Welcome to the Jackson County Historical Society e-Journal
Since 2020, the JCHS e-Journal arrives monthly to our subscribers inboxes. Under the direction of Brad Pace, editor, our Publications Committee is actively engaged in bringing new content to our readers monthly. The Jackson County Historical Society e-Journal ranges broadly over time and thematic focus while maintaining a pledge to share minority voices and forgotten Jackson County stories.
Submissions
The Jackson County Historical Society welcomes submissions for publication in our e-Journal. Articles, both academic and non-academic, pertaining to any aspect of Jackson County, Missouri history are actively solicited. For a submission guide, or to discuss a project, please email journal@jchs.org
Kansas City was the fount of Connell’s early creativity. His family life, which largely played out in the comforts of Brookside and Mission Hills, can be inferred from the pages of his best-known works of fiction, the companion novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969). Those books present an upper-crust slice of Kansas City’s social fabric as it existed in the 1930s and 1940s. The Bridge novels have—or should have—been required reading in Kansas City for decades, alternately loved for their crisp and intimate vignettes and warily regarded for their aching truths and acid views of middle-American hypocrisy.
As a historian, David Jackson is drawn to Kansas City and Jackson County’s origin stories. And, the building and opening of the Hannibal Bridge may be Kansas City’s ultimate origin story. Officials dedicated the span - the first permanent bridge across the Missouri River - on July 3, 1869.
Just like today, Jackson Countians roughly 100 years ago were wearing masks and working from home. In this latest edition of the JCHS E-Journal we're featuring an article that originally appeared in the Missouri Historical Review in 1968. Writer Kevin McShane explores how Kansas City coped with the great influenza of 1918. Lessons learned 100 years ago can help guide our way today.
The JCHS E-Journal explores how the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is recognizing their centennial despite the challenge of COVID-19. Read about how fans are tipping their cap to celebrate this historic event.
The former JCHS president, Virginia Jennings Nadeau, lived a life full of "creativity, intelligence and grace." We are grateful to share this telling of her story by Brent Schondelmeyer.
We will periodically republish classic articles pulled from the archives. We hope you will enjoy this article, Old Rail Depots in Independence, which was originally published in the April-May-June issue of 1982.
Our latest E-Journal article was written by Joe Roberston with the Local Investment Commission and describes a new 44-page digital and print publication Kansas City Black History: The African American story of history and culture in our community. The project shares the stories of over 70 African Americans from the Kansas City region who have passed along with current essays including one from Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas.
This article is reprinted with permission from the new book The Will of Missouri: The Life, Times and Influence of Alexander Doniphan. The book was a community history project organized by the Alexander Doniphan Committee and published by Woodneath Press, an imprint of the Mid-Continent Public Library. The book contains articles and contributions from 18 contributors exploring Doniphan’s life and influence and was endorsed by the State Historical Society of Missouri as one of the many projects to help celebrate Missouri’s 2021 Bicentennial.
Calling balls and strikes continues to represent challenging work for baseball umpires, but conditions have improved in Kansas City, where fans attending games in the late 19th century sometimes brought their guns with them, making umpires – as well as league investors – nervous. As the Kansas City Royals open their 2021 season, the E-Journal presents the following article by Pat O’Neill and Tom Coffman, local authors of the forthcoming book, “Ted Sullivan, Barnacle of Baseball: The Life of the Prolific League Founder, Scout, Manager and Unrivaled Huckster.”
While the story of singer Patsy Cline is largely centered in Nashville, the country music capital, Jackson County – specifically, Independence – played a melancholy role in Cline’s 1963 death in an airplane crash in Tennessee. The January death of an Independence country music disc jockey from injuries sustained in two-vehicle collision near U.S. 40 and Sterling Avenue brought Cline to Kansas City several weeks later. What happened then – as well as during the decades since – continues to resonate with the late disc jockey’s two sons.
While you will encounter the occasional beach in Jackson County, Kansas City area readers don’t need beaches to enjoy a good read during warm weather, That’s why we thought September would be a good time to remind Jackson County Historical Society members of the great reads available through the Society’s online bookstore.
Younger, perhaps Lee’s Summit’s most familiar historical figure, is scheduled to be front-and-center during the community’s observance of the Missouri bicentennial on August 10.
A main event on that day, in both Lee’s Summit and across the state, will be ice cream socials. In Lee’s Summit, those lined up for ice cream in the 200 block of SW Main St. also will have the option of free admission to the nearby Lee’s Summit History Museum.
On the evening of January 18, 1915, the Kansas City Star reported that the city’s first jitney bus had started operating in the city. Jitneys were privately owned early automobiles whose owners accepted set fares to transport people along an established route. The name was taken from a slang term for a nickel, the usual fare charged by the drivers for a ride.
