomery. He drove it between Blue Springs and Independence carrying passengers on the 12-mile trip down the old Blue Springs Road (R.D. Mize Road), which took about 40 minutes.
Ironically, the first two automobiles purchased in Kansas City ran into each other, creating the first car crash in the city, back in May 1901. Dr. A.H. Cordier, driving his steamer, and Herbert A. Walpole in his machine met each other going in opposite directions on Pettycoat Lane downtown. As Dr. Cordier passed Locust Street and Walpole crossed Oak, they both had the same weird thought in their head. The doc thought he would give Walpole a scare, and Walpole thought he would freak out the doctor. They playfully veered toward each other, fully intending to swerve out of the way just in time. But, Walpole lost control at the last second and they collided head on. It’s refreshing to learn that neither was hurt and neither one ever had another wreck.
Reference: “Independence & 20th Century Pioneers” by Pearl Wilcox.
